G.J Gardner build - Week 20 - Fitoff

Not sure - both maybe? She could only tell me that they haven't received anything for the house as yet.

As is the case in many local government areas in QLD, building approvals are handled by private certifiers rather than MBRC (https://www.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/gener ... ?id=109861).

That's not to say that Council won't receive a copy of the approval and any associated conditions, but it may be the same time/later than the certifier notifies your builder.

Yes you are correct iTool. GJG pass the job to a third party who does the work then notifies the council. Too bad I can't follow up on the third party re approval. Things are moving forward which is great, It's given us time to gather our thoughts a little and focus on "us" for a bit.

It seemed the only thing we chatted about was the house and weren't really just hanging out together and having fun.

We decided to take the pedal off the house and just let things be until the build starts. There's not much we can do now but wait,

So no more window shopping for couches, blinds etc... for at least 2 months.

Great idea, after my tile debacle is sorted I think I might try and do the same. I don’t even know what I would talk about anymore if not for the house lol.

UPDATE - Going through the certification process for council seems to be a bit of a hurdle. The person who subdivided the land then sold it off did so without any form of plot identification survey's or pipe location works. So right now we are going through the cost of getting works done to locate where the pipes run through the block and how deep they are. Also - getting quotes for Identification.

It seems we can tap into the neighbouring sewer system - so hoping not to have to install an entire sewer system onto our block... But the trades that need to do it charge for 4 hours min @ $155ph.... plus a second trade to do a different thing may be required at pretty much the same price.

$1800 for identification though...

So more delays.....

Haven't even started the build and I'm so over it.

oh crap

Sorry to hear that, so frustrating and disappointing for you, hang in there 😟

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Cheers - It's not all doom and gloom. GJG have been mazing with communication and allowing us to deal directly with the trades to minimise any builders mark-up costs. I can't fault GJG at all when it comes to keeping us in the loop with things.

I went to the block yesterday and checked out the build next door - things have slowed down quite a lot with theirs.

Is it kinda bad that I'm happy about that??? LOL

Lets get this sewer and pipe thing sorted and move forward!

Another little revelation We got the drawings back for our cabinets - Kitchen, ensuite etc.. More on that to come.

Now, in the colour selections we went through our choices for kitchen taps and twhat not. I was dissapointed that the standard mixers were the only option for us unless we upgraded..The sales lady said "wait here a second - I'm pretty sure the upgraded goose neck ones have just been added to the standard range". She went off to confirm. Came back and announced "Yes! You can have those nice goose neck mixers!". I was SOOOO happy as they look a MILLION BUCKS! compared to the standard mixers.

Fast forward to today and low and behold - drawings come back with standard mixers... I email and ask - "Thought we were getting the goose neck mixers??" Response - "Unfortunately... blah blah blah - the sales lady gave you incorrect information"....

Well we can still pay for the upgrade.... NICE - We get to pay for something that was included in the standard range!! Oh- and they were nice enough to waive the $1,100 variation fee if we upgrade.

I expressed how average they have been and that I am disappointed by that.

This is how I do my star rating - Everyone get 5 stars straight up! It's up to them to keep it. So far, they have lost 2 stars - 1 for the sheer amount of delays in admin time - waiting on drawings and changes - 2 this now with the taps. If I didn't check, we would have gone right through building thinking that we were getting goose neck mixer taps.

I'll post pics of the cabinets soon.
Cheers
B&A

Every upgrade is costly, plus additional fees grrrr

Quite frustrating.. I found out today after of a month of weekly emails asking how my drawings are coming along (it was promised a month ago). They told me today that my drawings can not be finalised til I sign off the last of my variations which I was waiting on them to provide me in the 1st place.. can't f##king win!!

Lol - it’s a joke hey.
OK - you have to give them a bit of slack I guess, when they are dealing with so many clients.

Is the gooseneck written on your paperwork? They should really honour what’s on their.

Yes they are there... I questioned it, but because she sales lady gave us incorrect information - we have to pay the $94 for the upgrade.

UPDATE - Still sorting out a bunch of things to get this house approved.

Identity survey - 1 week wait and $1800
- Turns out the pegs in the land are just to separate the lots, we need to get a identity survey to place the house on the land.

The sewer connection - $180ph min 4 hours plus removal of soil they dig out.
- Had to get a pipe locator done for the sewer connection. Special trade with a water blasting gun that turns the dirt to mud and they suck it away. Funny thing is - they didn't find anything new to what to council drawing was telling them in the first place.

Redrafting - Delay... who knows. $250
- Because the sewer is a fraction too close to the slab, they need us to modify the drawings to allow the minimum distance from the connection.
So a change to the WIR to bed1 and move the whole back end of the house over 300mm. This leave the entrance to bed 1 leading directly out into the lounge TV cabinet as they have suggested a 90deg change to the door opening.

As our bedroom is 3.68m long, I have suggested just to shorten it by the 300mm... Leaving bed 1 3.38m in length. Still big enough
It won't make sense unless you look at the drawings, but trust me - its no good.... I'm hoping it works out ok in the end.
Ive come up with a design that will work...

I'm to a point where i'm not stressing about it anymore - its laughable now. I just wait each week to see what else they are going to throw at me to deal with.

That’s a great attitude to have Hopefully they rest will be a breeze though. 🤞🏻

Just a bit of junk coz I'm bored..

We went to see the new Avengers movie - How awesome!

While there, popped into K-Mart and found that vacuum people were going crazy for a few months back - if your not familiar.. http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/home/i ... 30bb092120

Now, for $89... what an awesome machine this thing is. I did a test, we have a dyson, so I vacuumed a small patch with it. Sucked up a little, so yeah, its clean...

ran over it again with the K-Mart vacuum.. holy s*&t..... it picked up so much dust and dirt from what I thought was a clean carpet!

IT's loud - I hate the noise, so I wear earmuffs, I have sensitive ears anyway. I wear protection even when using an electric lawnmower!

No real news on the home front - another week goes by, se la ve....

I really need to stop reading everyone threads! Some are going smooth, some are stalling which gets me so mad for them like its my own build! Some are showing sloppy builders which makes my blood boil.... and its not even my build!

I'm getting so anxious for my build, worrying about what can go wrong and the fights I am yet to have with the builder - I can't help it.

Serenity now!

So now we get hit with ANOTHER bill... this time for $110 for slab redesign because of that blood sewer connection.

All because they need to cut out a 1m sq section from the back...

All these little things keep adding up, hopefully its all sorted soon and you get to start. So much crap that seems to hold things up..

Agree - I guess all good things......

I understand they just need to do everything by the book and not take shortcuts which in the end is the best for everyone.

Thanks for the pep talk!