One Year

Just over one year ago we bought some land.

One year later it has the beginnings of a house on it.

Exciting times!

take two....

Our site cut is now re-scheduled for the 15th and slab by the end of the month - weather permitting of course - and as long as the bank don't play anymore tricks on us again... here's hoping

Amazed that the porta loo hasn't flown off to Oz in all the wind that we've had over the past few weeks.

The first site cut has happened on the estate a few doors up from us - they're building with Dona Homes. No other signs of building on the estate yet.

Before and During...

Site cut day

Site cut is scheduled for today - but with storms predicted I'm not sure it will happen. We went up to the block yesterday and measured up where the house will sit - mainly so Mark could see how much room he'll have for his "Pool Room" - ahem - shed...

This will be the view from our dining table

The neighbours behind us have a fun way of jumping into their dam for a swim!

We have a porta loo!

Wow - the things that excite us!!!

Thought I'd drive past and see if anyone else has anything happening on their blocks in the estate. I was surprised to see a porta loo, rubbish cage and crossover protector thingie on our land. That was quick since we only heard yesterday afternoon about our site cut date. None of the other blocks have anything happening yet, so it seems like we'll be one of the first to start building.

Site cut

Wahoo!!! Site cut is set for the 16th! Seven more sleeps! If it happens on that day - then handover should be 169 days later on the 4th of March! So excited!!!

Settlement!

It's today! It's today!

Settlement happened today with out a hitch or any fan fare. Glad the wait is over. Now the next fun part can begin!

We received three bottles of French Champagne in the mail this week from friends in France - good timing! Lol - but we're not going to open them just yet, we'll save a bottle or two for *ahem* the significant birthday I'm having later in the year and we'll crack open the final bottle when we move in.

Titles and Settlement

Settlement is to happen on the 15th of this month! HOORAY!!!!!!!!

Contract details are about to be finalised with Porter Davis. The proverbial ball is about to start rolling again! Wahoo!

sigh...

July. Only two more days left in July. Still no word on a date for settlement. Ho Hum.... So much for "June being the worst case scenario for settlement." So we continue to practice patience.


One fence is finished on our block and all the other fences in the estate have been done. Guessing that they will do the right side fence once they've landscaped the reserve. Will have to ask about that though - even though it might be nice not to have a fence on the reserve side - I still want one to keep our cute, little dog in and pesky, nosey children out.

They've put in the playground now. Not that you can see much from my photo - I didn't want to get out of the car to get closer and take a pic when the workers were there putting on the mulch. But it looks good. Our youngest will be happy to know they've got a spider web climbing rope/chain thingie - he likes them.

There's only four more blocks yet to be sold in the estate. They've gone up about 30K from what we paid, and they're smaller than our block. Gotta be happy about that!

Fencing

Still no idea on when settlement will be...

On a positive note - we have the beginning of a fence!

No gates

I contacted our conveyancer this week to ask if he knows when settlement might happen. He said it will probably be the end of July. So we wait a bit longer...

Fences are being done now and they've taken away the gates so we can drive to our block now instead of sneaking on.

Gates have finally been taken away - YAY!

Parking in our driveway

Kicking the footy "out the front" - because we can!

Lines marked for fence posts

Still waiting...

Still haven't heard when settlement will be...

Roads are finished. Lines are marked. Trees have been planted on the reserves.

Waiting, waiting, waiting....

Almost ready

Bitumen is in - YAY!

Street signs are in - YAY!

Nature strip trees are in - YAY!

Blocks are pegged out - YAY!

Landscaping of the park and reserve started - YAY!

... just fences to go in and then I think it'll be done!

Can . Not . Wait !

C'mon already!!!!

Almost there....

We have a driveway

Settlement???

Still no idea when settlement is going to take place. Our conveyancer has no news yet so we just wait...

At the moment they are moving the extra dirt off the land. We assume that once they've finished tidying up the land they'll put on the last layer of bitumen and hopefully that'll be it.

Our driveway has been done - hopefully we'll be able to get a look on the weekend.

Land - almost there...

Settlement will hopefully be in June. They are presently putting in footpaths and driveways now. Top of the road still is to go on - then there's a lot of rocks and dirt that they've got to do something with.

Climbing on the rocks - typical boy!

red and white lines on gutter edge show where our driveway will be

Looking over the wetland area reserve that is next to our block - this will be really nice when it's all done.

They've certainly built up the land quite a bit.

Getting Closer

Went past the land on Monday. Looks like there's not much left to do with the roads, just the final layer to go on. I wonder when we'll find out when settlement will happen - surely it won't be too long.

Gorgeous Street Lights

Yay! It's coming along so quick. Still are being told settlement on the land is July. Grrrrrr. We were originally told that "settlement will be April/May, worst case scenario June" - they've only had a couple of inclement days so there's no reason why they should now be saying July esp as it seems like only the roads, footpaths and crossovers are to go in - every time we go past there's always work going on (apart from on Sundays). Maybe they don't want to settle till after the parkland is all finished off - who knows. Maybe it's just the agent ...... well I've been taught not to say anything if you can't say anything nice.

On another note, our tile appointment is now scheduled for April the 6th, contract will be not long after that. We're still waiting for some info and prices before we finalize the date for contract.

Color Selection

Today we had our colour and electrical appointments.

Really pleased with how it's all coming together.



Exterior Colours:

Bricks: Boral Rouge

Windows: White Birch

Feature Render: Dune

Roof, gutters, facia, downpipes: Woodland Grey

Garage Door: Dune

Internal Colours:

Walls: Lushious White

Trim: First Snow

Tiles, Wall Colour, Trim, Window Frames

Kitchen:

The picture below isn't a good indicator  of the colours - they really do go together 'in real life!'

Bench: Osprey Caesar Stone 20mm bench and 40mm island with waterfall edge - nice!!!
Cupboard Doors: Shaker Profile in Laminex Parchment (now changed to Polar White)
Glass splashback: Limed White (Starfire glass) - (now changed to Limed White Half)
Bench in Pantry: ...

Wall Colour, Glass Splashback, Laminex, Bench

Bathrooms:

Floor and Bathroom Tiles: Shell Matte Bianco Satin 
Bathroom cupboard doors and benches: Laminex Palisander
Splashback and feature tiles: Strata Glass Format 24 #9 Biscuit (similar to pic below)

Laundry:


Floor Tiles: Shell Matte Bianco Satin 
Cupboard doors: Laminex Polar White
Bench: Formica Brushed Silver
Splashback: White Gloss 75x150mm Subway Tile

Flooring:

We haven't decided whether to go with the flooring package or not. While we like the look of the Bolero Timber Look Laminate Flooring (Rustic Coffee is our choice) we're not sure that we actually want a laminate flooring. I don't like the idea of how it can't get wet and I also don't like how it's clicky when you walk on it.

So we're looking at the Allura Vinyl Plank flooring that is available at Harvey Norman, and then will get carpet elsewhere. Hopefully the vinyl plank will come up on sale before handover. To save $ we'll install it ourselves (it's really easy to DIY and it certainly is within our skill ability to do it).

Allure Vinyl Plank Flooring - Vintage Oak Cinnamon

Electrical Selections:

Basically we doubled the number of power points, threw in a few extra lights, added in some LED down lights and added some two way switches. We are putting a power point inside each of the vanities (handy for rechargeable shavers and toothbrushes, and it gets them off the bench), one in the broom cupboard (for the dust buster) as well as three in the pantry. We certainly didn't do anything extravagant and will put in our exterior lights after handover (they will be wired up and ready to go).



Land:

The land is coming along in leaps and bounds! So exciting! They've got most of the gutters in now.  Hopefully it won't be too long!