Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Fencing is almost ordered....

We went back today (bloody nice weather too) - pics to come soon, but we looked for the pegs at the back, which were nearby to the aboveground stakes, but I had to shift a bit of grass to find the west side one.   The east side is actually behind the temporary fencing for next door's lot, and the measurements are practically on the nose (even a shade over, depending where you start the tape measure) - there was a nail in the middle of the rear pegs, so i assume the nail is the boundary, as is the faceplace with the lot number at the front.

Picked up a bit of rubbish from the lot, but will do a more intensive cleanup in the next few days, probably when I go whipper snipper (thanks Hels from HomeOne for the offer !) the back grass...the rest of the lot is fine, the nature strip is still being seeded (so nothing to worry about there).

Got some slightly bad news re the house - the surveryor has knocked back the setback ! It was 5.25m, Marriott had said yes, but the surveyor has come back to say what's on the title has to be the way the house is built.   So, the garage goes back the 25cm, and we are having to chop a bit of the lounge and family/meals area out a bit, but that's preferred as to losing the exit door from the garage to the verandah.

Also, the credit application for ATF (Australian Temporary Fencing) has been sent off, and hopefully we'll have the fencing up shortly, at a pretty good rate.   The neighbour to our right has already got the fence up, so we only have to fund the back and west side (bugger, where do you get all this extra money ????).

Just waiting on RH to ask for the deposit (again, where's the money ????!) and then we'll be on the way.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Things are really starting to happen....


We went out to Marriott Waters last week, just after I got back from sunny Queensland (let's say I had a t-shirt on departure, and a jacket on arrival !).



Paul and Jason doing the obvious !



The land from the other side of the road


We have another meeting pencilled in this week at the office, which is a 'last chance' look over the contract to make any changes if needed without incurring variation fees, so we're going to go over the plans with eagle eyes, but it should be all good.

The only thing that may change is the garage door - we want to put a Decro door in, but if it's going to be out of budget, there's a wood look Colorbond door that's just as good.   We're just waiting for the final site costs to come in, that's the only thing stopping the process going at full steam.  More soon.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Land Settlement & Building Contract



SETTLEMENT - OCTOBER 8 !
As of this day, the land will be settled and registered no longer to Marriott Waters.  There's been a bit of a bumpy ride with having to dig up a few extra unexpected $'s for the land tax/rate adjustment, but the money is in the account, and waiting patiently for CBA to withdraw (along with the other $160,000 odd !) - then we can say we own the dirt :)

We still haven't been given final site costs, so it's provisional for now - but after having a sneak peek at the land one weekend (wasn't fully opened !), it's pretty bloody flat, although a 30 degree or so rise from the crossover.

CONTRACT SIGNED! 
It took the best part of 1 hour 45 minutes, and a few to's and fro's before the 38 or so pages were signed twice over.   I've gotten the builder to write down that he won't charge us the 20% builder's margin or variation fee on the site costs as they weren't ready in time for Sept 30 - apparently it's happening with a lot of people.   He then scanned the pages and sent them directly to our girl at the bank and CC'd me in - very efficient.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

The House Colors

We've locked in our colors, after the color appointment a few weeks back.

Brick : 

Austral Canterbury

Window Frames:

Paperbark Colorbond

Garage
Decro Door (Auburn) *UPGRADE* - Slimline Sectional

Guttering/Downpipes

Manor Red (Colorbond)

Lintel

Paperbark

Bristile Rooftile

Traditional Hacienda Magnum

Carpet

Kytan Ashbury - Carpet Court & Heavy Underlay (best you can get !) 

There are also other selections, will update soon.