Bricks Complete

As an early Christmas present our bricks have been completed this week! The brickies worked hard through sweltering conditions (we hit a high of 36C on Thursday and the rest of the week had been certainly heading this way!) and after only 4 days they were completed in time for their holiday break.
We couldn't be happier. After the sudden change in bricks we have nervously waiting for this section to be completed. We love the smoother texture and the shade they are. They seem to be not too dark and not too light all at the same time. It will be exciting to see the roof go on, the facade completed and the garage door added to finally be able to see it all together and not just in little tiny pieces. (On a side not I really wish Clarendon would use a simulation program so that you could see what your choices would look like and not really on the owners imagination)

Main bricks delivered

Bricks to be covered by acrylic render

Work in progress - first few rows complete

The bricks that didn't make the cut

Brickwork complete

We have plumbing & slab cut for alfresco doors

After the chaos of the brick choices this morning I was happy to see that internal plumbing has been done. It looks completed to me, but who knows to my untrained eye!

The most exciting part was seeing that the concrete has been cut for where the alfresco doors will go. Very happy this has happened. That should mean these doors should be up soon and I'll start to get a better feel of how things will flow.

Bricks Issue

Today we found out what the "bricks issue" our SS was contemplating on Thursday was. And to be honest perhaps this is what I was expecting (after all the two story next door has been at a stand still for weeks & the single two doors down is angry because his builder has now said his bricks are not available).

And it turns out neither are ours - by a week. Only a week. In normal times of the year I don't think this would have been an issue at all, but with the Christmas deadline approaching our SS has made it clear if we do not change our bricks we will not have them done before Christmas.

The choice is an upgrade of brick - something Doug and I did not want to do (we decided to spend our money through the interior instead). When I mentioned this to the SS he assured me the change would be at the expense of the supplier.

So today was a day on the phone, speaking to our CSA and back to the colourist. She had selected a brick that was the same tones but a smoother brick (and actually the same brick range we had looked at for our "wish" list). She was nice enough to let me borrow the sample to consider but could not confirm if the change would be free or at a charge.

Such a shock of a conversation for Doug to have when he rang and he was quickly on his emails to see the photos I had taken to see if he was happy with the change. We started to prepare our "we're not paying" conversation (I'm a bit weak at these as Doug has always been the negotiator between us).

UPDATE:
9am Tuesday morning I received a phone call from the colourist confirming the change would be free, that the brick was in stock (ah phew, thought this would have been checked first!) and explaining the next steps.
Bricks will be ordered today and an email would be sent to The Ponds Design Board and Blacktown Council explaining the change and getting new paperwork completed (since now our construction certificate is out of date). I have been told bricks will be delivered on Monday.
Now lets hope the organisation process will be correct and the bricks will go up straight away because it would be really frustrating if we could have his had our original brick.

In street news, both the two story and house across the road have had their bricks finally delivered. Still no word on the house two down

Original brick: Austral Everyday Life "Leisure"
New brick: Austral Metropolis "Marcastie"

Old brick on bottom, new brick on top

Old brick on left, new brick on right

Thieving bastards

The little thieving bastards! Come on how much copper are you really going to get out of a small length of electrical coil?

Hope they get the shock they deserve sometime soon.

Roof trusses - and we start to look like the house that jack built

Roof trusses are up! And we are looking more and more like a house :)

Interesting as well - all of the windows are in and door frames, but the alfresco doors are still laying on their sides? Could it be? Could our new SS have gotten to them in time to ensure the concrete can be cut?

So that's what an SS sounds like

With the frame nearly finished, the roof trusses to go on and windows and doors to be installed we still have not seen the slab cut in for the alfresco doors. Perhaps this is normal practice, & that is fine I just want a conversation about it to confirm this hasn't been missed.

I finally heard from our new SS today!! He used to work for Clarendon when Peter Campbell was still at the helm. With the business about to be sold back to him our new SS has returned to join the company. He has told me I would hear from him every Thursday afternoon with updates as to where we are at which will be great. I also talked to him about the doors (glad I did coz he was unaware and was off to phone the slab supervisor) and a couple of other little things I wasn't sure about.

After what I felt was a great conversation his parting words were a concern:
"Have you heard anything about your bricks? Because I've just noticed a comment on the whiteboard in the office - bricks issue - and hadn't had a chance to investigate yet"

So now waiting for impending doom!

Tiling appointment

The tile meeting today was great, very organised and helpful. We made our selections back in April, before Doug went away thinking our tile selection would be much sooner then it has been, but luckily we haven't changed out minds between now and then.

The consultant that helped us was fantastic, she kept the meeting moving along nicely to keep within the very strict 2 hour limit along with offering quick alternative suggestions along the way whilst still keeping very much within the look we had in mind.

We have kept the black/grey/white theme continuing through the house and will liven this up with accessories and feature walls. Here is what we finished up with

Kitchen

Splash back - Gloss Ice Cream

shown with floor tile, cabinets and counter top

Bathrooms

Wall tile - Gloss White

Floor Tiles - Lifestyle Charcoal Textured

Feature (shower in ensuite and bath in main bathroom) - River Charcoal

Nook feature in ensuite - Mosaic Glass Pax White

shown with cabinet and counter top

Laundry (silly me, no photos)

Floor tile & Skirting - Connect White Textured

Wall tiles - Sector Satin White

Floor tiles

Main tile - Lifestyle Almond (this we are still deciding on but have gotten a great price)

Sill Tread (under front door and laundry door) - Sidewalk Bark FB-Porc Textured

We did upgrade a little bit along the way - little things like upgrading the trim that runs along the bath and edge of the nook to aluminium (we upgraded the shower doors to get rid of the horrible plastic, so it would look strange to keep the plastic here), but the major upgrade was lifting the height of the tiles in both the ensuite and bathroom to 1200mm throughout. Now we will have one consistent height that is the same height as the towel rail over the toilet, sink and bath. Full height would have been nice, but at over $1000 extra per room the budget just doesn't allow. Total extra cost spent in tiling (excluding main floor tile which we still haven't committed to) is $765

Frame built - and misses Doug by a day

Our frame has gone up! Today I received a much appreciated Facebook from my neighbour with a photo of the builders hard at work putting up the frame.

I was on an RDO so headed over in the afternoon to check it out. It is so cool starting to see the house appear and really get an idea of the size of the rooms and flow of the house etc. Whilst there is a similar house in Oran Park and a new Killara at Parklea neither of them are exactly like ours, even layouts are different so it is so nice to be able to see the spaces appear.

Doug did get to see the slab and the frame and windows in a pile on Saturday. It was such a shame that the frame didn't go up until Monday because now he will be able to see the house again until the end of January except just through the many many photos that I send.

Where o where has our SS gone?

With the frame due to go up any day now I have been getting anxious over the only real variation we made coming unstuck.

Before we signed the tender we negotiated an extra sliding door leading tithe alfresco to replace one of the windows. As one triple stacker already came part of our promotion, we negotiated for this additional stacker to be also included in the package and we were successful. Unfortunately at every step of the way we had to keep checking this and having it correct because it seems the builder was not terrible thrilled to be giving away an additional door. But I am a notorious hoarder of emails and so just kept the documentation of everything - and still do just in case.
At contract signing I requested to have these doors cut into the concrete so that the base would be flush with the flooring. This was officially off on in PCV1.
Now that the slab has been laid it is very clear that this cut has not been made. So perhaps it will be done after, however with the frame going up any day now I am getting more and more concerned that somehow this variation has slipped through the cracks.

I have never heard from our SS and have now tried to get in contact with him twice requesting him to call us. I have left emails with the office asking to ensure this information had been passed on. Nothing.

And now I receive an email saying our SS is finishing with Clarendon immediately and we would be assigned a new SS on Monday. I'm in two minds about this - success somebody new might be easier to contact and actually keep us part of the build - but will this slow us down being slow close to Christmas?

Frame Delivered

On Saturday we noticed that the external plumbing had been installed, a toilet (wonder how long it took the builders to complain before that was installed!) and that the fill that had been in piles around the block were smoothed out - so no more drop between the house and the rear fence that we would have to deal with!!

We were also thrilled to notice that electrical conduit had been installed outside the garage. Whilst there is still conduit next to our bedroom I am so glad that things are being fixed to get the electrical box in the right spot.

And even more surprises on my drive by today, Monday. I spent my drive up half hoping that the frame would be delivered, whilst my other side was trying to calm me down. After all the bank still hasn't paid for the slab! Nothing could be delivered just yet. And yet as I drive past the house two doors down that has had its frame finally put up today (after sitting on the slab all week going nowhere) my excitement builds as I see what has been delivered today - our frame!!! There it is, sitting neatly out the front of our block all ready to be built.
Doug is home on Saturday whilst he tranships from the Caribbean Princess to the Pacific Jewel - is it too much to ask for the storm that is looming over head to be kind so that the frame can be up by Saturday? Fingers and toes crossed!

So much can happen in a day!

After seeing everything on Thursday I was looking forward to taking Mum and Dad over to see on the weekend. I didn't go past on Friday night after leaving work late but Dad reported back that he had gone past and had seen the pods had been laid out. So I eagerly drove over on Saturday afternoon to see these laid out before the slab would be poured some time next week - after all what could they do over the weekend?

Well apparently a lot! Our entire slab has been poured! It had obviously been done that morning because it still looked a little wet. I was a bit annoyed that I hadn't been told because it being the weekend I would have been able to come and watch something I will never be able to see again - but we are there!!! We are finally able to see how our house will place on our land. Things are certainly moving a long very quickly! And you can imagine the shock Doug had when he opened his emails.

The slab looks great, very smooth and all of our plumbing has come through but there is a strange piece of electrical conduit and what looks like an earthing rod next to bedroom 1 and nothing at the garage. Please do not tell me we are back to square one with the location of the meter box!

So much can happen in a week!

After nothing much happening and no changes being made to our block I decided to give visiting our site a rest for a week, knowing that I would be advised when our slab was ready to be poured and also not expecting much to happen for another couple of weeks.
Today I finished work early and thought it would be a fantastic chance to drive by. Expecting nothing much to have changed I was met with such a shock.
In one small week not only have fences been erected but the site has been cut and filled, piering done, plumbing in,the frame for the slab erected and our pods delivered! I couldn't believe my eyes when I pulled up. Lucky I was alone because I was jumping around and had the biggest silliest grin on my face!!
So exciting and Doug was so shocked when I emailed across the photos to him to check out. He'll be back for a day while he tranships at the end of the month and I can't wait to be able to show him the slab by then!

Electrical appointment

What an expensive process the electrical appointment is! We are so lucky to have Dad as an electrician who will help in adding powerpoints and light points post hand over because the prices here quickly add up. I'll be honest I spent much of this meeting confused as Dad and the electrical quoter discussed circuits, GPO's, data points, NBN and everything else electrical. The night before Dad and I sat down to work out what was wanted as the end goal and from there we minimised down to the basics for Clarendon to do, with many points being placed in locations that Dad could wire behind later on.

Biggest tip here is to start drawing in your furniture this will mean that you will have thought about where you want your lamps placed, TV's located and even the phones making the electrical appointment run much smoother. But if you truly have no idea they will have a ready-to-go template for you.

Our variations were:
2x light points @ $53 each
1x one way switch @ $50
1x three way switch @ $90
1x extra power circuit and extra safety switch @ $250 (as soon as you add anything an extra circuit is automatically added, so a nice big chunk of money heading just to this!)
3x single power point @ $58 each
1x double power point @68

To be honest there is nothing there, it is all a little bit here and a little bit there. It was mainly about ensuring points were positioned in such a way that they could easily be converted later. We've also got a few points that we will change to double points later on. All the more positives of building a single story.

The other big conversation was all about NBN and the needs for this - something there just seems to be huge confusion over. We added the Hills Home Hub in our original tender so this provided additional data points and phone points - but the strange thing is we get more phone points than data points and in theory with NBN you won't need a phone point because telecommunication will go through the data point. Work that out!

The small matter of Electrical Box placement

Along with the list of questions we sent back before we would sign off on the plans we also decided to advise the builder that the light post in our street had been moved at some point before registration - sort of just an FYI as the councils plans had it located on the wrong side of the house. I think I wrote about the confusion this caused us in a previous post.
And it seems the confusion has struck again!

This week has been full of conversations between us, Integral Energy and Clarendon all about where the house would be connected to power. Everything we heard from Integral confirmed what we suspected - connection would be made through the small green pillar located in our garage side of the house and not to the light post. Everything Clarendon said disagreed with this and they were pushing to have our electrical box put outside Bedroom 1 and therefor behind our heads at night - something we certainly didn't want!
Finally after much discussion it was decided it would be left on the garage side of the house and to be reconfirmed at our electrical meeting.

By doing this it has meant we have been able to have everything sent to the estimators within 3 weeks and we now have our electrical and tiling appointments booked in for two dates in November.

Construction Plans

Clarendon are helping us steam roll ahead to get to site. Whilst we still have no date as to when our electrical or tiling appointment will be everything else is coming in order. I sat down with Dad over the weekend and went through our plans with a fine tooth comb - double checking every measurement against our original contract whilst also making sure our ever increasing list of variations are all included.
A list has gone back today of queries and changes that need to be made so we will wait for the reply.

Council confirmation

After three weeks of a daily ritual of watching the Blacktown City Council website we were thrilled to see that we were finally approved! In fact after two weeks we were given "approval but not released" - one of the most frustrating times of limbo to be in and drove Doug to phone Council to find out what happened.
It was so exciting to be able to "spy" on our Neighbours and see what was going to be built along our street. We were surprised though that we never received anything formal about what was going to be built next to us - and in fact one neighbor was in and out of council before we were even close to investigating. I guess The Ponds has such strict guidelines that objections are unusual, but I still feel there should have been formal notification. The same is similar for the Day Care Centre that has gone in across the street. I remember when growing up in North Richmond a neighbor wanted to turn their house into a preschool and we were all given notice.
Interesting though it has helped us work out what happened to "Wattle 2" which was originally going to be released but then suddenly disappeared. This has been sold to Allworth who are going to build town houses along the strip in the name "Kallina by the Park". Movement on these has started with the properties being stacked out and their silt barrier being erected. Along with this our next door Neighbor has installed a pool and their slab looks ready to go any day now.
Everything is racing along and we are eagerly waiting to see our construction drawings so we can get to site!

Design Council Approvals

Building in The Ponds means that you have to agree to build within some very strict guidelines - most of which Clarendon take care of. Some of the things that we had to keep in mind were:
* 3 different textures at the front of the house
* 1 large tree in the backyard and 2 medium size trees in the front yard
* a substantial letter box - specially no "box on a stick" - yes it really says that in the guidelines!
* mostly native plants
* percentage of hard vs soft landscaped areas
* boundary distances from sides, front and back of land
and the list goes on.

All of this must be approved by The Ponds Design Council before we can submit to Blacktown Council to ensure that we are keeping in line with "a great street." Along with submitting for the house we also had to create a landscape plan (something that is apparently common practice in the UK, but a surprise for Lauren - How on earth do you put together a landscape plan for a block of land you haven't even walked on yet - a landscape plan where you have to specify exactly which plants you are going to place where!)

Clarendon offered to do this for us, but we had a lot of ideas in our head of how we would like to put it together and decided that we could undertake this task ourselves - this came with the risk of the Design Council not liking our plans.

Doug was able to turn my sketches into a professional-looking landscape plan, drawn to scale and using a great colour key. He spent a lot of time looking through various sites finding fantastic natives to put in along with some great plants that have multiple uses.

Plants we have included are:
Little Gem Magnolia (large tree)
Olive Tree (small tree)
Tibouchina (small tree)
Crinium Pendunculatum
Kangaroo Paw
Gymea Lilly
Templetonia Retusa
Lilly Pilly
Cuphea
Cordyline Australias
Agave Gemini Flora
Poligara Myrtifolia
Lobularia Snow Princess
Bird of Paradise

I spent a lot of time looking around a different blogs, reading the Home One Forum and talking to people who had submitted their own plans and what it took for them to be approved and learning from the pitfalls they experienced. Before submitting the plan I then went through the Design Guidelines with a fine tooth comb and ticked everything off to confirm that we had complied. We really didn't want to get held up by having to make changes to the plans submitted.

All of the extra checking really did pay off because only one week after submitting to the council we got the message from Clarendon that our plans had been approved! We were expecting 2-6 weeks, so in only 7 days this was definitely a nice surprise.

Now we are getting everything ready to be submitted to Council - the land was registered on the 11th September (4 months after original expections) so as soon as Council gives us the go-ahead we are ready to get the slab laid.

Check check check

Something I am noticing is that EVERYTHING needs to be checked. Do not assume that things will be correct. I noticed that major elements of our tender (original inclusions and promotional offers) were not followed through into our variations list to sign - major items like lower level insulation; lower level hot water system; wrong oven.

I am sure that at some point these will be noticed - i.e. the kitchen is being built for a 900mm oven, when the 600mm oven turns up it will be too small! But I do not want the argument that will happen to get the changes made not to mention the wasted time.

By going through everything very carefully now, future arguments with the builder can be avoided. My opinion is that the builder is building over 100 houses at a time, all at different stages, all with different promotions attached. We are building one house, with one set of rules to follow. We should take the time to check it and make sure it is right.

Variation Prices

Now that all of the variations have come through, I thought I would post the costings for these things. Some we have gone ahead with and some we haven't, but it was always something I was interested in finding out before we signed with Clarendon but was difficult to find.

Kitchen
Cabinet above fridge space $510
Additional drawers $110 each
Towel rail $42
Two tone kitchen joinery $290
Bulkhead $720

Bathroom
Obscure glass to main bathroom and ensuite $90 each
Privacy lock to main bathroom and ensuite $25 each
Grange semi frameless shower screens to main bathroom and ensuite $412.50 each
Increase size of mirror to match vanity in both main bathroom and ensuite $30 each

Exterior
Corinthian Infinity 6G front entry door and sidelight $1710
Corinthian Infinity 8G front entry door and sidelight $1810
Provide additional deadbolt $90

Colours

Tuesday just gone marked another step forward towards our home being built. We got to have our first (and only I discovered later) colour appointment. I expected to only select my exteriors, kitchen, carpet and finishing touches, but ended up selecting the entire house. The team at Clarendon Create did a fantastic job, offering great suggestions when needed and making sure that everything was covered. They weren't pushy at all either, which is always a relief. Half way through the day I saw a premade colour board on the wall which had very similar colours to what I have been creating in my mind for so long - great to see that my ideas are in line with the professionals!

So here goes, this is what we have chosen...

EXTERIOR

Brick - Austral Everyday Life Leisure with Off White mortar with Flush finish

Roof Tile - Contour Charcoal Grey

Window Frame - Surfmist

Acrylic Render & Fascia - Dune

Garage Door, Gutter's and Downpipe - Ironstone

INTERIOR

Wall Paint - Eddystone, Taubmans

Ceiling, Architraves, Skirtings & Doors - Illusive White, Taubmans (also known apparently as Elusive White or Crisp White)

KITCHEN

Lower Cabinets - Cinder Matt, Polytec

Wall Cabinets - Porcelain Texture, Polytec

Kitchen Bench Top - New Diamond White (Quantum Quartz)

Butlers Pantry Bench Top - Snow Fabrini, Polytec

BATHROOM & ENSUITE

Vanity Cabinets - Polar White, Matt, Polytec

Vanity Top - Cavia Lini, Matt, Polytec

Fences Are Down

It was such an exciting surprise to find that the fences have come down around the land! So I got to take my very first steps on what is so close to being our block of land. It will be exciting in September to be able to take Doug on the same walk.

Having handed in our contracts, received the dates for our first colour appointment and signed the banks paperwork things finally feel like they are moving along.  I can't believe we started this process in January with our deposit on the land and we are now in August and having only just taken our first steps.