Retaining wall installed !!

After a discussion with our neighbour on the right we came to an agreement and chose concrete retaining wall over timber retaining wall due to its durability and looks (beneficial for our neighbour actually). We end up going with our sub contractor and got him to place the order and now the wall is installed! Whooo finally a line between our lands is drawn!

The last few sleepers for the far back corner cannot be installed just yet due to a sewage pipe running across the retaining wall and we had to wait for an OK signal from Plantation to be able to install it. Our neighbour just have to hope it's not going to rain else the 'excess soil' will fall over (again) to their 'white pebbles' that they just got. Oh boy I think it is going to rain this week actually.

Concrete retaining wall delivered

Metal poles installed for the wall (Lot 1 arrow should be facing left!)

Concrete poured to secure the poles

Completed wall! Whoo hoo

This is at the far back corner. The sleepers left out because there is a sewage running underground until we got the OK from our builder the sleepers can't be installed just yet. The neighbor just need to hope it doesn't rain else the 'extra soil' will poured over to their 'white' pebbles

Building approval and Christmas shut down

Just about 5 weeks after our building plan was lodged to Council it finally got approved!! So glad it got approved without any issue as we are building 1.6% over the building threshold of 50% of land size and this also means we don't need to change our design :))

As it is getting close to Christmas shut down we're not sure if Plantation Homes going to start any work on site. If they are not we have to wait until mid January to get an update and that is 4 weeks away!

Their Christmas break/shut down:

Our administration: 13 Dec - 14 Jan
Construction team: 20 Dec - 20 Jan

17 December - Our company also have a shut down from 20 Dec for 2 weeks and today we received our post contract variation to review over the break. With this variation we didn't get charge admin fee of $500 as this are just variations on Tender and there is no structural changes so it doesn't affect anything.

Excess soil and Retaining wall dilemma

Ok now the dilemma about the excess soil and the retaining wall...

Excess soil - One day we came to check on our land and found some excess soil dumped on our land at the far back right corner. From assessing the surroundings, we believe the builder (Metricon) of our neighbour on the right dumped these excess soil on our land when they flatten the corner to do their outdoor concrete slab. We got no physical proof but we have timestamp photos showing there was no excess soil originally, the land was flat, and the next photo shows excess soil around the time our neighbour's outdoor concrete slab being poured. Pretty coincidence wasn't it? We wrote a complaint email directly to Metricon (after details were given by our neighbour) but as expected they denied and not willing to remove these excess soil (was not appreciated with their response at all). We then contacted Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (EHP) and they advised we can make a formal complaint if we wish but because we checked with Plantation Homes if there going to be any additional cost when they do cut and fill with these excess soils they advised as its not enormous amount of soil there won't be any additional cost so we decided to drop this case and not make any formal complaint to Metricon (lucky them).

Retaining wall - Because of our land level higher than our neighbour's on the right a retaining wall is required. Apparently, when our neighbour were building their home they required to install a retaining wall at the far back corner between our land and theirs as that is a weakness point but then somehow their builder, Metricon, had a 'second plan' to build their house and said a retaining wall is not required at the time. Obviously so then the neighbour can wait for us to build and share the retaining wall cost! While the neighbour at the back did not need to wait for us they installed the retaining wall at their own cost.

Well, because our lovely neighbour on the right want to avoid paying the full cost of the retaining wall and did not do the 'proper way' issues with that corner arises - each time it rains our land soil fell over to their side and washed away, slowly creates a massive hole underneath their outdoor concrete slab (oh boy) as you can see in the below photo. Also because at the time it rains so much that their concrete slab corner started to crack (due to hollow beneath). Of course our neighbour panick and called us for a solution. Unfortunately nothing we could do as the issues are on their land and we said to them 'You should've done the right thing at the beginning - install a retaining wall!'. Jokes. Instead of saying that we said 'We suggest you to contact your builder and ask them why they said to you it is OK not to install the retaining wall when building'. They end up getting no solution from their own builder but to get a shovel and shove our 'excess soil' underneath their slab to cover up the hole and hope its not going to rain again. 

Is this called karma?

Cracked line on neighbour's concrete slab

Electrical meeting

Finally the last decision-making meeting - electrical meeting with Your Home Consulting. Prior attending this meeting we did a bit of shopping of all the electrical needs and drew a plan showing the additional downlights, pendants, outdoor lights etc. The lady consultant was great and very helpful. She went through each area and used the Viseo program to add the electrical needs to our plan. With bringing in our plan it helps the meeting run through very smoothly. With the quoted received a few days after we decided to outsource our electrical needs but have Plantation Homes to do the followings as it is easier to get them to do it than having our sub-contractor to do it after handover and it may cost even more:

• 1 x Weatherproof Double Power Points

         Placing at the back on right for water tank to be installed in future

• 2 x Junction Box for Future External Light Point 

         Placing at front two piers for up and down lights

Our plans lodged with the Certifier Whoohooo

Pretty much for the last 3 months, we were going back and forth with Plantation Homes getting quotes, add/removing upgrades on the Tender and getting updated plan. Each time we requested a quote it took up to 2 weeks hence it took quite a bit of time to finalise the Tender.

So after all the upgrades we wanted are on the Tender and received the credits we ENTITLED (long storyyyy) we decided to sign the contract on 29 October!! Once signed, everything are locked in and if we want to make any adjustment there would be an administration fee of $500. Ouch!

1 November - And so our plans lodged with the Certifier! Usually, Council takes forever to approve the plans but hopefully we will get the approved plan back no longer than 4 weeks as Christmas is just around the corner (fingers crossed).

Here are the indicative timeline of what to expect until the pre site stage:

• Plans lodged with Certifier to obtain Building Approval (4-8 weeks in Council)
• Post Contract Variation Document (2-4 weeks)
• Electrical Variation (2 weeks)
• Approval Plans & Insurances emailed to bank to finalise finance (48 hours)
• Final Drawings (1 week)
• Final Pre Site Stage (2-3 weeks)

First meeting with Head Office

And so we had to wait for this long to have this meeting and today was one of a hell full-on day:

• New Home Proposal presenter from 9-12pm
• Color Selection from 1pm-4pm

So at the New Home Proposal meeting we were excited to see how the professional plan turns out because from this we can see the exact measurement whereas when we hand drawn with a ruler the scale might be not as accurate. As we got excited to see the plan it turns out that they had the incorrect plan drawn! In the latest re-designed plan we had the fridge, WIL and the pantry in different area and so we had to go through with the presenter and had to hand drawn the plan again for a re-done. During this meeting we also made some slight changes:

Added:

• 2 extra awning windows at Master Suites
• Cavity sliding door to WIR in Master Suite
• Bulk heads to Living and Media
• Plaster niche to Entry and Dining
• Tiled niches to Ensuite and Bathroom
• Moved the windows positions in Bed 2 and 4

With these changes, it going to take couple of weeks for the plan to be re-done and so for an updated Tender to include the above extras.

For the Tender 1 presented to us today came to a figure that we thought it would be at our very maximum that we could spend. The standard building cost was actually increased by $6,500 since our first quote 3 months ago and with new price the air conditioning now included (instead of half price), 40mm grand island kitchen bench top (instead of 20mm) and also comes with a cold point connection to the fridge. Now we just going to take the Tender home to review and advise what we want to add or remove for the next Tender.

Color Selection Meeting - prior to this we visited Cosham Studio to see their range so we had some idea what we wanted. At the meeting she asked a much more detailed questions and gave us some advice which we never thought of so it assisted us to make the 'right' decision. The meeting goes for nearly 2 hours which was supposed to be 3 hours. We glad we came well prepared else we could have stayed for another hour. We added in a couple of upgrades just hope it won't be a massive increase to the Tender. The big day is over and here are the color selection we chosen.

Plans sent to Head Office

After many hours re-designing and changes here and there we finally completed the plan and had it to what we want our house to be built. So these were sent to their head office which then going to take up to 4 weeks for the professional drawing and fixed price Tender to be completed then there will be a New Home Proposal meeting where we can do further changes (if require) before requesting the final contract and plans.

We originally chose the Retreat Series where the Master Suite at the back and the Alfresco in the middle at the back but we end up going with Aurora series to have the Master Suite at the front, not preferred but we would have a bigger room, and the Alfreso at the back on the left (preferrable).

Our facade is Miller (standard) but we added the Blake's entrance piers as an upgrade so our Facade is a mixed of the Miller and the Blake.

The bottom photos are from the display homes and our design/color themes are very similar to the photos except instead of tile floors we have timber floors to the main area.

Miller facade

Blake facade

Aurora Q2 standard floor plan

Photos of green empty land

We just got back from our honeymoon just couple days ago and our land is now settled!! Whoooo!

The first photo is our empty land while the other neighbours getting their house built. Please ignore the little excited girl in the photo I would've removed her if I have photoshop program :)




Our lot 1



Lot 2 - neighbour on the right

Lot 3

 



Lot 5 - neighbour at the back



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finance approved!! And got a date for land settlement

Today, we received an email from our Solicitor advising our finance is approved and the settlement will be on 15th May (3 days after we return to Brisbane). What a relieved because we were worried if we signed all required paperwork before we left although the bank manager was well organised and assured us everything they need are signed.

Couple of days ago our soil test report came back showing M class soil which is considerately good :)

Below is a list of soil class and it's description.

A - Mostly made up of sand and rock and has very little change when wet.

S - Slightly reactive clay in the soil with only slight movement due to moisture.

M - Moderately reactive clay with moderate movement due to moisture.

H - Highly reactive clay site with High ground movement.

E - Extremely reactive site with extreme movement due to moisture.

P - Soft soils, land slip, mine subsidence, etc. Collapsing soils due to moisture and soil structure changes.

Well, we're still in the US at the moment and had a great road trip from Los Angeles to Las Vegas in the Mustang for last 4 days and had an unforgettable birthday there now driving back to Los Angeles. Tomorrow we will be flying from Los Angeles to....NEW YORK!! Have seen a lot of movies filmed in New York City and now we going there to see it for ourselves. Someone told us NYC is bigger than Brisbane city which I thought to myself which City is not bigger than Brisbane? lol. 

I must say if you haven't visited Las Vegas highly recommend to visit and stay at Bellagio Hotel. The 4.5hrs road trip wasn't too bad (that was because I slept the whole way lol), saw a lot of nice scenes on the way. If we get to go there again I would do another road trip. 

Just a few photos from our Las Vegas trip.

Road trip to Las Vegas

Arrived at Las Vegas at last

Aahhh our lovely hotel - The Bellagio 

The fountain in front of our hotel at night. Truly magnificent 

A lovely gift for our honeymoon from the hotel. So sweet

Land contract, deposit, soil test and honeymoon!!

As soon we decided to purchase the land we made the first deposit of $1000 with Plantation Homes so they can order the soil test and we got advised it could take up to 3 weeks for the soil test report to come back. We were OK with it as this time next week we will be on the plane heading to the USA for our belated honeymoon for 3 weeks (Woohoo!).

Next day - Saturday 13th April - an appointment with LJ Hooker to sign the land contract and o.m.g we actually signed the contract!! The moment we walked out the door it felt so unreal we just couldn't believe we signed the contract because we never thought we would build one day. I guess we had mixed feelings between excited and nervous :).

Well, the sale board below says it all - Lot 1 is SOLD. Yes, only 1 block left and that is Lot 4 with the easement. Lot 3 with the easement got sold shortly after we purchased our Lot 1 so the last Lot might get sold pretty quickly too. 

This going to be exciting and we definitely going to be busy in the next several months with all the planning and deciding. 

OK now time to pack our luggage and head to our honeymoon trip to Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York (^_^). By the time we get back our land will be settled! Can't wait! :))

This is how it all begins....

Beginning of the year, my husband and I was planning to purchase a second house to move in so we started to look around for an existing home thinking of a low set, 4 bed, 2 bath, double garage, less than 10 years old and with open plans. During these times we also looked at vacant land around the South East and South West with a slight interest to build a new house instead of purchasing an existing home that are up to 10 years old for around the same amount of money to build (well we hoped). 

Out of around 50 houses we inspected only one house interests us and it was an Auction sale (buggar). We did put in our decent offer but I guess the owner were looking for more so it wasn't successful. So we went to the Auction to place our bid. Within just the first 4-5 bids the price already went far over our budget so sadly, we did not end up putting in any bid. The house got sold for $565k which we thought it was quite high for a simple design and over 10 years old house (huge 900m2 block though).

And so then we went back to house hunting....fun fun.

Couple months went on, we drove back to one of the vacant land we looked at previously and my godness, we saw a few 'sold' stickers already placed on the sale board! So damn quick! We quickly called the real estate agency to see which Lots were still available and he mentioned the Lot 1, 3 and 4 were still available for us to choose. Husband interested in Lot 2 the most as it has a nice square shape (but it got sold damn!) where as Lot 1 has a curve at the front and Lot 3 & 4 has an easement going through the land on the right side.

We then went to Rochedale Display Village to see some display homes and spoke to a couple of sale consultants to obtain quotes so we can work out if it is a better option to build for the same value of money we going to spend on an existing home. Out of all the display homes we short listed to Metricon and Plantation Homes. We spoke to both and requested a quote. Plantation Homes consultant seems to respond quicker than Metricon. Nevertheness, we liked Plantation Homes design and its theme. Perfectly match with what we were after. We were going with Retreat 18m Lux Q3 so we were given a copy of floorplan so we can go home and have a fiddle and move things around to have it how we wanted. 

So on Sunday 7th April my husband went to the meeting with Plantation Home new home sale consultant to discuss the floorplan that we adjusted (I was at Sydney so he went alone hehe). He was given the quote based on the standard Retreat 18m Lux Q3 and the quote was not too high and it was not too low either but it can be something we can think about. 

After a few thoughts and a quick decision needs to be made before the good land get all SOLD - we decided to purchase the land and build instead of purchasing an existing home which may not have the house layout that we wanted. We end up choosing Lot 1. It has an odd shape but we might be able to work around this. Let's just hope :))