http://www.lenora22.blogspot.com/
I will continue to update and as always ask questions and post comments on the forum, so wish us luck!!
Latest: Slab will be done by end of next week!!

Ruth
Browse Forums Owner Builder Forum 1 Sep 05, 2008 12:19 am Well, I updated the blog at last, here it is
http://www.lenora22.blogspot.com/ I will continue to update and as always ask questions and post comments on the forum, so wish us luck!! Latest: Slab will be done by end of next week!! ![]() Ruth Ruth -Bought house in Melbourne inner burbs, knocked it down & now...we are owner builders! Completed OB project and moved in to our new home with our new baby in May 2009! Re: Our Owner Build adventure! 2Sep 07, 2008 9:44 pm Good luck Ruth ![]() Had a look at your blog, that's a nice new Colorbond fence on your left hand side! Was that already there? Bit of a bonus if it was? How big is your land? Look forward to following your progress. Re: Our Owner Build adventure! 3Sep 08, 2008 8:55 pm Hi Donuts, thanks, yes we were lucky that our lovely neighbours built before us and put up the fence!! We will only have to do a new fence on the other side! We are sharing the cost of the back fence replacement with our neighbours as well, everyone around us is great so far!
Our block is 688.7sqm (16.15m wide x 42.67m long) so we should end up with some nice yard area - our house is set back 6m and is 290sqm inc garage....I just looked at our drawings and our house takes up 42% of our site area, we are pretty happy with that! Slab goes down this week - concreter starts tomorrow!! I feel guilty for saying it, but I am praying there is no rain on Thursday!! ![]() Ruth -Bought house in Melbourne inner burbs, knocked it down & now...we are owner builders! Completed OB project and moved in to our new home with our new baby in May 2009! Re: Our Owner Build adventure! 4Sep 14, 2008 10:31 pm Our slab is due to get poured tomorrow - and the weather forecast is not good.... ![]() More pics and updates to come shortly....thats the thing about being an OB, not a lot of time to spare to put blogs together!!! !! Ruth -Bought house in Melbourne inner burbs, knocked it down & now...we are owner builders! Completed OB project and moved in to our new home with our new baby in May 2009! Re: Our Owner Build adventure! 5Sep 14, 2008 10:43 pm Excellent Ruth, hope you can get some pics of the slab pour ... it's so exciting seeing the concrete trucks line up in the street!
Don't worry too much about the weather. I heard that a bit of rain is good for your slab, it helps it to dry more slowly, which is good apparently! Have fun ![]() Re: Our Owner Build adventure! 7Sep 16, 2008 9:20 am Hi guys, we have had rain delays... ![]() the annoying thing is, it only rains heavily for a short period of time throughout the day and concreter just needs four straight hours without rain to pour! Oh well, I am glad our concreter is doing the right thing by us, he calls or texts us the night before to tell us what he's doing which is helpful. Ruth -Bought house in Melbourne inner burbs, knocked it down & now...we are owner builders! Completed OB project and moved in to our new home with our new baby in May 2009! Re: Our Owner Build adventure! 9Sep 29, 2008 10:41 pm Hi All
Have been terribly unwell the past couple of weeks with a flu virus, its been pretty nasty and hit our whole family hard! We are now recovering and I have updated the blog.....click www below to see pictures of our waffle slab! It has been curing for a couple of weeks now and is looking fab! ![]() The guys from our truss company measured up for the frame (roof and walls) today. We have to wait 2-3 weeks for it to be ready but we wanted to make sure it was a perfect fit so didn't risk ordering it until after the slab was complete.....a bonus to this is that the slab gets to cure for longer which is better for it. ![]() ![]() ![]() Ruth -Bought house in Melbourne inner burbs, knocked it down & now...we are owner builders! Completed OB project and moved in to our new home with our new baby in May 2009! Re: Our Owner Build adventure! 11Oct 03, 2008 10:16 am Good on you Ruth!
Congrats on the slab! I wish my project was as advanced as yours. The way things're going, we'll be lucky to have the slab before Xmas. Chris My father rode a camel, I drive a car, my son flies in a jetliner, his son will ride a camel.Saudi saying Re: Our Owner Build adventure! 13Oct 20, 2008 8:48 pm ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() We have wall frame in place! I will take some photos tomorrow and update the blog!! Coming along at this stage, things looking good so far ![]() Ruth -Bought house in Melbourne inner burbs, knocked it down & now...we are owner builders! Completed OB project and moved in to our new home with our new baby in May 2009! Re: Our Owner Build adventure! 14Oct 20, 2008 11:34 pm hey ruth looks great
cant wait to see the frame photos congrats hun very exciting hey Re: Our Owner Build adventure! 15Dec 10, 2008 9:29 pm Ok, so I've been away from the forum for a while and lots of progress has been made! I have just found it's getting harder to find the time to post and update blogs etc!!
Here is the link to my blog which has pictures of our progress to date. If anyone has specific questions I am more than happy to answer them! http://lenora22.blogspot.com/ Hope everyone's builds are going well - OB and otherwise, I wish I had more time to read through the forum these days ![]() ![]() Oh and in case anyone is wondering - yes we are on budget (slightly under as we continue to get good deals and find good tradies!) However we are not going great with timeframes; was hoping to get to lock up by xmas - but now it wont be until end of Jan - what can you do?! ![]() The thing is, we now have new pressure to get our place finished before May next year - as we will be welcoming a new addition to our family then ! ![]() So time is not on our side, fingers crossed we finish in time!! Ruth -Bought house in Melbourne inner burbs, knocked it down & now...we are owner builders! Completed OB project and moved in to our new home with our new baby in May 2009! Re: Our Owner Build adventure! 16Dec 10, 2008 9:42 pm Congratulations Ruth - on the frame and on the pregnancy ![]() Keep us posted! Re: Our Owner Build adventure! 17Dec 10, 2008 11:16 pm great looking build & good progress Ruth - well done ![]() also note a lot of building companies going bankrupt - another benefit of o/bing!! cheers Tony. Re: Our Owner Build adventure! 18Dec 26, 2008 9:45 pm Hi Everyone, it's great to check up on all your projects! (Tony, well done on posting pictures, they really help put the story together...looks great!)
We have more progress - lots of pictures on the blog. (I would post them on here, but it takes too long and I don't want to double up as I am short of time) http://www.lenora22.blogspot.com I must say it was great to have found tradies that are hard working and don't stop over everyone else's christmas break! We had the brickies on site today!! Yes, working on a public holiday! And our roof plumber (we finally locked one in!) will be finished by the end of next week! Roof to go on straight after (can't get there until mid jan though cause they are so busy) and then we will be at lock up! We finally have the meter box installed and power connected...it was hell dealing with AGL, they were useless and I had to chase them all the time - it took them almost 3 months to connect power! (All their own stuff ups!) Lukcy our neighbours are great and kind enough to let us run a lead from their place! The electrician will do his rough in as soon as the roof is on...he's been great, very patient as I keep putting him off until things are ready for him! We have a plasterer locked in, he's already been to measure up and is ordering materials! There is a lot of plaster for this house and we are having square set (no cornices) so it's got to be perfect!! Re the timber floor, we are waiting on yet another quote and our carpenter (who is also a builder) will install them for us...we saw his house as an example and he does a very good job! We now have to revisit some of the people we spoke to months ago when doing research - for example the kitchen cabinet guy and the ducted vaccuum and heating & cooling people....hope their rates haven't budged too much!! We have also bought a few things along the way which are just being stored in our garage - Bosh dishwasher & bath were the latest items, we are now on the look out for taps! (we already bought the mixers). Overall, things are going rather well - we did have an incident with a water leak (someone staked the main with a steel rod), but our plumber was close by and came and fixed it straight away - cost us a slab of beer!! I am pleased to say we are still on track budget wise (still a bit under) and this is credited to the fact that we did a lot of research to get accurate budget and our tradies to date are fantastic; reliable and honest (not ripping us off) and we look after them as best we can by bringing them drinks and making sure we are around in case they need anything. The other day we had to do a run to bunnings cause the brickie needed some clips for the sisalation and we had them to him within 15 mins! I'd say we visit the block at least daily !! Lucky we live so close! DH is going to do a bit of a clean up tomorrow and when the brickies are completely finished (they only have to do the window rebates) we will get a skip and clean up the broken/damaged bricks. So thats my update for now....hope everyone had a lovely christmas and I wish you all the best for the new year! Exiting times to come in 2009! ! Cheers Ruth Ruth -Bought house in Melbourne inner burbs, knocked it down & now...we are owner builders! Completed OB project and moved in to our new home with our new baby in May 2009! Re: Our Owner Build adventure! 19Jan 30, 2009 10:27 pm We have a roof and are virtually at lock up. No time to post but I have quickly updated the blog with some pic's.
http://lenora22.blogspot.com/ Good night! Ruth -Bought house in Melbourne inner burbs, knocked it down & now...we are owner builders! Completed OB project and moved in to our new home with our new baby in May 2009! Re: Our Owner Build adventure! 20Jan 31, 2009 1:51 am wow ruth talk about progress you guys will be moving in soon lol
its looking great congrats hun 4 10821 2 16953 I second taking your plans elsewhere. They're yours (unless you ended up in one of those cheaper arrangements where you don't own the rights and the build will be tendered… 2 34257 |