Today shall be called ... Slab Day!

Oh yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! We had a call from our very excited Covert Inspector to say that there were cement trucks in the street this morning. *Bing* Happy Days!!!


This is the view from part way up the backyard. Perhaps the chicken house will be where I am standing, if i can get past my fear of chickens!


This is the side of the house, beside the novelty oversized garage.




This is the view from the street as we pulled up.

This is the Alfresco area. I anticipate many barbecues here in the future with our wonderful friends and family.

(Sorry everyone, I'm so not doing Christmas this year!)

Bailey is standing in the kitchen where I reckon the stove will be.

That yellow pipe is my sink in my pantry!

This is the alfresco again. Bailey loved hearing about how the slab is made of foam.

View of the back of the house.

And again.

Bay really enjoyed being the inspector for me tonight. He wants to be a builder when he gets older. And a mechanic. And a carpenter. And an electrician ... the list goes on. All I know is, he is very good with his hands, and really wants to get stuck into it!

The garage ...

Well, I figured it is our house, and damn it, the slab was still a bit wet, so I have marked it with our names. The kids are chuffed. It's in the corner of the garage, I don't think it will be covered with bricks, but I don't think the thin etching will survive the build anyway. But even if it doesn't, we are forever etched into the guts of this house.

Tuesday 23/3/10

Here's what we had today:

(can't see them doing a slab pour tomorrow as promised, looks to me like it will be Thursday or Friday)

And the most exciting thing ever ... the porta-loo has FINALLY arrived...

Will continue to pass every couple of days to see what's going on. Hubby is substantially excited.

It was suggested that we have a slab party when the slab is poured, however given that they want to put the frame up pretty quickly, we may not have the chance.

School holidays starts on Friday, so it will be interesting to see the progress during this time. The boys are going to be hanging with their Dad for some of the time, and with Nanny for the other time, so I'm excited about seeing their faces when they see what the dirt has become at the end of their holiday!

Week One End Result

So at the end of the first week, this is what we have:

We have a portable toilet, an empty cage, a pile of rocks, and some concrete circles :)

We had a call from our Client Liason Executive with a pretty substantial problem. She said that their surveyor had failed to detect that we had overhead power (uhh, I'd think it's a no brainer, really!) so because the new government regulations specify that they're trying to eliminate overhead power lines, we have to pay extra for underground power as it wasn't even put in the house price - they just assumed that the underground power had been organised on our block.

In case you've never built a house before, you're expected to have power to the block (and overhead power lines is not classified as power anymore because of occ. health and safety apparently - even though they installed a temporary overhead powerline to eliminate the problem ... go figure!) They installed this overhead temporary line so that we didn't have a delay - so that is great of them, but because of their surveyor's f*** up, because he didn't have a brain that day, we will find out how much the underground power is going to cost in approx a month ... it has been estimated at approx $2k by the CLE that called us, who admits that she really has no idea ... but someone apparently "in the know" as they are in the industry has indicated to our Covert Inspector, Uncle John, that it could be a bit more than that.

Either way, my husband is now sooking the way that he did when we were told that the slab was potentially a P class ... it isn't pretty. Great.

So anyway, at least they're still trying to plod along. In around a month we'll find out the quote, then they'll get it done, and then three months in to the build (estimate) we will have underground power and will be able to proceed as normal. And we will be one of two houses in the estate with underground power. Yay no yucky cable to my beautiful house.

Any other builder would have stopped work. So for this, despite the added cost due to the doofus that didn't look properly for his payment in the first instance, we're thrilled that it's not affecting our build time-wise as that (as hubby puts it) could cost us quite a bit more in mortgage payments. Ra ra ra.

This week they have poured the concrete pillars for our slab down into the ground at the front and the back of the house.

They have also requested on three separate occasions that we do another Contract Variation due to things that they've picked up now... and we've also had to re-sign our contract drawings another time.

They have started to cause considerable stress to my husband as now he's talking about payments etc (I admittedly have my head in the sand for good reason!)

We have also named the house "The Taj" so that when we're explaining to people what we've been doing, we can say "we're just heading to the Taj" rather than "we're just heading to the block" because it's not a block anymore.

Mid-week we had a call from our Site Supervisor, and he said that on Wednesday we will have a slab, and by Friday, the frame will be started, so this time next week we will have some more productive pics than the dirt with concrete circles... (at first the kids said "someone's dumped concrete on the block")

So this time next week, it will look MASSIVE. We've tried to visualise it in our mind, we're sort of thinking it will be the same size length wise as our current house, but add on the extra width for the extra garage, and then add on the top storey - and that's about right.

Bloody Hell!

Preparations for the slab supreme...

So we went out tonight to check out our little patch of dirt... it's a lovely balmy night here in Werribee.

This is what we found when we went to the block...

Bay and Jake are at the front of the block, and Mick and Damo are standing at the back of the house.
It has hit us now how exciting this is!

While we were there, we took some time to have a gossip with the nextdoor neighbour, Pete. Bailey took some time out to meet the neighbourhood animals. Pete has already invited us to visit and swim in his pool... lets see how long that lasts!



It is amazing to see how large this house is really going to be. We now realise that the backyard is going to be substantially smaller than we have imagined! The pool is still on the cards, but I'm seeing a healthy lawn area, which will actually be maintainable.

We have learned that the neighbourhood is extremely friendly. Pete knows everyone in the immediate vicinity. The neighbourhood children are all grown up now (ie. 19 and 20 is the youngest - and we've been offered babysitters too!) and the householders have been there since the start of the estate - they are all yet to sell up and move from the area. This makes us feel very comfortable.

Another comforting fact is that Pete tells us the neighbourhood is majority Italian and Greek families. We should fit in quite well with our backgrounds. And thankfully they should be quite loud also so they won't be so shocked with the noise that we bring!

Interesting to see Pete's dog, Rambo, gave us a welcoming bark (I think it was a standing ovation actually!) but only after we'd been standing out the front talking to him for around 15 minutes... Rambo is a small fluffy dog, quite funny to hear such a butch name for such a pretty little fluffy dog. Max and Jessie will have a ball talking to Rambo at night. We were planning on having a dog run down the vacant side of the house (well, I was planning that!) however if Jessie talks to Rambo this will change as our bedroom is on that side. The little wench will do anything to be sleeping inside... and if it kills me, I will make her live outside, damn it!

Back to the dig ... they've cut out a massive chunk for the alfresco area... this is because it has to have the extra reinforcement columns as it is the most unstable area of the block... Mick wants me to say that is where the pool is going however I don't think anyone will believe that...

Anyway, we're officially now paying 2 mortgages so for any of you reading this that have decided we should be going out for tea with you, or who are thinking of initiating a party weekend ... sorry, for the next 10 months or so, we're officially out of action financially. And stuff it, if I'm not allowed to get another tattoo until the house is finished, then lets be fair, we can't spend unneccessary money either. Hubby is also looking into joint life insurance policies for us, which the olds will be happy to hear about. I'm not planning on having him topped, and hopefully he's not planning on having someone do it to me either...

In other unneccessary money spending news, I have subscribed to Burkes Backyard magazine and I'm actually really excited about it. I think I'm getting old. But at least this will hopefully make more of a handyman out of me (oops ... my husband) and will give us some awesome ideas for the gardens... (no I won't be requiring anyone's geranium offcuts thanks!) This decision came after an enlightening afternoon last weekend watching Gardening Australia on ABC while Mick was playing Playstation 3 with the boys... but figured I'm not 85 so Gardening Australia is not the magazine of choice for me... but the show was UNREAL! Very embarrassed to admit that...

I'm actually pondering going to Bunnings and getting some fruit trees and raising them in pots for a while, so that when we go to move in, I have something that isn't a baby tree and can tolerate dog bites. After all, I have spent 2 years talking to the apple tree here, and pleading with it to love me, and grow just that little bit taller ... well the apple tree is taller than the fence now (actually, by around 1/2 a metre!) and it FINALLY has produced its first apple. And now we're moving ... so once again, the tradition of Cathy not benefiting from her vegies and fruits continues. (this is a saga that extends years into my past, i will reflect on it one day while we have a povvo dinner or something if you wish to know - although I promise, no sausages!)

Slab pour is booked for March 24. We have a neighbourhood relative that is almost as excited as us, and who actually saw the block today before us ... and I'm sure if anything happens inbetween now and then we will certainly know about it!

Donations to the mortgage fund are now being sought. We really don't want to sell the house we live in before we have to, so we have chosen to just struggle through it. Let me know if you wish to contribute, I can send you our bank account details quickly before you change your mind and realise what the hell you're doing... He he he.

Our first delay - and our first frustration!

I'm starting to think that Wyndham Council doesn't want us to see outside any of the bedrooms on our top storey. They have decided that to get the occupancy permit, two of our bedrooms (as per the plans, it's bedrooms 3 and 4) need to have frosted glass so as not to "interfere" with the neighbours' privacy. Initially it was just bedroom 4, now it's also the one at the front.

The neighbours are all double storey houses... so as a general note to everyone building in an already established area - if you are going double storey, please be prepared for the fact that anything that potentially overlooks someone elses property (even at front of the property!) may be required to be frosted glass to get the occupancy permit.

Pricks! Grr.

(Oh well, we are planning on having double-blinds in this house also - with a sheer blind down all the time, and a blockout blind that we raise and lower - so really not looking out the windows much anyway - so it's no skin off our nose)

Our construction was due to commence on Friday, it's been pushed back to Monday due to the Melbourne rain storms last week. Oh well... Not a big deal.

Yippee, they're gonna start the house on Monday!

We drove past today, hoping to see a portaloo, or a temp fence, or ANYTHING ... but just a lonely old block.

Our last visit as a block ...

So we went out to the block this afternoon just to hang out at the park - the kids were bored, they're getting into basketball a bit ... and across the road in the park, there is a 1/2 basketball court with backboards at each end ...

It was a wonderful time with the kids, just mucking around, and then when they started to get bored, Jake went to play on the swings and we could just keep playing a little bit more.

I can't wait until this house is built - it will be so nice to be able to have more space (not that we're cramped at the moment, but you know what I mean!), somewhere to have some vegies growing, and somewhere for the kids to escape to and play!

And with the rain that we've had here in the past couple of days, Mick will be so happy when the house is built as his car will fit in the triple garage!

Mick, being the statistician, has worked out that it is just over 10 kilometres to the block from our current house. Which means that my drive to work, which currently only takes around 15-20 minutes, will take substantially longer. Mick told me this when he found the block, but knowing how much different our lives would be, I couldn't have cared less - and still don't care!

At this stage, although it may be difficult, we still plan to keep the boys at the same school, which is about (at least) another 4 kilometeres again, away from the block. If I find full time work, however, be it at Bestbar or elsewhere, it will mean that the kids have to get not one, not two, but three buses home!

(and they'll get home prob around 20 minutes before me, despite finishing school 2 hours before I finish work!)

The pool has hit a backburner, we're at this stage, just happy to be building the house. Interest rates may have gone up again, but we're not panicking just yet of course... well, I'm not... but I have my head in the sand with these financial matters. That's what husbands are for! :)

Finally, it is scheduled to begin!

Well - we received an email first thing on Monday morning letting us know that our house is scheduled to begin on Friday March 12! And the slab will be poured on March 24!

Exciting news!

(and yes, the pants are stained!)