Showing posts with label Building House. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Building House. Show all posts

Wednesday, 29 October 2008

House Keys

Finally ... we've had that oh so important meeting with the builders of our new house and now have in our possession all keys to doors and windows. Wow ... it's finally happened. Amazing that we started this experience nearly two years ago ... have to admit I'm kinda over it, but I know that my hubby can't chill to he's sure our new place is finished and we are living in it.

The house looks huge and I'll has been nicknamed 'the Taj' by our neighbours. I must take a photo or three and put some on here.

Now we can complete all the bits and pieces the builders don't do. The carpets are down in the bedrooms and we had all the main rooms tiled by the same tiler our builder uses, so that we could have that job done during the 'you're still locked out of your house' stage. Tomorrow or Thursday the concrete for the driveway and front walkway will go done. Hopefully it won't be too long till we can afford the concrete for the back, as the red dust will get in everywhere till we do. Concrete is expensive, and with the high cost of fuel, it's a shocking price. Hopefully on Thursday on electrical people will arrive and put in the down lights, fans, outside lights and outside sensors.

Left to organise ... our home theatre guy has to complete all the work to get our TV's, sound system, etc working. He's putting our speakers out of sight, and other interesting stuff, all of which has to be done before we'll move in. Organise for phone lines, so that our line, plus our internet will be able to move next door, the same day we do. Fences ... these are essential, as need to know Wilson is safe. Work on the retainer walls has been happening the past few weekends, with many of our friends working hard to get this done, as they realise my hubby no longer has the energy to do this type of work.

Plus we have to buy ... fridge with ice maker (have plumbing in place), new microwave, something to hang towels from for our ensuite, a hall table for keys etc, office furniture, storage containers for some cupboards and in the pantry, another length of pipe for hanging clothes in our walk in wardrobe, and many other bits and pieces.

Major stuff to organise ... two water tanks to collect our rain water. Outdoor enterainment area ... have it kinda planned, but need to get the people who're going to build it, to come round when the retainer walls are up, so they can finalise the plans. We need moss rocks for our front garden, and possibly one back corner garden, plus a friend needs a drawing (with measurements) of the stand we want him to make, so we can grow three or four wisteria up it and over, so it will grow like a large umbrella ... then we can get the top soil (organic with water crystals) delivered and work on the front garden, veggie gardens, fruit tree area, and back gardens can begin.

Still heaps to do ... but we hope to move in before my hubby's 50th on 1 December 2008!

Monday, 16 June 2008

Sterling Homes

These people are incredible. We're paying them to build our house and yet they won't discuss anything with us now that the process has started.

I've been chatting to friends who're building with other large companies and it appears they're all the same once they start getting your money. So why don't we stop paying? Wouldn't we love to do that ... but what happens then ... we have a part built house that we've paid way in advance of what's been done ... including the things we didn't want done. To change now would mean loosing thousands ... tens of thousands of dollars ... and I'm guessing Sterling Homes and other builders like that, know they've got us caught between the rock and the hard place ... so they can continue to do what they do and that's build what they want and get paid to do it by someone else!

This is an extremely frustrating experience made worse coz my hubby is a builder by trade. Also due to our house being built next door to our current residence, we get to see what's happening every day. Plus we get to talk to the contractors working on our house and ask them questions. Most of their answers are direct and they don't have any issues telling us things as they see it.

Here's hoping the final product is up to the quality we expect and if we remain disappointed with Sterling Homes like we currently feel, that we can sell the house quickly and move on!

Saturday, 8 March 2008

House Plans

Here's the floor plans ...

Floor Plan

The front of our house is the left of this scan. It's a long ranch style house, with a simple arrangements of rooms. We've gone for a large open plan area through the centre, with hallways opening off either side. One end is my hubby and mine ... our bedroom, walkin robe and ensuite. The other end has three bedrooms, laundry, bathroom and toilet. Bedroom 2 ... the one by the front entrance, will be a therapy room, and will be decorated suitably for me to work with clients.

The room called 'Dine' ... with the double doors, will be an office. It's planned to be a 'versatile room', which means it can be a fifth bedroom, formal dining, or a 'whatever you' like room.

Our entertainment area will run from the back of the double carport, to between the laundry and toilet. Some will be covered and some not.

... we are still waiting for the the founds to be laid ... doing our best to be patient!

Here's a pic of how the finished house should look ...

House Look

The double carport has double auto doors, which adds to the length of the place, when looking at it from the road.

Wednesday, 5 March 2008

Six Ton of Soil ...

Photos of the progress on our land.

Our land before any work began! Photo taken from the top native garden at our existing residence ... facing East
27 February 2008

28 February 2008 - What six tons of soil looks like. Photo taken from our soon-to-neighbour's house, which is currently being built.
28 February 2008

Photo taken from the road below. This shows the 'rise' of our foundation preparation. The tail of my ute snuck into the photo. Upper right, is our current residence.
28 February 2008

29 February 2008 - A photo of our floor plan marked out with crushed metal. To the left is our current residence and to the right is our double carport.
29 February 2008

Thursday, 28 February 2008

Finally ...

Today around six ton of soil (land fill) was put on our land, and compacted to form the base for the foundations for our house. It was very exciting!

The fill is much higher than we expected and it will mean our new house is higher than any other's in the area. Also looking at the shape of the compacted soil made us realise how big our new house will be ... much bigger than I realised. It's a long house - ranch style.

Now I can't wait for the the next stages ... founds go down, frames goes up, roof goes on ...

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