And even more bricks... we think - 2nd week of December 2008

Well it was hard to tell whether any progress had actually been made this week - I compared last week's pics with this week's pics and couldn't see a great difference - but then we have had some rain so we'll let them off...!

In other developments, we were disappointed to learn that the tile we had chosen for the kitchen splashback - a glass mosaic type style in creams, browns and pale greens - is no longer produced so they are going to send us out an alternative to consider... hopefully it will be just as nice!

Just a few pics... hopefully we'll have some more interesting updates for you next week - we are both hoping they're going to make a start on the roof very soon!

More bricks - 1st week of December 2008

As I think I mentioned before, it's quite hard to see what progress has been made now we can no longer get into the site and all the scaffolding is up but there had definitely been a bit more brickwork undertaken when we visited a couple of weeks ago on the 7th - they're almost up to the top!

I let the pics do the talking as there's very little else to say at this stage... click on the big pic to take you to the slideshow!

Club House Rules!

We finally managed to get some swipe cards for our Community Club House this week so we treated ourselves to a guided tour after our weekly pilgrimage to the building site!

As you can see, it is absolutely amazing with a pool, spa, huge tennis court, two BBQs and the actual Club House itself.

The biggest surpise of all, however, was the furniture in the Club House - JIMMY POSSUM!!! None other than what we are hoping to use in our house when it's ready!!! Well... if it's good enough for the Club House it's certainly good enough for me!!

Seriously though - we were really impressed with the facilities the Club House has to offer and will definitely be inviting family and friends to enjoy them with us once we move in!

Here are some pics - click the big image and you'll be taken to the slideshow.

Oh and after this slideshow scroll down to the next blog entry as this gives detail of the actual house-build progress...

Hidden behind scaffolding and ladders!

It was hard to tell what progress has been made this week as the house is now completely surrounded by scaffolding and ladders. Don't get me wrong though - this is a good thing - this means they can keep bricking up towards the roof, get the roof trusses on and do various other things high up in the sky!

What we could see was that some more brickwork has been done and some especially funky sloping window ledges on the front windows. The columns to support the upstairs balcony and create the detail to the facade are also half done.

The only sad thing is that we are not really able to 'break in' through the side of the fence anymore because we're not brave enough to climb on the rather precarious looking scaffolding! This means that all the photos were taken through the gaps in the fence or by standing on the fence supports and shooting from up high - hopefully they're still ok though...

To see some pics just click on the big image below and it will take you to my weekly slideshow...

And then there were bricks!

With the rain, more rain and even more rain last week we weren't expecting much to have been done when we set out for our weekly visit to the site on Saturday afternoon but... yet again... we were pleasantly surprised!

Our house is now the proud owner of a rather fetching mini skirt made of bricks which goes pretty much all the way round - superb!

We managed to break in through the side fence again and, as usual, I got a bit snap-happy. We even managed to get indoors this time as it it had all dried out. We had a great walk around and got a really good feeling for the space we are going to have - very exciting!

The only downer was finding some damage to one of the window sills and the patio doorframe in the rumpus room - hopefully they'll fix those up before we move in! You'll see the damage in the pics titled 'Booo...'!

We also bumped into our neighbours-to-be who have been having some fun and games with the builders. Unfortunately the builders keep parking their utes across the bottom of the neighbours' drive which makes it near impossible for them to leave for work in their car... or at least they thought - one of the drivers had the cheek to put his cigarette down on the grass, grab the keys off them, then reverse their car OVER their front lawn, past the offending ute and then on to the road - all before picking his cigarette up off the grass (which the neighbours' dog loves to wee on) and carrying on smoking... hmmm!!!

Enjoy the slideshow - as usual - click on the pic below and it will take you to a separate window with this week's pics!

We now have windows and utilities!

With Adam being in Perth and then both of us being in the UK for the past couple of weeks we haven't been able to monitor the progress of the build and were a bit nervous as we drove out West yesterday in case nothing had been done in our absence...

But, once again, our builders have done us proud and have made GREAT progress! We now have windows throughout (and sliding doors), the plumbing and gas is in - outdoor taps and all important gas point for the BBQ - and there are piles of bricks everywhere suggesting they might start laying the brickwork shortly not to mention the huge roof trusses lying in the back garden which means we might have cover from the elements in the near future.

As you can see from the pics, the inside of the house is really wet and rather like a swimming pool after the rain we've had over the last day or so but that should dry up pretty quickly once the sun starts shining again!

It was really fun to walk all around the house and envision the different rooms - it's much easier to do now the frame and windows are all done.

The most impressive window has to be the humungous one on the side of the house - it's literally the full height of the house - not sure how we're going to keep that clean though. Thankfully it's obscured glass so the finger prints and cobwebs won't show up too much - ha ha!

As usual, I've put together a slideshow of all the photos for your viewing enjoyment. Just click on the photo below and it will take you to a separate window.

Hopefully we may have some brickwork and possibly even a roof to show you next week if the rain holds off!

And then there was frame!

Well we truly didn't expect the builders to have done much this week with all the torrential rain we've been having but we drove out to take a look nevertheless and I am glad we did because the bottom half of the frame is up!

It really is quite scary how well the build is going so far and I don't like to jinx it but we have been very impressed by the speed and workmanship and hope this is just a sign of even more good things to come.

We couldn't get in past the fences because they've padlocked it all up but I managed to take some pics anyway. As before, just click on the image below and it will take you to a slideshow containing even more pics for your enjoyment (and excuse the beautiful blue skies)!

We love concrete!

As promised, some pics of the slab from our visit on Saturday - we are absolutely chuffed to bits with the progress they've made so far...

Click anywhere on the image below to be taken to a slideshow with even more to see...!

Hope you enjoy!!

Day 4 and slab poured!

Well we got an e-mail today from our Customer Service Representative (CSR), Priscilla, to say that our build is 15% complete and the slab has been poured! And we're only 4 days into the build!! I hate to count my chickens before they hatch but if our experience in the last week is anything to go by, the build is going to be a lot smoother than the administration leading up to it!

Pics of 'slab' to follow this weekend once we've been out to inspect.

:o)

Scraped & pegged as at 6th October 2008!

The house-build is officially due to commence today so it was much to our delight when we popped by the land on the way home from house-boating yesterday to discover it has been 'scraped and pegged'.

As you can see the land has been prepared, the 'outline' pegged and various other bits and bobs such as waste-water pipes and foundations - pretty impressive stuff.

A good start. Let's hope it continues this way! And now for some pics...

Interior Plans

Where it all started...

Rewind to September 2007 and our purchase of the land - a few pics to reminisce!