BANKSIA GROVE - our new house build

Not happy with ANZ Bank

2010-12-01T14:06:00.001+08:00

Well ANZ have stuffed up our mortgage application which results in us now being short of funds to pay the builders. As a result, we can't get handover on the house until this issue is resolved.
When that will be, we have no idea.
Not happy, but watch this space....

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Final stages!

2010-11-16T16:02:00.000+08:00

Fair play to Aveling Homes!
They've really pulled all the strings they can/could, and we now have our pre-handover meeting scheduled on site for Friday 19th November.
Looking like we may have keys to our new house within the next week or two (depending on any items or issues to be fixed, and the bank paying the final instalment for the build), meaning we should defo be in for Christmas. Supberb!

Credit to the staff at Aveling where its due....thanks guys and gals!

Some more updated pics

2010-10-30T14:22:00.003+08:00

Just a few more pics for you all to see. Taken when I had a meeting on site with our supervisor. Estimate another 4 weeks or so til we're in. Some scum bag nicked our toilets (still in boxes at the time!), but we hope it won't delay by much!
As you can see, the kitchen is now all installed, a bit of electrics to be finished off, and some re-working of some tiles in the wet areas, and we're nearly good to go....

Cabinets are in....

2010-10-13T20:18:00.005+08:00

The cabinet makers have been in this week and fitted the kitchen, bathroom, and utility wall and floor units. And I've included some updated photos if the outside too, prior to final painting.

Kitchen from lounge....^^

Kitchen from dining....^^

Utility from outside....^^

En-suite from window....^^

Frontage....^^

Frontage....^^

More kitchen, from alfresco!....^^

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We've been locked out!

2010-10-07T08:49:00.001+08:00

Rach went to site last night and front doors are now on, which means we can't get in any more! Which also means we now can't really get any more internal photos til we get the keys. Sorry!

Toilets, sinks and bath are all in lounge ready for fitment. Think units and cupboards are being installed this Monday before our meeting with our site supervisor on Tues.

Definitely getting close now, and hope to be moved in by mid to end November. As long as we are in Christmas, we'll be happy!

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Plaster and Render stage

2010-10-04T11:13:00.009+08:00

White finishing plaster now on internal walls, and external render applied to front of house....pics a little dark, but they were taken with an iPhone with no flash! Sorry!! (blame Apple!)

House front...^^

From dining, thro kitchen, to lounge...^^

From kitchen to lounge...^^

From lounge, thro kitchen to dining and hall...^^

From lounge to kitchen...^^

From hallway, showing acces to dining and "cinema" room...^^

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Rendered

2010-09-30T12:12:00.002+08:00

Both house frontage and internal walls are now rendered, and to date, about 80% of the internal walls have white finishing plaster applied. Looking considerably bigger inside the house, and it has a REALLY good feel to it!

I'll try for some more "daytime" photos this weekend.

We also have a "pre" pre-handover meeting with our site supervisor on Tues 12th October for a walk-round and a chat. Our carpet and floor fitters will also be there doing final measurements ready for fitting. And we have now been asked to supply our ceiling fans, kitchen cupboard handles, and drainage elements - all non-standard items that the builders have agreed to install for us. Cool!

I can almost smell a finish date now!!

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More tiling...

2010-09-02T19:02:00.001+08:00

Photo as promised showing roof tiles....

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Another step closer

2010-09-02T11:30:00.001+08:00

Tiles finally arrived on site, about a week earlier than expected I think. They're all on now and just need cementing/bedding.

I'll try to get some more pics this weekend - preferably without the tiler sunbathing on the roof (as he was during a daytime drive-by earlier in the week)!!

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Delayed!

2010-08-07T16:37:00.000+08:00

Another 3 weeks delay on the house because Bristile (roof tiles) have over committed themselves and can't supply.
TWATS. Looking doubtful we'll be in by Xmas now.
Big time bummer!!

Nearly ready for tiles

2010-07-31T12:03:00.001+08:00

Lots of roof timbers on, not far from tiling. We can now see better how the rooms will look and feel now they are becoming more complete. Starting to feel like a house rather than a building site!

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Some more pics

2010-07-02T11:36:00.001+08:00

Just some extra photos with the front wall now up, and a video showing our "open plan" living area....

Steaming ahead

2010-06-23T09:19:00.001+08:00

The brickies are working hard and progress is really coming on. Been trying to get pictures before now, but they've been on site working at the weekends. Even Sundays! Obviously foreign workers, and not your typical Aussie labourers.....

Brickies have started

2010-06-16T21:37:00.001+08:00

Been up to the site tonight and the brickies have started on the rear bedroom walls. Good lads!!
There's even some window frames in!!
Will get some updated photos over the weekend at some point. Promise this time....

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Bricks arrived

2010-06-03T00:14:00.000+08:00

Popped down to the plot tonight (only as I was passing) and saw that we now have bricks, door frames, and lintols on site. Window frames were delivered lastweek sometime.
Looks like progress will start pretty soon.
Picture taken below was late at night, but I'll try for a "day shot" at the weekend.

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And he said; "let there be slab"...

2010-05-21T19:31:00.001+08:00

.....and there was slab. And he was pleased.

In those immortal words of Homer Simpson....."woohoo!"
The house slab was poured today! All looking good so far.
Will get some photos up once we've been over at the weekend for a nosey. The weather's not forecast to be good tomorrow, so we'll see if we can get a dry hour or two for some new progress photos.

Keep watching this little bit of the web, coz once the slab is thoroughly dried/cured (about 4-6 weeks), then the progress should be relatively quick, and I'll then try to take weekly progress pictures.....can't wait!!

Oh, and from the previous post, we decided to go for option 3 paint scheme, just in case you were interested!

A dilemma....

2010-04-24T09:45:00.002+08:00

Hmmm. House plans got refused by Banksia Grove developers because they didn't like our front elevations. GROW UP AN GET A LIFE! It's my bloody house, I'm paying for it, and I'm living there!
AND I'll change the colours after I've moved in if I bloody well want to!!
Rant over.

They didn't like the fact the we had no "front feature" or the fact we didn't have two-tone colouring.
So a (sort of) gable has now been added to the roof, and we're choosing external colours.....again.
Not sure what scheme to go for though, but looking like 3rd one down. Any comments?

Just hope this doesn't delay our start date any further.

We can smell it now.....

2010-04-02T17:49:00.002+08:00

Just been to the plot to see what's happening.
The road, pavement, kerbs and road signs are now in, and the plot is all levelled ready for the slab to go down. We have been told by Aveling (our builders) that it should be within the last week of April, so it's getting close now!
Oh, and we got our our house number too - No. 22.
Already planning "a bit of a doo" there with some close friends to celebrate.
Don't worry, there'll bee pics of the momentous occasion to follow!!

TTFN!!

It's been a while

2010-01-01T20:42:00.000+08:00

Well, some time has passed since the last post, and the house sale all went through fine - other than the pool pump controller packed in and we needed to spend another $1000 getting that fixed before the sale paperwork could be finalised. Oh well!!

So, we are now in our rental, and very nice it is too. Much more room than our old house, and so much storage space we need to find stuff to fill it all!

Over the Xmas break I have re-drawn our house plans in 3D and I've posted some views of it up now, taken from each corner of the house, plus another plan at a "reduced height" to show the layout of the house more clearly.

Colours, tiles, etc. all chosen now, and we await our pre-start meeting sometime late February. Looking forward to getting it all started now. Fingers crossed we could be in the new house by Xmas 2010.

Ciao!

On the move!

2009-11-26T21:52:00.001+08:00

We have our settlement date - Monday 14th December!
We already have the keys to our rental, and starting to move stuff over during the coming weeks before settlement.

If anyone wants our new address, you know how to contact us...!! :o)

Next post will be after settlement, so 'til next time....

Offer accepted!

2009-11-02T11:12:00.000+08:00

We accepted on our house over the weekend (Saturday 31st Oct), and all the formal documents have been signed. WOOHOO!

Managed to get our asking price, which is a huge bonus. Luckily for us, interest rates here in WA are on the rise again, and so too are house prices. We think that this, together with another announced reduction in the "First Home Buyers Grant" allowance has sort of forced people into buying. But hey, we're not complaining! And the people buying were the first group through on our first home open 3 weeks ago!!

So we now have an "Under Offer" sticker on our sale board, and the word is that the buyers wish to be in on the weekend of 12/13th December, the week before Rach and "The Holster" fly back to the UK for 6 weeks over Xmas and New Year. So we're looking for a local rental for the next 8/9 months or so until our new house is ready to move in to.

Land titles aren't released 'til February 2010, so we can't start the build process until at very least then.

We'll keep you posted....!!

We've chosen our plot!

2009-10-07T20:47:00.000+08:00

Well, here's the first post!

So.....we have put a deposit on a plot of land we hope to build our new house on! It measures 17.5m wide, by 30m long, giving us 525 square meters of (nothing but) sand to plan on.

We also signed with our selling agent in preparation for our existing house (Carramar) to go on the market, with our first home open on Sunday 11th Oct. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Some pictures of our land

2009-10-07T20:45:00.000+08:00