Underground Energy

24/5/2012
Just put through an order with Jemena for our underground pit to be installed. 
Hopefully the Demo starts straight after our settlement as planned. 

underground pit location requested

30/5/12
Got a letter from Jemena stating that they will not construct the pit at our requested location. They will only construct on boundaries of properties. I guess they have this policy to service both properties if required. 

2nd underground pit proposal

8/6/12

Application received by Jenma. 

19/6/12

Paid for Jenma work.

20 Working days from today!

14/7/12

COMPLETED Underground Pit!

Completed Pit

Completed Pit

Tender Appointment

23 May 2012

Just had out Tender Appointment.
Took a WHOLE afternoon! 1pm - 6pm.

The meeting was not attended by our building coordinator but rather a presenter. 
She was very nice and very professional. 

Prior to the meeting we had already been liaising with our building coordinator and our sales representative. 
However, come to tender signing day, it appears that may of the changes we have requested such as upgrades to our windows and ceiling heights and additional sliding doors have not been passed on to the drafting department who prepared our tender document. 

The meeting started of with our presenter going through every single item on the tender document and explaining to us what they were. Understanding the actual cost involved with having these upgraded items. 

We are requesting for a Dispensation from the council to have a 6m front set-back instead of our neighbour's 8m. After today's appointment we will be notified whether the Council will allow us to essentially have a bigger backyard!


These are some of the MANY changes that had been made to our document:
I may include a copy of our final selections later on.

1. Our Slab had been upgraded from M-class to H-class Waffle Slab due to the soil and survey report which PD had finally received after the first failed attempt.
2. Revised cut and fill from 10.10m level to 10m.
3.  Retaining walls, on side of the property, next to the garage. Engineering retaining walls in the garage area.
4. Include HEBEL offer, render to the whole house. 
5. Evaporative Cooling Unit Provision
6. Provide a 3.8m garage extension, instead of 2m as initially requested.
7. Changed all internal doors to the upgraded ceiling heights.
8. Delete shelving unit in the laundry. Replace it with a broom cabinet.
9. Remove duplication of sink mixer in Kitchen as prestige promotion has already included this.
10. Internal vacuum unit in garage with 4 internal vacuum points.
11. Include Security System
12. Delete all WIP shelving - as we are converting the area into one that will fit a double refrigerator. The space allocated for refrigerator will be our Pantry - Refer below
13. Upgrade kitchen overhead cabinet option
14. Upgrade Master Ensuite cabinet option as per Greenvale Showroom
15. Include Niches in ALL showers.
16. Replace front door with INFWS6G Pivot Front Entry Door, with 2 sidelights to suit.
17. We wanted the large windows in the kitchen as per the display home - upgrade
18. Ensuite cabinet as per Bathroom Ensuite in showroom - upgrade
19. No glass railings on the upper floor where void is located - too expensive! $6000
20. Open area between Study and Family Room
21. Kitchen cabinet up until the island bench - we didn't see a point having the extended cabinets as they cost too much and they weren't something we will need.
22. Increase window size in Bedroom 4 - standard size is TINY!
23. Change Bedroom 2 window - From 2 small units to a single large sliding window
24. Provide 1 extra awning window in Bedroom 5 to get some North Sun!

Our MOST major thing that had been upgraded was our SLAB! We have initially been working our budget around a M-class slab provided by Porter Davis. However, after the 2nd company that went out to do a soil test (ridiculous story with the 1st company that went out) we have gotten a result that was P for Problematic soil conditions - Buratt Engineering.

 

We were astonished as our own Geotech engineers had came back with a result of M soil conditions - Bayside and Suburbs.

I truly believe that PD has gotten an advantage in this area as their own Geotech engineers had been engaged. I believe there must be some sort of agreement between the 2 companies and us home owners lose out in the end. But we are too far deep in the sea now, we have no choice but to add on an additional $32k. 

I can provide the geotech reports if anyone wants to have a look!

Pantry Layout

Took us 3 changes to be made during the presentation for us to finally be happy with our Tender document. 

Having second thoughts about our electrical/colour selections now..

Appointment Dates

So Excited that we've just received our Appointment Details:


Tender Appointment: 23rd May 2012
Hopetoun Selection: 6 June 2012
National Tiles Selection: 6 June 2012
Electrical Selection: 7 June 2012
Contract Appointment: 14 June 2012

We really need to get our Structural needs sorted our before our Tender appointment! Trying to figure out which windows to upgrade, which ceiling heights we want. What doors we want. 

Locking in our Demo

Finally managed to get a decent quote to get our site cleared out for Porter Davis. 

Express Demolition has quoted us around the $10,000 mark to get our site FLAT and clean! Inclusive of permits and clearance certificates.

16th May 2012. 

Demolishing Permit has been issued by our Council!

Hopefully we can get Demo started straight after our settlement 15 June 2012. 

RIDICULOUS! Soil Test #1

Just got a call from PD saying that the Geotech Engineers that they've sent out cannot gain access into our site. 
I know the place is abit of a jungle, but the front gate is WIDE open!! 
Our own soil and survey test had been completed and we're just waiting for the report now. 
Can't believe PD's geotech engineers are incapable of opening a gate.. 
But we've been assured that another company had been sent out again to conduct the survey. 

Building Coordinator Introduced!

Just got a phone call from our building coordinator. 
She seems nice and quite willing to help in anyway possible! 

Soil and Survey Test has been booked in by PD! 

We also had our own independent Soil and Survey test done by our friend. Just so to make sure that we are getting a reasonable slab placed on our site. 

A New Beginning

Why we are writing this blog:
To help keep track with the progress of the construction of our dream home, and have the option to look back and see how amazing the whole job has been. 


Just a bit about us. We are a family of 6 and we have been house hunting for almost 9 years now. We have been renting and never owned our own home. The reason for choosing such a large home is that we can comfortably fit everyone into the house, and leave us some spare rooms in the future when the children move out. 


We've looked at hundreds of houses but could never settle with something that the whole family agreed on. That was until we visited the Sandringham 45 at Wantirna South, Beaumaris Facade. We fell in love with the house at first sight and found that the floor plan would suit our family perfectly! We love the open plan concept and especially the void area in the kitchen. On the 10th April 2012, we decided to put down a deposit to build a Sandringham 45 from their prestige collection in the heart of Doncaster East. This will be a knock down rebuild project as there are not many empty plots of land available in the area anymore. 


We have built a commercial building before in Doncaster East but we have not done anything like a residential project until now. Just about 2 weeks ago (15th April 2012) after many consultations with the council and real estate agents we managed to secure a perfectly located plot of land in the heart of Doncaster East, Victoria. The land is fairly flat with only a slight inclination towards the rear of the block. It is a conner unit and currently have the cross-over opening toward the court area (Length area). We will have to relocate this to the width of the block. Our council representatives have been down to the site and gave us 'OK' to cross-over clearance. We have always lived in the area and we love it in the Eastern suburbs. Doncaster Westfield is just a 5 minute drive away. 
We've been very proactive in the whole process leading up to the purchase of the land and determining whether the house we want will fit on the land, subject to council approvals. 


Just prior to purchasing the land, we have read that Porter Davis had quite a number of bad reviews online. Our hearts were saddened to hear that our potential builder had a stack of problems with previous customers. So we decided that we should check this with the sales consultant and we managed to get in contact with the Regional Manager for the Eastern suburbs and have an opportunity to meet him and talk things through to ease our hearts. The whole PD team at the moment are very helpful and they are always willing to talk things through with us whenever we needed some clarification. We are still very cautious with the whole process and have engaged our own independent inspectors to walk us through the whole building process, checking every stage required. Some of them are friends of ours who have assisted us in our commercial building. 


Even before purchasing the land, we made our way down to Hopetoun Interiors to look at the standards and upgrades available to the house. The showroom is beautiful and we were not surprised to the extra costs for some of the products. You don't get things for free in this world, someone needs to pay for it. 


We are stoked about the Prestige inclusions as part of being 'standard' for our build as this helps with the cost of bringing our home to a designer feel without the large hefty price tag along with it. 


We are very excited about the whole process! We have ordered our independent soil test 2 weeks ago and now we are just waiting on PD Office to give us a call to book us in for our tile, colour and electrical appointments. 
PD has been getting bad publicity, but I applaud them for being so transparent with us and willing to help us along the way. Im sure we are off to a great start so far and I'm just looking forward to a happy working relationship with the builder.