Another BIG day on trees & demolition

I received a phone call from Jemena yesterday to inform me that the contracting company has our job booked in for January 8. It is a little more complicated in that Ausgrid needs to be present because mains power is involved. Demolition of the house therefore cannot occur until Wednesday.

I received a phone call from the tree lopping company contracted to do the job last night quoting me $5k to do the job of removing all vegetation & stump grinding. Aargh! No way! Told him that I couldn't pay that on top of the $15K demo job especially when the quote says that it includes removal of all shrubs, bushes & trees (with an extra charge to take trees from the site). The lovely man Simon rang back at 9pm to lower the quote to $3700 which still was not acceptable to me. He really wanted the job and was prepared to do it on Saturday. I explained that I had a trusted CHEAP tree lopper that I was going to get a quote from.  I SMSed Jeff straight after and we organised for him to quote today.  After a false start (read he didn't meet me at arranged time due to a doctors appointment), he walked through the property while I was on the other end of the line. I could tell that Jeff really didn't want to do the job (HUGE). Said the tell the other company that he would do it for $3300. Jeff also suggested that we get rid of the palm tree that we were planning on keeping - they are bad news. Called Simon who is going to do the job for $3500 including palm removal.
At some stage, I need to nut out this terrible quote with State Demolition. After losing sleep over the past few nights about this, we might wait until after my holidays.
Be wary of cheap quotes, I say!!

And now for another BLIP in the journey

Update on this afternoon.....
So I did receive a call from Jack to meet him at the property at 3:30pm. I don't think he could quite believe the amount of vegetation to be removed LOL! He is organising a quote for mulching & removal of trees that are to be lopped. He gave me an approximate timeframe of Monday & Tuesday for demolition of the house and the trees after that BUT.....
He did notice that the gas had not been disconnected as yet. This is obviously of great concern when knocking down a house. I organised this on Dec 11 with a note to say that it would be done ASAP after Dec 23.
So I came home and spent a frustrating hour on the phone to Energy Australia and Jemena. EA (retailer) told me that they had done their part and it was with Jemena (provider) now. We should allow up to 20 working days for it to happen so it may not be done until January 11. Aarrgghh! I explained that the house is partly demolished and we need disconnection before it can continue, I rang Jemena who told me that the job has been dispatched but they cannot tell me when it will be done as it is the hands of the contracting company. The lovely CS lady was going to send the Manager of said company an email to hurry them up and requesting a phone call to me.
So in a state of limbo now until we know when the gas can be disconnected and really hoping it doesn't end up costing us money due to a delayed building start time.

And now for NO action :-(

So the course of no-events......
* Sent an SMS on Friday morning regarding tree work. "When will it me done as I need to identify trees to be kept?". Rang me in the afternoon to say that we could walk around the yard on Saturday morning before tree lopping is to be done. I rearrange my day on Saturday to wait for him to call. NOTHING.
* I send another SMS on Monday morning asking the same question. NO RESPONSE
* After driving by this morning and seeing no work being done, I call him. No answer. He calls back and when he hears that it is me, he hangs up. I try 4 times to call him over the space of an hour - no answer. I send an SMS to say 'Please call me urgently'. No response.
* Sneaky me calls his mobile from my landline and BINGO, it is answered!!! He blames his children on the hangup. Informs me that he cannot get the machinery needed to do the job this week. I ever so politely say that it is OK but it would be courteous to just let me know. I thought he had done a 'runner'. Jack promises me that he will be in contact to walk through the yard today or tomorrow. I encourage you all not to hold your breath waiting....
* Message me if you would like the name of this company...or scroll down to read the quote and you will find it there!!

And now for some real action....

...albeit too early! Demolition is not meant to start until Monday December 31. Maybe that means with the heavy machinery?? Brad drove past this morning on his way to the station and rang to tell me demolition had started on the roof! I quickly jumped in the car and went to visit. I was worried about not marking the trees yet. The guys there couldn't tell me when that was booked in for. Made a note to stop in at Bunnings on the way home for some tape to wrap around trees.

Incidentally, do I look Russian? The guy working on the house swore I looked of Russian descent???? I did say to him....do you mean Scandinavian LOL?

OMGoodness!

We have temporary fencing ALREADY! My friend and I were off to the city for drinks & dinner at the Opera Bar and drove past the house at 6:45pm. I felt a rush of adrenalin when I saw the fencing up and a tingle of excitement. Obviously a motivated site supervisor! We were SMSing (no language barrier that way) at 4:45pm when I gave him the OK to go ahead so within 2 hours the fencing was ordered, delivered & installed. I have had to quickly organise the notification of neighbours and council; organise the protection of trees on council land and will need to mark somehow the trees that are to stay.

Now to go back a little for you. When I spoke to the site supervisor this afternoon, we worked out that the only thing stopping the demolition for starting early was the temporary fencing. I told him that if he could find a company willing to get it done now, it should be fine. He came back with a cheap price with immediate delivery so I gave him a AOK. I panicked a little about the temp fencing company that I had organised to deliver early in the morning of January 7 knowing that the office is  closed down for 2 weeks. Crossed my fingers and sent them an email. Received a response in 5 min from the administration officer letting me know that she would cancel my order and that there would be no charge - YAY!

So.......demolition should start on Monday with the real action day (ball through the house) being Thursday January 3!

 

Advice needed please! How do you read point 4)?  Trees will be lopped but need to pay for green waste at tip? Need to pay separately for lopping & tipping?

I have also just reread that our 'special offer' means they pay for the site fence?? Not once has this being mentioned. Grrrrrr.....

More demolition news....

1) I was reading the quote last night (as you do when there is little on TV) and discovered I had misread the document. I thought block clearing including all vegetation was included.  Trees incur a separate charge. I will need to negotiate what is a tree & what is a very tall shrub with the demolition company now.

2) I, in fact, received a call this morning from the site manager for our demolition job. He actually wants to start earlier than January 7. This would suit us apart from the fact that the temporary fencing is not arriving until the wee hours of January 7 and there is a requirement for fencing. I asked him if he could meet with me next week to go through the backyard & discuss the issue of trees VS shrubs. I also told him that we would be on holidays during the demolition period. He will contact me next week to arrange.

3) According to the work plan, the main day of demolition is on Wednesday January 9. If you have a child who may be keen to watch, mark it in your diary and get the camp chairs ready! Free school holiday entertainment!