Reo, Slab, Plumbers and a huge pile of gold... ( I mean dirt!)
Hi everyone,
Sorry for the delay in keeping this blog updated!
A few different things have happen since then.
1. The plumbers put in our plumbing drain/ hole things in all the wet areas. After that the reinforcement and waffle pods were laid. To quote Tom ' what the hell are waffle pods?’ Well waffle pods are big foam box looking things they put down before they lay the concrete. This is a cheaper option as they don't need to use as much concrete. Apparently you need to be careful if you jack your car up in the garage as the concrete might crack! Oh well! We didn't have an option waffle pods are standard these days and I guess they have been working for many others!
2. After they laid the reinforcement and waffle pods they then poured the slab. Hooray for a slab, it now looks more like a house then a patch of dirt! :) It's a nice looking slab! (Ok slightly bias!)
3. Yesterday the plumbers came and did something! They laid pipes around the outside of the house. I guess they are storm water pipes?? I don't know! All I know is that it is part of the process and that it is a step ticked off!
4. Our pile of gold! ( I mean dirt) ….. Most of the last week has been us ( mostly Tom as he does all the organising! - Yep crap wife) stressing. We received a phone call last week saying that we needed to pay to move the pile of dirt from our neighbours block. Fair enough they want to start on their block (same builder). I understand that would be frustrating for them. We however were naive and unaware that we had to pay for this to occur, as we thought it would be part of the $20000 we paid in site costs!! Apparently not!! We thought perhaps they have dug down further than they needed to as our block is flat and it is a huge pile of dirt! The building contract says we are responsible for paying for excess dirt. We were not sure what exactly sure what ‘excess’ meant. Anyway we think the contract is water tight and we probably don't have a leg to stand on. Next step is to cop it on the chin and work out how much it would cost to move 200 tonne of dirt! (Yes a lot!!) Allworth usually charge 20% on top of whatever it costs them however the guy Tom was dealing with was nice and was trying to make it as cheap as possible for us. :) He came back saying $6500!! OMG, we couldn't believe it would cost that much to move dirt!! GRR Imagine if they then added 20% to that! We had the option of getting someone else to move it or moving it ourselves. (Dirt moving party anyone? :P ) After many discussions, Tom spoke to his uncles brother who was trying to find some friends to help move it a bit cheaper. While waiting to hear back from him Tom rang some rubbish removal guy who said he would do it for $2500. A bit of a difference from $6500! Waiting to hear back from the uncle’s brother, hopefully we can start Thursday. Still not overly impressed that we didn't know we would be up for this cost but don't think we have a leg to stand on. We will pay the money and try and warn others not to fall into this trap!
That has been our week! Full of highs and lows, but as everyone has told us building isn't meant to be easy! :)
Below are a few photos I have taken over the past week and a bit.
Cheers Mel xo
Sorry for the delay in keeping this blog updated!
A few different things have happen since then.
1. The plumbers put in our plumbing drain/ hole things in all the wet areas. After that the reinforcement and waffle pods were laid. To quote Tom ' what the hell are waffle pods?’ Well waffle pods are big foam box looking things they put down before they lay the concrete. This is a cheaper option as they don't need to use as much concrete. Apparently you need to be careful if you jack your car up in the garage as the concrete might crack! Oh well! We didn't have an option waffle pods are standard these days and I guess they have been working for many others!
2. After they laid the reinforcement and waffle pods they then poured the slab. Hooray for a slab, it now looks more like a house then a patch of dirt! :) It's a nice looking slab! (Ok slightly bias!)
3. Yesterday the plumbers came and did something! They laid pipes around the outside of the house. I guess they are storm water pipes?? I don't know! All I know is that it is part of the process and that it is a step ticked off!
4. Our pile of gold! ( I mean dirt) ….. Most of the last week has been us ( mostly Tom as he does all the organising! - Yep crap wife) stressing. We received a phone call last week saying that we needed to pay to move the pile of dirt from our neighbours block. Fair enough they want to start on their block (same builder). I understand that would be frustrating for them. We however were naive and unaware that we had to pay for this to occur, as we thought it would be part of the $20000 we paid in site costs!! Apparently not!! We thought perhaps they have dug down further than they needed to as our block is flat and it is a huge pile of dirt! The building contract says we are responsible for paying for excess dirt. We were not sure what exactly sure what ‘excess’ meant. Anyway we think the contract is water tight and we probably don't have a leg to stand on. Next step is to cop it on the chin and work out how much it would cost to move 200 tonne of dirt! (Yes a lot!!) Allworth usually charge 20% on top of whatever it costs them however the guy Tom was dealing with was nice and was trying to make it as cheap as possible for us. :) He came back saying $6500!! OMG, we couldn't believe it would cost that much to move dirt!! GRR Imagine if they then added 20% to that! We had the option of getting someone else to move it or moving it ourselves. (Dirt moving party anyone? :P ) After many discussions, Tom spoke to his uncles brother who was trying to find some friends to help move it a bit cheaper. While waiting to hear back from him Tom rang some rubbish removal guy who said he would do it for $2500. A bit of a difference from $6500! Waiting to hear back from the uncle’s brother, hopefully we can start Thursday. Still not overly impressed that we didn't know we would be up for this cost but don't think we have a leg to stand on. We will pay the money and try and warn others not to fall into this trap!
That has been our week! Full of highs and lows, but as everyone has told us building isn't meant to be easy! :)
Below are a few photos I have taken over the past week and a bit.
Cheers Mel xo
Hey, I just saw this morning there is a sign on a fence on Fyfe Rd. It says Clean Fill wanted and a phone number. Might be worthwhile to call them. The fence is a site fence down opposite the temp community centre. If you drive towards Stanhope Pkway its on the left. The sign is right on the corner of the site fence. Sorry i didnt get the phone number.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations!
ReplyDeleteGreat to say some work happenng on site for you :)
I can actually see our build from one of your photos!! You must be only 200m from us!
Will say hi if I see you there on the weekends :)
April
Thanks Andy_Min! We have just got someone to start to take it away but it will take him a few days as he is doing it by himself. I will go for a drive down Fyfe Rd tomorrow and call that person even if we get rid of some to them and our rubbish guy dumps the rest at least we won't have to pay as much to dump. Thank you so much for thinking of us and posting the info here. Very much appreicated. :) You will make a lovely neighbour. :) The guy that you commented about in your street that is about to buy another block in the Ponds works with my husband. I went for a drive by your street the other day to check out his build and yours. Wow your street has houses going up everywhere! Crazy! All the best for your build, hope the slab is laid when expected ( next wed?). Cheers Mel
ReplyDeleteHi April
Thanks for the comment, I posted on your blog. :) Pretty funny that we can see each others builds from photos, perhaps we won't need to venture there that often, just check out each others photos! :)
All the best for your build.
Cheers Mel
Hi Mel
ReplyDeleteI think you are getting frames today! Allan was just out at our block & said he can see frames going up behind us on what he thinks is your slab :)
P.S. love the new background on the blog
April