Freaking out!

I had my first (and I'm sure not my last) freak out today. Totalled up the budget, we were a measly $90k over budget! CRAP! So after I crashed around the house for 1o minutes and yelled at the kids for things that they didn't really do wrong, Bikeman volunteered to put the kids to bed so we could look at it properly. After much discussion and a box of chocolate it was all sorted. Well we had to cut down on some things but now at least we can afford to start. Oh my god. Not a good way to end the year!!!!! My heart be still, please! My New Years resolution is to take it all on the chin. All of it! And to settle for Bunnings toilets. Do you know you can buy ones that have a 'soft close' lid?? Only costs and extra $500 or so... not that much really, is it???

I forgot about the party!

One thing I forgot about was that we went to our street's Christmas Party on the 23rd Dec. It was sooooo great! We got to meet many of our neighbours, as well as sit down and have a chat to our lovely neighbours, which is something we haven't really been able to do yet. Everyone was so friendly, and it was feels like we are really moving into a lovely community. Lots of kids! There were kids galore, probably 15 or so ageing from 6 months to about 10, I think. And there were 3 or 4 'older' couples so it was lovely to see them there as well. We sat around and had a few drinks, and some nibbles, and tried to stay out of the wind! It was a great night and I'm really grateful for the O'B's for inviting us along. I have a good feeling about this place :)

Hole Diggers

Today was a day we worked very hard! Bikeman, Stevie B and I worked all day digging holes for the piers (big columns of concrete). 42, last count. Stevie B took care of machine detail (ie he digged every single one of those darn holes), Bikeman dug out all of the extra dirt, and I cleared excess dirt from the holes and helped measure, got stuff etc etc. It doesn't sound very much but it took ages! We were so dirty at the end I actually looked like I had a bit of a tan! It was hard work but very rewarding. Next step - get some concrete poured into the holes, organise the temporary fence. Big thanks to Stevie B who worked his butt off all day, as did Bikeman who is now suffering with a sore back ... the price we pay! Prior to today, the extra site cut was completed so now you can clearly see the split level at the front and it goes back a longer way at the back. The kids around our area love it, it's like their own private bike jump! Bit of a problem now though, as there are up to 1.8m holes scattered around the block. Hence we need the temporary fence! On a personal note, the kids have had a wonderful christmas. They both got tool belts for christmas from us, so they think they're pretty good and can't wait to try out their hammers out at the block. As soon as I can work out the photo caper I'll post some ... hope you all have had a Merry Christmas and a have a great New Year!

Yipeeeee I'm excited!!!!

We had the retaining wall bricks delivered the other day, so they are ready for some handy people to put up in the relevant place which all going to plan (and that means the extra excavation works, the big boulder retaining wall at the rear and the concrete all has to happen - in that order - and in a timely fashion!) then it should be up and waiting for the really exciting part to happen.... the slab. I don't know why, but I'm excited about the slab. And no, not a slab of beer, although I have been known to get excited over a slab of beer, especially on beer and pizza night (Friday nights at the William St flat...Bish, back me up here!). But I digress. For some reason 'the slab' marks for me the beginning. The start of something tangible that begins to resemble the house. I can see it, walk on it and our family can press our hand prints into the concrete while it is still wet. We can pretend to be in our own rooms or to walk outside to the alfresco area. That's it - I can SEE it! Can't wait, can't happen soon enough.

Approvals Galore!

Following on from my last post where we were quietly waiting for approvals, we have received 2 in the one week! Received formal approval from the bank (phew!) and also heard from the Building Inspector that we have Building Approval (yay!). We also made our first proper purchase today - the blocks for our retaining wall. Up until now all the payments have been fairly minor, really and all improvements to the block or having the design drawn up. This is actual, tangible goods which are going to be delivered next week in preparation for the 'Labour Day' on Boxing Day. How exciting! Now we need to get cracking with finishing off all those quotes so we can take them to the bank at doc signing stage. And get our spreadsheets in more detail, now that we are forking over some cash. The fun stuff! We have also been invited to the streets Christmas Drinks get-together 2 nights before Christmas, which is so lovely! BYO Plate to share and some drinks and get to know the neighbours. Who are probably sick of looking at dirt! Til next time ... ciao! (and thanks to J for the reminder ... sometimes I just need that prod!)

Still waiting

Still waiting to hear re final approval from the bank but are quitely confident that all will be as expected. Loans Officer seemed pretty happy with everything so that is a good start! Organising for the retaining wall to be built just after Christmas - our wonderful family are going to come and help (thanks guys) so hopefully many hands will make light work! Still waiting on building approval. On a personal note, the pink one had kinder orientation the other day and we met a little girl her age who lives just 5 doors down! Meeting the neighbours already and haven't even moved in yet, how great!

Old dog, new tricks

Ok so you can't teach an old dog new tricks. My promise of weekly updates was shattered within a matter of two posts. I could come up with all sorts of excuses (holidays, work, kids) but I won't bother - I'll just try try again. House update: off to see the bank for proper loan approval tomorrow morning. Sure it will all be good, fingernails only a little chewed, trying to get all the paperwork I think they might need together. Building approval should be in or just about in with council, waiting on a couple more things (retaining wall design) before it can be finalised. Retaining wall will hopefully go up over the Christmas break so we can be ready for slab etc after christmas. Little by little!

A new career...

I became a honorary engineer for a couple of hours on Saturday. Well, a surveyor anyway. Well actually I held what they call the 'dumb end' of the surveying equipment (the stick with the prism on top with a bubble to let you know if it is up straight). And really the Friendly Prussian did it the week before with Bikeman so it was just a few little changes. But I helped! I wasn't going to let that little bubble (like a level) get the better of me - I was concentrating so hard that I didn't see or hear Bikeman fall down the front slope and graze his knee - he got up after much moaning and groaning he got up and there was I, staring at the bubble ... in a trance. The stick was straight! And I hadn't heard a thing. We visited our lovely friends the Sandhurst Crew over the last couple of days. They have an absolutely beautiful house, built by Carlisle Homes. They couldn't speak more highly of them and had a wonderful experience with the build of their house, which has turned out to be absolutely fantastic. Makes me want to be in our house, and now! Patience is not one of my virtues... but I'm trying. And why didn't Zipping win! Hmmph that's why I normally don't bet, can't stand it if I don't win!

Turning over a new leaf

Ok, I'm trying .... it's been a week and here is the next post. Bikeman and The Friendly Prussian went out to the block on the weekend to set out where the house will be. Very clever ginger beers they are! It's very cool, we went out there this afternoon and you can (if you squint) pretty much stand as if you are looking out a window ... or walking through someones bedroom... it gives you some idea of where rooms will be. And because of the setout, we discovered a little problem - we were a little too close to where the retaining wall will be on the current plan. Looks fine on paper, but in real life will end up being a little squishy. So decided to move the house over 1/2 a metre towards the north side to compensate which had an unexpected but fantastic outcome ... I might even get my 'turning bit' just outside the garage door! Woo hoo!!! It's the little things that make me happy. ;)

Final Plans

Well today the final building plans arrived from the draftsman. No more changes, no more 'maybe we should change this window and put a door in there'. We are ready to go forward getting building approval through council so hopefully that won't take too long. Once that is approved then we can finish the site cut and start on the retaining wall. Once that is complete we will be pretty much ready to lay the slab... will it happen before christmas? Not sure, will depend on how all the pieces fall into place. No hurry! Yet...... Now as our friends please ... we'd like to hear your suggestions ... from anything to lights (thanks Riz) to fridge spaces (thanks Bishop) to height of kitchen benches (thanks Smelly Kelly) to questioning why we want something (thanks Dunn/Robe) to sharing past experiences (thanks Indecisive) - all these suggestions have been great so please ask to see our plans and notice things we haven't even thought of!

Windows

Next time you sit in the sun and look out your window, spare a thought for the person that decided what would best frame your view. Who knew the different sizes, types, glazing, framing, screening and placement consideration that one little window requires. That said, picking windows has been a blast! It sounds silly and I'm a little surprised at myself (after all, it's a window!), however I've quite enjoyed the decision making process and creating a perfect frame for our own little piece of view. And you can bet that when I'm sitting in the sun looking out the window, I will be appreciating the time and consideration that went into all those things! Mind you - the quote nearly gave us heart failure when it came in nearly $20k over budget! However when we looked back on the quote there were too many windows in there - seems my 'shorthand' to the draftsman telling him Bed 2 (1) and Bed 2 (2) - which I meant to read window one and two - actually meant to the window company 1 plus 2 = 3! So there were too many windows, and even an extra triple stacker (lots of $$). So went back and had a little chat and are waiting on the 're-quote'. We now have quotes for windows, roof, bricks, kitchen, laundry, bathrooms, robes, carpet/tiles/floorboards, and appliances and fittings. Still awaiting on plumbing, electrical, shower screens, splashback, mirrors, brickie, carpenter and roof trusses. Need to work on insulation and no doubt various others ... we're getting there! *grin*

The real secret of success is enthusiasm....

First I must apologise for the lack of posts (sorry Riz!). There really hasn't been to much to report, however I am starting to get used to this process being long and drawn out - not my usual MO, I'm much more of a swift decision maker. But from today we have a turning point. Not only is the draftsman nearly finished with the design, but the bank today gave us an 'in theory' ok to our plans, meaning that we are on the right track and have enough money to move forward! So we are excited. My god, this is actually going to happen! The next step: gather up quotes. We already have a few, for the bricks and the carpet/floorboards/tiles, and the air conditioning/cooling. Many many more to go! We just finished selecting the windows for the house, it has been so much fun. I'm starting to get a real image in my head of what it might look like... hopefully it will be fairly close to the mark. We are hoping to have the slab poured just before Christmas, so it has that time over the break to cure. Then after Christmas all steam ahead with the frame etc - I'd imagine it will all happen pretty quickly from there. So here we are! Ready to move and somewhere pretty exciting to go. Stay tuned....

Designing fun...

Well we are moving slowly towards our house being built ... it feels sometimes like we are turtles moving slowly slowly slowly! I must say I find the time really frustrating but in looking back over the last 6 months we have learned a lot about what we really want, and about each other really! All positive steps forward. So now we are at a point that we have the plans with the draftsman who is about to start putting computer to paper and make the (very professional looking - thanks Friendly Prussian for the software!) sketches come to life, which is very exciting indeed! Once we get the sketches then we can start getting some quotes on bits and pieces so that will be exciting. It's all happening ... s...l....o......w.......l.........y! But at least we are moving forward. Woo hoo!

A momentus decision!

We made an exciting decision today .... we are going to owner build. "Eeeek!" my conservative self says. But I am strangely, and quietly calm. We spoke to a lovely couple today who were very supportive and encouraging, explaining how we could go about it and providing us with some tools we could use to assist us in this venture. Needless to say, Bikeman is excited. Next step is to speak to the bank ..... and to finalise the our scribbles to become 'the plan'.

Slowly slowly, inching closer

We are getting closer and I'm starting to feel a twinge of excitement. Bikeman and I spent about 4 hours designing what we think would be a great plan for us and Bikeman has come up with an excellent plan, which I think captures the beauty of the views as well as keeping some of the fundamentals of other plans we have seen (open plan living with prominent alfresco). He is so clever! We are going to meet with a guy he knows through work who is an architect, who will hopefully tweak the design and give us some new ideas. We need to call the local builder, too, and go and speak to the builder further. Hopefully the costs won't blow out with all this wonderful designing we have been doing, at least it has forced us to think about the things that are really important to us and how we might go about making them happen. Exciting!

I wish I was an architect...

If I was then this would be much simpler. Could just whip myself up a beautiful plan with all the right proportions and know exactly what it would look like. So we need to bring in the experts - going to talk to someone who knows about that sort of stuff who might be able to design it all for us. Fingers crossed!

A little closer ...

Today I spoke to the local builder who was really very helpful. Provided a quote for a house which was really quite competitive (although a little bigger than what we originally were looking at) but nonetheless is in the ballpark. Food for thought. And opens up a whole world of possibilities. What if we put this room here, or made that room bigger, or added a corridor here or a powder room there .... the possibilities. And how do you go back to 'not that' later? Hmmm not sure about that. We spent 3 hours last night sitting at the table drawing and rubbing out and moving and changing to create our 'dream house'. I think we are getting closer but we need to really nut out what it is we want to see in the house and design around that. So that will be our task this weekend! Wish us luck!

Be patient young grasshopper....

We decided just before Christmas that the time had come to move house. Not that we don't love our house, but we just wanted somewhere different for our kids to grow up. Initially we looked at established houses. Some were ok, usually some bits that were great and some that weren't so great.There wasn't a huge range, so we started to think about building. So we started by looking for a house - spent hours and hours looking through display homes. The kids were happy to start with (finding 'their' rooms in each one) until it all became a bit boring. So we had narrowed the builders down to M3tricon, or P@rter Davis, and had a bit of an idea about what sort of land we were looking for. So then the search for land took off. We looked at Romsey, Riddells Creek, Diggers Rest and Lancefield but settled on the beautiful (and slightly less expensive!) land at Romsey. We searched estates, to finally find out land which was just perfect. Beautiful views, great size and within our price range. Made an offer - and voila! We are now landowners. So the search for the house really steps up. Builder is now narrowed down to PD, we just have to decide on a house. We find one - the Bridgeport 35 . Pretty much what we want, beautiful alfresco room and with some great entertaining areas. So we signed up, and organised to do our own site cut. This went through no problem and we thought it would save us a heap of money at contract stage. Not quite as expected ... while according to PD it did save us a heap of money (most pay in excess of $30k OMG!) we were still up for nearly $12k in site costs! Upgrade in slab, piering, etc etc ... plus there were a few other issues which we were not happy about (location on block, drainage requirements, retaining wall, to name a few). So we cooled it for a bit to think about what we wanted to do. Spoke to a local builder, who was extremely helpful. Willing to make many more changes than PD for no charge to the plan, but of course was going to be more expensive (we think ... still waiting on the costings). We were booked in for a second contract appointment and the evening before we were due to go our good friend 'Indecisive' sheepishly advised me there was a new house listed by PD.... OUR house but different ... how could we not look? The Sandhurst, brand spanking new at Cranbourne (open for only 4 days at this point). So ... went in for our second contract appt. Advised the CSR we were looking at a different house and she nearly fell off her chair, especially considering how hard we had argued our various issues. Was very gracious however, and advised us of our options moving forward. I went straight down to visit the Sandhurst 33 at Cranbourne. Fantastic. Even better than the Bridgeport. Loved the kitchen. Bedrooms were bigger. And the 36 had a games room. 'Bikeman' went to have a look that weekend, and we both agreed it was better. So the goalposts had changed. If it was to be PD, it was to be the Sandhurst 36. Move forward one step, move back 10 ... :-0 So right at this point, where are we know (I hear you ask!). That is a very good question. *We have signed up for the Sandhurst 36 with PD (at Sales Quote stage only, with tiles chosen - waiting to hear back re Contract appointments, Hopetoun, Electrical). We are unsure whether we are going to have similar issues to what we have encountered already so far and are feeling a little nervous about any issues that may arise being difficult to resolve. *We are waiting to hear from the local builder regarding a quote on a similar design to see if it is even in our budget at all. And then to consider whether I can mentally copy with 'designing' a house that I don't know the feel of. Or have been in. I'm waiting to be excited. I want to be excited. I need to make a decision on one or the other to move on. I have no patience. And I keep thinking of our poor block waiting waiting waiting for a house....

We have a blog.....

Oh my god I have no idea what I am doing! Well I've ventured into the world of blogs and here is my first post. I'm a little surprised that this is my first view of the blog! Stay tuned to our site to hear all the trials and tribulations of our journey ... let's hope *wishful thinking* that it will be smooth sailing!