Christmas shutdown

Brick layer started this week. Basically half height wall on one side of the house has been completed. So far we are very happy with the colour selection. We will need to wait until the front is bagged and painted before we see the complete picture. Today is the last day of work on site. Brick layers return on January 10th to continue work.

Roof Frame complete

It took longer than I expected, but the roof frame is complete and some finishing touches the house frame are also done. Electric cables have been placed for all light and power points.

Bricks will be a little slower to arrive as one type is in short supply. Brick layer booked in to start before Christmas.

Frame complete

The house frame is now up. I am amazed how accurate the frame is with hardly any bits leftover - nothing like an average piece of flatpack furniture.

Slab complete

Within the space of 9 work days, the block has been excavated to accommodate the slab, the slab has been poured and the Kordon termite protection has been laid.
Work has been happening on site each day.
We chose to have the earthmovers excavate the pool area and rear verandah area so we could easily continue the landscaping and pool installation after handover over the house.

excavations complete - 180 tons of soil to be removed later

slab poured

Finance and Council Approval

After a few revisions of the plans, council approved the house within a week late August. Unfortunately, finance approval took around 6 weeks. No apparent reason why, just slow. Builders have now locked in November 6th as a start date.

Choosing the House

After much shopping around for a suitable builder, we returned to McDonald Jones for their value for money designs.
Our shortlist for wants was a dedicated room for our two boys to play/hang out that came off their bedrooms, a larger study that could not be viewed from other parts of the house (to keep mess hidden basically), to have the main living space at the rear of the house (facing the East and bushland) and not to have the main bedroom at the front of the house (probably for same reason as study).
We chose the Beach House Executive Elite. We used the sales office located at the Seaside Fern Bay and found the customer service quite good.
We chose the Classic facade enlarged the garage a little, made the study a bit bigger and put in a few extra storage cubbies, like a WIR to the Children's Activity and linen cupboards outside the study.
As the home is in a bushfire prone area, we elected to complete the risk report ourselves - much easier than I thought, basically copied the one from 6 years ago as the new block is only a few doors down from the old house! Saved a few hundred dollars.
http://www.mcdonaldjoneshomes.com.au/propertydetail/.aspx?propertyID=79

The Block

The block of land is 2000sqm and is bounded by State Forest at the rear (East) and existing properties on either side.
The block has a few taller Eucalypts, but a lot of undergrowth. I don't think it has been touched since first pegged out about 7 years ago.

In the Beginning...

We built a Monte Carlo by McDonald Jones Homes about 6 years ago. We positioned the house on a 1/2 acre lot and found it to be a very comfortable home. Over time our wants and needs changed, so when the final lot in the same street came on the market, we took the opportunity to start again and build a home incorporating the list of wants and needs that had been constructed over the previous few years.

When we last built we kept a pen and paper diary of the journey. This time round we will keep a blog to keep track and maybe help others who are just starting out in the building process.

In researching builders I found http://forum.homeone.com.au/ to be an invaluable resource reading about the experience of others.

Here we go!