Progress

I did in fact write a long message a couple of weeks ago which got deleted when i tried to upload it, and somehow i just havent got back here lately. There has been so much to organise and so much happening that we have seem to have been frantically busy for ages.
The house has gone along in leaps and bounds and is looking fantastic. It is all 'built', and is now just being fitted out. The kitchen is in, but the bench isnt yet. The walls and ceiling are all painted. Last week they put in the garage door so it looks pretty nearly done. This coming week the tilers are supposed to start, then we need the carpet, the electrical finishing and the toilets and kitchen bench... and then that must be it i guess. The builder says first week of September it should be ready. I still haven't got my head around the actual shifting thing... like packing and moving. Very scary. Particularly as i have been off work for the last 3 months with a back injury. But i cant wait to get there. It is twice the size of this house and there are so many cupboards.
Caitlin and i were planning where to put the xmas tree today!
anyway i better keep going ... Ben's birthday today and we are having a big dinner so gotta do some cooking.
linz

so much progress

Things are busy on the house site and the progress is amazing. I have been told that this is a relatively 'quick' stage, getting it to lockup stage, but still it is very encouraging. The roof is all on now, will post some new pics when i get them organised. I saw someone with pipes there yesterday so likely the plumbing stuff is getting done. So far we have been really pleased with all our colour choices. After agonising and chasing all over Melbourne to choose a brick and then worrying if it was the right one, we were totally satisfied when it went up. Looks lovely. The blue window joinery is nice too with the cedar windows to the front. I would have liked the cedar bifold doors to the alfresco but the $3000 price tag put me off.
Of course the big colour choices are inside, the paint tiles and carpet. The kitchen cabinets have already been chosen, but we have dithered a bit over bench top colour. I think because it costs so much it seems very important to get it right.
The house site was a sea of mud last week with just enough rain to make it very messy. We had to trudge all round the place at the weekend to check out the weeks work and make sure we were happy. Having never built a house before i am surprised to find out how many mistakes they make. Perhaps with less 'vigilant' clients the builders find the mistakes and correct them without anyone knowing. I am not sure, but so far they forgot to put in a doorway in the framing, installed a window too high (the kitchen one... it mattered a lot!) and built a half height wall, full height. These things were fixed as soon as we pointed them out.... but still.. I worry. What if we didnt go and check? Would we have no door when it was finished?
Probably i stress too much.. I keep worrying over the details. Will the house be sunny enough? warm enough? Was the extended alfresco a mistake? Is the bathroom big enough?.... you get the picture.
Please don't think i am not excited tho... because i am. Dead excited. I just want it to be done. I want to shift in, and relax. Although i suspect that it wont be relaxing. We will have to do landscaping, gardening, make curtains etc. We already have a flourishing pot garden on our alfresco here, ready for transplanting to the new place. Cant wait!!
Lindsay

It's all happening

All those months of thinking about building and considering options, but when they start it is all go. We are blown away, suddenly all the vague ideas have to be made into actual plans. The words i have come to dread are: that will cost a bit more. Everyone says this... the tile shop, the carpet shop, the cabinetmaker, the bench supplier, the plumbing store.... you are getting the picture. The problem is that they don't mean a little more.. they mean a Lot more. Take the benchtop. Ceasarstone was included in our price, which is a man made stone stuff. approx cost $3500! Thats a lot of dosh. So we go to look at the colours.... There is a nice one a bit like our floor tile. However it is one of the Deluxe range which is 15% dearer (just a little more), not only that it is available in a rather nice new finish, which is a little more again ... So not having that colour or finish, in fact we have dithered over the whole bench thing... maybe laminex would be just as nice.
The carpet cost a little more (almost double), the tiles were also a little more (only about an extra $300. The glass splashback for the kitchen i wanted was also a little more.... Nope $1000 is not a little more, i call that a lot more. Tiling the splashback now.
So aside from trying very hard not to spend any money on anything but somehow come out with everything we want, things are going very smoothly. Tiles chosen, carpet chosen, plumbing fixtures chosen (saved $20 on the toilets). I am so excited about getting to pick everything but overwhelmed by it all.
Will try and post the house pictures.
LInz

The work begins.

Well, pegs were out before we even had developer approval for the external materials, colors and landscape plan. One week later, developers approval granted, final approval for mortgage (was pre-approved just needed to have the construction valued to make sure we weren't being over charged and that the house wasn't too flash for the area - no worries there ;0) and we already have pipes sticking up out of the ground. Apparently the slab goes down next week and framing starts the one after that. WOW this is fast. Lindsay had a wee melt down over the bricks we had selected so it was back to the suppliers for lists and the drive around looking for houses identified by lot numbers that now have street numbers. Found a house in progress with the brick we like and a pallet wrapper from the supplier in the yard. A quick cell phone call later and we had our brick, Jarrah. Gee wiz the one I picked in the first place ;)~. The builder tells us he will be ordering them this week and then it will be too late to change our mind. We have changed our mind about the flooring too, had selected timber and thought we were saving on the carpet until we discovered that the timber was more than double the price of tiles and the carpet we "absolutely must have" ;) is double the budget. So it was back to the tile shop and guess what we got tiles for way under budget (now that is a monumental occasion, everything else has been "just a little bit more"). So now we can tile right through the alfresco too (there goes the savings again I guess). Another meeting with the builder on friday so more after that.

Mike

May

We have been in Melbourne for 4 months now. So far it all seems to be going well. Everyone said we would hate the weather but we were treated to a hot summer and a warm autumn. I suspect winter will be a killer though!
Finding a house did turn out to be a bit of a nightmare and we were pleased when we found this house. Unfortunately it is a bit on the small side and we have a LOT of boxes that arent unpacked yet. Mostly sewing and fabric and... my essential stuff, some of which have been dragged all the way from Timaru, to Auckland, via Coromandel and Whangarei before being shipped to Townsville and finally ending up here! Obviously it is all Very important stuff.
However our big excitement has been deciding to build our own house! Wow... it is such a monumentally exciting idea. And I am mostly excited about it... and a bit terrified and stressed. We have picked out a beautiful house design called the Rose from P and J construction:

http://pandjconstructions.com.au/
and found a beautiful block of land in Heritage Springs.
http://heritagesprings.com.au/
We got a lovely mortgage.... well not that lovely and last week the builders cleared the section and put out the pegs and.... its really going to happen. Our new house!
We have been and taken pictures of the progress to date and will post them soon.
love and hugs
Lindsay