TomCat's new digs!

[Denali]

You get to a point sometimes where you don’t want a big block.

You would think that but my husband has... stuff. Lots of stuff (hobbies). The design we like is 360sq mtrs, almost twice what we have now.

..... engaging our own building inspector to keep the builder on top of things. $2k very well spent based on what a lot of others have said.

I also think an independent surveyor is a good idea and plan on doing this as well but you have to make sure the builder is communicating the build timeline so they can inspect things like slab and thermal the walls to make sure insulation is done correctly ect. Sneaky b*****ds, gotta watch them. You have to even check the drains, Ive seen tradies put rubble/broken tile ect down the bathroom pipes for some crazy reason. Lazy in clean up?

 

[Pushka]

Building is definitely a slower process. When we moved out of the old place we had anticipated being in our own place by Christmas (this year!) but once we decided to build that went out the window. However, we will have a lovely new house built the way we want it, and without all those problems that came with living in a 50+ year old house (which we were in previously). Heck, the 10 year old house we're in at the moment has enough issues!

Just in the process of engaging our own building inspector to keep the builder on top of things. $2k very well spent based on what a lot of others have said.

We contracted an architect to design and oversee when we did an extension a few years ago. Best decision ever. There are shortcuts that can be taken that you can’t tell unless ‘you know’. Best decision ever.

We built our first home and yes a journey but we remember that as our first big project together.

It’s funny. We’ve lived in 3 houses since. The first house was the build, two kids, and lived there for maybe 18 years. Then sold and rented for a year then moved to this old Tudor.

Ben Folds lived in the second house. His signature was all over the basement and he referred to this house in his Adelaide concert a couple of years ago. My niece got very excited and almost yelled out - so did my Aunty! We used to get his mail.

We’ve now been in this house for 14 years. When I dream about relevant stuff it’s always located in the first house we built.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Problem with buying a house in todays climate, other than the $$$, is even if we sold our current home, I would be buying another 20-50yr old home with 20-50 year old problems. (I wouldnt buy a new project home as land size is too small).

A new home, KDR ect. The journey might be painful but hopefully at the end of it, you have a new home that you had imput in to suit your current and future needs.

yes this is the conclusion Ms FM and husband have come to. They have a tiny (90m2) house on a 950 m2 block. The idea was to extend when their finances could cope. However the house has no insulation in the walls and the plumbing and wiring are pretty dodgy. So KDR is now the plan. While initially we thought that was a bit extravagant, I think in the end it will work best and they will stay there for a long time, raise a family etc, so worth it.

 

[blackcat20]

Big things happening. Our loan application is going in today

Plus we got word from others in our stage that all the constuction fences are gone! Hoping for compliance in the next few days as the estimated titles date is a week away. Photo pinched from facebook. Our block is on the right, last driveway before what appears to be fencing for the next stage.

 

[Denali]

Watch out for other builders dumping on your site. Cant remember who it was but someone told me that concrete was being dumped on their site from other builds. Oh, and I saw footage of a tradie stealing stuff at night from someones build.

Night hunting cameras is what I would be looking into.

 

[blackcat20]

Watch out for other builders dumping on your site. Cant remember who it was but someone told me that concrete was being dumped on their site from other builds. Oh, and I saw footage of a tradie stealing stuff at night from someones build.

Night hunting cameras is what I would be looking into.

Yeah I've heard about some concrete dumping by others in the estate. Though no builders in that area yet as no one has settled their land. Hoping our builder gets fences us asap as then any rubbish becomes their problem.

 

[love_the_life]

Exciting times @blackcat20. Fingers crossed it all goes smoothly

 

[blackcat20]

Everyone is getting very impatient given the construction was finished weeks ago. We all want to get things happening before Christmas.

 

[Denali]

Must say, living in a old suburb with telegraph poles/wires, new estates with all underground is really nice. I know when we KDR, the wires (have to pay for tiger tails!) are going to be a big problem for us.

 

[blackcat20]

Yes I'm very glad for the lack of poles and wires. And very glad the street light is in front of the neighbours house

 

[TomVexille]

Must say, living in a old suburb with telegraph poles/wires, new estates with all underground is really nice. I know when we KDR, the wires (have to pay for tiger tails!) are going to be a big problem for us.

You can pay to have it all put underground...

It's definitely not cheap though

 

[cove]

Underground power is way more reliable and we paid for it a long time ago. No more storm damage causing failures and our views are so much better without power lines. Our neighbours have the street light.

 

[Denali]

So when you say you can pay for it, you mean just for your house and the rest of the street is overhead or you pay for the entire street to be underground?

 

[travelislife]

So when you say you can pay for it, you mean just for your house and the rest of the street is overhead or you pay for the entire street to be underground?

In Melbourne any knock down rebuild you are required to put a pit in the street for your new connection. All this is is them running the cable down the existing pole to a pit in front of your property. They usually install the pit on the boundary of two properties so they can be shared. Cost depends how far they have to run the cable underground from the pole. I got it done last year and it cost about $3.5k to put the pit in and run the cable.

So the existing overhead wires still remain in the street but the connection to your house is underground and avoids the unsightly wires. It also removes the non compliance of 1000's of properties where the overhead cable from the pole to your house may cross over someone else's title boundary. This is not allowed any more but is very common with established houses.

 

[cove]

About 1 kilometre of our Street was done thru our council more than a decade ago and we had a surcharge on our rates for about 5 years. The council did more later but they never did the whole suburb.

 

[blackcat20]

It also removes the non compliance of 1000's of properties where the overhead cable from the pole to your house may cross over someone else's title boundary. This is not allowed any more but is very common with established houses.

At our old place, the neighbours electricity cable ran through our roof! It came in one side from the street, through the roof cavity then out the other side where it was connected to her house. She was finally connected directly to the street about 15 years ago but the dead cable was left in the roof.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Canberra started putting power underground about 20 years ago for new suburbs, but it was too expensive to redo old suburbs. We are fortunate that our suburb does have underground in spite of being developed in the early 80s. Not sure why - possibly because the developer had to keep as many trees as possible as part of the development plan, they decided underground was necessary. It is a very bushy/treed suburb, so having power underground is great, particularly with the increasing storms we are getting.

 

[TomVexille]

So when you say you can pay for it, you mean just for your house and the rest of the street is overhead or you pay for the entire street to be underground?

Either or. I was talking to some linesman the other day who told me a story of them moving an overhead line underground for about the width of 3 houses as someone didn't like them ruining his view of the beach. IIRC the quoted cost was millions.

 

[Denali]

Well I live in suburbia but it might be an option for trucks ect during the build. Next door partly crosses our driveway as well so Ive been worried about what to do with it. Thanks.

 

[TomVexille]

Well I live in suburbia but it might be an option for trucks ect during the build. Next door partly crosses our driveway as well so Ive been worried about what to do with it. Thanks.

I would consider Brighton suburbia