Has anybody seen the concretor?

It was Sunday morning, Sunday 10 September ... we've just had breakfast with Dad & Liz and post- bacon and eggs (or Salmon toast for John) we decide to head to the block to see what is happening. It has been a number of weeks so we think to ourselves .... "there must be a lot of progress at this point", especially seeing Linda (pronounced Lynndaah in a very bad English accent) keeps saying that they hope for the titles to be released in October.

Apart from, let's say, a few hundred metres of concreting for the footpaths (not on our side of the road mind you) not a dam thing has been done. Thus, no picture. So although it was quite disappointing that no progress was made on that front, we had confirmation that we now have a new neighbour to the right of us (left of us if you are looking front on at the house). Lovely couple (allegedly) building with Simonds. Let's hope THEY don't feel the need to write their names in the concrete when the bloke finally decides to get around to finishing.

However, while I may seem dismayed as to the lack of work being undertaken in the aforementioned area, we had confirmation today that final approval has been given on the house (including the variations) so it's all systems go (once the title is released).

Very exciting day so I plan to celebrate tonight with a glass of Cloudy Bay Chardonnay, and finishing off with a baileys on ice to seal the deal.

John will probably celebrate by beating 'Razor' ... number 1 on the Need for Speed Most Wanted List (XBox 360 fans will know what this means). For those that aren't geeky enough to even pretend to care, I can assure you that it is a big deal in our house :-))

On a side issue, we now have the Media Centre running to about 80% capacity of it's functionality. Was a very exciting moment on the weekend when we were able to get all HD or Digital channels. A more exciting moment came when I witnessed how you could pause live TV, get up and go to the loo, or get more alcohol .... and then go back to exactly the same place you were at before. All without having to actually tape the show!! Bloody marvellous.

Andy out

The mystery of Dave is revealed

Remember 'knobhead Dave' who wrote in the footpath? Well I failed to mention that next to Dave, was Greg. On Saturday, we met Greg ... and was shown the house where Dave lives (nice place ... good lawn :-).

Now apparently Dave is a builder so we'd best be nice to Dave. Lovely bloke we are told so with humble pie warming on the plate next to me, I apologise Dave for calling you a knobhead.

Greg was a nice bloke also ... their thought process in writing their names on the footpath was because it was funny at the time (yeah, hilarious) and they figured the concreter would trowell back over it. Well obviously they didn't.

Anyway, problem solved.

Surely it's December soon

I have never before wished for christmas to be here. Now don't get the wrong idea here .. I LOVE christmas ... love it. Probably one of my most favourite times of the year, if not, THE favourite. But my desire for it to be christmas is purely self-indulgent and by no means am I the least bit prepared financially for the festive season.

My point..... if it was christmas, building would have started on the house!!!

John and I took dad to the block yesterday (after a lovely breakfast where he took the piss out of John's parking skills ... classic). I was so excited to show him where our new home was going to be. Give the old boy credit, he feigned interest and said how exciting it was (given that he only had a flat piece of dirt to look at his interest rating appeared high).

They have started to put the footpaths in on the other side of the road so hopefully within a couple of weeks it has been done on our side of the road. Some knobhead named Dave engraved their name into the new concrete (why do people do this??) so I hope that this isn't an indication of the bogons that will be living near us.

Isn't it amazing how your view on things change when you have a vested interest somewhere. Case in point - I doubt I had ever displayed any form of interest or in fact dubliation with regard to a footpath being installed previous to this experience. Now I'm excited to see poo pipes or any form of change in the estate. Weird? Perhaps, but for those that know me well there would be no surprise there.

John has the photos of the fore-mentioned footpath so once I get them I'll be sure to upload it ... and you too can enjoy the wonder of 'Dave' written in the footpath.

:-)

Mood today: Content

Well I'll give Porter Davis credit. We spat it a little bit over this latest contract variation (in a nice way of course) and our lovely Megan (Client Relationship Manager or whatever wanky title they have) has been very good in responding straight away to our concerns.

It appears that perhaps we should have investigated this business of Energy Ratings a little bit more before we let fly with emails. We are told that even making the slightest change to the standard home (for example, we changed the laundry door from a full glass door to a half glass door - and no this is not a question for the psychology buffs about whether the glass is half full or empty) it may in fact change the requirements for a 5 Star Energy Rating.

So Porter Davis are back in the good books .... they have given us $500 off the variation cost due to the fact that this should not have been delayed so they will wear this cost. Wasn't necessary really given that their re-assessment is justified but we are not going to say no to it!

Very happy again. Yippee for me

Andy

I've got that sinking feeling ....

Ever had that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach that tells you all of the good things are about to turn very bad!!

Happily working away at my desk ... organising the bosses trip to Sydney ... and low and behold an email comes through from Porter Davis. Apparently for our home to have 5 Star Energy rating, it required an independent valuation and therefore we received these 'variations' after signing of the contract.

Now I can understand it if we made huge changes to the structure of the house ... but we haven't changed a frickin' thing! Not one thing. Weather strips!! Good gracious - surely they knew before they even started that weather strips are required so why is this a variation AFTER the event.

I'm mad ... I'm upset ... poor Dean's travel is now under threat because I don't care about what he's doing!!! (joke). Anyway, I'm sure people will just say 'well that's building' but when it 'aint their money, it's OK to say that.

Deep breaths ..... heavy sighs ..............

In true fashion I've got things around the wrong way! This entry should really be first seeing this was the day we signed for the block and got to stick the SOLD sticker on.

You can see just from these 2 photos (particularly the house that has gone up behind) the changes that are happening within the estate. We head down every few weeks and it's amazing to see how quickly the houses are popping up.

It's great getting ideas about the garden and seeing what people are doing (some great .. some not so great).

And for those looking at the pics .. yes there is a trend of 'rain' and 'mud' here (after all we are in Melbourne .. in the middle of winter). Fortunately we have not seen any indication of flooding which I guess is a good sign!!

Andy out
:-)

And so it begins...

And so we've done it! No going back now .... contracts have been signed, copious amounts of travelling to carpet, tiles, tapware (you name it), selections have been made and we now play the waiting game.

Take a step back with me as I bring you up to date on progress so far:

• block of land purchased
• house design finalised and internal fittings (very exciting) selected
• deposits made to various scavengers
• initial release of land - August 2006
• changes made to internal fittings (still very exciting)
• more paperwork signed
• release of land delayed - September 2006
• a few more minor changes made to internal fittings (don't say it ... i'm still excited)
• final paperwork signed
• release of land delayed - November 2006

Spoke to the land developer this morning and she informs us that the land may in fact be released by October so after the week we have had (the passing of John's dear mum Sandra) this has been welcome news.

We will be updating this whenever something happens .. or perhaps even when it doesn't happen so bookmark this site and we'll see you soon!!

John & Andy