Birdie Time |
October 31, 2004 |
This weekend was quite a busy one, spending most of Saturday running around the shops. Then in the evening I attended Chris and Yvonnes kitchen warming party.
Golf on Sunday started well, despite the very early morning due to daylight savings kicking in! But once I hit the back nine, it turned out to be a day to forget!! The round was punctated by my first birdie in morden times, and a very good par after hitting a pretty special 5 iron shot!
Posted by grahamh at 09:07 PM | Comments (0)
A Room with a view |
October 25, 2004 |
After driving past first thing this morning, I spent all day trying to work out what the huge crane was doing on the building site. So after work, and after netball I took a drive by to check things out.
I should have realised, that they were actually installing the windows. The windows had been sitting on the garage floor all weekend, and today they installed every one! Thats a lot of windows! They also got started on some of the door frames. They got the front door and the laundry door frames in, which I guess is in preparation for starting on the brick work later this week :)
Posted by grahamh at 04:23 PM | Comments (0)
Tile Selection |
October 22, 2004 |
What I think is the final time I need to travel to Blacktown for selections, has finaly been completed. After being convinced that the meeting would take a couple of hours, I made the four hour round trip to the Clarendon office yesterday. All that was required was to select tiles for the bathroom and kitchen. And of course being a single person who can quickly make a decision, I broke their record for speed of choice! I was in the office for only 15 minutes :(
And for a change, I didn't exceed the budget that I had, so there will be no additional charges!
I have selected a bone coloured main tile for the bathroom, with a dark grey tile for the floor. I also get a matching edge tile which will match the grey colour. The kitchen is a very similar main tile colour with another grey edge tile which matches the bench tops.
Posted by grahamh at 04:22 PM | Comments (0)
Second Floor |
October 20, 2004 |
Doesn't take long to put up the frame work I guess. Its been a little over a week and they have almost finished the roof already! And in that time we've even had a couple of days rain!
Posted by grahamh at 04:21 PM | Comments (0)
Long Load Weekend |
October 16, 2004 |
This weekend, I was asked to help dad move an avairy from his place up to Sams in the mountains. He did all the prep work during the week, pulling dow the avairy and getting it ready to load up in the back of the car. I wasn't quite sure how big this thing was going to be though and was a little surprised once we loaded it up!
The trip took us about two hours, not too much longer than normal but we had to stop several times to adjust the ropes and make sure we didn't create any road side disasters!
Once in the mountains, we put the avairy up after having a nice lunch and checking out the lovely views.
Posted by grahamh at 05:57 PM | Comments (0)
Frame it Up |
October 14, 2004 |
Well after having some money issues this past week, I was pleasantly surprised to see the ground floor frame erected today! Its all looking good except for the very short doorway between house and garage. It appears they forgot that the floor of the garage was 2 feet lower than the rest of the house!
Posted by grahamh at 04:20 PM | Comments (0)
Big Offsite Week |
October 10, 2004 |
Well a lot of action this week, but off the building site unfortunately.
A further progress payment was due, and on the due date, the bank decided to tell me that they will not make any further payments until I have found the additional $20,000 required to make up the mortgage/cost shortfall. I knew this amount was required, but had discussed with the builder to pay this at the end. But as the banks do oh so often, they decided that it needed to be paid up front. If they had told me this 5 months ago when the shortfall was identified, things would have been different!!!
Of course my next problem is, what happens when the cost of the house goes up again? Like it did this week when I did the electrical plans. An increase of another $3,000 is likely, so will the bank hold payment AGAIN until that amount is paid?? Its no wonder that the banks in Australia are among the most profitable businesses in the country!
Well after all that, a little action did happen on the block. They managed to get the plumbing hooked up to the mains. And then on Saturday (yes the weekend) they delivered the first parts of the framework.
Posted by grahamh at 04:20 PM | Comments (0)
Electrical Decisions |
October 07, 2004 |
Everytime I visit the builder, the total cost of building keeps increasing!
Today I had to work out all the electrical decisions. Including phone, power points, lights, TV, etc. etc. And of course the standard allowance is never quite enough to cover all of the average persons needs!
So I had to add another nine double powerpoints, another 8 light points, and include a basic smart wire package for phone, tv, and data points with a price tag of $2000!!
And then on top of that, they wanted $285 to wire up my video projector, or for me to get a quote from Sturmans. Well I know that Sturmans are likely to charge charge me $200 just for the quote!! So I had to take that too.
Still waiting for the bottom line price, but I am expecting this to add another $3000-$3500 :(
Posted by grahamh at 04:19 PM | Comments (0)