TomCat's new digs!

[cove]

Solar is good when someone is home during sunlight hours and/or you have most electric items running while you are away from home at work. We have our swimming pool heat pump run for free so it works out fine as well as the split system air conditioning , dishwasher and washing machine.
We went from using after hours off peak power once we had solar.
Battery pricing is still about 3 years away unless your State Government is offering a subsidy. Payback times of 7 to 10 years is not exciting so just work quickly to repay any funds borrowed to build the house.
One of our neighbors has a view into our property so we have a hibiscus screen growing quickly.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Surely any business must build into the cost of their operations, payroll issues such as payroll tax, staff sick and annual leave and long service leave. Why should the building industry be any different?

State sanctioned rort

Not entirely correct. The very nature of the construction industry is transitory. Workers have to often move from company to company to follow the work and for many years (many years ago, this is not new by any stretch of the imagination), many workers could not get long service leave. It's called portable long service leave and due to that portability, it cannot be administered by the companies, but in any case, it doesn't matter who administers it, the client always pays for it! :-|

BTW, I've never been a recipient of portable long service leave and nor will I ever be, so please don't jump down my throat if you don't agree with the scheme!

 

[love_the_life]

Not entirely correct. The very nature of the construction industry is transitory. Workers have to often move from company to company to follow the work and for many years (many years ago, this is not new by any stretch of the imagination), many workers could not get long service leave. It's called portable long service leave and due to that portability, it cannot be administered by the companies, but in any case, it doesn't matter who administers it, the client always pays for it! :-|

BTW, I've never been a recipient of portable long service leave and nor will I ever be, so please don't jump down my throat if you don't agree with the scheme!

And I think that is totally fine. It has been easier to accrue LSL in most other areas of work.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Yeah, I think the next generation will probably be worth it. The tech is nearly there.

It's worth it now TV. Without knowing your individual circumstances, the amount of "worth" can't be determined, but in many cases grid tied solar without battery back-up can pay for itself ... even with the deceitful and disgraceful feed-in tariffs currently going. When the storage options become cheaper, solar will win all hands down unless Gov't or councils make it illegal to own (like many did with water tanks for so long). If you have not spent all your cash on the build, it's well worth at least getting someone around to chat about the options.

 

[TomVexille]

It's worth it now TV. Without knowing your individual circumstances, the amount of "worth" can't be determined, but in many cases grid tied solar without battery back-up can pay for itself ... even with the deceitful and disgraceful feed-in tariffs currently going. When the storage options become cheaper, solar will win all hands down unless Gov't or councils make it illegal to own (like many did with water tanks for so long). If you have not spent all your cash on the build, it's well worth at least getting someone around to chat about the options.

At our current usage we would have to be completely off grid for a payback within 10 years. And I know our usage will increase, and energy prices are only going up, so it's certainly on the agenda. I do work in a related field so I'm not completely in the dark about it. It's going to be a matter of discussing with some friends who do installs full time about getting the best deal for us.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

I'm not completely in the dark about it.

Boom, boom!

Yep, at least exploring the options is a good idea. Many people whine at me about how they missed out when they should have acted and are envious that I jumped in rather than waited. I have 30kW on a $0.52 feed-in tariff until about 2026 I think! No electricity bill and a good chunk of pocket money to boot!

 

[Pushka]

Not entirely correct. The very nature of the construction industry is transitory. Workers have to often move from company to company to follow the work and for many years (many years ago, this is not new by any stretch of the imagination), many workers could not get long service leave. It's called portable long service leave and due to that portability, it cannot be administered by the companies, but in any case, it doesn't matter who administers it, the client always pays for it! :-|

BTW, I've never been a recipient of portable long service leave and nor will I ever be, so please don't jump down my throat if you don't agree with the scheme!

But but but I agree with this scheme and I too will never be a recipient. My quote was actually taken out of context - I was saying that every (other) business has a portion of its built in operating costs for future employer liabilities like sick, annual and lsl and which are in reality passed on to the customer even if not openly stated as such. So of course the contractor is entitled to do similar.

 

[Welsh-Kiwi]

Are you guys building in any smart technology into the house i.e. Lighting, alarm, door entry etc??

 

[cove]

We have enjoyed having a ceiling fan in our bedroom as well as having a split system air conditioner. There is no reason to want to freeze or be too hot. The latest air conditioners seem to come mostly from Thailand so they are very reasonable to buy and run when you need it.

 

[blackcat20]

We have enjoyed having a ceiling fan in our bedroom as well as having a split system air conditioner. There is no reason to want to freeze or be too hot. The latest air conditioners seem to come mostly from Thailand so they are very reasonable to buy and run when you need it.

Definitely putting a ceiling fan in the bedroom.

 

[blackcat20]

Visited the development for the first time in almost two months today. They've made great progress, we have a visible street, gutters, drains and even street lights. Won't be much longer until we settle on the block at this rate.



Found another house a few streets away that is almost identical to ours (same plan, slightly different facade. Nice to see one in the flesh,as the displays all have the really expensive facades on them.

 

[love_the_life]

Excellent BC. It's great to see progress. And with the weather warming up, hopefully things will move quickly. Is your block the corner one or further up the street? It must be exciting to see a house that is very similar to the one you will be building and see that it looks great.

 

[blackcat20]

Excellent BC. It's great to see progress. And with the weather warming up, hopefully things will move quickly. Is your block the corner one or further up the street? It must be exciting to see a house that is very similar to the one you will be building and see that it looks great.

Further up the street and on the right. We will back on to the neighbouring farm.

Relieved I think is how you describe it, seeing a house similar to what you've chosen. It's hard to know if you've made the right decision looking just as a computer graphic.

 

[JessicaTam]

Visited the development for the first time in almost two months today. They've made great progress, we have a visible street, gutters, drains and even street lights. <snip>

Street lights always go in very early as they are part of the definition of a built up area, so the speed limit is now 50km/h on your street unless otherwise signed. No street lights - 100 km/h.

 

[TomVexille]

Street lights always go in very early as they are part of the definition of a built up area, so the speed limit is now 50km/h on your street unless otherwise signed. No street lights - 100 km/h.

But the road isn't finished??

 

[blackcat20]

Street lights always go in very early as they are part of the definition of a built up area, so the speed limit is now 50km/h on your street unless otherwise signed. No street lights - 100 km/h.

You cant drive down there yet unless you find a way through the locked gate.

 

[JessicaTam]

But the road isn't finished??

You cant drive down there yet unless you find a way through the locked gate.

That's why they get them in early. As soon as the road is open it is 50km/h.

 

[blackcat20]

Found the light I wanted for the dining area on sale and treated myself.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

But the road isn't finished??

As an engineer all services like water, gas, lighting, underground power, phone are installed, or at least ducting later, for later installation of pipes and cables, before the final road base/seal is laid otherwise one ends up with trenches across the road which will cause bumps, and impair service life of the pavement due to water ingress into the sub-base and subgrade.

These days there will ducts under the road pavement too for water access etc. Older subdivisions often do not have and so plumbers may need to trench perfectly good pavements.

 

[Pushka]

Or as when our Council spent Federal tax money on doing up our street and somehow ignored the obvious water pipe leakage bubbling away underneath. Not their job I guess. But residents had reported water pooling for weeks beforehand. Within 3 days our water people were digging up the lovely new road.