Friday, April 27, 2012

Day 14 (26.04.2012) - Site updates

It's been raining these past days in Melbourne... I saw some site activity last Monday..  but none last Tuesday due to heavy rains and last Wednesday being Anzac Day. So at the end of day yesterday (after 2 days of work this week so far), our site looks as shown below. I guess the pile of soil in front is the crushed rock. There are also some protruding pipes on the ground. By the way, our next door neighbor already moved in.. saw some guys installing their TV antennae.



Saturday, April 21, 2012

Day 8 (20.04.2012) - Temporary Fencing Up

Temporary fencing is up. Our Austral Access Fawn bricks are delivered as well. Corrected construction drawings received and posted back to builder.



Day 6 and 7 (18-19.04.2012) - Site Updates

Construction manager gave me a call on Day 6. No site supervisor yet.
By Day 7, we got the temporary timber crossover and sediment control barrier to the front of site. The electrical connection that was relocated to the side of garage is also ready.




Day 5 (17.04.2012) - The day after site scrape

Construction drawings arrived on Day 5. There were two drawing corrections noted and communicated to CLE. I believe there was no site activity on this day but I still took more photos which are basically result of the site scrape.




Friday, April 20, 2012

Day 4 (16.04.2012) - Site scrape

Site scrape works started this day. Saw a large truck and some equipment on site early in the morning. The last photo was taken in the afternoon after the site works was completed.
Site scrape pics

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Day 1 (13.04.2012) - Site scrape postponed

Some updates this week. We were assigned with a new CLE as our previous one left CH. Furthermore, a reestablishment survey for our land was done. Our CLE said it is needed to establish the boundaries. We will be billed for that job and it costs $800++ for less than an hour's work! I happen to see the guy who did it as he prepares to do his work last Thursday and I asked him if he will take long to complete it. He said he will probably be done in half an hour! Anyway, now the pegs are there and boundaries are set.

Another setback was the rubbish found on our lot. We were surprised to see a pile of rubbish that was dumped by the next door neighbor. Luckily we saw some documents in their name and address in the pile so we are able to chase them to get those rubbish cleared. It caused us one day delay though for the site scrape which is usually done on the site start date. I requested for the site scrape to be postponed to Monday to ensure that the rubbish are cleared. So last Friday, which was officially our site start date, only the toilet was set up.

Here's the picture of our lot taken today. To the left of our lot is a built house, to the right is under construction probably in lock-up stage and the lots in front of us are all already built with houses.

Our lot before site scrape

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Site start date set!

It's been a roller coaster level of stress this past month.... and I thought after contract signing we will just sit back and wait for the next stage.. I was wrong! It didn't went well, with our mortgage broker informing us about low valuation of our land (VERY huge amount below its price, hello?!?) and us forking out 6-digits to go ahead with the build with big LMI! We almost gave in to 95% LVR. I had to go directly to our bank to get another opinion (different bank from what the mortgage broker recommended) and requested for valuation... I got some vital info from the bank which I was surprised our mortgage broker did not inform us about. To make the long story short, we dropped the mortgage broker and dealt directly with our bank.. We are very pleased that the valuation returned on our favor with our land and house valuated at the same price as they are! We were given a loan amount that is manageable for us to proceed with the build... In this process, we almost changed house and end the contract! Perhaps it is meant after all for us to build Baltimore 40. Our unconditional approval from the bank was given last week and we're just waiting for some documents for signing. We are also waiting for the construction drawings from Carlisle Homes. Our CLE also informed us that our site start date is set on 13 April 2012! Excited much!