External drainage

 Firstly, I have had to move my photo spot. A friend suggested that I take a photo from the same spot each time so that we can put them together into time lapse mode to easily see building progress. So I have been diligently taking a photo from the 3rd hole along in the fence at eye level. As of today, I have a newly erected pole in the way. A new position is required...

Lots of activity today as reported by a few friends. A digger up the back placing the stormwater drainage system in and other pipes being laid for the plumbing. 

Those black crate looking things are going in the absorption trenches in the backyard. Glad the slab has had time to cure enough for heavy machinery to run over the top of it ;-)

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.

Stormy waters

Today was not a good day in EBH land! We received the PCV for the hydraulic system as per the design put together by the external engineer. EBH allowed $8K for this in their professional opionon at our tender presentation. Well, it has come in at $15.5K. How can they get it so wrong? Not happy at all. An email has been sent with a few questions.

Miscellaneous

1) Stormwater issues - None of the neighbours responded to the request for a stormwater easement over their property (not even a negative answer!) This means we have to go with the absorption trenches in the backyard. A statutory declaration has been completed to send to the hydraulic engineer. Our neighbours have saved us a LOT of money upfront (legal fees, compensation etc) but not sure about the effectiveness of the trenches.
2) Laundry cupboard - Felt a little stuck in the middle between EBH and Kitchen Culture about our extra laundry cupboard. At tender, EBH told us it was Kitchen Culture's responsibility and of course, Kitchen Culture told us that we were much better off getting EBH to do it so that it would be the same as the cupboard currently in the plan. My CSO has asked for a sketch of what I want so hopefully we can get it sorted.
3) I found a discrepancy on our plans as far as the direction of one of our stacker doors to the alfresco. The ground floor plan has it going one way (the way we want) whereas the elevation drawings have it going the opposite direction. An easy correction, I hope.
4) Changed my blog address too. As this is public, thought it best to get my full name out of the address.

A progress report

It has been a week or two since the last blog post. Here is where we are at....

1) We are waiting to hear back from the first neighbour we approached to see if they will grant us an easement over their property. If we get a YES, we then need to approach another neighbour. Yes, 2 properties and therefore 2 lots of compensation and 2 other sets of legal fees!

2) I met with the lovely AJ from 're-do my space' on Monday. I feel really confident that she can help me to decorate the super large house so that it is warm & homely. AJ got me over the line too as far as taking it slow. I would LOVE to have the house nicely furnished from pretty much the moment we move in. Lately I have been thinking that this really isn't realistic especially as I want to do it right. I will pick a few key rooms to do first and then work on others as money allows. This house will have NO Fantastic Furniture in it ;-)

3) Still waiting on the pool quote/plan to be sent to me so that it can be added to the plan to go to council.

Off to Melbourne on Friday for my annual shopping, coffee, footy, wine, 5 star hotel trip with Brad and one of the companies that he is the client of. Bought new gloves today preparing for the icy cold temps we are expecting.

Further developments

The last few days have seen a few hiccups....

1) A frantic call from our CSO on Friday was received asking me if we were having a pool. (The landscape designer had mentioned positioning of the pool.) I replied YES as per the provisional allowance in the contract that we have both signed. Rania asked if we had wanted it excavated/shell before build or we wanted to look after it all ourselves after settlement. Confirmed the earlier as per conversation with Sara upon contract signing. Oops - it wasn't put on the plan by EBH! A quick call was made to the pool company to start the planning of the pool. And the plans will need to be redrawn soon.

2) We need to approach neighbours to ask for an easement right over their properties as we have no stormwater drainage. Firstly EBH informed us that we REALLY want them to say no so that we can use absorption trenches (quicker & cheaper). Counter advice from our trusted plumber and the hydraulic engineer employed by EBH saw me a little jaded. Furthermore, we were advised to approach the incorrect neighbour (upslope rather than the logical downslope neighbour) So glad that I didn't rush in and go doorknocking!

* Today we had an appointment to design our pool, right down to the last tile! Very exhausting, technical 90 minutes. We are building a rectangular pool with a 'wine & cheese' ledge across the width of the pool and a smaller, deep water ledge. A very fine, smoothish pebblecrete finish with a blue fleck in it. Needed to move the position of the pool from where I had thought it belonged due to lay-of-the land - no biggie!

* Moved straight onto a consult with the landscape design company. It was fairly straightforward. The brief is 'as little as possible at this stage' as I am thinking we will need to take out another mortgage for the retaining walls on the property! We can always build on the garden later down the track.