Left of Square:CMET’s Journey, with EBH! Landscaping 16/05

Hi All,

After being on the sidelines for some time and watching all that was going on and getting a lot of useful information, I thought it was about time to start an official thread for our build.

With what has seemed like a very long journey of preparation, we are about to dive headfirst into the roller coaster ride that is building our new home!

All of our approvals and documentation where ready to go at the start of this month, which meant that we would see some action on site by the end of this month.

After being allocated a SS and speaking with them yesterday, they advised that we should have some action on site today, so it was great to visit this afternoon and see that our site had been scraped ready for slab preparation to start next week.

We will visit on the weekend and take some pictures to upload, as well as resurrecting our blog to keep everyone up to date.

It will be interesting to see how we progress, as our neighbour is also building and we have both kicked off at about the same time.

I hope you enjoy following us for the “exciting” roller coaster ride!

Cheers,

CMET

Great that you're starting your own thread, CMET!!! Looking forward to lots of pics, naturally . Just keep 'em comin', no matter how boring you think they might be - we love them all !!

Thanks Southies,

Will get some pictures up of the progress shortly.

It is like we are at opposite ends of the spectrum, but it is great to finally seeing something get done.

Cheers,

CMET

As promised, here are some pictures of what has been going on so far.

Here is a picture of our land after just clearing most of the long grass. As you can see, it was pegged out at this time.



During the week, the connected us to the water mains, so have water to the site.



These are some pictures taken yesterday when the concrete piering preparation for the slab was started.





They completed the piering yesterday afternoon and here are some of the finished pictures.



With a bit of luck, we might have a slab by the end of the week!

I seem to be having a few problems embedding the images in this post. There are a few more images on the blog if you would like to see them.

Cheers,

CMET

The concreters started the formwork for our slab today. The timber went up, the pipes where installed and the steelwork was delivered.







This should be completed tomorrow, and with a bit of luck we will still be on track to having a slab before the end of the week.

Cheers,

CMET

CMET, I can't see your pics from those links. I end up on a sign in page for Windows Live. You really need to use imageshack or photobucket. It makes it much easier for the rest of us.

The formwork has been completed, as you can see from the pictures below.





The issue is that when we where looking at the footprint of the house, something looked wrong with the alfresco area. We had increased ours by 1m, and the formwork did not reflect this as per the image below.



A quick call to our SS showed that there was discrepancy between the ground floor plan and the slab floor plan by the 1m in question. The concreters will fix it up tomorrow.

Bring on our slab!!

Cheers,

CMET

Much to our surprise when passing by this afternoon, we discovered that we have a slab! In speaking with our SS yesterday evening, he said that it would probably be Monday before our site was poured. Here are some pictures:





Here is where our garage is located:



And finally, here is a picture of our correctly sized alfresco area. I am glad that they where not able to pour any earlier than today, otherwise they would not have been able to correct it.



Bring on the slab party!

Cheers,

CMET

What a terrific surprise!!! Let's hope EB keep it up

Hi All,

Not a huge amount to report for this week after all of last weeks action, but they have completed the following:

External drainage has been completed
Underground cabling has been done
Site fence has been installed

Here are a few pictures:







Items on the agenda for next week are as follows:

Underground rainwater tank to be installed
Frames and trusses to be delivered and installed

Here's hoping that the rain that is forecast for early in the week does not impact too heavily on the people building in Sydney!

Cheers,

CMET

Hi Guys,

As posted last week, our underground rain water tank has been installed! After Monday night's storm, that tank was still installed on Tuesday.



The plumber called before starting work to ensure that the tank was in the right location and that the riser was the right height for the landscaping that we have planned for that area.



Then our frame was delivered on Wednesday. They will need to do it in two lots, due to the limited space for site access. Our ground floor frame started today, and here are the pictures:









Our windows where also delivered today, so they should be going in soon.

Here's hoping the good weather continues, as does the building progress with EB.

Cheers,

CMET

Lots of progress over the past week with the following that has been completed:

Frame has been completed
Windows have been installed
Plumbing rough in has been completed
Balcony frame has been installed

Here are some pictures of the completed frame:







And here are some internal frame pictures:







The only issue that we have found is that two of the three bedrooms have been installed with obscure glass, but this was not specified in any of our plans. I have spoken to our SS and he is working on the issue with our window supplier.

Our bricks should be delivered anytime now, and the brickies begin on Monday.

I will post some more pics of the progress as soon as the brick work has begun.

Have a great weekend!

Cheers,

CMET

Great to see that progress is happening CMET!! Brickwork on Monday ? Now that's a surprise . Usually EB stall a little at this point but great to hear that's not the case here

We where also quite surprised, but our SS says that they have somebody lined up to start on Monday. I think it also helps that they have quite a few jobs going on in the area at the moment which are at similar stages, so tradies can tend to be moved around quite easily.

How is your hunt for souvenirs going?

Have a great weekend.

Cheers,

CMET

Good to hear about the tradies. I guess that's 1 advantage to building in a new development. Hope they keep it up

Doing the souvenir thing tomorrow morning in the city. What a pain buying things for people you've never met . Oh well, since they're providing accommodation & a guide, it's the least we can do

Our Brickwork started today!

The first delivery of bricks arrived yesterday and we had a full crew start the bricking today. I can’t believe how much they got done in a day!

And here are the brick pics:







I am sure that it will be very soggy after tonight’s rain. Hopefully the winds that they are forecasting for tomorrow does not slow them down too much and give the timber a chance to dry out.

Cheers,

CMET

WOW! The progress is just great CMET. Just check that the brickwork is even. Different brickies have different 'hands' ie some use more mortar than another brickie, some brickies are more particular about bricks lining up on different courses.

Congrats on the speed!!

Thanks Southies,

We will definitely be keeping an eye on them to make sure that everything lines up.

We where amazed at how much they got done in a day; half of one side is done on the ground level, but it is also the same side as our neighbours are building, so they probably need to get that done first.

Cheers,

CMET

The Brickies are continuing to make good progress (even after last night and today’s weather)!

They have completed all of the ground floor, except for the garage, and they have started on the top floor on the other side.

Here are some pics of what was done today:







With the way they are going, they might even be finished within a couple of weeks!

Cheers,

CMET

The Brickwork is going great at the moment!

The ground floor has been completed, as well as both of the sides of the house.

Here are some of the completed pics:









We are really happy with the colour that we have chosen for our bricks, as it is always difficult to know what the house is going to look like just from a few sample bricks. We can’t wait to see them do more of the feature brick to the front balcony, which we also intend to use for our landscaping.

This week, they should finish bricking the front of the 1st story and the balcony.

Cheers,

CMET