Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Feb 19, 2007 3:55 pm I thought i'd post a diary of the build of our house and comment on any hiccups we have along the way. I shan't mention the builder but thought it might help people gauge time frames etc.
We are building a 2 story home approx 40sqm. Contracts signed: Mid NOV Scheduled Start in Contract DEC 15th Actual start : Feb 9th (christmas is a killer and council hold ups) Builder rating so far 7 / 10. Feb 9th: Friday what a day to start !! Met site supervisor who ran over contract and clauses. Block cut. As site was bigger foot print than house paid $100 to have whole block levelled. Bargain knew this was going to be additional cost. ETA for slab 21st Feb, Framing arriving 22-23rd. Feb 12th-16th : Block pegged out but RAIN most of the week so no real progress. The only week it rains in QLD is the week i start building a house !! Site being levelled has shown the block has a 1m fall to back left which didn't look that big. Retaing wall required for garden which is going to have to wait untill house is finished. Supervisor phoned to inform of rain hold ups which was good. Previous ETA of Slab completion 21st now pushed out a week to 28th. Feb 19th-23rd : Slab is down !! The builder has really pulled his finger out this week. The site was remarked,boxed and the slab poured.The framing has all arrived ready for a 26th,so were back on track. 8 cement trucks apparently and the guys working hard according to the neighbours. They have even rocked up on saturday to marked out the framing ready for monday start.Must say very happy about that. Will make twice weekly visit now. RATING 7.5/10 Feb 26th-Framing is up on the first level. It quite amazing how quick it all takes shape, house is sitting nicley on the block and the sites comparitlvy clean.One wall internal wall is full height which was a surprise but looks okay.Will be interesting to see how the rooms take shape as everyone told us it will look small when the frames up but it looks great. Feb 27th: Trusses are up and upper floor is down plywood walling is up internally and externaly : Upper frame work ready to go. Feb 28th: Havn't gone to site but it's raining so visit tomorrow. March 2nd: Upper level framing is on and garage roofing is done.External plywood is up on top floor and alfresco framing is near completion. ETA for framing to be complete is next monday/tuesday so the sparky is due mid week. No drama's at all so far took framers a slab pretty good week. First invoice received for slab completion had a week to pay it to avoid interest accural so should be plenty of time. RATING 8/10. March 4th: The roofs framing is all done !! Lower roofing is all completed , cyclone rods are through and looks like there getting ready to bolt on the upper scafolding for the tilers. March 7th: We had rain again yesterday but upper scaffoling/walk ways is all bolted on now and front balcony roofing is completed. So far no drama's at all. Had friends comment it took there builder 3mths to get to this stage so in a month ,i'm pretty happy. March 8th: Guttering and facia is on : internal plumbing for upstairs bathrooms is complete. Site Manager expects roof to go on Mon/tuesday. March 12th - March 19th Roof tiling has began the colours looking good and works well with guttering. Roofing finished she looks good lower garage roof no yet completed. March 19th-24th No progress first few days but now all windows are in and it starting to look like a house.. Internal supports removed, and framing across floor removed. March 26th - 30th. Cladding is on exterior walls. brick deleivered. Sparky in and out in 1 day on monday , few issue here with security system placement and location of external powerpoints. Security system in garage and is not proctected but a sensor ummm. Certifier due this week to check progress. Brickies started / termi mesh is down . FIRST HICCUP. The certifier wants a Engineered structual report on the framing as it over hangs the slab by about 15mm on an internal wall which is load bearing. This is going to take about a week to get assesed and recertifed so brickies sent to another job. April 1-4: Short week. Spoke to supervisor assestment due tuesday so fingers crossed. April 11th -13th Well engineers report is fine now the certifier has pulled up a plywood braces that he reckons needs to be straped. I have no idea what this means and my building supervisor is not happy as well as he should have brought this up the first time round, so it could have been assesed at the same time. So now the whole house is going to be engineered assesed and hopefully we'll start again next week. Can't be too upset as it's in our interests but this should have been brought up at the framing stage rather than the fixing stage as we've now borrowed money to pay for the framing that's under assesment. Crumbs long time between posts. June 4th. Well April - May was a rememerable time but not for the good times. After the assesment it all got back on track , then fell over dramatically. The Brikkes finished the exterior the external cladiing all went up the outside ot the house is now painted as well. The internal sheeting all went up downstairs and upstairs to make up time and low an behold. They forgot to put the ducted air con in. So to cut a long story short all the sheeting had to come down , bulk heads had to be redesigned as the voids weren't big enough a real disaster. None of the recess in the showers wern't done , the sheeters really didn't pay attention. The retro fit of the sheeting meant when it was re sheeted they did a * but it was all fixed up. I must say our site supervisor was good at getting it all fixed but , but too miss putting in the air con !! So now we're getting back on track. The stairs are in the corincing is done , all internal doors and frames are in , skirting is done so were at lockup. Kitchen is due to go in this week as well . So may - june was horrible but lloks like it's going good now. Thank you so much everyone. 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