Piering Starts

Works seems to be rolling ahead quite quickly which we are very happy about. Got an email from the builder to say that piering was starting today and plumbing would be dug in tomorrow.

We drove past the block this afternoon and sure enough the machines were there digging holes for all the piers. I put a few photos below. The concrete was poured later in the afternoon.

It was also good to see the house slab marked out in white as well so were could see where everything was going to be.

Construction has started

A few days after the construction certificate was issued Fairmont Homes NSW were already on the block. They had machines on site scraping the block and the surveyor has been out to mark the area of our house.

Dan emailed yesterday to let me know that piers are booked in to be poured on Monday. On Tuesday they will be out digging in the plumbing and framing up for the slab after that. They are now working towards a slab pour for next Friday. The frame will be ready the week after.

Things are on track and moving at a great pace - we are so excited that we are not far from seeing a frame going up.

Here are some photos of the site scraped and marked out for the slab.

Council Approval

Well... Its all happening now...

Plans were submitted to i-scope which is Stockland (land developers) control area to make sure that all the houses are designed in a way that compliments the estate and there are suitable colours used on the home. I-Scope approval was issued back to me in 1 day - THANKS STOCKLAND!!!

Development application has been submitted to council and now we have to wait for 6 weeks for an approval so we can start. I am going to make some calls and see if this can be fast tracked somehow and get this going.... I am sure that I can find someone that I know that can get this moving.

Sure enough its not what you know its who you know and my DA was approved in .... 3 weeks instead of 6 weeks... Thanks so much to all concerned.... You know who you are!!

So with the DA approval issued we also were able to get the construction certificate the very next day... Finally things are starting to go our way! So its now off to the builder to get some info on what happens from here.

If your plans are submitted to Penrith Council you can track your plans here www.penrithcity.nsw.gov.au/eplanning

Colour Selections

Well if you were anything like us brick, tile, garage, render colours were just to hard to pick. We just could not decide on what we wanted and were quite frustrated we could not make a decision.

So we went for a drive and decided that the only way we would make a decision was to pick something we could see... so we went out and drove past lots of display homes to see what colours and bricks they have chosen.

We ended up seeing some great colour schemes and just wanted to make sure that were were doing the right thing.

I found some details for an online colour consultant called Michelle from De Novo Concepts. You can find Michelle here http://www.denovoconcepts.com/

Michelle was great. We emailed her the colours that we were looking at and she took the time to go over them to make sure we were doing the right thing. She also arranged for the colours we selected to go onto an image of the front of our house. I just got an image from the builder and Michelle got the colours put onto the photo so we could see what it would look like. Best $70 I have spent in the process - thanks Michelle - and if you are having the same issues then be sure to get in contact with her.

You can also contact http://www.newhomevisuals.com/ directly who do the images such as the one they did for us below.

Builder Change

Well its all happening....

After the house took so long to sell and sold under the price that we were expecting we had no choice but to change builders... We were happy with McDonald Jones Homes and Aaron at the Kellyville office was fantastic. But at the end of the day we had to cut the price back and that meant going with another builder.

We found a company called Fairmont Homes NSW who have a display home at Gregory Hills. We walked in and loved it straight away.

There were some changes that we wanted to make and this was no problem at all. In fact I have never experienced the service that I have had from this company they are great. The people that own and run this business are family and they are all excellent to deal with.

After meeting the builder and going over a tender (which took 1 day to get) we wanted to make some plan changes to better suit what we wanted and to suit the block. This was done within 1 day and emailed back. We then had a final meeting with the builder to extend the bedrooms down the side of the house and to locate a skylight into an area of the house we though might not have much light.

After all the changes were made the building contract was prepared and we signed it a few days later.... Fairmont Homes NSW are very organised and they make things happen fast.

I have attached some images of the house sitting on the block, the house plan and a couple of photos of the inside of the display home.

Land Photos - Land registration

Here are some photos of the land. Registration has finally happened and we are the proud owners of  7 Gallinulla Place Glenmore Park!!!

Here are some pictures of the block. We are in a cul-de-sac and don't have any houses across the road which is a little different. We went over there on Saturday and they had taken some of the fences down on the blocks that had already registered.

We noticed that there is a small green power box on the left hand side - but it looks like its on next doors block and not ours. You can see that our peg is just on the inside.

 Lot 1007 Gallinulla Place

 Electrical Box

 Our Block From the Front

 Gallinulla Place - Looking down the cul-de-sac

Gallinulla Place - Looking up the cul-de-sac

View From Google Maps

We Have Sold Our House!!!

Well after weekend after weekend of open homes and keeping our house 'respectable' we have accepted an offer this weekend and we are both happy and nervous at the same time.

We are happy because now we can move forward and seeing our colour selection appointment is on Monday it couldn't have happened at a better time. We are also nervous because now we have to find a place to rent, move out from our home and things are now becoming more real - we can see some light at the end of the tunnel.

We just need to wait now to see that everything goes well with the purchaser arranging finance etc and in 2 weeks we will know if it is 100%. Fingers crossed that things go well in the next 2 weeks.....