Powering along!

So our build has been powering along!  Everything seemed to be happening so quickly, we were on track for an end of October finish but then the dreaded happened.  Our stairs had been wrongly ordered and didn't fit. So a three week wait, with nothing happening at the house whilst the stairs were re-made and an installer became free to fit them.

So today, the stairs have been installed and work resumes on our castle!!

There is not too much left to do - kitchen is in, just all the cabinetry upstairs to be installed, painters, carpet, electrician and plumber.  Our site supervisor has been truly amazing, so hoping he can get things powering back to back to get us in as soon as possible!! I know he is feeling pretty bad after the 3 week delay, so hoping his guilt will drive him!!

Nothing is ever easy.....

So we knew that we had to relocate our crossover, and planned to do this after handover so it stays looking all clean etc. We have spoken to council, got the approval that this will be ok. Went out to the block today and Barwon Water have installed the taps - right in the middle of where the crossover is to go!

Speak to Barwon Water, get on to an approved plumber, who says to move it the distance we need (1.5m) will be about $2000! I nearly died. At this point I can just see the dollar signs racking up....and up....and up......

After some further discussion, marking out where we wanted them and pleading, the plumber agreed to move the taps the distance required for the price of moving them 1m - $350. Bullet Dodged!

So we are all happy, get the taps moved, email it all off to the builder and developer and the next day the developer puts a tree in our nature strip - right where the relocated crossover is going to go!!! Beginning to feel like the forces are against us. Hubby has decided to leave the tree for now, and when we need to move the crossover, we will relocate the tree at the same time.

So you would think that is the end of the drama - you'd be wrong!  We go out today and the nature strip has tyre tracks over a FOOT deep. The block next to us has had their site scrape, and for some stupid reason the excavator has decided to drive OVER our nature strip to access the block instead of using the crossover. Thats fine - but no attempt to fix what they have done - they have just driven off.  I will be contacted Dennis Family Homes on Monday to complain...loudly.

Our Gallery appointment selections

On Monday 27th April we had out Gallery appointment at Simonds in Geelong.  We had the help of an amazing girl, Rebecca, who was able to assist us in bringing together our dream home.  We took in some pictures of bathrooms, kitchens etc that we liked, talked about our budget, and she showed us our options, which were spot on!  We are so happy with what we have chosen and can't wait to see it become a reality when we begin building.

This is our facade selection.  We picked Austral Access Chestnut for our main brick, Praline for our front stack/peirs, woodland grey for our roof and window frames, Blood Diamond for our front door and Fossil for the cladding. Both bricks were an upgrade from Category 1.  The Access Chestnut was Category 2, and the Praline was Category 6. 

Austral Access Chestnut

Austral Praline

Woodland Grey

Our front door (blood diamond) - but each side will have a panel of glass. 

For both the Ensuite and the Main Bathroom we have Ceasaerstone Urban for the benchtops and Laminex Sublime Teak for the cupboards.  The Ensuite is a darker grey tile, and the Bathroom a lighter grey.  Both Bathroom and Ensuite have a window to lighten the room, and a long wall that is not tiled and will be painted the same pale grey as the rest of the house. 

Both the 600x300 tiles and the stone benchtops were an upgrade. 

Ceaserstone Urban Grey (kitchen and bathrooms).  We ended up changing the bathroom, ensuite and powder room to a white stone so that it didn't look all so dark

Laminex Sublime Teak

Main bathroom 600 x 300 tiles to floor and shower. The two paint samples show the wall colour and trim colour. The smaller tiles are the feature ones to go in the niche. 

Close up of the feature tile for the niche in the Main bathroom

Bathroom handles - standard. 

Bath in main bathroom - standard. 

Ensuite. Same Urban benchtop, sublime teak doors, darker grey 600 x 300 tiles to floor and shower and the round paint samples are the wall colour and trim. 

Close up of the feature tile. I love all the texture in it!

Ensuite handles. We have also purchased black towel rail, black toilet roll holder and hand towel holder. 

Standard toilet for bathroom, Ensuite and powder room.  

Sink in bathroom, powder room and Ensuite - an upgrade. 

Shower - standard. We will upgrade this when we move in. This was one area that was expensive to upgrade. 

Bathroom mixer - standard

Bath taps - standard. 

Shower mixer - standard. 

 Undermount sink - upgrade

 Accessories that come with the sink. 

Kitchen mixer - standard. We plan to replace this when we move in. 

Overhead cupboards are in Alaskan Nuance. Bottom cupboards are in a white winyl wrap. No handles on the overhead cupboards. 

Oven - upgrade. 

Back splash is these grey hexagon tiles. They have a slight pattern/swirl through them. Wanted glass splashback or mirror, but had to choose between an extended kitchen island bench that was extra wide, or the backsplash - so I made a tile work!  Hopefully it will look as good as I am picturing in my head!

Carpet - Cat 2 (small upgrade).  We really wanted a lighter grey, but there was no choice for this colour in the lower categories. To get the light grey we would have had to go up to about Cat 5, which would have cost thousands. 

Handles throughout the house - standard. 

Front door lock - standard. 

slider door handle in to the laundry - standard. 

Laundry sink taps - standard. 

Our Land has settled!

On the 28th April 2015 our land finally settled! It is now ours!  Hubby and I were beyond it with excitement - it felt like Christmas as a kid again, yet our poor girls couldn't quite understand the level of excitement! They are just happy they will each have their own rooms again when we finally move in!

I never thought a big block of dirt could make me so happy!

Gallery Appointment tomorrow - exciting times!

So out Gallery appointment is tomorrow and to say we are excited is an understatement!  We have spent the past week painting sample colours on plaster, checking out bricks and then driving around to look at houses built in the brick we like.  I have spent hours on Pinterest and put together an Inspiration Board and cut out some pictures to take with us.

The most nerve racking thing is not knowing how much things will cost to upgrade, what exactly is included as standard and if we will be able to make out home how we are hoping with the budget that we have.

Time will tell....

Simonds Stanten - to be our castle!

So finally, after a few weeks of indecision, we finally decided on the Simonds Stanten!

We had bought the block for a double storey house that would allow us to have a bigger backyard, but when it came time to make a decision, hubby was really torn between a single storey house that would be completely "tricked out" for our budget, or the double storey which would be more basic, but would have the "bones" in place to grow and adapt with our family.

I really wanted the double storey Stanten, as with hubby being a Carpenter, I know that he can finish things around the house, add things as needed over time.  Hubby was leaning towards the single until we visited a few display homes and was actually able to see how big the backyard would be with the double.

The big question remained - would it come in at our budget??  We really wanted to restrict what we spend on our house as we still want to have a good lifestyle and not be a slave to the mortgage.  Many lengthy discussions with our Sales consultant, and things were beginning to look not so good, but she was truly amazing and managed to get the price (with all of our changes) well within our budget!

And so on the 29th March our decision was made and we went in, made the changes necessary to make the house suit our needs and signed!

We ended up adding a triple garage, a dining/alfresco, butlers pantry (without the sink!), swapping the laundry and powder room around (so laundry is now accessed off the kitchen, the powder room from behind the stairs).  We redesigned the master bedroom to have a WIR behind the bed, redesigned the main bathroom and ensuite to make the main bathroom bigger (I do have three girls who will become teenagers!) and the ensuite a bit smaller and increased the size of one of the bedrooms. We have stone to the kitchen and bathrooms, and upgraded the freestanding oven, and have an allowance of $7000 built in for upgrades at our Gallery appointment (such as tiles, carpet etc).

Our Sales lady, Tania, was AMAZING through our whole process! She was patient, provided us with different options across both single and double, and then went above and beyond to get us as much as possible for our budget.  I can't recommend her highly enough.

Friday 10th April our land titles were finally released!! yay!  Which means titles will be available in the next two weeks.  This was also the day that our Simonds Customer Relationship Co-ordinator Leticia phoned to introduce herself, and to set up our Gallery appointment and contract signing date.  It's all finally going ahead and is beginning to feel real!

So the next ten days are going to be spent on Pinterest finding inspiration pictures to take with us to our appointment!!

Simonds Stanten - Plymouth Facade

We have our land!!

After much stressing and looking around at different estates, we finally found a block that we fell in love with AND met all of our needs!

For the past 6 months we have been completely in love with a particular house.  This house is wide, but short, allowing a largish backyard - as the most disappointing thing is how small blocks are in new estates these days. 

We were determined to find a 17 or 18m wide block, 32 deep so we could build our dream home. Ideally we wanted a 18m wide block so that in years to come we can add a carport to the side (we have 3 girls who will eventually grow in to 3 girls who drive!). 

Our search paid off a few months ago when a couple wanted to pull out of the block they had purchased over 18 months ago, but was only due to title in March 2015. In order to remove themselves from the contract of sale, they had to "nominate" a new purchaser, and they were not allowed to sell it for any more than what they initially agreed to paid (developer guidelines). 

So we quickly agreed to take over their contract of sale, and to be the nominated purchaser upon title. Nothing ever happens quickly when Conveyancers,  Lawyers and Money Men are involved, but 6 weeks after agreeing, we have just signed the contract, paid our deposit and now wait for our land to title in about 4 weeks!

Looking across our block

I never thought I would love a patch of dirt this much!