Building a Home

[kpc]

Hi Sam, don't think I have posted in this thread before but have been following with interest. You don't seem to have been too stressed by the whole process! We recently renovated our single storey 2.5 bedroom, and single bathroom federation house in a highly restricted heritage area to a two storey, 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms house. Many times our builder said it would have been cheaper and easier if we could have knocked the whole house down and rebuilt from scratch! We had to move out for 6 months and I found the whole process very stressful and expensive! I do like our finished kitchen with double sink (see photo) which was essentially my +1s design and wish. Congratulations on your new home and would love to see it one day.

 

[samh004]

Looks great, I sort of wish I had the plugs under the counter like you now, instead of one on the very end, but will see how practical it is to use. Haven't lived in it yet!

Congratulations on your new home and would love to see it one day.

I'm sure there will be many opportunities to entertain in the future. I'm not sure the house will ever see as many as came to Gold Coast BBQ's but it would be a shame not to share/show it off after all this.

In other news, it is day 108 and I have some new photos.

PCI is on Monday.

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[love_the_life]

Looks great, I sort of wish I had the plugs under the counter like you now, instead of one on the very end, but will see how practical it is to use. Haven't lived in it yet!

I'm sure there will be many opportunities to entertain in the future. I'm not sure the house will ever see as many as came to Gold Coast BBQ's but it would be a shame not to share/show it off after all this.

In other news, it is day 108 and I have some new photos.

PCI is on Monday.

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Soooooper - it looks just wonderful. so exciting.

 

[Pushka]

Looks great, I sort of wish I had the plugs under the counter like you now, instead of one on the very end, but will see how practical it is to use. Haven't lived in it yet!

I'm sure there will be many opportunities to entertain in the future. I'm not sure the house will ever see as many as came to Gold Coast BBQ's but it would be a shame not to share/show it off after all this.

In other news, it is day 108 and I have some new photos.

PCI is on Monday.

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So. You have not only a butlers pantry. But a separate maybe even walk in pantry?

 

[samh004]

So. You have not only a butlers pantry. But a separate maybe even walk in pantry?

They're unfortunately one-in-the-same. The butlers pantry space is on the way to the regular pantry shelving. It's not really that much more space, but an extra set of power points and a sink. Useful for sous vide-ing I reckon.

What you can't see in that photo because of the angle is that the fridge is opposite that round sink (though I don't think it's in the space yet).

 

[Drakecula]

Useful for sous vide-ing I reckon.

We'll have a butler's pantry in our new house too - and I hadn't thought of using that extra sink for sous vide. Great idea!

 

[samh004]

We had the Practical Completion Inspection today on day 111. With only a few issues found, and works set to be complete by Wednesday, we have handover locked in for Thursday provided the money hits their account in time. As it has already been sent, that shouldn't be unachievable. So, a few more photos to show off of an empty house and then starting this weekend maybe some photos of a decked out house.


WIR


Butlers/pantry








Ready to landscape

 

[VPS]

It looks great - you must be very pleased

 

[travelislife]

Good stuff! It’s amazing how much the Landscaping changes the look of a house once in.

 

[Pushka]

There needs to be a Wow icon.

 

[SuePa]

Conratulations! How exciting for you.

 

[samh004]

Good stuff! It’s amazing how much the Landscaping changes the look of a house once in.

That's the next thing to arrange. Need to find one, meet, work out a plan and then get it done. I imagine it'll be happening around the same time as the fencing/gates/decks. NBN connection not until Thursday-week unfortunately, so can't remotely monitor until then, but it's not like we can move yet anyway.

 

[chelzmalee]

Looks beautiful @samh004 - I am so jealous of that kitchen.

 

[love_the_life]

Congratulations - probably seems have been a long time for you but for me following along it seems quick and pretty painless.

 

[RooFlyer]

Is there any warranty or developer / builder statement about building materials not being buried in the yards? Is There any statement about the quality of the top layer of the garden - ie suitable for planting?

 

[samh004]

Is there any warranty or developer / builder statement about building materials not being buried in the yards? Is There any statement about the quality of the top layer of the garden - ie suitable for planting?

Funny you should mention that... on the day of the PCI our site supervisor proudly stated that he had brought some fill from another site to spread around our house for us. It was billed as a favour – despite the sometimes testy relationship. When we met our landscaper yesterday he remarked that the fill around the back and sides will help level off one side where we are going to put pebbles and pavers (and reduce the amount of expensive pebbles)... but would likely need to be removed from the front and dumped at cost to us.

I have also found nails from a nail gun in the fill at the back of the house... considering handover is tomorrow and I have already made my last payment I'm not keen to drag things on, but do feel that they dumped another sites fill on our lot as a final statement. It's certainly not going to leave them with a favourable review.

 

[blackcat20]

Funny you should mention that... on the day of the PCI our site supervisor proudly stated that he had brought some fill from another site to spread around our house for us. It was billed as a favour – despite the sometimes testy relationship. When we met our landscaper yesterday he remarked that the fill around the back and sides will help level off one side where we are going to put pebbles and pavers (and reduce the amount of expensive pebbles)... but would likely need to be removed from the front and dumped at cost to us.

I have also found nails from a nail gun in the fill at the back of the house... considering handover is tomorrow and I have already made my last payment I'm not keen to drag things on, but do feel that they dumped another sites fill on our lot as a final statement. It's certainly not going to leave them with a favourable review.

It's pretty much what they do; our back yard was filled with contaminated soil. Tonnes of broken tiles, plasterboard, etc. You name it, it was mixed into the soil. I got them to remove it and they got most, though not to my satisfaction. We scraped up the rest and had it disposed of via airtasker.

 

[samh004]

It's pretty much what they do; our back yard was filled with contaminated soil. Tonnes of broken tiles, plasterboard, etc. You name it, it was mixed into the soil. I got them to remove it and they got most, though not to my satisfaction. We scraped up the rest and had it disposed of via airtasker.

I'll look into that method of disposal before landscaping. Things have come together a little quicker than expected, so we were caught off guard about having a time frame for getting it sorted. Hoping we can get something in March, but could be April.

Main issue is getting the side gates on so the dogs can't escape, but if there's no lawn out back and a heap of contaminated soil, I'm not likely to be letting the dogs out back anyway. More likely lots of short walks out the front on a lead.

At this stage handover is 3 weeks ahead of schedule!

 

[samh004]

As previously mentioned, it was handover day today.

We signed contracts and moved pretty fast on the last day of June 2020. Construction didn't start until the end of September 2020, but it has been 114 days since they broke ground on the site (not including the christmas break). So, just under 4 months of actual construction and 7.5 months since the process began. Didn't think I would be here at this point last year!

 

[blackcat20]

Congratulations. Getting those keys is a pretty awesome feeling.