Power Pit is in!

It has been a very busy week here, but things appear to be moving along nicely.

On Monday 25th, I was greeted on my way out to school by a large truck and a bloke with a jack hammer! Three guys had turned up to install the underground power pit. At the time I left, they were setting up the jack hammer to dig up the footpath where the pit was to go, and working out where the gas and water pipes were for our house, and the house next door. By the time I came back about an hour later, the footpath had been dug up and the back hoe was digging out the soil, and there was a trench in the nature strip next to the electricity pole.







I chatted to them for a while, and they explained everything they were doing...and even let my Son have a sit on the back hoe!



Just after midday, they were all packed up, having completed the instillation and 'mostly' cleaned up their mess. I actually got out there with the broom to finished sweeping a bit of remaining soil back on the nature strip.

And voila! We have underground power...although it won't be connected for a while!



Apart from the excitement out on the footpath, we have finally sent off our loan documents, received a letter to apply for 'Asset Protection' from the Council (footpaths, kerbs, council trees etc during the demo and rebuild), and redirected our mail. I also spent the best part of an hour on the phone to the Council to change our address for the cat rego, Telstra to disconnect the phone on Monday and put a 'reserve' on our phone number and Origin Energy to abolish the gas and electricity.

It's going to be an even busier weekend with moving, but I think I'm 'fairly' organised! (Famous last words... ;) )

Unconditional Loan Approval and First Post Contract Variation.

We have received a letter from our 'future' bank stating we have unconditional approval for our loan! Fantastic news, and we have also received our loan documents to sign too. How exciting!

We also received our first post contract variation from Henley, where all the issues we raised at the contract signing were amended. This included changing position of some lights, changing the wiring of other lights, swapping the study doors, making the study cupboard 820mm deep instead of 510mm, changing a couple of awning windows to sliding to match the rest of the elevations (except the front) and change the position of the extra power point in the garage to 1350mm instead of almost floor level. As it turns out, this post contract variation was free, and Henley now owe us $93!!

We signed it all and I dropped it into head office this morning.

I've also organised someone from the Council to assess the footpath to see how much we need to pay for an asset protection permit. At this stage, it looks as though it might be about an $1800 refundable bond.

In the meantime, the packing continues, as the storage place gets fuller and fuller, and our little house gets emptier and emptier. Busy times ahead, but I'm taking the weekend off and going to Adelaide for a Conference. A little piece of relaxation before the main move.

Pink Paint for a Power Pit!

...try saying that several times quickly! ;)



Great to see the fax went through to United Energy and I filled out the forms for a pit request correctly, since their attempt at faxing through the documents failed initially. Eventually email did the trick! So, we now have lovely pink paint work on the footpath out the front, marking the spot for the underground electrical pit. This is due to be installed on the 5th September (or there abouts!), and, hopefully, after we have moved out!

We have had several busy weekends recently. Along with the normal family commitments, we moved the rather large and extremely heavy TV unit into storage 2 weekends ago. With just the two of us tackling the beast, it took almost two hours to get it onto the trailer. We ended up having to jack it up so it was level with the trailer, then sliding it on. It's far too heavy to be picked up by 2 people. We did try ringing a couple of people to help, but no one was home!



Thankfully, at the storage place, it was much easier to drag it off the trailer and onto a set of cricket stumps, and literally roll it into the lockup. Hopefully when the time comes to move it again we will have some extra people power!

Last weekend we dismantled the cubby house on the Saturday and moved that into storage too. It would have been nice to have just left it, but the alfresco will be built partly on top of it, so it had to go!

Now you see it....


...now it's all packed away!


We had planned on moving a couple of other big pieces of furniture on the Sunday, but at the time we had spare...it rained and snowed on the nearby hills. So what did we do instead? Snow chasing, of course!

_

We've signed our life away...

Yesterday, the deed was done, and we signed on the dotted line! Well, actually we signed several dotted lines and initialled every page, making over 250 signatures! It all ran very smoothly, as did the pens.

We picked up on a few other mistakes in the electrical plan. This included the extra power point in the garage drawn at the incorrect height, the hallway two way switch was supposed to switch at the garage internal door (since that is the door we will mainly use to gain entry to the house), but it was drawn at the entrance instead. We also increased the study cupboard to 820mm depth, as it was drawn at 510mm. We also had the dining room windows (which were originally the lounge windows) changed to sliding to match the rest of the house. They had been drawn in as awning windows. I also queried the absence of the vent for the range hood on the elevation drawing. The vent for the powder room was there, but it is imperative that the range hood is externally vented...not into the ceiling space between the floors. We also swapped the position of the half door and the full door in the study, so the half door is on the same side as the cupboard door. This way, the half door can stay shut most of the time, and the cupboard can easily be opened.

Due to copyright reasons I will not be showing our floor plans with the dimensions on them, nor all of the elevation drawings. I have the front elevation, minus the dimensions, just to show what the house will look like with the cut and fill, and I have the publicly available floor plan as a basic feel of what it will be like.





We are looking at moving out in about 3 weeks, demo about 3 weeks after that, then it could be about 2 weeks minimum before site start. It won't be long now!!! Hopefully before Christmas we'll have a slab, frame and roof!

Fingers and toes are all crossed...

Contract and Drawings Received!

I got home on Friday to see a huge white courier delivered envelope sitting on the porch, and was terribly excited to see it! We have an awful lot of reading to do tonight as we go through everything, and make sure we understand everything.

It was great to finally see our drawings come together, especially the elevations. There are about 6 little issues we have discovered, but most are the positioning of the lights in certain rooms. The family room lights have been wired incorrectly to how we drew them on our electrical plan, and the hallway/kitchen doors open the wrong way (especially annoying as we stipulated they be opening the other way, and is written in our tender). One major concern we have is the depth of the cupboard we asked for in the Study. It's waaaay too shallow. We will also need to have the double doors swapped around so the smaller one is closer to the cupboard.

We hope these little issues won't impact too much on our contract signing, and hope they are rectified quickly so we can still sign...without having to spend any money on post contract variations.

I can't scan the elevations as the scanner has been packed and is now in storage! I may take a couple of pics of them and post them...but you'll have to wait! I have an awful lot of reading to do tonight!!!

Updated Demo Quote.

We organised to have another quote from our chosen demolishes, as we are fast running out of time, and have not had a chance to get the trees cut down. We also thought about keeping some concrete out the back, where the sheds are, to relocate the cubby house, but we have to remove the Liquidamber next to it. Now that we have our site plan we have to take out several other trees as well. It seemed easier to get the demolishes to take it all out instead of a tree lopping company!

So, for an extra $1500, 6 large trees will be removed, as well as all the concrete and the sheds. Total cost will be $10,700, and we think that is very reasonable!

We are looking at moving out late August now, as demo may not happen until late September...once all the connections have been cut off. There are still many boxes to pack and furniture to move, but we are making steady progress!

Contract signing appointment is next Monday, so with any luck we will receive it on Friday and have the whole weekend to read through it all with a fine toothed comb! Although demo will be quite an emotional time, I can't wait to have a brand new house!

School Fire Update.

Nothing exciting is happening with our own house building until we sign the contract, so I thought I'd update on the school fire.

It has been a very exhausting and challenging first week back of Term 3 for the children, as they adjust to their new routines. They are all being dropped off at the school and bussed to a near-by school, which has been so kind in offering classrooms for them all. They then are bussed back to our school where the Parents pick them up. Unfortunately, there is no where to park at the school, as the main carpark is being used for trucks and bulldozers working on the damaged buildings, and it's just too unsafe to have cars, parents and children near the buildings. We have walked to school a few mornings, otherwise we park in the side streets and walk to the school gates. This morning, was the most challenging, as it was raining...for once!

The workers have been very busy with lots of activity at the school. Trees have been removed (unfortunately), to make way for the portables, and demolition and decontamination are beginning. It won't be long before the children are back on home soil and in their temporary classrooms while the re-building continues.

The Principal and the teachers have been just fantastic through all of this, as has the whole school community. It's been an horrific thing to have happened, but we will move forward from this little 'blip' in the history of our school.

Onwards and upwards!!

Devastating Day.

Saturday 12th July 2008 will be a very dark day for our little community. We woke to the news at 7am that a fire had been lit in our primary school, with 2 buildings affected.

Upon arriving at the school at 8am, we were greeted with smoke billowing out from the main building, numerous fire units and police cars, and some very distressed teachers. The two buildings affected house the majority of the classrooms. The main building has been seriously damaged with the whole office, computer lab, robotics lab, grades 5 and 6 classrooms completely gone. The other building affected has the junior classes, where the prep room has been singed severely. This accounts for approximately 40% of the school, with 90% being damaged in some way by smoke and/or water.

It made headlines on all the news bulletins last night and the shock soon turned to reality as they showed a lot more of the extent of the damage than what we could see when we were at the school during the day. I think it will really hit home when we return from school holidays tomorrow.

Latest news is that the main building may have to be fully demolished as the damage to the structure is far too great to repair. That would leave only 2 classrooms currently being used in the other building. I am unsure of the state of this building at this stage.

Our community has been rocked by the individual/s who caused this atrocious act, and I hope they feel guilty for what they have done. Our community is a strong one, and we will rally together in our time of need and our little primary school will rise from the ashes and strive forward, for the sake of our beautiful children.

It's Been A Busy Week....

After going through a few emails on Monday after our tender signing, I had the sudden realisation that there were no extra heating vents in the Bathroom or Ensuite. We had discussed this with our Sales Consultant, and I had written an email outlining this and a few other additions a while ago when he was preparing our revised quote. I sent the email off to our Admin (who has since changed) outlining the mistake in the hope we could get it rectified.

We were bombarded with so much info at the tender signing, and I did have a list of things to 'check'...but this, unfortunately, also seemed to miss this list. I had rather a sleepless night on Monday thinking it was going to cost us a 'Post Contract Variation' (read $500). My PC also decided to crash on Thursday morning. It took me over an hour to download 6 emails and attempt to get into a couple of my favourite forums. I rebooted...and windows wouldn't start again :(.

So, tonight, I finally have email and internet again, and I have received an email from our new Admin letting me know there will be a new tender drawn up, which we will need to sign and return. Looks as though it won't cost us a cent!! Yay!

Apart from the sleepless nights, I have been busy sorting out the kids toys, throwing out a heap of stuff and packing more boxes - ready for the weekly run to the storage place!

I'm getting there, slowly...and I can't wait for the school holidays to end so I can have a little peace to pack in! ;)

Tender Today.

We had our Tender appointment this morning, and were pleasantly surprised at the outcome. There were no shocks and nothing that needed to be crossed off the list due to being too expensive. The best news was that we don't require retaining walls around the cut and fill areas! Whoo Hoo!!

Our site costs come in at around $15,500, which we had been hoping for, especially with the absence of the retainers. The slab will need to be strengthened in some areas where the fill top soil (sandy silty stuff) is deeper than 600mm, and along the south boundary (where the garage is) the slab will require deepened edge beams where the fill is as well. We are also getting agi pipes and 2 silts drain to help with drainage.

We are still unsure of the need for root barrier, but this will be decided once the house has been removed and an engineer can look at the site again. Due to Council regulations, we have to include frosted glass to the upstairs TV area, and also in bedroom 3 as there will be privacy issues with the neighbours. We also have to include Part B termite treatment (Part A is standard), which is a porous tube running around the perimeter of the house with several points to fill up the pipe with a special non toxic chemical.

All of our 'added extras' and/or variations add up to a whopping $69,000! But with the Alfresco at over $10,000 and the Colour tech (2 pac) kitchen at $5,500, it's no wonder, really!

Here is a complete list of all of our variations:

* Grand Alfresco

* Remote control garage door

* Daniel Robertson Bricks

* Off white mortar

* Classic shingle style roof tiles

* Extend the 300mm eaves to 450mm throughout

* Heritage architraves and skirtings

* Soundproofing the walls around the study

* Provide a robe with 4 shelves to the study

* 4 decorative ribbon balusters to the staircase

* Upgrade paint to 3 coats Taubmans living proof silk

* 2 Corinthian 820mm wide double entry doors and no sidelites

* Provide extra window to meals area

* Swap 2 windows from lounge with the 1 window in dining (no charge)

* Provide 2 Sofia levers and single deadbolts to Laundry external door and garage internal access door.

* Half glazed laundry door instead of full glazed (no charge)

* Provide 2 doors to the ensuite (no charge)

* Provide 2 doors to the hallway/kitchen/meals/family

* Provide 2 doors to study

* Provide door to under stairs

* Provide 5 metal privacy buttons to sofia handles in bathroom, WC, Powder, ensuite and ensuite WC

* Provide Sofia levers to all doors, including front entry door (no charge)

* Provide 29 Corinthian Cambridge 2 panel doors throughout

* Flyscreen to all awning and sliding windows

* Sliding flywire mesh door to meals area sliding door.

* Garage internal; access door to open into hallway (no charge)

* Provide zone motor to 5 star central heating to close off the top storey

* Overhead cupboards with portrait doors and large canopy stainless steel rangehood (no charge)

* Provide underbench cupboards (2 lots of 3 pot drawers) and stainless steel cooktop with wok burner

* All kitchen base cupboard options and wall oven tower standard (no charge)

* Provide 1000mm wide overhead fridge/freezer space with feature open shelf (no charge)

* Provide Gloss Colourtech in 'soft bevelled' profile to cupboards and drawers only. Provide Gloss Clolourtech end panels, rear panels and kicker.

* Provide Stainless steel microwave and trim kit to the wall oven tower

* Rangehood is externally vented through the brick veneer wall (no charge)

* Provide larger vanity and larger shower in lieu of bath to ensuite. WIR extended and window to suit provided. (no charge)

* Provide portrait doors and 3 drawers to double ensuite vanity (no charge)

* Provide portrait doors and 3 drawers to bathroom vanity (no charge)

* Provide portrait doors and 3 drawers to powder room vanity

* Provide Caesarstone bench tops to ensuite, bathroom and powder

* Upgrade 3 Tribune Close Coupled china white toilet suites in lieu of standard

* Provide Double towel rail to bathroom

* Provide overhead cupboards and underbench cupboards in laundry

* Provide linen in laundry with 1/3 broom and 2/3 shelves (no charge)

* Provide alarm system

* Additional cold water capped tap to fridge space

* Additional external tap to rear of house

* 29 fire rated low voltage downlights

* 4 additional batten ceiling light points

* 7 additional batten wall lights

* 1 internal junction box for future light to under stairs

* 5 external junction boxes fixed to brick veneer walls for future light points

* 5 external junction boxes fixed to solid brick walls for future light points

* 9 additional internal double power points

* 1 additional two-way switch to entry light point

* 1 junction box in alfresco ceiling for future fan

* 2 additional TV points to study and alfresco

* 1 additional hard wired smoke detector to outside laundry/powder room

* 1 dimmer switch to standard batten ceiling light in dining

...and that's it!!! We haven't done many variations to the floorplan, as we specifically chose this floorplan as it was exactly what we were after. So basically the changes are more cosmetic than anything else.

Our Contract signing is booked in for Monday 4th August at 9am, and we will receive our plans and complete drawings a few days prior to completely look over and make sure there are no mistakes. So, all going to plan we are looking at demo and site start around late September!!! Yippee!