Piering complete...and we have waffle pods!

As promised, piering was completed today! And what's even better - we came under! We didn't even think to add extra onto our 40 lineal metre allowance during our tender period, so this was always something that was in the back of my mind. Admittedly when we hit rock I had an inkling we wouldn't go over but didn't want to get too excited (especially when I wasn't overly excited about hitting rock in the first place!). I had a voice message this morning whilst I was in a meeting saying that the drilling was complete, and it was only 19 lineal metres! I had a feeling it would be under, but not by more than half :) so that was great for my Monday-itis!

We went and checked out the block at lunch time and we found a lovely surprise - waffle pods! I also noticed there was no concrete on top of the piering holes but didn't think too much more of it, then as I was leaving the block I had a call from the concrete company saying they had drilled the piers to which I told them I was just leaving the block and had seen them, but noticed no concrete. He said they would be back later in the arvo to pump the concrete in, and they did! Our lovely neighbours sent a pic, which I will include below, along with a few of my pics (sorry, I know pics of dirt are boring but I'm excited!).

Plumbing is scheduled for Thursday and we are looking at mid next week for a slab - yay!

Piering to happen on Monday...

As the title says, piering should be happening on Monday next week!

I decided to call the slab supervisor today because I knew there was nothing happening on our block - he was great about it and said that unfortunately being between the Easter and ANZAC long weekends there are a number of people on holidays, including our piering guy, which is what I suspected. He said we are scheduled in for Monday with plumbing to follow shortly after - yay!

So next week we should start to see a bit of action - can't wait :)

All is quiet...again

So it has been over a week since my last post, but nothing has happened in that time!

In saying that, we have had public holidays and a bit of wet weather last week so of course that would slow things down. The huge pile of dirt is still sitting at the back of our block - but looks like there has been a little excavator sitting on our block for a few days now, with what looks like large drill bits for drilling holes into the ground - maybe for piering perhaps? No idea. Today was a gorgeous day but nothing happened, hoping for something tomorrow or Thursday. Rain is forecast from late Thursday and into the long weekend, so hopefully it will only last for the weekend and stop for next week :)

Meanwhile, with one of the 3 x MJH blocks down the street, one of them already has frames complete! The other 2 blocks still don't have pegs, so hopefully that means we will be ahead of them :) just can't believe how quickly that one shot up! It had a slab before we knew it, then I drove past today (haven't been able to visit since last Monday) and the frame was done! Lucky them!

We had a great time in Perth catching up with family and the weather was beautiful and warm every day. I also had a great time on the aerial patrol for work and just had to share this great photo I took on our way home, flying over the Bannisters Resort @ Mollymook, one of our fave holiday destinations :)

Nothin' beats a big pile of...dirt!

Today was another great day - more scraping was done along with the all important rock excavation.

Had a call from the slab supervisor later in the morning saying that the rock was easier to excavate than first thought, turns out it was mostly sandstone which makes great fill (for people who need it that is) so carting it away will be cheaper a) because it is actually now considered "spoil" and not rock because it broke up easily once excavated and b) a lot of the spoil can be taken to other sites that actually need it, so we shouldn't need to use the whole $10.5K variation we received the other day - but we will wait and see, I have learnt not to speak too soon in this building game!

Now we have a MASSIVE pile of dirt at the back of the block, huge. Not sure if the scraping is finished but he definitely got a lot done today. I am going to have withdrawals as I won't be able to visit the block until next Tuesday. I'm going on an aerial patrol tomorrow to Cooma for work and won't be back until Wednesday, then on Thursday Vas and I fly to Perth for the Easter break to see family, which we are really looking forward to. More than happy for the work to continue whilst we're gone though! We have great neighbours who are keeping an eye out for us :)

Pics of the block / dirt below, though it doesn't do the amount of dirt any justice :)

Credit where credit is due...

After being extremely grouchy yesterday morning (again) for not receiving our rock variation, I got my stalk on. I hadn't heard anything back from our CLO so I tried calling her, no answer. I then tried calling her boss, no answer - but I left a voice message. I then called the main office phone number to see if either of them were even in the office, turns out they were at a meeting / seminar up in the Hunter. I felt a little bad for stalking but at the same time had no idea they were away. I was told they would be back in the office today. I was put through to another CLO to see if she could assist, she looked into it but couldn't really do anything for me but I appreciated her trying as she did make a good effort to look into what was happening. She said she would send an email to my CLO as well as everyone else involved.

That is where the "credit where credit is due" comes into it. I got into work at 7:30am, fired up my computer and saw I had an email from my CLO sent at 7:25am with the rock variation attached, I was quite chuffed that she had emailed me first thing in the morning. Not so chuffed at receiving a $10.5K variation, but chuffed at the timeliness. She also answered my query about how 90 tonnes of rock hadn't been picked up during the geotechnical survey and the answer as I suspected was that when the bore holes were drilled it didn't show up anything, it can be further under the surface and it is always an unknown of what is really under there most of the time until site works commence.

She also confirmed that we will only be charged the $500 admin fee as opposed to the $1000 fee for adding electrical items (data points and ceiling fans). We have gone for the Fanaway fans in the brushed chrome with clear retractable blades for each bedroom, and 12 x data points (hubby is in IT so a truckload of data points was a must).

So today I was left feeling quite happy and looking forward to seeing progress now that we have signed the rock variation and are getting our fans and data points. This morning cost us over $15K!

Oh, and we now have a fence too :)

GRRRRRR!!!

Yep, the title says it all. We never got a variation sent through today for the rock. I'm sure there is a good reason but it is still frustrating. As I have said before, it is a shame to part with even more money but the stupid rock is holding up our build when it has barely started. I texted our slab supervisor today to double check he sent the variation request through to the office and he said yes, and that it shouldn't be far away.

I ended up emailing our CLO today and basically asked her to send through the variation ASAP, I also said I would like to have someone get back to me about how 90 tonnes of rock was not picked up in the geotech survey. I asked her to clarify the admin fee for electrical changes as well. I have not heard back yet, hopefully tomorrow. It has taken us such a long time to get to this point and I just want the build to keep going and to get this hiccup sorted.

Tomorrow is a new day, hopefully we get that variation (yes I am desperate to receive a document that is going to set us back even more $$, crazy I know!).

Throned and Scraped!

I had an email from one of our future neighbours this morning saying they saw a port-a-loo on our block - it was the most exciting email I have received so far in this process!

Then I had a photo texted to me from our other neighbour of an excavator sitting on our block saying we were about to be scraped! Best text ever! It was a great day, then a crappy phone call from our slab supervisor...

They hit rock! A substantial amount. When they say substantial, they mean approx 90 tonnes...yeah I suppose that is substantial. He has had to put a stop to the build until we sign the variation, which we should hopefully receive from our CLO tomorrow. It is going to be expensive to excavate it and remove it, we are looking at about $10K plus  :( I now really understand the highs and lows of building - we went from such a high this morning with all the action, to the low of the hold up and added cost of the rocks, but hopefully that will be sorted tomorrow. There is no point worrying about the money - it has to be done and there is nothing we can do to change that.

I also emailed our CLO today to ask about the ceiling fans and data points, saying we were aware of the $500 admin fee for the electrical variation. She replied and said it was a $1000 fee. I could have sworn it was $500 for electrical and $1000 for structure / colour related changes. I have asked her about this but not yet heard back, hopefully when she sends our lovely rock variation tomorrow we will hear about the electrical one too. What an expensive week this has been, and it's only Tuesday!