Monday, April 2, 2012

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Monday, October 11, 2010

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Monday, April 26, 2010

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Construction Begins

After receiving a call from Vince, the concrete guy inviting us to watch the piering, my boys and I went to the site, camera in hand.  Very exciting.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Key Dates

7th May 2010

Good news!  WISDOM removed their fill!







23rd April 2010

WISDOM are supposedly going to remove the fill, which has diminished in size after relocation.  It has been cordoned off at the top corner near Stream St. We'll see.








9th April 2010

Peter, our Site Supervisor sends Jandson Homes pictures showing 2 x dirt pile fills that need to be cleared before they go-ahead. Apparently, according to a home forum and Jandson, this is a problem especially with new estates. Our best guess is that WISDOM and METRICON building on either side of us have dumped their dirt on our land. HOW RUDE!

I contacted both of their offices requesting that they remove this. The cost from Jandson to us if they removed it on our behalf ranges up to $2,000!

After asking Jandson if they could merely push it to the side. Jandson reply that Chris, the Construction Manager has advised the excavators out on-site to push the spoil to one side so it is out of their way for the time being.


WISDOM Home in background

METRICON Home in background

7 April 2010
Jandson order a Pegout survey for completion by 9th April 2010

30th March 2010
Email from Jandson Homes. The files have now been moved from Contracts to Construction Dpt.
25th March 2010
RAMS post out the Authority to Commence Construction letter. We email a copy of this to Jandson Homes

18th March 2010
Jandson Homes post out
1) a copy of the Council Approved and stampled plans
2) a copy of the Home Owners Warranty Insurance and
3) a copy of the Builders Public LIability and Building Insurance.

We add a copy of the Building contract and post this to RAMS to approve the Authority to Commence Construction.

8th March 2010
DA approval received!


Thursday, March 4, 2010

Internal Colours Chosen

9th February - Meeting with colour consultant.

After 3 hours, I'm pleased with the colours selected. After making the following changes:

1. Increasing the existing eaves to the mandatory minimum required
2. Reviewing and changing the exterior brick from colourbrick to an upgraded brick - Whitsunday "Keswick"
3. Removing the gate to the driveway
4. Confirming the light coloured driveway
5. Settling on a litestone "valley coal" feature for all columns and piers

the DRP approved our submission on the 25th February 2010!

Approval and amended drawings were submitted to Council on the same day.



To all those who have been reading about our progress and wondering how this affects our First Home Owners Grant stipulation that we have a slab layed within 6 months of the contract signing (24th September 2009), we have 3 weeks....we have a 99% chance we will miss this deadline.

....Plan B is completing the new documentation received from the OSR asking us to formalise our request for an extension by detailing and attaching the supporting authorisation request from Council and builder of why we missed this initial deadline.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Update by RAMS

Another letter arrived today, from RAMS.

They made a mistake, they were a bit too eager to increase the repayments.

The update is, instead of the $175.03 mentioned in my earlier post, the increase is $150.79 per month!

I STILL don't want your bananas!

Saturday, January 2, 2010

The rise and continuing rise of the variable mortgage rate on a First Home Buyer in Sydney

As a new First Home buyer and customer of RAMS Home Loans, backed by the banana smoothie bank of 2009, Westpac, our family would like to thank RAMS, Westpac and the Reserve Bank of Australia for continuing to look out for the little guys, who are not shareholders, but mere customers of your establishment since our relationship began on 28th September 2009.

We are happy to contribute what we can, whenever you decide you need it to boost both your profit line and executive bonuses. We only hope you and your family enjoy your choice of tropical smoothies when relaxing by your pool and modest million dollar homes.

In the spirit of our first Christmas together, I will continue to update our relationship as per your wonderful letters we have been receiving each month since we became part of your family.

28th September 2009
in our second month as a new mortgagee, you wrote your first letter and told us about the increase in bananas and asked for an additional $37.70 per month.

13th October 2009
demand for bananas began to be an issue, so you decided to take care of it and asked us for $62.19 per month instead

10th November 2009
because we decided to split the banana to make two smoothies, you wrote and said that was okay, we just had to pay a little more. You increased it to $75.14 per month

11th December 2009
AND, in the spirit of the festive season and ingenuity on your part to abate the increase in banana tax, we received your latest letter. In the space of 4 months, we, a family of 4 would now pay an additional $175.03 per month!


So, thank you RAMS, Westpac and the Reserve Bank of Australia.




We don't like bananas anymore. Does this make a difference?

Monday, December 28, 2009

Landscaping Plan Complete

17th December 2009 - Landscaping Plan completed as part of documentation for DA approval via Design Panel


Monday, October 26, 2009

IMPORTANT DATES

STILL TO ADDRESS:

27th October 2009 - Meeting with Senior Estimator at Jandson, to finalise external variations to working drawings prior to Basix and Design Panel approval.

After DA is approved, we can provide the required documentation to our lender so they can authorise the commencement to construct by confirming the progress payment details

Oct/Nov 2009 - Consult and finalise internal colours with colour consultant and confirm internal working drawings with assigned Project Manager

Oct/Nov 2009 - Quotations for Granitgard (termite deterrance) and ceiling insulation

Nov/Dec 2009 - Finalise Landscape quotes. A minimum landscape plan will already have been drafted as part of the Basix and Design Panel approval process.

From Jan 2010 - Quotes for carpet, tiles, driveway

Early part of Build Process 2010 - Finalise electrician requirements and obtain quote



MILESTONES TO DATE


14th October 2009 - First Home Owners Grant application approved in writing by OSR

28th September 2009 - Construction Home Loan settled with RAMS

27th July 2009 - Land settled with Landcom

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Contracts Signed

On Wednesday 16th September, we met our solicitor to go over the building contracts and extension of loan documents. Notable points from this meeting were:

Regarding the builder

i) A 10% of contract penalty imposed by the builder if a progressive payment is not made within the agreed 5 working days from invoice receipt.

ii) A standard caveat exists as part of this HIA where if you reach two-thirds of the building process, you then change your mind about this builder, a lodgement can be filed by the builder where unless you can dispute otherwise, they will be deemed to be the possessor of this building

iii) Public Indemnity Insurance is recommended to be filed in addition to receiving the HIA Owners Warranty to safeguard against any unlawful entries onto the secured block of injury.

I asked our builder whether they had this particular insurance cover in their contract. They said, yes.

iv) Arrange with the builder during the build process to inspect the progress. This ensures any problems can be addressed quickly

v) We also have up to 6 months (standard contracts are normally 3 months) after we have moved in to notify the builder of any problem areas that need to be fixed at no cost. Our solicitor advised us to list EVERYTHING, however small in the 5th month and then hand it to the builder.

Regarding the extension of the loan agreement,

i) Further clarification was needed from the lender that a construction loan repayment increases incrementally when each of the 5xprogressive payments are drawn down. The wording is not clear in the contracts. This was cleared up during a phone call later in the day.

ii) Settlement date for a construction loan is at the time of the First Progressive Payment drawdown after the building slab is completed

The First Home Owners Grant will also be released into the loan after the First Progressive Payment is made and available to us as a redraw.


The loan extension agreements were signed and posted back to the settlement office the following day.


Unfortunately, the building contracts while signed at our solicitors office on Wednesday 23rd September and delivered in person to their office located in Homebush, were handed back to us at reception because we had 'failed' to initial every page of the 80 page documents as instructed in their cover letter.

Yes, we had read this instruction but as our solicitor thought this would not be necessary, we didn't do it. He was wrong and we were not....amused.


So, on Thursday 24th September 2009, we delivered once again in person the following signed and initialed contracts

- NSW Residential Building Contract for New Dwellings
- Site Plan
- HIA General Housing Specifications
- Tender Quotation


These were countersigned and couriered back to us on Friday 25th September.

To fulfil the requirements of the First Home Owners Application, our lender has to send a certified copy of the above documents along with the application.

After photocopying all four booklets and scanning a softcopy for ourselves, we took the photocopies and originals to our local library on Saturday so the local JP could certify them. He remarked that he had never certified so many pages (80 pages) from one person. It was painstaking to watch at first, he's a retired elderly gentleman, but after he agreed to my suggestion of helping him stamp all of the pages, he signed and dated each page.

Yesterday, Monday 28th September 2009, our lender picked up the certified copies of the building documents. He also left us with an Addendum Application for the NSW State Government Boost of $3,000 to sign and return today. We did.


So, after many weeks of visits to open homes of established properties when we first thought of buying an existing home, countless trips to HomeWorld, long drives to various display centres, to building centres, meetings with different lenders, different builders, the solicitor, and lots and lots of online researching, the contracts to build have been completed and delivered.


Our kids have been great during this process. They have put up with a lot...so far. In fact, they refuse to visit any more houses and get a little tense when we drive slowly along a street to look at what they think are more houses. ..We're actually looking at driveways, fences and gardens :)


So, what's next?

a) we will confirm with Austral and our builder the exact exterior colours the bricks will be colour treated.

b) discuss with the builders any final variations to the working drawings (nothing major here, only the positioning of an internal door and the size of the upstairs bedroom window), and then

b) meet with the internal colour consultant


Happy Days!


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Thursday, September 17, 2009

Happening Now

Our solicitor has been given the mortgage documents for the construction loan extension.

We are now just waiting on the contract from the builder after providing the variations to them earlier this week. They called today to say we should expect it either tomorrow or this Monday.

Once we receive the building contract, we will hand this also to our solicitor. He will advise us on the terms of both documents prior to signing our agreement and then return the appropriate paperwork back to the lender and builder.

After the contract is counter-signed by the builder and the 5% deposit (minus the initial $3,000 commencement fee) is paid, we will provide a copy of this contract(showing a date prior to 30th September 2009) to our lender to submit with the First Home Owners Grant application they already received from us and stored on file.

We will then arrange a meeting with the builder to go through the working drawings and make any final variations to be signed off prior to submitting these to The Ponds Design Panel and Blacktown Council for DA approval. The expected timeframe on completion of this process and a DA approval provided is at the end of November.

We are not expecting the build to happen before this Christmas. I think the builders take the Christmas period off, so it will probably be mid-January 2010 we will see any activity. The estimated timeframe for entire completion (weather permitting) is around September/October 2010.

So, heads up everybody, we will be holding a Christmas 2010 House Warming at our place.


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Saturday, September 12, 2009

Deciding on the Exterior Colours

The following exterior colours will be confirmed.

Examples available when clicking on the slideshow below:

Bricks - Austral colourbrick

Brick colour - Colorbond Surfmist

Roof tiles - Bristle 'Classic' flat tiles - Luna Eclipse black

Gutters - Colorbond Monument black

Fascia - Colorbond Monument black

Eaves - Colorbond Surfmist.

Ceiling of Balcony and Portico a TAS Oak timber stain.

Downpipes - Colorbond Surfmist

Windows - Colorbond Monument black

Portico/Entrance - Boral Escuro Victorian Blue Brick with off-white flushed mortar

Verandah - Colorbond Dune (a darker grey to the light Surfmist).

Patio Balustrade - stainless steel rails

Entrance Door - Wattyl Red Stain Timber

Garage Doors - Caoboa Dawn


Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Our wishlist of House Additions

Consider this a fun posting of what we would like to install either during the build because it is easier and less costly or soon after because the budget has been blown...again :)

They range from the small upgrades, for example a larger shower head to the layout of a second patio to be located on the long side of the house facing Stream Place.

Many of the ideas and images are taken from the Home Renovation & Building site and various display home villages.

Enjoy the slideshow.

House Additions

Monday, August 24, 2009

Our decision on which Builder is now made...

and what a relief.

Still, we have a very long way to go, the least of which is addressing what we consider some minor alterations on the appearance and then making sure we stay involved throughout each phase as we head towards signing a contract prior to 30th September.

Until this is finalised, we will leave our decision, for now.....to ourselves :)

Friday, August 21, 2009

When will we decide?

Bellmarch mentioned to us yesterday that they will complete the draft of the design in approximately 7 days.

They will also try and provide the price given that this is a new design. At the end of 7 days we will discuss where things stand. They are aware of our urgency to meet the deadline for the First Home Owners Boost and have not promised anything.

Metricon have 2 more weeks before they complete a full tender and then require 2 weeks after to write the amended contract.

Pricing will vary slightly because we chose the 38sq instead of the 42sq Liberty and the low valuation.

However, we may know the outcome for the Metricon in a shorter amount of time, Once they find when drawing the site plan that the 38sq does not fit or comply with the RTA corner restrictions given the ill-placed road side tree bays, we will have no choice.

And, Jandson? Well, they are simply waiting for us to respond back to them. We have a tender and the colour pack.

So, we will build the Jandson home only if Metricon and Bellmarch are no longer in play.

So, how will we decide?

There are four possible scenarios.

(A) If Metricon is unable to fit the Liberty home on our land after conducting the site plan and Bellmarch cannot complete their documentation for us to sign before 30th September, we will build the Jandson Odyssey. This is because the Design Panel said it looked 'doable' in terms of receiving DA approval and really then is the only house we can build.

(B) If Bellmarch complete their documentation and we are satisfied, then we will build the Bellmarch house off-the plan. While risky, apparently 50% of people build houses like this and many more make changes to their choice of display homes.

(C) If the Metricon Liberty fits on our land but Bellmarch is able to complete the documentation, we will build the Bellmarch house because of the many reasons stated earlier.

We will forfeit our $1K deposit to Metricon for a tender but because the overall pricing for the Metricon is significantly higher than the Bellmarch home, even more-so when the valuation came in so low, we will still make significant savings.

(D) However, if Metricon fits on our land and Bellmarch is unable to complete the documentation, and the decision is between the Metricon and Jandson, we will build the Metricon.

The primary reason being that the Metricon design complements our land better than the Jandson design.


We will simply practice delayed gratfication and over time, build in all that we wanted initially to the Metricon Liberty.