Hope Jen is ok, I know she is up in the port Stephens area.
Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4061Oct 19, 2013 8:54 am B and K I hope everyone is ok and staying safe with all these fires around. Hope Jen is ok, I know she is up in the port Stephens area. Built the Seaview 36 with Rawson Homes - Read about it on my blog http://lamaisondemorgan.blogspot.com.au/ Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4062Oct 19, 2013 4:50 pm We had our colour selections today, quick and painless. Was very surprised at the quality and choice of range in the included items, our upgrades didn;t even reach $1000. Very happy, thought I would come away with the wallet much lighter. Now tile appointment, that might be a different story.... Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4063Oct 19, 2013 8:49 pm We had our selections today to roadrunner!! Wish I could say we only spent $1000... Going to take a week or so until we get our variations back but I think I'll need a drink in my hand when I open the email. Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4064Oct 20, 2013 7:45 am pinny We had our selections today to roadrunner!! Wish I could say we only spent $1000... Going to take a week or so until we get our variations back but I think I'll need a drink in my hand when I open the email. Great news pinny, one step closer to a start - hopefully the process speeds up a little from this point. Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4065Oct 20, 2013 6:03 pm Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4066Oct 21, 2013 5:56 am Need you to check in Jen. Have seen some nasty fire photos around your area & hoping they weren't too close to you? Building Stroud 30 in Lake Macquarie Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4067Oct 21, 2013 7:28 am Good morning everyone. We are alive and well. A little bit scary there for awhile. DH works in Tomago and the RFS had been dropping water on the bush behind his work all last week as there were fires. On Thursday at lunch he had a text message to evacuate from work. His work was closed and they left and then the road was shut off, only opening yesterday morning. We didnt think much would happen as we had had the Salt Ash fires a few days before and even though they were about 7km from our house, we were in not much danger. Thursday we went about our business after DH came home from work, the smoke started to become visible from our house http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/paris-stella/4CAA27C5-BE27-414C-AE81-18B37D1C516B-317-00000060968B0240_zpsa3181531.jpg My mother in law came back from work on Thursday afternoon and this was the view from around Grahamstown Dam http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/paris-stella/31270B34-C128-431B-9CB9-EDDF21D40C45-317-000000604E9EE39F_zps6f11abe6.jpg We read on facebook that it had jumped Richardson Road -and it was coming our way. A little bit of concern as it got darker and the wind picked up. We then received a text message from the RFS to seek shelter as the fire arrives. We went outside the front of the house and this is what we saw You could actually see the flames from our house and that scared the pants off me. So we decided that we would get ready to evacuate. Not easy when you have 2 kids, 4 dogs and 10 chickens. We hooked the van up and packed some things. My kids suitcases that they packed for them selves were so cute - thankfully we didnt need to evacuate or my son would be a little bit lost with only a dinosaur and a pair of 0-3 months shorts (he is 3 years old) and a toy car. We wait as the wind got worse and it got very smokey. Most of the roads were blocked, even as close as the roundabout at the bottom of our hill. Finally at 10pm still on tenderhooks and with the kids awake and scared we went for a drive and spoke to a policeman that was blocking off one of the roads. We were told that they thought they had contained the fire near to us and we should be OK and there was no need to evacuate at this stage. So we went home, and had a few hours broken sleep interupted as the need to keep checking out the windows to see if it was getting closer. Thank goodness it didnt. Fires have been put out near us and the roads have been re-opened. http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/paris-stella/D66D527F-E92C-4D1F-A1C7-F22589D994E6-317-000000605F75A425_zpse2a6dd09.jpg Funnily enough, not long after we purchased our block, there was an advertised subdivision that was advertised for sale. It was 18 months to 2 years away and the blocks were 2.5 - 5 acres. I want bigger land than what we have and so it has always been a possibility while we were building as the blocks still have not been released yet. The above photo is next door to those blocks. There is also 5 acres of vacant land up for sale which we toyed with about buying - it was also partially burnt as well. I think those blocks will be laid to rest now. http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s112/paris-stella/C669CAAD-5D26-40B2-8683-432A9F54A2F3-317-000000606BB5B6FE_zpsfc09e261.jpg So we are OK - everything has gone back to normal. We spent the weekend turfing - we did another 100m2 over the weekend which brings our tally to 550m2 and working on the garden I also started my maintenance list as well. I have done inside, but still need to do everything outside and so far we are up to 3.5 A4 pages Modified Fernside 38 Rawson Homes Blog: http://www.thehousethatmatandjenbuilt.blogspot.com Build Thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=60501 Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4068Oct 21, 2013 7:31 am I am thinking Jen1977 may not have internet access at the moment. It doesn't take much out this way to lose phones and internet. I have sent her a personal email and she hasn't responded so we can only hope that everything is ok. It is pretty terrible up here, but atleast no lives were lost - though I could think of a few that would be deserving to lose theirs... whilst this massive fire was raging, some little beepers went and lit another one over near shoal bay!!! Them and the other beepers that went and robbed the ones that had had to evacuate their homes!!! and as I typed this... there's the message from Jen1977!!! so glad to hear from you!!! Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4069Oct 21, 2013 7:36 am Glad to know you are okay.. Jen.. Stay safe everyone Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4070Oct 21, 2013 7:37 am JTM - I didnt get an email from you. We lost power on Thursday for a few hours, but have had internet the whole time - thank goodness. Modified Fernside 38 Rawson Homes Blog: http://www.thehousethatmatandjenbuilt.blogspot.com Build Thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=60501 Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4071Oct 21, 2013 7:56 am hmm that's strange Jen. It's definitely in my sent items from Thursday.. Oh well. Just glad to hear you are safe!!! Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4072Oct 24, 2013 9:27 am Pretty quite at our house this week. Hoping the site gets cleaned and the fence comes down before Saturday. We can always live in hope right? How's everyone else going? Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4073Oct 24, 2013 9:37 am Roof is finished, bricks re-scheduled to be delivered either tomorrow or monday. Brickies booked for next week. that will be 2-3 weeks of laying.. so lets say 4 for the sake of it. Then we have walk-thru to check electrical and such before the internal walls start. Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4074Oct 24, 2013 11:43 am we are finally in council, but am now in the process of trying to get rawson the re-assess our bushfire rating, as they have just gone off the estate report completed 2 yrs ago, instead of completing a new one. Hoping to get reduced from bal 29 12.5 like all our surrounding neighbours. May need to pay for an independant report - but will do so if it means we can save $8-$9k. Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4076Oct 26, 2013 1:11 pm B and K We finally have a date for our walk through with our SS- next Wednesday yay! For those of you already moved in- how long did it take after the walk through till handover? Shouldn;t be long now B and K, getting so close for you. Finished last of our selections today (tiles). Should be just about ready to come out of council in the next week or two. Not looking like we will get a slab down before xmas break unfortunately Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4077Oct 26, 2013 4:13 pm B and K We finally have a date for our walk through with our SS- next Wednesday yay! For those of you already moved in- how long did it take after the walk through till handover? B and K When i asked to my supervisor, he told its usually 2 weeks after PCI. You should be able to get a clearer picture from the guys who have already moved in. Not long to go B and K... RoadRunner, I think the process is quite fast once its back from Council. There is a possibility that you can have your slab down before christmas. An update on ours, Kitchen is getting installed today. Dramas with tiles, i have lot of work to do for Monday! The powder room tiles have the wrong floor tiles and the niche feature tiles is also different. Looks like the the tile guys misses few stuffs. I hope it all gets sorted out. All the other wet areas looks good to me, I also paid attention to steel trim around niche. I remember some guys had issue with it being poorly cut.. Happy with our choices. I think the finishes are also good. I will be meeting SS on site on Monday to take a closer look at everything. Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4078Oct 28, 2013 7:18 am pinny - go and check your tender and see if you were charged for a bushfire report. We were not charged for one as we provided our own. If you have been charged for one, make sure that Rawson get an independent one. If they have not charged you one, I would get one yourself. We are BAL 12.5 and we automatically thought our MIL (who is also building) would be 12.5 as she is a couple of streets away. She had an independent one and has no bushfire at all, which has saved her about $6K Modified Fernside 38 Rawson Homes Blog: http://www.thehousethatmatandjenbuilt.blogspot.com Build Thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=60501 Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4079Oct 28, 2013 8:09 am Jen1977 pinny - go and check your tender and see if you were charged for a bushfire report. We were not charged for one as we provided our own. If you have been charged for one, make sure that Rawson get an independent one. If they have not charged you one, I would get one yourself. We are BAL 12.5 and we automatically thought our MIL (who is also building) would be 12.5 as she is a couple of streets away. She had an independent one and has no bushfire at all, which has saved her about $6K Yeah jen we were put down for a report as they said all along it needed to be re-assessed, after a lot of emails, and going over peoples heads, sourcing a bushfire consultant that supported us being bal 12.5 - rawson finally came to the party on friday and said that we could go ahead and pay for the report, and they then sent us through a variation with a credit for the report amount. It definately pays to be on top of thing and look at everything, not just take the builders word for it. Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4080Oct 28, 2013 8:28 am Hi Everyone, We have finally made the leap and decided to go with Rawson. We paid our tender request fee on Saturday and were told it would take about 3.5 weeks for Rawson to prepare the tender. So hit me with your advice and words of wisdom. I'm feeling particularly nervous about the selection appointments. Thanks! Any advice on how to ensure the kit home granny flat that im thinking of buying will get council approval. The kit home companys wont release plans without a deposit and… 0 7274 of course there are legal avenues. You've already mentioned it. Sue them. I find it odd that lawyers wouldnt be willing to take on the case, given CCT evidence and… 1 23884 "Losers" "humanity" "off time" "your" "top notch" "love symbol" Sounds like ponzo is done using other people's toilets 36 23993 |