Show me the money!

Well we've come to my first milestone... the slab. And of course, that also means paying out the big bickies! The bank finally came to the party, after many an annoying phone call by myself "hi, it's me.... calling for our daily chat.... do we have any money yet PLEASE??? No? Ok, I'll talk to you again tomorrow, then...". So finally it came through, we could pay the concreter and pay for the windows and so on and so on. We've ordered the frame and roof trusses, they should be here in approx 3 weeks. The bricks have been ordered. The roof and window frame colour has been chosen (Woodland Grey, in case you were wondering). The chippie and his trusty labourer (none other than bikeman) will then work their guts out to put the frame and roof up in a matter of about a week once the trusses arrive. The brickie will work alongside them to put up the garage, and the roofer will work somewhere in there also. And before you know it .... voila! We're at lockup. Wow. Another milestone! I wonder if it will look so *big* once the walls are up... surely not!

We have a slab!!!!

Well we now officially have a slab. It looks a little brown due to the crazy winds and dust about today, but some would think that is a feature! It will be hidden under other things like carpet and floorboards anyway, so no problemo. Wow we have a slab. It looks HUGE! But yet so small all at the same time, if that makes sense. Like the proximity of the island bench waste pipe to the outdoor area. Looks way too small. Bikeman assures me it is as per plan. Weird, how the eye can deceive. It's there - its going up, up, up and the bank balance is going down, down, down. Now if the bank would only come through with the dosh already I'd be happy!!! PS If you look closely you can see pink and blue making some kind of a rock playhouse, which has been their thing to do the last few times we went up there. Who says kids need expensive toys??

Good day for ducks!

Well today is the day - the final slab pour. I had my doubts as to whether it would go ahead today, what with us all receiving text messages from Victoria Police warning of 'extreme conditions' predicted for today - 100km hr winds, 34 degrees and a worry that fires could flare up, and then when we woke up today pouring rain!!! It's actually quite cold, for the moment anyway - 15 degrees right now. But they're still running the terrible conditions line. Pink one's kinder has been cancelled today because of it! So this morning when I heard the rain, I thought for sure it was all off. Only Pete rang at 8am to tell me it's all systems go on the block - there's about 9 guys there and they were already up to the second truck load. So we should have a completed slab by the middle of the day! I tell you what, these guys work hard - you wouldn't see me getting up at some ungodly hour to be pouring a slab!! Photos to come later once complete :)

We have a garage and front room floor!

We have concrete! The front part of the slab has been poured, which is pretty damn good. It has to be poured in two sections as we have a split level - front section and then the rest of the house. You can see where the waffle pods sit, at the moment, but that will fade as the concrete sets - the 'beams' have more concrete and therefore hold more moisture.

Woo hoo!

Waffles, anyone?

I was a little hasty in my last post. I thought concrete was going in today, but no - the waffle pods were put in place ready for thr first pour tomorrow (Thurs). So it begins, tomorrow. We will have concrete. And this time next week, we will have the whole slab!! My god this house looks massive already! The kids were quite impressed though, that they could 'see' where their rooms will be .. Zali's is the jutting out bit at the bottom of the photo, on the LHS. And Max's room is further to the left and up a little. No progress yet on the water tapping, from what I can tell. The Water co still have to come and fix it. We have movement on power though, there are some conduits moving through the slab/boxing up. Next we have to dig a trench!

Completion and War Wounds

We had a big day Saturday. After a number of false starts, due to hot weather, fires, and other commitments, we were able to get a whole lot done. A big big thanks to our helpers for the day, Pops, Stevie B, Lee-Lee, AOB next door and our chippie Scotty without whom it would have been a much longer day! The aims for the day were as follows: 1. Concrete in fence posts for side fence 2. Complete set out ready for plumber on Monday 3. Finish concrete and blocks on retaining wall 4. Talk to concreter We were able to finish all but 3 of the fence posts, completed most of the setout (enough for the plumber) and finished all but the capping stones on the retaining wall. Our concreter, El Guapo, appeared to have a chat, which was great and looks like we're still on schedule. Stevie B brought with him his fantastic machine which made every job so much quicker! Scoria behind the retaining wall, check. Dirt behind the retaining wall, check. Crushed rock around the concrete piers, check. Wow!!! Sorry there are no photos but a little disagreement with a mallet meant a rushed trip to the doctors and seven stitches in my left index finger. What a lovely way (not) to end the day! I will take some photos tomorrow and post soon...

On the way up!

Pouring piers, the Friendly Prussian on the level View of site from top of dirt mound

The hard workers, after pouring the trench. Ricky Doo Bah, Pop and The Friendly Prussian all chipping in to help Bikeman.

It's official: we're no longer digging down, we're going up. The piers were poured on Saturday, filling in the 42 massive holes in the ground and the trench for the retaining wall with a huge 10m of concrete (5 truckloads worth!!).

The piers now have neat little mounds of concrete sticking out of them, the kids thought that was great as they were like stepping stones. In fact the blue one thought that one of them was placed there specifically for him to be able to step up from the recessed level at the front to the main area. Cute!

The trench footings look great, Bikeman has outdone himself in this creation. Beautifully flat and ready for some blocks to be placed on top of them. The next project, for next weekend: building the retaining wall. From now on, things only go up!

Bikeman taught the kids today to slide down the dirt pile - actually he was trying to teach them to jump but the pink one decided it would be safer to slide - they thought that was fantastic! The kids were super helpers today, we took down the formwork and they busied themselves moving string and wire and wooden posts, they all in all had a wonderful time. Man they love getting dirty! The washing machine is working overtime :)

Electrical Appointment

We met with the Electrician on Saturday, very nice guy! He seems quite practical and very down to earth, which is great. He gave us some really good suggestions regarding our fittings (most of which will save us money) and is going to redo our quote for us on the changes we are going to make. I'm sure we're going to work well together. He has agreed to do the fitout once the bricks are on, to save slippery fingers pinching our cables etc if fitout was to be done prior to lockup. I think he said probably 4 times 'it's just so big' .... I know it's big but geez it's starting to alarm me the number of people commenting on the size! I can see from the quotes what the 'bigness' is doing to the prices. Hmmm perhaps next time we'd only be looking at a small 3 bedder???? Hahaha yeah right! Although the pink and the blue one will be sharing a room for the next 6 months, so that we can use the pink ones room for a proper study. Should make life easier for organisation, theoretically. She's stoked to be sharing the room with her brother and even the blue one is quite excited. Winners all round! Site update: Bikeman has finished digging the trench and boxing it out (he's so clever) and the reinforcing mesh etc will be delivered this week. Once the reo is in we get to a very important (and expensive!) step - the building inspector will inspect the trench footings, and the remaining piers, and we can order a shite load of concrete to be poured into both. This is very exciting as it will mean we are two steps away from our/my first goal.... the slab! Once the piers and trench are poured, we can finish building the retaining wall, and then the roughing in will be done by the electrician and the plumber, and the concreter does his thing and the slab will be poured. Meeting with the concreter next week, which will be interesting ... have been told he is the best of the best so will be nice to meet him and it will start to feel like it is beginning to happen. On a personal note, the kids are visiting the Rizzos this week and it has been amazing how much I've been able to get done while they were away, even with working as well! Diz - I'll be sending them there every week for a couple of days, if that's ok. Hahahaha!