Steel reinforcement completed (I think)

As a family, we went away overnight so stopped by the block on our way home. Excited to see the steel reinforcements in place. From what I can remember, we have a certification check scheduled for tomorrow before they can continue after Australia Day.
The gardeners were meant to finish off clearing the block today but were not able to. When I spoke to Geoff today, he agreed to backfill the holes left by the stumpgrinders and try to remove part of a stump that is still remaining. He is meant to be there on Tuesday now.

Excavation complete

Excavation complete - please cough up 25% of contract price plus extras for rock! On the up-side, I have been able to meet one of my neighbours who is just lovely. Seemingly non-plussed about the build and even went as far as sending an email to the demolition company congratulating them on the good job. If only she knew it from our point-of view LOL!

Rock on!

Pool excavation started this morning and by 8am we had received a call to tell us that they had hit rock :-( Peter, the site supervisor, needed me to contact EBH to see if they would use fill with sandstone in it. It took a while for the answer from EBH which of course, was NO!
Peter has measured the rock to be 18.3 m3 with the monetary value of $3.4K for the excavation alone. Depending on how many loads of fill there are, we will now have some cartage/tipping fees too ($1.2K per load)
Peter estimates the excavation will now be finished by Wednesday and with the Australia Day holiday thrown in, it will be more like next Wednesday when they finish as they have a few EBH contracts that they need to start at the same time.

Site start appointment

Yesterday in the sweltering heat, we all travelled over to Bella Vista to have our site start appointment. It was great to be able to put a face to the voice of our CSA, Rania. It was an efficient meeting with all my points dealt with - I am glad I took the advice of my fellow HomeOners and emailed Rania prior to the appointment.
Expected timeline from here.......
* Pool excavated on Monday 21//01
* Pool shell constructed, boarded up & fenced
* We notify EBH when that is completed who will order the peg out
* Once the survey from the peg out is received, our contract period begins.
* The slab should be poured within about 3 weeks.
A big relief to get to this point after 15 months of planning.

We did receive a confusing email from our Mortgage Angel yesterday regarding the pool. The email seemed to contradict itself. We are funding the pool ourselves though because it is part of the valuation for the house, it seems that CBA want the money upfront for that and to release funds themselves?? Brad questioned this with our Mortgage Angel who herself, didn't seem to understand what was required. Sitting tight on that one before we send over $50 K to CBA!

In preparation for our site start appointment

After weeks of waiting, 2 days before our site start appointment, we received our final variation documents and construction drawings yesterday. Many thanks to Lucinda for her assistance in going through the reams of paper, double checking, triple checking. I am not sure how she pulled up but I had motion sickness from the constant head movements and focusing in fine print.

Firstly for those yet to get to this stage of the journey, be warned. I found the final admin variation list one of the most confusing documents ever. This is our contract document and rather than registering our final decision on selections, it has recorded every single addition and deletion over the last 9 months. For example, there is a mention of our front door about 10 times over the pages of the contract, leaving me wondering if the correct doors will indeed be ordered! Surely, it would make everyones job easier if the contract was a true reflection of the final state of play - less chance of oversights, happier clients, happier site supervisors, happier CSAs??

There were a few errors, some minor, one fairly major.

* We had flyscreens and a security door for the laundry in the colour document that shouldn't have been there. I was very tempted to overlook that mistake but I am too honest!
* We had the wrong package for some door furniture and wrong code for all our kitchen/vanity/laundry handles.
* A possible incorrect handle for the pantry door.
* Possibly incorrect taps for vanity basins in all bathrooms - to be clarified tomorrow.
* A missing towel rail that we paid extra for
* The tender has architraves at 75mm but our colour document has our selected ones at 67mm. Do we choose smaller ones or is that a mistake?
* I have noted that one aircon vent is right up near a cornice rather than more in the centre of the room - that would really bug me.
* The biggie - for our cellar under the stairs, the tender presenter squared off the area that adjoins the media room which was part of the price as well as gyprocking, tiling and a door. This was signed off on the tender variation in handwriting. I wasn't too worried that it wasn't on the contract plans as neither were all the changes to our kitchen. I was told it all comes through in the final drawings. Move forward to yesterday and it didn't come through. I look back to the more official typed up variation 1 and I had signed it off without them adding on the 'squared off' bit. I emailed EBH today explaining the situation and owning my mistake in signing it off when it was not correct. If we were going to be penalised for making a change now, I would have left it. I received a PCV this afternoon requesting the change to the construction drawings with NO CHARGE! Very happy buildee and a happy Brad (more wine storage!)
* In adding the plans to my blog, I have also just noticed that the stacker doors to the family room are opening the wrong way on this plan. Correct elsewhere though......

Antenna recommendation

Not really related to this house but good for anyone in my local area needing antenna work.

I can highly recommend our local franchisee for Jim's Antennas - Martin Vedris. We have been having issues with Channel 7 Digital over the last few weeks. Martin courteously called when he was running late, listened to/heard me when I said that I wanted the cheapest possible solution given we are selling this year, worked in searing heat on the roof and in our roof space for about an hour, made some minor adjustments and wanted NO money for his efforts. I insisted and he relented asking for some money to cover petrol (we gave him more than he asked for) Now, that is service. He suggested that we monitor to see if the problem is fixed before we get him to return to replace the antenna.

If anyone needs help with TVs, antennas, home theatre setup etc - call Martin direct on 0431 455 255 or email on martinv@jimsantennas.com.au Tell him I sent you and I know he will take good care of you.

Tree work completed

All done...almost! I found out today that the guys don't remove small stuff like agapanthas as it does not mulch well. I have quickly organised for my regular gardeners to blitz the property of the final small bits which should be possible next week. We will also need to do a garbage removal sweep over. Obviously our tenants or even the previous tenants left small items in the overgrown shrubbery eg. balls, mops, half a cricket wicket, pot plants

If you ever need tree work done, the guy I just dealt with did a fantastic job. Friendly, flexible, VERY competitive. Tell him I sent you and Simon will really look after you!

SIMON'S TREE LOPPING 0404 881798