Building with Statesman? Would you be my pacing partner?

craigandamy · Sep 17, 2009 10:02 am

no probs sammy....

will probably get over there at some stage on the weekend but if we dont catchup give me a ring to discusss. What colour are you going for? Are you doing the modular or post n rail? We are probably going for Post n Rail as its slighlty cheaper and at the end of the day a fence is a fence.

Talk soon.

Oh yeah!! After this invoice there are only 2 left ::hyst::

which also means we are getting closer to Handover and being in there before christmas..... ::celeb::

***EDIT Late Thursday Arvo***

Went to the house and to my suprise all the skirtings have been done, internal doors hung with handles, external doors hung including the one for the garage, all cupboards have also arrived. ::smile::

Whilst there I got talking to the carpenter and asked what was next,,,,he rattled of all this stuff and then said you will be in the house in 4 weeks...... :::

after I said the normal cow manure we parted ways..However it got me thinking,,all we have to do is
tilling (only bathrooms, ensuite, laundry and front porch) no tiles in kitchen as we have a glass splashback
painting
electrical
rendering
general fitout etc etc
Floor coverings are going in after handover

So i guess anything is possible but I'm not counting on it!!!! ::wink::

Anyway more photos are on the following link
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1 ... 5d42b9491a

BoulevardBuilder · Sep 22, 2009 8:09 pm

Whoa, you guys are flying along craigandamy!! Congrats!!

Went down today, all electrical was done, most of the insullation for the walls was in and the gyprock was there ready to go!!

Is coming along nicely...

Some pics:

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sammy_sj · Sep 22, 2009 9:02 pm

Moving along nicely Boulevardbuilder!! Once the gyprock is up it really gives you a much better sense of size.

Well I spoke with SS today and he said that the inspection would be definetly done no later than 12th October... so just under 3 weeks. He said that he was hoping more for the 8th or 9th so we'll see how we go. Mind you this is still 2 weeks later than the original date he gave of 30th Sept :n:

Painter started on Friday and the front render had it's first coat and about half of the house had been undercoated. I'm glad they got at least the first coat of render done last week as this week the weather has been terrible so far. The things left to be done on our house are
*Remainder of painting
*Toilets, shower screens, sinks and taps to be installed
*Covers on all electrical points
*Panel lift door to be installed
*Appliances on handover

I think that's about it so a very small list now. I'll update some photo's tomorrow.

andystew · Sep 22, 2009 11:19 pm

Wow everyone, it is great to see so many places moving forwards so quickly. Hopefully, we will continue in a speedy fashion. We had two hiccups with the Council - one with the demolition (now solved) and a significant tree (which is located on Council property - ironically enough). But after a long delay, we now have Development Plan Consent and Building Rules Consent - Development approval is on the way. I had a call from Statesman yesterday, and they are looking at releasing us to Construction around the 9th of October. Perfect timing, as the demolition is starting on the 6th. Electricity and Gas is being disconnected on the 1st, so we have to be out on that day.
I am seriously starting to get excited. We do have to do one more thing though, we have to get a Identification Survey done (boundary survey) just to confirm the exact boundaries and whether our fences are on the right spot. (I hope so, they have been there for more than 20 years)

Does anyone know of a Surveyor that they used? We got one quote for $880 - it seems rather excessive. :::

sammy_sj · Sep 23, 2009 11:22 am

Andystew - Who has asked for the identification survey to be done?? Statesman tried to charge us to do this as they could only find 2 pegs at the time of the soil testing. I told them that all the pegs were visible (as they were they just didn't look hard enough) and they were fine with that. Seems a little strange that you have to get a survey done in an established area where you already have a house on the land.

TamDaz · Sep 23, 2009 6:20 pm

sammy_sj

Seems a little strange that you have to get a survey done in an established area where you already have a house on the land.

We didn't have to get a survey done personally, but our builder organised it just the same at their cost. We too are in an established area and demolished a house that was there. The builders found out that our neighbours put up a retaining wall and fence which is 8cm on to our property. In effect we have to sign a variation moving our house over that far (lucky we have over 2 metres on the other side). So when we needed to ask our neighbours to temporarily take that fence down, we knew what our defense would be if they questioned it too much (pay us a couple thousand for our land). In the end, my point is, even in an established area a survey may not be a bad thing.

andystew · Sep 23, 2009 10:48 pm

Statesman have asked for it. Evidentally, they need it to ensure that the slab is placed in the correct place. We don't have pegs, but do have fences. I am getting kinda worried now that it will show that the fences are not in the right places. The fences are original, from when the development was first released (some 30 years ago) - but i spose that really means nothing, if they were put in the wrong spot in the first place. I got another 2 quotes today, one at $880 and one at $990. I think we will probably just go with our first quote - as he was a bit more available than the others.

craigandamy · Sep 24, 2009 6:26 pm

our latest update!!!!

Well all our cabinets have been installed, eaves have been installed and flyscreens on all windows and sliding doors have been installed and all the waterproofing has been done...so we are truely locked out of the house now.

so I have this feeling that if all goes to plans there may be a distinct possibility that by the end of October we could be extremely close to PCI or handover. Going to ring the SS on the 1st October and find out how we are tracking...
::hyst::

fingers crossed this could be the quickest build that statesman have done in freeling estate

netadelle · Sep 24, 2009 7:39 pm

Wow CraigandAmy that is amazing! :z:

I went past the block late tonight, it was to dark to take pictures but they have dug all the trenchs and put in the plumbing!! All the wire is there ready to be spread out! Will take photos on Saturday

sammy_sj · Sep 24, 2009 11:42 pm

That's great news netadelle!!! Not long now and you'll have a slab.

I can't believe you have fly screens craigandamy. I wonder what happened to ours??? ::angry::

I might mention it to SS when I call him again on Monday.

craigandamy · Sep 25, 2009 8:22 am

sammy_sj

That's great news netadelle!!! Not long now and you'll have a slab.

I can't believe you have fly screens craigandamy. I wonder what happened to ours??? ::angry::

I might mention it to SS when I call him again on Monday.

I know..we went there yesterday to have a look and it was the one thing I noticed...there goes breaking into the place to see what is going on....BUGGER ::angry::

BoulevardBuilder · Sep 25, 2009 2:34 pm

Congrats netadelle!!!

How exciting are site works!?!? You will have a slab in no time then things will continue to happen nice and quickly, have that camera ready!!!

craigandamy your build = quickest build EVER!! Gee it is really flying along well done!

sammy_sj you will be in there in no time, well done!!

We had our electrical work done and insulation is in! Gyprock is there waiting to go so it look like that will start to happen next week!

Enjoy your weekends... bring back the sun!

craigandamy · Sep 28, 2009 8:35 am

what a weekend.....

decided last week that we need to work on our stormwater. So we dug about 20meters of trench in heavy wet clay by hand ::wornout::

and got it done.....what a job!!

Next weekend going to get 5 tonne of new soil in to fill the trench and start working on the driveway and front yard....call us stupid ::celeb::

have a good week everyone and hopefully with the weather warming up plenty of work will be done on our houses.

netadelle · Sep 28, 2009 9:40 am

Well done Craig! Good job! I havn't even started thinking about things like that!

So umm what is the stormwater? and why do you have to dig the trench for it? and where do you make it come out?

craigandamy · Sep 28, 2009 7:16 pm

netadelle

Well done Craig! Good job! I havn't even started thinking about things like that!

So umm what is the stormwater? and why do you have to dig the trench for it? and where do you make it come out?

Stormwater is the water that comes from your gutters. you generally dig a trench(s) from the road side gutter (there is an outlet on the gutter)into your property and connected to your downpipes from the house gutters. Or you can run all your downpipes into rainwater tanks. We have only connect 2 downpipes into stormwater and the balance will be plumbed into rainwater tanks.

I hope this makes sense.

sammy_sj · Sep 28, 2009 9:55 pm

Goodwork craigandamy!! We are planning on doing our storm water this weekend. The mud was terrible last weekend. Every step you'd take you would sink about 15cm into the ground.

Well our house came to a standstill last week. Apparently the painter had a funeral to attend in Melbourne so was away for the week. SS said that he was back working on our house today and that he was bringing in an extra guy tomorrow. He said the painters told him they are hoping to be finished by Friday if not will be Monday at the latest. Then shower screens, toilets, panel door and final electrical and we should be done

Inspection is apparently still going to be done by the 12th but I don't think I'll believe that until we're there actually doing the inspection. SS is too vague to believe anything he says.

sammy_sj · Sep 28, 2009 10:01 pm

Oh and I forgot to add we have Flyscreens..... they must of put ours in the same time they did yours craigandamy

netadelle · Sep 29, 2009 12:33 pm

Hey guys,

My neighbour sent me a text message the other day asking when the excess soil was going to be removed from his block. I rang the people doing the footings and he told me he would organise to get someone to take it away today.

Then I asked him about the 'scrape' material, the weeds and dirt that was across the back of the block. He told me that they don't remove that, that the cheap builders don't give them enough money to remove that stuff. He said that they could get rid of our 'clean' fill for free! and that removing the weeds and scrape junk wasn't in there contract and it would cost me a few thousand to have it removed!!

I'm a bit steamed, as Statesman charged us $3000 for soil removal, and this guy is telling me they can get rid of the fill for free but we have to pay to remove the weed pile up the back!!

Have you guys come across this at all? Did they leave the initial scrape 'rubbish' on your block?

craigandamy · Sep 29, 2009 12:47 pm

we left ours on the block but it vanished and we never got charged....

craigandamy · Oct 01, 2009 2:16 pm

well we have received our 4th n 5th bills today...after we pay these we are at 90% draw down on the loan.......thank christ ::hyst::

so we have one left and that is at PCI... ::celeb::