Frames partially completed

Frames have been started with roofing and a few sides panels to be done.. house is taking shape and looking awesome!

Mega slab poured!

So here is a piccy of the slab, it looks like a runway and im already imagining all the rooms and where our furniture goes. lol

Piers are in!

All the piers are in! The bad news is that we went over by 60metres.. inital allowance of 75 metres so we up for quite a bit of cash.. oh well, im pretty sure the house wont move an inch now!

Site scraped!

So finally some real action! Site has been scraped giving us an idea of where exactly the house will sit. its finally sinking in that we are building!!

Site pegged out

Got a texct on the 5th April to say that work has commenced! Of course being excited about the news used the saturday to drive down from sydney. Alas pegs were installed. Also got the land slashed as the grass was getting a bit out of hand. Site supervisor will be in contact 11/04/2012 so hopefully will find out what is happening when!

Just been put on the Construction List

Some great news today where our bank has finally sent the Letter of Commencement to MJH. MJH has confirmed we have just been placed on the construction list so pegging will occur within 20 days. Very excited!!!!

Oh i forgot the electricals

We spent 9k on electrical appontment which only includes under cupboard kitchen downlights (ie no other downlights at all!) Things like alarm, extra power points, data, tv points, telstra lead in (lots of metres as we are on acres) have added up quickly.. Also got wall mounts for tvs in 2 rooms (home theatre and great room). Hopefully last added expense for a while ...

Valuation has come back

So the bank has finally organised the valuation and our land is worth 15K more than the last time they valued it in december of last year! Nice! Now ive gotta wait for the bank to pull their finger out and draw up all the contracts etc. They say it will take at least a week. Im so dissapointed with CBA..

Contracts returned and DA recieved - Bank being a pain

We have recieved countersigned contracts as well as having our plans approved by certifier. MJH wants their 4% but bank didnt order valuation until i chased yet again... i ordered this a couple of weeks ago and the bank has admitted to dropping the ball.. This is just going to delay us :(

Electricals Booked for 8th March

We are expecting counter signed contracts with DA (through private certifier) this week with electrical appointment on the 8th... Really not sure what to expect but ive looked at some of the packages which include Ducted vacuum which im not interested in at all. Wonder if they will split items out as i do want alarm.. Also dont know what else i want to spend money on, friends have said get cat 6 throughout.. Dont even know what that means lol

Contracts recieved today!

As im working away from home, my wife tells me she has recieved contracts today! Nice! apparently 3 copies of a billion pages each.. oh well, spoke to bank today who are more than happy to lend us the cash.. Moving along nicely!

Colour Selections ... DONE!

Today was the colour selections day and i have to say we breezed through it with the help of fantastic colour consultant (Erin). Bamboo coffee flooring, licorice linea bathroom cabinets, kitchen bottom cupboards, white overhead cupboards polyurathane glossy etc. Will post photos tomorrow. Spent way more than i wanted but wanted all the little things like changing door handles etc.

Phew a stressful day to start with but awesome outcome.

Drawings signed, Colour appointment booked!!!

We went to meet Heather from MJH in south Nowra and the experience was awesome. She pointed out the garage gable being off centre which my wife and i just didnt see regardless of how many times we looked at it. So adjustments made and we signed prelims drawings!

On another note (yes MJH are moving quickly) we booked in our colour appointment for the 1st of Feb. Its all moving quicker than i expected. Colours is scaring me a little as it just seems to be a little daunting with all the choices we need to make on the day. Hoping we get Erin who was the lady that did the colour walk through last December

Prelim Drawings

McDonald Jones havent wasted anytime over the holidays, just got the call to say that our preliminary drawings are done and being sent out to us. Things are moving ahead nicely! :)

Good News and Awful News ...

Good news is that we recieved the consolidated tender today from mcdonald jones so we are progressing nicely in that department.

The awful news is that a part of that, the soil tests came back and said that the soil classification is H1 / P ... I just feel so devastated about this and dont know what to do with this predicament. Im thinking about pulling out of the whole thing and just cutting my losses before anything else bad happens... Damn it all!

Ummmm oops

Well my missus pointed out that i didnt tell everyone what we will build. Its the Bronte Executive by McDonald Jones!! We love this house and saw the bigger version at lochinvar (maitland). The only house that we only had to do minor changes to.

Heres the link http://www.mcdonaldjoneshomes.com.au/page19814/Home-Designs--Property-Detail.aspx?propertyID=82

We went with the 3 garage option and American colonial facade "C"

Pre Selections walk through

Spent an hour and a bit at the Baulkham Hills office going though all the selections that we will have to tackle on Selections day... So many options but i think the walkthrough helped us focus our attention to the bits we want. The best news to come out of it for me was that the flooring can be installed before they put on skirting boards so there will be no ugly beading around the edges! Awesome!!! Of course we will be spending some money on things we "must" have but will blog that wjhen we make the choices.

Land is Ours!

Got the call from the solicitor and the bank today (around 3pm) saying that the land was ours! woot, next step is waiting for preselections with McDonald Jones who we are building with. Set for 10am 19th Dec.

Exchanged Contracts!!! Settlement for the block is on the 12th December

Buying the land

Took the whole family to the block and walked all over the 3 acres... dreaming of what could be..