Official Site Start

Could it be that things are finally happening? I just received an email from my new Customer Service coordinator Nicole advising that the site will be scraped on 30 June so perhaps with good luck (something I have not known for quite a long time) I will be in my house by Christmas!!!!!

Last week I received the permits in the mail along with the Energy Rating report. I am happy to say that out of a possible 7 star rating my house received 6 1/2 stars (I wonder what I would have had to do to get that extra half a star).

This makes me very happy as I believe the house I am living in now would not even rate a 2. There is no insulation in half of the house and I have been without heat for over a week. Got it back on Friday only to come home on Saturday to find flames coming out of the bottom of the heater. Called the Land Lord who had someone out Wednesday to look at it. Seems the ignition on the pilot light had started a fire and has gone to god. Pilot light is still working but if it goes out (which it has done twice) I have to pull the front of the heater off and light it with a match. Oh I cannot wait until I have central heating.

Took a trip on the weekend down to Lara to the new Santorini display home which has recently opened up. This one had the Great Outdoor room instead of the rumpus room. Very nice but I still like my rumpus room. The en suite was a little different to mine and the master bedroom seemed a little smaller than some of the others I have seen however this could just be an illusion from the colours used as it had the extension. I am so glad that I went for the extension of the Master and en suite as I have a huge bed and I want plenty of room to move around. I don't think I would have had this if I had not had the extra extension.

Have a question for some of you who are building. Are you having eaves? I have noticed so many new houses do not have eaves. I have chosen to have them as I have spoken to quite a few people who do not have them and they have said that if they had their time over again they would as they offer protection from the Sun, hail and rain. What do you think?

Anyway I am off to clean out a Garage that is full of 60 years of my Father's tools and other junk. If I'm lucky I may be out by dinner time.

Site Manager Called Today

Site manager called today (by accident, thought he had another Kylie who is building in the same street - this could get quite confusing as we are both building the Santorini)

He introduced himself (His name is Rob) and said he thought that the site would be scraped on Monday, footings down next day and the slab poured shortly after. That's funny because I have not even been given a start date yet and my new CSC has not even called me so I think I will take that with a grain of salt.

He advised would call me once a week to give me an update on what is happening and should I want to come down and have a look around at any time just give him a call and we could arrange it.

Funny I had been told that the Site Managers do not give out their telephone numbers however he quite freely gave me the number but asked that I don't call him at 1:00am in the morning or on weekends which is fare enough. He told me not to even call my CSC as she wouldn't know what was going on (He didn't need to tell me that).

He did however get a bit touchy when I said I was getting my own Building Inspector in. There was silence and then he said I was throwing away my money and that they had their own Building Inspector. I politely told him I understood that but just wanted to be on the safe side.

I didn't say that I had heard some negative feedback in the last couple of days.

Anyway let's hope that things start moving now and that perhaps by this time next week there is some action happening down at the block. I'm off down there this weekend to put my sign up for the Builders as asked and have a look at all the development that is going on there. Will take some photos as well just to give an overview of the Estate.

I have some family coming down from Queensland for the weekend so I'm going to take my mind off the house for a few days and enjoy myself without stress.

Have a nice weekend all!!!

I can smell a start date coming on.

We're getting close. Have been told that I should have a site start date by end of next week. About time!

Final plans were signed off on last week, got an email on Friday saying that building permit had been applied for however before it could be approved I needed to pay a Community Infrastructure Levy to Council and asking could I go down and do this asap. Hop in the car, take the 30 minute drive down to The Casey Civic Centre to pay this only to be told that the Developer paid this back in March!!! Was I Angry? You betcha! Look at another email that came in from my CSC saying that they need a copy of the receipt from the Cardinia City Council - I call her and leave a message (because I can never reach her on the telephone) telling her that I am not building in the City of Cardinia but in the City of Casey, adding that I hope they have not put my plans in to the wrong Shire as I don't want any more hold ups. I later receive another email from her apologising for this and that she was given the wrong information, hmmm.

According to the contract once this building permit has been obtained they have 21 days to start the build so hopefully it won't be too far away.

After looking over the final plans I noticed that the measurements for the driveway have decreased by 6 square metres. I queried if I would be getting a credit back and was advised that it would be looked into. Later in the day I got an email to say there would be a $712.00 credit back so at least there was something to be happy about.

While down at Cranbourne yesterday I took a little drive down to the estate to see what's been happening since I was last there. My block now has the water taps connected (I received my second water bill this week). There are now three houses in my street which have their frames up. There would easily be around 100 builds started now and it is really looking great. I have also had the opportunity to speak to a few of my neighbours through the 'Home One' forum and am so happy to know that I will be sharing the neighbourhood with some lovely people. It has reinforced my belief that I have chosen the right estate to build in.

Hopefully next week I will be able to post the news that I have a site date. Until then I hope you all have a lovely week.

Your lesson for today

Always check, check and triple check, don't take anything for granted.

I guess alarm bells should have rung when I had my tile selection appointment and the girl asked what tiles I wanted for my kitchen splashback. I told her that I am having a glass splashback as per my contract (which I had with me at the time). She said she had not been advised of this but would check this out before sending me the final paperwork.

We get on to the bathroom and pick the tiles for the floor which I say I will have run through to the shower base (an upgrade I chose at my Studio M selection appointment).

Yesterday in the mail I get my tile selection to sign off on. Wall tile, check. Floor tile, check. Border tile, check. Feature tile, check. Shower base, blank!

Hang on what is this?

Call tile company, no mention of shower base in the documentation they received. Why am I not surprised?

Call CSC, of course cannot get in contact with her. Leave a message and email regarding this and the fact that my Finance provider will not send out Signed contracts until I submit plans approved by council which she will not submit until she has Signed contracts from my loan provider!!!

No answer that afternoon. Leave another message for her to call me this morning. Yet again no answer. Call the builders reception to get the name of who I need to complain to about all of the problems I have encountered thus far (there are more than 10) and am told that they all left this morning at 08:30am for a full day of training.....Well I hope the training works because they are totally incompetent at the moment.

Do I sound like I am angry? To be honest I am just getting fed up, I know that this sounds very minor but I have had so many small problems that really should not have happened if people were organised and did their job properly. All these small problems and disorganisation keep delaying my start date which in turn is costing me money.

I know everyone says that building is a nightmare but surely there are some people who have had positive experiences? I know there are....I've spoken to them.

I guess I shouldn't complain. When I read on the home one site what some people are going through with their bricks being poorly laid or breaking I should not be complaining about my problems.

On a happier note (always finish on a happy note) I have received the name of my Site Manager and by all reports he is a really good Manager (Kylie does a happy dance). So maybe when I get to building, things will swing my way.