They cleared the roof, all the tiles & woods are pretty much gone.
View from living room looking up, no more ceiling & roof.
Living Room's floor, all floorboards are gone
Hallway
Monday, May 31, 2010
More Salvage Work
The Demolition people went to work again today.
They cleared the roof, all the tiles & woods are pretty much gone.
View from living room looking up, no more ceiling & roof.
Living Room's floor, all floorboards are gone
Hallway
They cleared the roof, all the tiles & woods are pretty much gone.
View from living room looking up, no more ceiling & roof.
Living Room's floor, all floorboards are gone
Hallway
Friday, May 28, 2010
Roof Tiles and Floor Board Removed
The Demolition people been working hard today, most of the roof tiles & floor board been removed.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Salvage Work started
Went to the house after work this afternoon. They have started the salvage work. Carpet has all been pulled out, leaving the floor board exposed, guess next they'll take the floor board.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Asbestos Clearance Certificate Received
Received Asbestos Clearance Certificate. They removed non-friable asbestos from the house eaves, front entry, meter box and bathroom splashback.
Online Demolition Pty Ltd informed us they'll start salvaging the property on monday for the next 2 weeks then will demolish the house & clear the site by Wed, 9 June 2010.
Online Demolition Pty Ltd informed us they'll start salvaging the property on monday for the next 2 weeks then will demolish the house & clear the site by Wed, 9 June 2010.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Temporary Fence is up, ready for Demolition
Very efficient service, called me at 7 this morning to tell me he's on site & ready to do the job.
Called me again at 7.40am to let me know everything was done.
Called me again at 7.40am to let me know everything was done.
Floor Plan
Our Floor Plan. We like it straight away when we saw the display home & we like the idea of getting a lot of sunlight in the living area.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Loan is Approved & Asbestos Removal Commences
Finally we've got loan approval. Thanks to our Finance Broker, she's been working really hard to push this through & can't thank her enough for all her effort including all her daily phone calls to the bank.
Asbestos removal is to start this morning. My better said that there was a truck outside our house this morning when she was sending the kids to child care/school. Will visit the house on my way home tonight to check out what they've done.
We forgot about temporary fencing. Emailed the demolition people & they said we have to organise that ourselves. They recommended a Fencing people, got a quoatation for $300 & they'll put up the fence tomorrow, just in time for demolition :)
Batroom tiles were pulled out & holes made on the wall to check for asbestos
Hole on kitchen wall
Ceiling Plasters were pulled out
Don't think they find any asbestos. Hopefully Asbestos clearance certificate is going to be issued soon & demolition can begin.
Asbestos removal is to start this morning. My better said that there was a truck outside our house this morning when she was sending the kids to child care/school. Will visit the house on my way home tonight to check out what they've done.
We forgot about temporary fencing. Emailed the demolition people & they said we have to organise that ourselves. They recommended a Fencing people, got a quoatation for $300 & they'll put up the fence tomorrow, just in time for demolition :)
Batroom tiles were pulled out & holes made on the wall to check for asbestos
Hole on kitchen wall
Ceiling Plasters were pulled out
Don't think they find any asbestos. Hopefully Asbestos clearance certificate is going to be issued soon & demolition can begin.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Loan is Conditionally Approved (again)
Got a letter from AMP Bank saying that our loan has been approved conditionally. They want us to provide them with Council Approved Plans (which PD doesn't do until just before they are starting construction) and they'll do another valuation just before the commencement of the construction & after they've received the Council Approved Plans.
Emailed my CSC about the CAPs & hopefully it will be done soon.
Got an email back from the CSC saying that they are only going to get the CAPs right before the site start date. Which means I will not be able to get the finance approved before they start building because they have to do revaluation again and have top process paperworks. Should I just change bank???
Emailed my CSC about the CAPs & hopefully it will be done soon.
Got an email back from the CSC saying that they are only going to get the CAPs right before the site start date. Which means I will not be able to get the finance approved before they start building because they have to do revaluation again and have top process paperworks. Should I just change bank???
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Location of Underground Pit is Marked
Haven't heard anything from United Energy & haven't got any bill from them as well, but there's a mark for the location of underground pit.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Construction Loan
How hard is it to process a construction loan? Apparently it's too hard, signed our contract on 26 Feb 2010 & forwarded the contract to the bank shortly after that & 2 1/2 months later, we still haven't got the loan approved.
Firstly they asked for Council Approved Plans, which PD won't provide because it's not their policy to apply for Council approval more than few weeks before they are going to start building. Finally managed to get the bank base the loan not on the council approved plans. Valuation was done & the figure was conservative but more than enough for us to get our loan.
Then in mid April they asked for the last 2 payslips because those we provided in Feb were deemed to be obsolete.... if only they process the loan faster, then it wouldn't be obsolete.
Then they asked us to give them written quotation for driveway, fencing & landscaping. The only problem is the house is not there yet, how do you expect us to get quotation for something that is not there. We do have side & back fences & there's no council requirement that we have to put up a front fence. I finally managed to get a quote for the driveway from one of my clients.
On 4 May 2010, we finally got a conditional approval. The condition is that I need to provide last 3 months confirming salary credits for myself. The thing is, my weekly salary has always been directly credited into my account with the same bank. They can see there's weekly salary that going into the account, yet they still asked me to prove salary credits? Are they dumb or what, it's into your bank!!! Yet they are still not satisfied with that, I've given them my payslips, my group certificate, my superannuation record and a pre filling report from the Tax Office. Just don't understand what else they want from me :(
6 May 2010 the bank said that we've got the loan.... Finally, only took them more than 2 months to process. They said they are going to send out a confirmation letter in the next day or 2.
11 May 2010 the bank said the amount of loan is too much for us.... I'm so ready to switch bank now. Of course the loan amount they have in their file is too much, because that's not the amount we are asking for, we are applying for lower loan than that. They are back to drawing board now, fixing the figures. Hope to hear from them very soon.
If you are wondering which bank it is, it's AMP Bank. The reason we are staying with them is that our current loan is with them & been with them for the last 3 years. They charge us no fees & charges at all plus discounted rates for variable & fixed loans... yes, all without any fees or charges.
Firstly they asked for Council Approved Plans, which PD won't provide because it's not their policy to apply for Council approval more than few weeks before they are going to start building. Finally managed to get the bank base the loan not on the council approved plans. Valuation was done & the figure was conservative but more than enough for us to get our loan.
Then in mid April they asked for the last 2 payslips because those we provided in Feb were deemed to be obsolete.... if only they process the loan faster, then it wouldn't be obsolete.
Then they asked us to give them written quotation for driveway, fencing & landscaping. The only problem is the house is not there yet, how do you expect us to get quotation for something that is not there. We do have side & back fences & there's no council requirement that we have to put up a front fence. I finally managed to get a quote for the driveway from one of my clients.
On 4 May 2010, we finally got a conditional approval. The condition is that I need to provide last 3 months confirming salary credits for myself. The thing is, my weekly salary has always been directly credited into my account with the same bank. They can see there's weekly salary that going into the account, yet they still asked me to prove salary credits? Are they dumb or what, it's into your bank!!! Yet they are still not satisfied with that, I've given them my payslips, my group certificate, my superannuation record and a pre filling report from the Tax Office. Just don't understand what else they want from me :(
6 May 2010 the bank said that we've got the loan.... Finally, only took them more than 2 months to process. They said they are going to send out a confirmation letter in the next day or 2.
11 May 2010 the bank said the amount of loan is too much for us.... I'm so ready to switch bank now. Of course the loan amount they have in their file is too much, because that's not the amount we are asking for, we are applying for lower loan than that. They are back to drawing board now, fixing the figures. Hope to hear from them very soon.
If you are wondering which bank it is, it's AMP Bank. The reason we are staying with them is that our current loan is with them & been with them for the last 3 years. They charge us no fees & charges at all plus discounted rates for variable & fixed loans... yes, all without any fees or charges.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Services Abolished
27/04/2010 Put in applications to abolish electricity & gas supplies to our electricity & gas provider. Also put in application for underground electrical pit to United Energy.
03/05/2010 Electricity Meter abolished & cable cut
06/05/2010 Gas meter was abolished.
03/05/2010 Electricity Meter abolished & cable cut
06/05/2010 Gas meter was abolished.
Quote for Demolition
Got 3 quotes for demolition. $12,900 was the most expensive & $9,500 was the cheapest.
We decided to go with Online Demolition Pty Ltd. They are not the cheapest but they responded to our query relatively faster than the other 2 & they are also recommended by a friend who demolished their house last year. Demolition cost is $9,955, including permits & asbestos removal. We do have to apply for Asset Protection Permit ourselves. Just go to the council, fill in the form & pay $162 in fees + $1,000 deposit.
Demolition is booked for 18 May 2010.
We decided to go with Online Demolition Pty Ltd. They are not the cheapest but they responded to our query relatively faster than the other 2 & they are also recommended by a friend who demolished their house last year. Demolition cost is $9,955, including permits & asbestos removal. We do have to apply for Asset Protection Permit ourselves. Just go to the council, fill in the form & pay $162 in fees + $1,000 deposit.
Demolition is booked for 18 May 2010.
Post Contract Variations
Got our post contract variations costed on 30 March 2010.
Foundation Slab to Alfresco $1,182
2x Deadbolts to Garage Access Door $172
R3.5 Batts to Roof $1,342
R2.0 Batts to External Walls $1,102
Double Glazing to Study Window $460
Fly Screens $517
Double Pot Drawers to either side of oven $407
Locks to all openable windows $573
Foundation Slab to Alfresco $1,182
2x Deadbolts to Garage Access Door $172
R3.5 Batts to Roof $1,342
R2.0 Batts to External Walls $1,102
Double Glazing to Study Window $460
Fly Screens $517
Double Pot Drawers to either side of oven $407
Locks to all openable windows $573
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Welcome
This blog documents our journey in building our house in Blackburn South, Victoria. We are currently living in this 65 years old house and have decided to demolish it & to build a new one on the land.
We have always wanted to build with Porter Davies Homes since mid 2000, however they did not build where we are. One day I saw a Porter Davies Home being built in our area and we decided to revisit the idea of building with them. They confirmed that they are now building where we are but we have to pay $5,000 distance surcharge.
After doing research on their website, visited their display houses, we decided to build a Camberwell 29. It is a perfect fit for our land.
We put in $1,000 deposit on 1st November 2009 and site start is going to be June 2010. We have about 1.5m fall on our land, the sales person (Daniel) estimated site cost to be $15,000 however, I estimated the site cost to be around $25,000 based on what I read in forums & from a friend's experience.
Next step we did was to walk through the house with Daniel & decided on what changes we want to the house. The biggest single item we added to the design was the Alfresco. We also combined the mud room & the laundry into 1 room & added a sliding door between the hallway & the laundry/mud room.
Tender appointment on 5th Feb 2010. Major costs:-
Site cost is just over $24,000.
Oakland Facade $2,500.
Extra distance surcharge $5,000.
The ultimate in luxury promo $5,000.
Evaporative Cooling $5,500.
Floorboard $5,320.
Brickwork over garage door $1,425.
Paid 3% deposit on that day, can't back out now.
17th Feb 2010 - National Tiles appointment.
Quick & easy, we chose Banur Earth for our ensuite, bathroom, kitchen & laundry area with Mocha Wall Gloss horizontal stack for the ensuite.
24th Feb 2010 - Hopetoun Interiors
Chose Kurrajong as brick colour. Upgrade to category 4, costing less than we expected. Felicity, the colour consultant was very helpful. We both are not good when it comes to colour co-ordination, so we relied mostly on Felicity's suggestions.
Electrical Selection followed the colour appointment. It was pretty rushed & didn't have much time to think. Didn't get much help/suggestions from the consultant. Was disappointed that they don't have CFL downlight on offer, so we leave the batten lights for most of the lights & will change it to CFL downlights ourselves once the house is done. Added at least an additional double power point for each room. We live in old house & we have to use lotsa power boards for all the modern gadgets, so we decided to put on more power points for future necessities. Total $4,600 for electrical upgrade, half of what I expected prior to appointment, however we do need to install our own downlights after the house is built.
26th Feb 2010 - We have a contract.
Category 4 Brick (Kurrajong) is $1,898.
Off White Mortar $529.
Upgraded Kitchen benchtops to 40mm stone $1,050.
Feature Walls $396.
Alfresco $5,732.
We asked the CSC, Kellie, to find out the cost for insulation upgrade, R3.5 Batts to roof & R2.0 batts to external walls. Foundation Slab to Alfresco is also not included in the Alfresco upgrade :(
We have always wanted to build with Porter Davies Homes since mid 2000, however they did not build where we are. One day I saw a Porter Davies Home being built in our area and we decided to revisit the idea of building with them. They confirmed that they are now building where we are but we have to pay $5,000 distance surcharge.
After doing research on their website, visited their display houses, we decided to build a Camberwell 29. It is a perfect fit for our land.
We put in $1,000 deposit on 1st November 2009 and site start is going to be June 2010. We have about 1.5m fall on our land, the sales person (Daniel) estimated site cost to be $15,000 however, I estimated the site cost to be around $25,000 based on what I read in forums & from a friend's experience.
Next step we did was to walk through the house with Daniel & decided on what changes we want to the house. The biggest single item we added to the design was the Alfresco. We also combined the mud room & the laundry into 1 room & added a sliding door between the hallway & the laundry/mud room.
Tender appointment on 5th Feb 2010. Major costs:-
Site cost is just over $24,000.
Oakland Facade $2,500.
Extra distance surcharge $5,000.
The ultimate in luxury promo $5,000.
Evaporative Cooling $5,500.
Floorboard $5,320.
Brickwork over garage door $1,425.
Paid 3% deposit on that day, can't back out now.
17th Feb 2010 - National Tiles appointment.
Quick & easy, we chose Banur Earth for our ensuite, bathroom, kitchen & laundry area with Mocha Wall Gloss horizontal stack for the ensuite.
24th Feb 2010 - Hopetoun Interiors
Chose Kurrajong as brick colour. Upgrade to category 4, costing less than we expected. Felicity, the colour consultant was very helpful. We both are not good when it comes to colour co-ordination, so we relied mostly on Felicity's suggestions.
Electrical Selection followed the colour appointment. It was pretty rushed & didn't have much time to think. Didn't get much help/suggestions from the consultant. Was disappointed that they don't have CFL downlight on offer, so we leave the batten lights for most of the lights & will change it to CFL downlights ourselves once the house is done. Added at least an additional double power point for each room. We live in old house & we have to use lotsa power boards for all the modern gadgets, so we decided to put on more power points for future necessities. Total $4,600 for electrical upgrade, half of what I expected prior to appointment, however we do need to install our own downlights after the house is built.
26th Feb 2010 - We have a contract.
Category 4 Brick (Kurrajong) is $1,898.
Off White Mortar $529.
Upgraded Kitchen benchtops to 40mm stone $1,050.
Feature Walls $396.
Alfresco $5,732.
We asked the CSC, Kellie, to find out the cost for insulation upgrade, R3.5 Batts to roof & R2.0 batts to external walls. Foundation Slab to Alfresco is also not included in the Alfresco upgrade :(
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