We have action!

It's been such an exciting week. The slab wasn't poured last Monday as was scheduled because of the forecast of rain and it wasn't until I checked with the ss on Wednesday night, that he told me it was scheduled for Thursday. I'm so glad I checked because the boys and I really wanted to see the pour. We left for school a little earlier on Thursday to go past the land and there they were, full steam ahead, working with the concrete. When we arrived at 7:50am, the outdoor room and portico had already been finished so we stayed to watch the huge pump pour the concrete over our garage area. It was such a thrill to see.

By Thursday afternoon the pour was complete and the slab was rock hard. The frames were also delivered on Thursday and on Friday the roof trusses were delivered too. We are so fortunate to have an empty block of land next to us as the deliveries have all had place to be kept without disrupting the flow of traffic or the neighbours. Of course we were at the land on Saturday for a real look and to try and get a feel for the size of the rooms and the locations, but it wasn't until we went yesterday that we really got to see the house taking shape. 

The frame is up for most of the house except the bedrooms (main is done), kitchen, laundry and butlers pantry. We arrived as the fencing guys were putting up the fence around the property to ensure "people" don't walk on the slab and get injured with a stray nail. I was peering through the fence and taking photos from far but the fencing guy invited to take me for a walk on our slab and see the framing up close. I was so excited! 

I am a bit concerned that our ensuite is too small, but the outdoor room and living areas are a great size. Jake's bedroom is the perfect size and he loved imagining where his bed and other furniture would go. The other 2 bedrooms weren't framed yet, so we will wait and see what those feel like soon. It's all still quite surreal actually, seeing it go from a 2D drawing to a 3D home...I still can't quite believe we are building a house. 

I have taken loads of photos but I have struggled to sync them from my phone to computer. Going to try for the millionth time again. 

The fly screen saga continues. We have found a supplier that can help us with screens that don't need a supporting pillar to work, but it's not one of Metricon's suppliers so we have to jump through a few hoops first. But our ss has told us not to worry, we will sort something out. I think we may even have to do them after handover, but we will have to see what happens.

C

No progress yet

We were very excited at the prospect of our slab being laid yesterday but it didn't happen. Andre made arrangements to go into work later so that he could see the slab being poured and I had the kids get ready earlier so we could go and see the pour before school, but there was nothing happening on our site. I went twice more during the day but it still hadn't been touched. I had seen the concreter last week doing the prep for the pour and both he and our Site Supervisor (SS) told us the pour would happen yesterday but there was obviously a problem because it didn't happen. Needless to say, we have not been contacted to let us know there is a delay. So we wait.

But another more pressing issue for me is our fly screens. I hate having insects/flies/mosquitos inside so it was non-negotiable that we have fly screens in our house, not only on all windows, but on the doors leading outside too. We have chosen beautiful, extra tall, timber stacker doors for our dining/living area that lead out onto our outdoor room. But since they are stackers, they need a special kind of screen that has to be built in at the time the doors are being put in, so we chose to do the screens with Metricon's supplier. They weren't cheap, but I was adamant that I had to have them. 

On the weekend, we visited the Build and Design Centre in the city so that I could see the floor that we have chosen, laid out. I have only seen a sample and we knew there was a floor laid out there that we could see and visualise how our floors would look. They look awesome and we are really thrilled that we have chosen a bamboo floor. But on our way through the centre, we saw a supplier of the fly screens showing 2 different options - a retractable option that folds away into a cavity built into the wall or a pleated version that folds in on itself and sits neatly against the wall. We then realised that we didn't actually know which one we had chosen and I really hoped it wasn't the pleated version because I absolutely hated it. It looks flimsy and old fashioned and not anything like I had in mind. 

When we got home, we looked at our variations and saw a description, but not a model number so we had to call Metricon yesterday to find out what we had actually selected. Turns out that we had actually selected the pleated version :-( Since we have chosen a cornerless stacker door option, there is nowhere for the retractable screen to connect to and so we have to have the pleated version. But we may be able to go with another supplier and then have to chat to the construction team to see if they will allow us to use a different supplier to install the correct screens during the build. I am waiting for a call back from the new screen supplier to see if they can accommodate us and then we will have to ask Metricon if they will allow us to use them. Watch this space! 

My pet peev..

If there is one thing that absolutely gets my back up is people not doing what they say they will. I don't deal with being let down very well and unfortunately I have had a lot of that in the process of building our house. Definitely not the case with Metricon and our customer support co-ordinator, Helen. She was absolutely fantastic and we never had to wait for a response or an answer. Helen was absolutely on the ball and was always one step ahead of us. I wish we could've met her in person. 

One pool builder in particular was recommended to us and it was a mission trying to get him to come and see us. We had to follow up and follow up but eventually he came over one night and gave some good advice and definitely knew what he was talking about. He promised a quote and a 3D drawing within 2 weeks of seeing us. That was in January. We are still waiting. However, we got an email from them this week asking how our project is going. Huh? Does he know we are waiting for him?! 

Anybody building a house will know you need all the quotes first for all the different parts to the build (house, pool, landscaping, fencing, driveway etc) to get mortgage approval and while I got the impression that the tradies I spoke to all knew this process, there were so many that just didn't get back to me. I found this extremely frustrating and definitely delayed things for us. I wonder if it's a general thing with tradies or if that was just our experience. I certainly understand they are busy, but we have dollars to spend and that didn't seem to mean anything to them. In the end, we found a brilliant pool company who quoted for the pool and landscaping, so if we decide to go with them, I will certainly let you all know who that is. 

Waiting, waiting, waiting....

I'm not that good with waiting. Especially when I know there is nothing I can do about it, except be patient. Patience is not my strong point and I have to physically find something else to do to keep me occupied so I don't feel like I'm bouncing off the walls. 

Apart from the ground being scraped last Thursday, nothing much else happened this week. The stones for the driveway were delivered and spread evenly for the delivery trucks to use to get onto our land and a porta-loo was delivered. Oh, and a square fence like structure that will be used as a bin. I have been going to our land so often, each time hoping I could see something different. But other than the muddy puddles drying up, there was nothing new to see. I have a bit of an obsession with going to see our land, you see. For weeks it's been our little routine on a Saturday morning to go to the drive thru Gloria Jeans for a half strength, skinny, extra hot latte for me and a large capp for Andre and gingerbread biscuits for the boys, and then drive to our land. We have watched weeds grow, seen a peg disappear, wondered who is mixing cement on our land and noticed wheel tracks on our land, but not much else has happened there. 

But it's through visiting our land that we have met some neighbours, seen how quick the framing process is and played in the water-filled shower cut outs after the rain we had. I have also taken my paint samples to hold against another house down the road because I was worried that they might look like the house down the road whose house is very dark. We have met some tradies and made contact with some fencing and landscaping guys doing work around us which can come in really handy down the track. Andre says I should stop going past so often because the tradies will think I'm stalking them. And they aren't even doing our build! Imagine when they are! 

And today something happened. Today we were told the plumbing was going in, so I went around at about lunch time and boy, there was something happening. The plumber was digging the holes and drains were going on. The electrician was doing his thing and the electrical box was going on. We didn't stay long but I took a few pics and then popped around again (I told you I had an obsession) at around 5 and all the holes were covered up and the pipes are all sticking out the ground. I was a little disappointed that it had gone so quickly because I wanted Andre to see what they were doing and how they do it, but now he can only see the pipes. I can see exactly where each room is and what the pipes are for. The plumber very kindly took me onsite and showed me where the markings of our house are and explained how the measured 3 times to be sure they were doing the right thing and showed me where the drain pipes will go, where the stormwater drain runs out and how the pipes are laid to make way for the pool. The plumber has a very important job because if he measures incorrectly, it could have massive impact on the whole house and once the slab is poured, there is very little you can do to change the pipes without damaging the slab. But we will have another measure and inspection by the site supervisor and the construction manager before the slab is poured next week, so all should be good. 

I will go to the land tomorrow (again) to see if there is any more progress. 

Cheers,

Corrinne

P.S. I wonder when I'm going to start saying "house" instead of "land" :-)

In the beginning....

As I sit here with a cup of coffee in one hand and a bundle of nervous energy in the other, I can't quite believe that I am about to embark on 2 things that I have never done before - one is build a house and the other is write a blog. How perfect to combine the 2 and take both these exciting journeys out on each other. 

My name is Corrinne and I have been married to Andre for just over 13 years. We have 2 gorgeous boys, Jake (aged 6 and three quarters) and Dale (aged 3.5) and are originally from South Africa. We arrived in Australia in January 2013 and live in a beautiful suburb of Brisbane, North Lakes. The intention was always to buy a house but in the beginning we decided to rent for a while to see how things worked, what we liked, if we were going to stay in North Lakes and to save some money. We started actively looking last June and couldn't quite find a house that suited our needs. We knew there were some land releases happening but weren't sure of the process. In the end, things fell into place and we bought an awesome corner block, measuring 845m2. 

It's been 4 days, 4 hours and 21 minutes since our build started. And we have a scraped block and some muddy puddles. Since it's the Easter weekend, nothing else has happened (of course), but my patience can't cope with only the weeds growing and not much else going on. This journey is going to be a really interesting one and I think I will get mild relief from expressing my feelings to my little online psychologist, my blog. 

So come on this journey with me to see how our house and my personality evolves. It's bound to be one hellava ride!