Brickwork progress

I went to take photos of the brickwork only to discover that the suitcase I had lugged from the front of the block (with the brickies permission) to the kerbside for collection...has been thrown back over the fence :-( I am glad I didn't take the time to drag the colorbond fencing too. Little do they know that I can play this game!! I am up for the challenge.

I was stopped tonight by 2 ladies walking past. One built 10 years ago with Eden Brae and was delighted with the outcome. They were one of the very first EBH homes in Hornsby Council. She is going to walk past every day now she has seen our build happening.

3 days of bricking

Side view with alfresco pillars

Offending suitcase

3 out of 3 APPROVED!

After 3 long months, all 3 applications to council have been approved. Ahhhhh.......  We can demolish, build and put in a pool. One neighbour in particular is not going to be happy - they objected to the pool (acoustics & loss of privacy) and the house (privacy & loss of sun).  

"An objection was received in regards to the two storey dwelling-house resulting in a loss of privacy to the adjoining property in Gxxxxx Avenue. The first floor windows serve bedrooms and bathrooms only, in accordance with the prescriptive measures of the Privacy element. The single window on the first floor facing the objectors property is setback over 26 metres from this adjoining property.

As a consequence, the development would have negligible adverse privacy impacts, the proposal meets the objectives of the Privacy element and is considered acceptable."

"An objection was received in regards to the two storey structure causing a loss of solar access to the rear western property. The shadows cast from the proposal would allow at least 4 hours of sunshine to the private open space required for adjacent and proposed dwelling-houses on 22 June (the winter solstice). The shadows cast from the proposal would allow north facing windows to living areas of adjacent and proposed dwelling-houses to receive 3 hours of sunshine over a portion of their surface on 22 June. The proposal meets the prescriptive measures and objectives of the Solar Access element and is considered acceptable."

Fortunately Council didn't seem to think they were legitimate reasons to protest. Can't wait for our first pool party!

Hornsby Council themselves did have a concern over the design initially-  -->

"The proposed 12.9m unbroken wall length of the northern elevation does not comply with the prescriptive measures of the Design element which requires that walls not exceed 10m without a physical “break”. A balance between solid walls and openings and variations of roof form has been incorporated into the elevations to avoid a monotonous or symmetrical design.

On that basis, the proposal would have negligible adverse visual or amenity impacts to the adjoining properties, meets the objectives of the Design element and is considered acceptable."

Eden Brae can't move onto the next step until they have a hard copy of the determination. Grrrr.... This paperwork took 2 weeks to be put in the mail for the pool DA. I wonder if I can print it off and send it to them rather than waiting for Council to do it?? The information is all on the website for public record. Not sure why they don't accept it.

Anyway, happy days here until the next hiccup! Enjoy your weekend. I am celebrating 11 years of wedded bliss with my wonderful husband. Awwwww....

Status - approved!

Don't get too excited yet. This is only for demolition. So far we can demolish & build a pool  - maybe we can live on a boat in the pool? The DA that has been in Hornsby Council since the end of August is not yet approved though we are close - tomorrow (depending on whether they all have flexidays!) or Monday. All checks are listed on the web tracking site as been completed. Nothing really can happen until we have this approval. EBH need it for final plans to be drawn up, the bank need it ( I think) for the construction loan...
Hurry up  - only about 6 weeks until DDay on January 7.

My visit to Council

Any of my really observant followers will have noticed the title change of the blog to Our Dream. Brad was a little offended that he wasn't included and wanted it changed ;-) It has never been his dream, is happy where we are currently but more than happy for me to oversee this. A few of my friends will remember trawling through project homes when I was in my early 20's when we had a spare Sunday! We would dream of new houses & interior design LOL. Linda H??!

I armed myself with reams of documents this morning to visit Hornsby Council. The lovely Customer Service member was extremely helpful in going through these documents and working out which ones I needed. The application to DEMOLISH was lodged then & there - DONE.

I then sat down with one of the Heads of Planning & Building to ask him some questions regarding trees.
* Any tree marked for removal can be removed without further consent when the approval comes through.
* We may prune the neighbours trees right to the fence without their permission and we may also leave the trimmings neatly stacked on their property for them to dispose of (we will green waste them ourselves)
* The new vehicular crossing required does not need to be applied for until closer to the date of construction.

All in all, a successful morning at council.

Demolition Derby

Firstly, my helpful council officer called me back this morning after speaking with those in the tree department. All we need for the DA to move ahead is a YES or NO from Eden Brae as to whether they are prepared to build using tree sensitive protection measures. A YES given from EBH and sent to Hornsby Council. Unfortunately EBH are not able to price this up until DA has been approved and the tree conditions placed on the DA consent. Leap of faith here.

Finally, I was able to get in contact with the Operations Manager from our demolition company. She has been off sick for a while with obviously no-one performing her duties for her. She seemed a little shocked that the 'job' had not been progressed, in particular, no application with a certifier or with council. Unfortunately, we cannot use a private certifier now as the procedures have changed recently. Myriads of paperwork were sent to start the process. A few minutes later, I was speaking to Council who questioned why I was doing it that way. She suggested submitting my request to demolish as additional information to my existing application - this requires minimal cost & minimal paperwork. How appealing! Not to be unfortunately. Eden Brae have a policy that demolitions and builds need to be separate as they do not want to be held liable as 'owners' of the development approval. Back to the sea of paperwork though it is a little unclear as to what is actually required. It was suggested to me that a trip to Council's clerical department tomorrow with my documents would be a useful idea. Brilliant way to spend a 'day off' with Brad who has just returned from the UK.

Council DAs

Well DDay is here and of course, no contact from the neighbours. I have spoken to my officers at concil who will get back to me about what the next step is. She did mention that if we did move the house over on the block thereby redoing the plans then we would need to go through the DA process again, including notification. NO WAY!
I talked to Sarah about our pool application that was approved despite some objections from a neighbour (privacy & acoustics) . Sarah said that we do have objections sitting there for the house DA too but seemed to indicate that they were insubstantial.
Geez, I really look forward to moving in one day, surrounded by unhappy neighbours on all sides!

Tree letter written

I spent yesterday afternoon drafting the letters to go to our 2 neighbours who live on the property with the trees that overhang ours. The property is subdivided and is on a strata plan. We actually don't know if the owners live there or not. I have enclosed a self addressed, stamped envelopes for them to return their written consent to pruning or removal of the trees. I have also included a copy of the letter from council outlining the issues. Fingers crossed we get a response from them.....

Update post Fiji!

As you all like photos, I thought I would post one from where I have been the past week!

Whilst we have been away, council have decided that we need to approach our neighbours to ask them if we can prune, remove or replace 2 trees that are hanging over the boundary fence. I think they need to allow us to prune if it is encroaching our property. The letter also mentioned something technical to keep in mind when we construct our new driveway.

PCV-wise - I have one to sign explaining that EBH will place an extra timber beam in the every wall of the house for us. This will allow us not to worry what we hang on the walls - they will be able to take Brad's sports memorabilia easily!

I also need to think about extending the main bathroom wall to create more of a doorway. EBH will do this at no charge for us but I need to decide whether I want a 1000mm opening or a 820mm opening...

Time for demolition quotes

I had a call from Rania yesterday to officially let me know that the plans had gone off to council. Checked today on the tracking device online & they have been received and entered by Hornsby Council.
Rania also wanted to know if we had submitted our demolition application yet....ummmm, no! Next job on the list of things to do.
Mentioned to Rania that I still hadn't received our quote from DiLorenzo after 2.5 weeks and some followup emails. R said she would followup too from her end - we then had the quote within an hour! We are still waiting on the carpet component of it though.

Personally, I think the way DiLorenzo operate with the builder is a little sneaky. Even though they are up front about the charges for laying tiles that are larger than 250 x 250mm, the tile displays they show you for standard EBH tiles are all larger than 250x250mm. Basically, you need to specifically ask for smaller tiles to avoid charges. Anyway, our tile quote came to the amount we allowed for in our contract as I decided to ask for floor to ceiling tiling in the main & ensuite.
It will be interesting to see the figure for carpets as I would like to upgrade the carpet and the underlay!

Off to Council.....

The exciting news of the day is that our plans have now been sent to council to await the rubber stamp of approval! Yay! A major step closer though a long road still ahead.

I sent an email to EBH management this afternoon regarding my dissatisfaction with the hydraulics PCV. To be completely honest, I wasn't really expecting a reply. Within an hour, I had a call on my mobile from a lovely lady, Bev, who listened, understood & cared though not really solving anything! Bev was great at explaining things that hadn't been discussed with me. Thankyou for your prompt response Eden Brae.