I'm still here...

Our gutters and facia were installed during the week and our front step was installed.  Next step is the roof, kinda excited about that, I will be happier knowing that when it rains its not raining inside my house. 



Gutters & Facia



Front Steps



Gutters & Facia from the side

Our first hiccup reared its lovely head.  Did anyone notice it?...   No! Here let me point it out for you {I did cheat a litte, its hard to see in the photo above}.

 

Look at my front steps

My front steps are too small.  As you can see in the photo below {albeit still not very clearly} they aren't wide enough.

I've put an arrow roughly where they stop in comparison to the front porch. Could be a little dangerous if you aren't looking where you are going, you could be face planting in my driveway.  Here is a close up!

 

 

At first when I saw this, I had such a strange reaction.  I thought "Damn I must have missed that, oh well I'll fix it after handover."  So unlike me to just assume I was wrong.  Then I came to my senses and pulled out my plans thinking "There is no way I would have missed that."

I was right, I didn't miss it, it was too short.  However, my site supervisor didn't miss it either.  By the time I was on to it he had already arranged for it to be fixed and the new treads to be delivered.  One step ahead of me, good work Mr SS.

So far so good.  All is going well. 

Now who do I call to arrange for the rain to hold off until my roof is on...?

Ms Betsy xo

Praise for the bricklayers.... (they are fast)

I have no time for words at the moment so I thought I'd share some photos.

Check out that sky...

Taken from my neighbours back fence (day 2 of bricking)

Day 3 of bricking - they are amazingly fast

I'm loving the hat

Getting there

Building a house - Part One

When we first started looking into building a house, I admit I was naive.

I was extremely naive, clueless beyond a doubt.  I knew NOTHING about the building industry and especially nothing about the project building industry.  It is actually quite amazing at how much you learn through this process, so without further adieu... I will impart some of my new found knowledge.

CHOOSING A HOUSE

Building a house is exciting, very exciting and your excitement will be the one thing that can cause you problems later down the track when the exciting haze has lifted and you start to see the dream become your reality.  As difficult as it is to keep yourself level headed throughout this stage, I highly recommend you continually re-check yourself again and again and remind yourself of your goals constantly.  All of your hard work will be in the preparation (paperwork, selections, etc..) by the time you get to the building stage, it can be too late to fix things or very expensive to change your mind.

Display Homes

Aren't they gorgeous?  Yes they are, however, they are not fully functioning homes and it doesn't matter how gorgeous they look and how much you dream of living in that tranquility there are a number of things you need to take into consideration.

• They are built to sell you the dream;
• They are not lived in;
• You do not get what you see;
• The price is not the price.

These houses do not have to hold all your worldly possessions, when browsing around these houses, do not be sold on the decor.  Think about what you want from your home (write a list), think about storage, open the cupboards, think about where you will keep everything, make sure YOUR family will have the space you require to live in this house.  Imagine what it will look like with all your possessions in the home, think pots and pans, vacuum cleaner, prams, clothing, all that stuff you have tucked away in the garage, linen storage, etc, etc... it all adds up, lots of new homes lack storage, think of ways to build more storage into the home if you have to.

You most definitely do not get what you see.  Before I started this process I didn't even realise you could get an upgrade. {Did I mention I was naive?}

Below is a picture of the kitchen from the display home I am building.  I had a fantastic sales person and his assistant showed me around the house, she pointed out everything I needed to know about what was an upgrade and what was standard.  Prior to the walk through, I thought I was getting everything as shown below.

The sales team I dealt with were exceptional.  If the builder you are inquiring with doesn't offer you a walk through - ASK FOR IT.

Generally, most builders will provide you with some sort of option for an upgrade package, for rediculously small amount of money in comparison with what they are offering you.  Pour over this with a fine tooth comb and work out what you require against what you are being offered.  Never assume that what they offer is what you see in the display home.  Most of what you see is an upgrade on the upgrade.

Ask for a copy of the plan.  Sounds a bit silly doesn't it?  After all you're walking through the house, you can see where the rooms are.  Assumptions can cost you a lot of disappointment.  I've walked through houses and thought yep, this is it - received the plan and the layout is completely different, only to THEN be told...

 "Oh yeah, we swapped the toilet with the small bedroom in the display, we put built ins on that wall to make the kitchen bigger, you will have to move this wall to do that and push out this wall to achieve this."
 

For example..

Beautiful - look below

 

Also, in this house they had moved the toilet and one of the bedroom walls to accommodate the kitchen cupboards on that far wall.

This isn't always a bad thing, it is actually quite interesting to see all the different options but with this company no one told me that the kitchen had been reconfigured and I sat talking to the sales guy for a while, it was only when I went home and really looked at the plan that I noticed the changes.

I cannot stress this enough never assume what you see is what you get.

Pricing

Pricing varies (greatly), you will be given a standard price for a standard house when you initially inquire.  I always asked:

 "How much will it cost me to get the house to look like the display home?"

The answer to this question will usually give you a rough idea as to how much it would cost (again at this point in time it is an estimate only).  Then you have to add on 'Site Costs'.

Site Costs

Some builders will advertise deals with site costs included, note this is usually for lots of land that are flat, have all the necessary requirements and require minimum fuss - not many sites qualify.  If you are doing a knock down rebuild you will find, 99% of the time, you do not qualify for this.  Site costs can vary greatly depending on many variables.  I have seen quotes ranging from between $30k - $50k (sometimes more).  If you are still at the land buying stage, inquire as to what your land will require to be build worthy - will you need drop edge beams, will you need excavation, is there rock, etc, etc.

Council Requirements

Look into your local council requirements, some councils vary from others and what may be fine for one person, may not be fine for you. 

Also, if you are considering building in a new estate, check out the requirements for the estate, a lot of the new estates have covenants in place, where you must have x, y and z.. (usually in the facade of the home).

Timeline

You are super excited, you are going to build a house yeahhh! Its April and your imagining Christmas in your sparkly new home, think again.

Building a house doesn't happen overnight.  There are a number of scenarios that will become a factor in your build.  Are you doing a knock down rebuild?  Are you buying land?  Do you need to go through Council?  All of this comes into play after you have decided on which house you want to buy and what builder you plan to use.

You are pretty much looking at 12 months from when you sign your tender (that is for a single storey, longer if you are building a double storey), you could be lucky and get it done sooner but you could be delayed and it might stretch out longer.  I can only comment on my own experience and for us the paperwork took approximately 8 months, everyone I spoke to said it would take 6 months, but we had to go through Council and once they got involved, it blew out to 8 months. 

We signed up in December and we have been notified by our builder that it is likely that our build will be complete in March 2014.  15 months doesn't sound too bad, 3 months of a delay isn't much - true, but you have to consider how this effects your current living arrangements.  Are you living with relatives?  Are they happy to keep you for an extra 3 months?  Are you renting?  Can you afford to cover the cost of renting for a further 3 months? (contingency money anyone?).  Are you selling your house?  How will a delay impact the market?  Will you need to find temporary accomodation? 

Thankfully the actual building part of the build doesn't usually vary much, it is usually the paperwork side of things, which means you should know exactly what is happening by the time work commences on your site.

The Icky Stuff - Finances

No one likes to think about finances, especially when it comes to building a home, we all want to be able to afford the gorgeous display home. 

Now is not the time to be silly about this stuff.  Sort your finances out before you start this journey.  Work out exactly how much you can afford.  Speak to your financial advisor, broker, bank manager.  Get pre-approval from the bank.  This can be tricky because at this stage they will only be able to tell you if you can 'afford' the loan. 

Affording the loan and getting the loan are two entirely different scenarios.  When you borrow money from the bank to build a house, they will provide you with the money based on the valuation of the home.  For example, you might want to borrow $500,000.  Most banks will only provide you with 80% of the loan (you can get higher but then your into mortgage insurance which is not fun), which means the valuation of the home is going to have to come in higher than $500k. 

You will also have to consider how much money you will need to finalise the home.  Most builders, unless you are buying a complete package, will not finish off your home with landscaping, driveways, window dressings etc.  This will all have to be paid for out of your pocket.

To obtain a valuation of the property you have to pretty much spend some intial money getting to tender stage (between $1,000 - $3,000 depending on your chosen builder).  Once you get to this stage you should have a copy of your contract and your plan, this will enable you to get a valuation and hopefully the good news that you will get your loan. 

Note: I am not a financial advisor, I don't even work for a bank, call someone in the know if you need a loan.. I wrote about my own personal experience with finances here.

In Summary

• Discard the rose coloured glasses;
• Ask lots of questions (there is no such thing as a stupid question);
• Think about what you want and need in a home;
• Do your homework;
• Ask more questions;
• Sort out your finances; and
• Enjoy the process!

Stay tuned for what happens after you have chosen your house.

Miss Betsy xo

Bricklayers have arrived

Woo hoo, see them there they are my bricks, I'm guessing I've had bricklayers on site. 

Quick Update

We got the brick issue sorted out and we have our bricks.  When I say 'our bricks' I mean the ones we originally requested.  Yes, they are now discontinued but apparently ours had been ordered before the discontinuation and there was a mix up with communication.

However - its all fixed now, and I'm very grateful that we do not have to re select a new brick.

Short and sweet today.  Where does time go?

A brick is not just a brick....

I'm back to viewing bricks and I'm quickly reminded about how much of a headache this was the first time around.

Bricks are a sh!t aren't they ~ they change colour with the wind, the sun, the grout, the shadow - some are nicer than others, some have spots and flecks but not all of them, you can pick up 10 of the same brick and some will be fleckly and some will be gorgeous, some will chip easy, etc, etc, and the list goes on....

This is the time when my respect for artists and designers goes out of the stratosphere.  These people have keen trained eyes when it comes to colour.  I had no idea about all of this prior to building a house.  In the good old days white was white, brown was brown and I lived in a shade free world.

Now I live in a world where brown is brown until you stand it next to some other colour and that brings out the yellow tones and the green tones, but if you match it with this it brings out the gorgeous grey tones ~ well slap me happy who knows this stuff!!!!

Then we have texture, shine, spongyness, what a MOFO this is turning out to be.  I'm half tempted to put 10 bricks in a bucket and pick one out and say - that's the one, but I know I'll only live in regret.

I also have the people who like to remind me - a brick is a brick just pick one... yeah well I know a brick is a brick and I'm sure when you work on building sites and see houses being built every other day that its all in a days work.  However, this house to me is blood, sweat and tears - and I'm the one that will drive up the driveway everyday for the next 30 years while paying for these bricks and if I hate them that will piss me right off.

Yes I'm having a ranty. 

I'm going to look at my brick selections again today at 4pm, by that time the sun will be coming from hopefully a good angle, it won't rain on my parade, the colours will aline and all will be go well and a brick will be chosen - AND - my drama will be over.

Anyone else having a brick week??

I write my blog tongue in cheek.  I hope to pass on information but sometimes I just like to vent out the good and the bad.  However, in light of the current bushfire activities I'd like to note that even though there is a smidgion of annoyance regarding my bricks, I know they aren't a big deal in the grand scheme of things.  My hopes and prayers go out to the families, communities and firefighters who are suffering during this time.

Much love

Ms Betsy xo

:-( I should change the name of this blog...

...to Mortar & Dreams, cause I ain't got no bricks.

We were informed today that our bricks have been discontinued and Austral have none.

So I have a house with no bricks.

Everything is on hold.

Yes I'm being a drama queen.

I know I'll eventually get bricks but I want MY bricks, you know the ones I chose and based the colour of EVERYTHING else around.

Is it really this bad to be this disappointed?

Let there be water

Drove past the house today and was a little disappointed that nothing had happened.

When I got home, hubby said to me - "Did you go past the house?" Me: "Yeah they didn't do anything today" he looked at me like I was crazy.  I got marched back to the car and within 20 seconds I was deposited back outside the house - Yes, I'm blind....

We have taps people and water pipes - shiny sparkly taps {well outdoor taps and indoor pipes}...

Front External Tap

Pipework

Shiny pipes

Yes there is only so much you can say about pipes and external taps, so I'll let the pictures speak for themselves - LET THERE BE WATER!

Wonder if anything will happen tomorrow?

Ms Betsy

Windows

I've got windows. 

I can't believe how quickly this is all coming together. The frame continued to be put up and the roof trusses went up all within about two days.

The thought "I wonder what happens next..." fluttered through my mind as I was driving past the other morning and I noticed that my windows had been delivered.  Just like that.. I then received photo's later in the day and they were installed.

McDonald Jones appear to have great tradies - they are in getting the job done, no nonsense style - kinda like that style, hope they stick with it.

Windows

 

Stacker doors

 

Starting to look like a house

 

It really is starting to take shape.  A few people have told me that things slow down a little once the bricks start, but I have to say I'm really impressed with how quickly the schedule is moving along, the organisation and the service.  So far, I'm having to pinch myself that it is all real.  Can't wait for our first walk through.

 

Ms Betsy

Photo Bomb - Wotta a frame...

It's starting to resemble a house!

Giant Jigsaw Puzzle

There is a giant jigsaw puzzle getting put together on my site today... Gee Wizz Magiz what a difference a day can make.

Will blog and post pics tomorrow... I'm so excited, I just can't hide it, I'm about to lose control.....

Okay bedtime, too much excitement for one day for me...

Ms Betsy!

Forever grateful

Building a house is a labour of love.  So much time and effort is put into the pre-planning before you even get to the starting line.

In my case this dream has been brewing for over 10 years.  I put in the hard yards for years, meandered around display villages, wondered what house would fit my family, wondered if we would ever get to a point in our lives to make our dreams come true.  I devoured blogs just like this one.

Then the time arrived.  FINALLY we could work towards our dream.  We visited display homes, we poured over brochures and magazines and crunched numbers and did all the things we were meant to do.

Then right as we were about to put the deposit down I was made redundant.  I vaguely remember hearing my husband say to me "Aren't you glad we didn't put that deposit down" and although I smiled and silently agreed in amongst the disappointment, I just couldn't give up the dream.  After a few days of feeling sorry for myself I was back in employment - determined.  I was temping but I was moving mountains to get a permanent job and I did it, within a week I was employed.  I was onto the bank, I had the balls rolling, I managed to secure a verbal go ahead from the bank even though my employment status was still in limbo (I had another 3 weeks to go before I even started the new job) but I wrote to my bank manager and begged (I have no shame).  He looked at my employment history and the fact that I'd been unemployed for about 48 hours in my life, he gave us the go ahead. Yes! The dream was still alive.

We were doing it.

Then the valuation came back and my dream was shot to pieces.  The valuation was under and miles from where we needed it to be.  It was the last straw.  I sat looking at the email, sitting at my new desk with my new colleagues surrounding me and internally I cried.  All the emotions that I'd held back from the redundancy and the pressures of finding a new job and chasing the dream all came crashing down and I died a little inside.  My brain was spinning, it was over.

Then I remembered reading a blog about someone who was building with McDonald Jones and they praised their mortgage broker.  I have no idea how I remembered that blog, but I found it.

Rebecca Jarrett-Dalton of Two Red Shoes came highly recommended.  I kid you not I emailed her and asked for a miracle.  She responded instantly, asked me for x, y & z which of course I had at hand, and within 24 hours she was sitting at my kitchen table working towards my miracle.  We tried everything to get my own bank to budge, we even went straight to the valuer, but they weren't in the business of handing out miracles so our broker went to work.

Rebecca gave us options, we picked one, a second valuation was arranged and I walked on egg shells for a couple of days.  Rebecca did her thing and our miracle was delivered.  We had a new valuation which came in higher than we needed (go figure), we had a new bank ~ who didn't even blink at the fact I was in a new job, and most importantly we had our dream again.

And here we are 6 months later building our dream home.

It is only fitting that I share Rebecca's details with anyone who reads this blog.  I am a true believer of word of mouth and Rebecca's company 'Two Red Shoes' deserves the praises that I'm singing.

If you, or anyone you know is in need of a Mortgage Broker who listens, understands, and is in the business of helping you achieve your goals, I cannot recommend Rebecca highly enough.

Give her a call.  I know I'll be forever grateful that we did.

Ms Betsy xo

Saturday Slab

The difference a few days can make.

Friday all the prep work was done and dusted...

Saturday saw a lot of activity on the good ol' block.  A team of strapping young men turned up with their trucks and tools and got to work ~ good old fashioned style.  Rolled up their sleeves, in some cases stripped to the waist and layed a slab.



Working hard..



Love a smooth surface

 

Drop Edge Beam

Would you look at that Drop Edge Beam, now I have all this soil to get rid of.



Back View

Front View


Yep, as far as slabs go, I think its looking good.  The guys worked hard all day and it was hot, they put up with us spectators as we stopped to watch and the kids took photo's.  It was all very exciting for us and another day in the office for them, but we are very appreciative of their hard work.

Keep up the great work MDJ.

[apologies for quality of photos, I do have better ones I'll replace them when I get a chance]


On your marks, get set.....

GO....

... and we are off running, or at least I thought we were and then we reduced the pace to a steady walk.

I drove past the block a week past Tuesday  and someone had been along and gave it a nice little tidy up, excavated/cut/scraped ~ whatever its called it looked good.

the next day we had a little blue box delivered, okay so it was a rather large blue box, but the less I think about what goes on in there the better..

Thank god I don't have to clean it...

Shortly after we were introduced to James by email... our trusty slab site manager with great news that plumbers had been arranged for Monday and viola just like that I drove past the block in the early hours of Monday morning and there as promised were 4 strapping lads setting up my site for pipework...  oh I love it when a good plan comes together.

We are plumbed!!!

 

Piering was scheduled for Thursday and then....

IT POURED :-(

so piering was rescheduled.

Friday we became a building site...

 

and finally all my anxiety disappeared. 

 

Of course I'm still excited and checking up on what is happening, but I am no longer stressing or anxiously counting the minutes.  Now that things have started and the ball is rolling, I've relaxed.  I'm quite happy to let McDonald Jones do their thing. 

 

 

Meanwhile, I've started looking out for furniture and lots of nice things to make a house a home...  watch this space. 

Display home.... medicine for the soul

Nothing to report but I thought I'd pop by and say Hi...

I've been feeling a bit under the weather lately and the added stress of waiting for something to happen with the house hasn't been helping.  I suggested a visit to the show home over the weekend and off we trotted. 

I am so happy we did this.  It is amazing how much your mind can play tricks on you.  It has been such a long time since we have visited the display home, in all honesty I had forgotten how great it was.  I am very excited again to see the start of the home being built, the reminder of how great it is and how much I'm looking forward to living in it was very welcome. 

Everything seemed so big.  Kitchen felt huge, living areas felt amazing ~ space, space, space... I cannot wait to be living in a house with some space, instead of us all tripping over each other all of the time. 

I especially cannot wait to give my girls a bedroom of their own.  The girl's have been sharing a room since they were born, but they are ready to have their own space.  They are completely different from each other, it will be interesting to see how having their own spaces will develop them, and how their individual characters will shape the decor of their rooms...

CANNOT WAIT ~ bring it on...

Little bits of red wood...

I've been driving by my lot of land every day and yesterday morning I decided to give it a miss. 

Last night I went to see a late movie with my son - Mortal Instruments, City of Bones.  Go see it, its great - seriously... but I recommend you read the books first.  That is how my kid earns movies.  If he's read the book he gets the ticket..

Anyway I'm getting off topic.

On the way to the movies I decided to drive by the lot - IN THE PITCH DARK!

And of course we have progress... well a little bit.

What are those 4 little bits of wood on each corner of my lot?... here's one.

Yes I know, how exciting can a little stick of red wood be?

Now I've had over 3,000 visitors to this site, and a warm welcome to my readers from America and Russia - but can anyone tell me what these little red bits of wood are for?

I have them on each corner of the lot.  Someone please enlighten me?

We are on the...

Let the countdown begin... 20 days, 20 days, 20 days....

when the words...

"Construction will commence within 20 days" graced the screen of my phone, I didn't know whether to cry with relief or scream with joy.... screaming with joy won, I think my boss thought I was a maniac (of course I get this news while I'm at work).

Finally the big looooooong wait is over, the next 20 days is going to kill me but at least now I have a timeline to move towards.

I am so excited.  I can start to look forward instead of wondering when, were, and how long..

THE ELECTRICAL SELECTIONS... finally

I finally updated my electrical selections..

You can find it here or by clicking up there...

That hole in the wall that you put your fridge in...

Okay its been a few weeks.... imagine how long that feels to me!

BUT...

...we finally got it.  Building approval is through.  Now we are waiting on a construction certificate and then once that is granted McDJ has the pleasure of 20 days to start doing 'something'.

I'm told that  as soon as they step foot on my property that that is day 1... you can bet your bottom dollar I will be setting up CCTV cameras on my property just so I can mark 'Day 1 of 150' off my calendar {I'm joking ~ seriously}. 

I have found myself in procrastination mode due to the whole council delay, so just to pass time, I pulled up my plans on the computer one day and started to look over them.

I spotted a few anomalies... and panicked.  So without further ado, here is something else to note when building your house.

That hole in the wall that you put your fridge in...

If you have increased the height of your doors throughout, and your fridge space is next to your pantry door, please remember and check that the fridge space height has also increased.  I did not even think about this, until it jumped out at me on the screen.

Secondly if you are putting a cupboard above your fridge within your fridge space and you are making it into a wine rack, please remember that if you have increased your fridge space height that you can increase your cupboard height too giving you three rows of wine instead of two.  Again, I just 'assumed' {there is that word you should never use in building) that this would automatically happen.  It didn't.

However all is good in my little world again. My trusty CLO got to work and fixed up everything and 24 hours later I was smiling again... I 'heart' McDJ.

Nothing is happening ~ Nada ~ Zilch ~ Not a god damned thing...

We are still here, still waiting... and...waiting...and...waiting...

This building game is really a test of your will.  We obtained 'verbal' building approval over 10 days ago, but verbal means nothing until its in writing and ~ you guessed it, we are waiting for the paperwork.

It's killing me.  I'm probably killing my husband with my incessant nagging about chasing up the documents, but what can I do, I don't do the whole waiting thing very well.

There is a McDJ house being built a stone throw away from me, I've been stalking their build, watching and wishing it was mine and trying to tell myself that I just have to hang in there, that eventually it will be mine.  EVENTUALLY {did I mention I don't do waiting very well...}

I have nothing to share I'm afraid.  Not regarding the build anyway, this is the down period, but I was checking out the blog and I noticed that I've had over 2500 visitors, I thought I should write something, even if its just to say ~ Thanks for popping your head in and checking things out!

I really really want to give you updates but its pointless taking photo's of a block of land.

If anyone has any questions on what the process has been so far or would like to stick their head out of internet land and just say hi... post a comment or a question below, I'd love to answer something {keep me occupied before I go up to council and write the approval myself}.

Betsy xo