The rest of the piering

Called Joe today about when the rest will get done. He reckons after new years. If we're lucky and can get some people in for inspections then it could be between Xmas and new years, but let's be realistic. I told him to let me know if there will be work fitted in.

Huxl3y are off between 23rd Dec 09 and 11th Jan 10. Some of their contractors might work through but it depends on if they can get the inspections in. I don't know what these inspections are.

Piering day 1

Finances are still not done. Called Navin and he says he is sending something in writing to Huxl3y. Jillian will be calling him to confirm. She is a serial ball dropper; she doesn't even know how to send email.

Today piering began. I can't believe i'm paying so much for work done by people who probably didn't finish year 10. I don't trust their dull-eyed faces and lack of common sense. The piering went a lot deeper than they expected to get to shale. They only did half of the piering today. Who knows when they will continue the rest of it. Probably next year. Three agitators came for the piering and it still didn't fill all the piers that got drilled.

Parking is a problem because it's unrestricted parking time around there so close to the station.

Huxl3y is irritating me about the Date of Commencement of works. It started almost 2 weeks ago but they will consider it 'commenced' when all the paperwork is done from bank. This will be next year unless a miracle happens. I hate Huxl3y, CBA and anyone from the building and trade industries.

I met another neighbour from the flat, her name's Flo

All images are here.
http://s970.photobucket.com/albums/ae181/ragytag/piering_091214/

Miscellaneous Records

Last friday couldn't get through to Navin to ask about why the finance is taking so long.
Emailed Marcela for confirmation of the date construction began and it seems that she has contacted Joe to get him to hold his horses because finances aren't ready.
Called Joe on friday to find out what was happening next week. He called me back saying piering is happening monday but then the concreter will go off do something else. He's doing our job and another job at the same time.

Met some more neighbours Edith and Vicky

Mowing the lawn

Dad and I went to mow the nature strip today. It's been 6 months since we last did it. My god it took 2 hours for a piece of turf 1m x 10 m. It wasn't even that high!

Something like 6 bags of grass clippings and weeds. I couldn't reach the weeds in the yard which were the aim of the gardening session, since Huxl3y have put up the fence last friday 11th Dec 09.

There's now also a 1m high pile of large gravel stones on the LHS where the old driveway used to be.

No concrete this week

Rang J our site supervisor. He says concreter will probably make it next week because he's still finishing off a job elsewhere. In the meantime they will set up fences and stuff.

Still haven't heard from the bank. Will email Navin tomorrow.

Excavation day 1 images

Some images of my big dirty site

From across the road. We're the big gap between the flat on the RHS and the crummy house on the left.





Closeup from LHS corner of property

Green netting and metal fences

I went over to take a look today, since the first day they've excavated the dip for the new driveway (it looks really low in the ground - i hate that)

There are also peg out posts - i think thats what they must be. They are these white wooden posts with red marks on them. Probably for levels or something.

Green netting is also up at the back and front for dust control i guess.

There's still the problem of my metal fence at the front. It's set in the same concrete as the public pavement, and that's why the idiot demolition guys didn't get rid of it. My partner tells me his family has a metal cutter, and next weekend he can do it, problem is that he needs a power outlet. Maybe we can ask a neighbour? I heard they hate us.

On your marks, get set...

So today 3rd December 2009 is the first day of construction.

Costs have already increased due to 9 trucks of fill removed. My start-of-build high is fading fast.

Here's hoping it finishes early.

Excavation

Excavation has begun today. JS has told me they will be taking out 9 truckloads of dirt.
If excavation does not finish today, it'll definately finish tomorrow. But concreter won't be coming the day after because of scheduling. They are hoping he will come before Christmas.

No problems except for some of the abandoned fencing lying around. He'll also have a word with the guy to smooth over the divet at the front so no one falls over.

The temporary fencing will come when they've finished excavation and cleaned up a little.

Construction Certificate: TICK!!!!!

Our builder Huxl3y has informed us that today they got approval from council for the construction certificate!
So now we just need the bank formal approval to come through. Probably coming this friday.
Fingers crossed for a slab down by Christmas!

DA approval

APPROVED!

OMG and it only took about a month.
I'm celebrating this weekend.

Ok, it's got conditions. I need a detailed stormwater plan by a qualified hydraulics engineer, and a Falling/Constant head test by a Geotechnical engineer, but this is small fry compared to the DA.

Demolition: TICK!

Hooray, demolition is done!
What was a putrid garbage dump is now a big brown patch of possibilities. Luckily we didn't end up having to pay too much more, still within our budget. Unluckily, I'm pretty certain we're gonna lose all of our pavement bond. So many big trucks...

Our neighbour has said he wants to rebuild the fence we share. Fine by me! The demolition has exposed it in all it's dilapidated glory, and he's got a gorgeous black dog that needs boundaries.

As for the builder, we're 99.5% sure we're going with Huxl3y. I just paid the tender fee (it's not our first tender fee), and we're still in the initial stage of 'drawing with the architect'. Our contour survey is now outdated. The demolition has actually levelled out the property a bit, and the demolishers created a gently sloping ramp on one side for truck access.

In hindsight, I'm not sure doing the demolition as a separate development application to the building was the right move. When i submitted the application, we were thinking we'd build the house as complying development. Now with the design we're looking at, it's definately a DA, not CDC. Nevertheless, getting it out of the way is nice. It saves me the worry that it might take too long and delay the start of building, and of squatters on my land. Now all i have to worry about is people dumping rubbish on it! Maybe some temporary fencing will be the solution.

Demolition Drama

The demolishers have started work on our house, and there are problems.
When we bought this place, we knew it had rubbish at the back. However, since there were so many sheds out the back we couldn't get to the back property line until now that they've removed them during demolition. There's broken up asbestos strewn over the backyard. Rubbish, broken pots, mysteriously buried concrete structures, you name it we've got it. This is a serious problem which I'm estimating will really dent my budget.

The demolisher hasn't even given me a revised figure. I'm dreading the answer, yet don't like waiting.

Demolition Delay

There is a week's delay in my demolition. Oh no!
Today was D-day, but no sign of the D. I called up to find out, and was told he can't start today.

He'll start in a week, maybe. He'll let me know!

It would have been nice to know before I took a half-day off work to pay the deposit on site. To satisfy our palettes while we wait, here is the layout I drew up for the demolition application.




Ah the demolition application. That brings back memories. The asbestos survey company are pretty good at taking your money. I was given assurances that I would be informed before any 'samples' were taken for very expensive analysis. I specified I did not want any samples taken. Guess what, I was NOT informed, and they took TWO samples without my permission! Don't get stung like me. Make sure you follow them around during the survey, even if it means taking time off work. Drum it into their thick heads. NO SAMPLES.

Demolition Anticipation

I bought a badly sloping dump, and plan to rebuild a lovely home for the family. Currently it's real estate for

• termites
• creepy insects the size of my hand
• cracked flower pots
• chook poo
  
• lots of asbestos

Getting flattened and cleared out is the best thing that could happen for this block of land with a sordid history. I've been told previous tenants were noisy firebugs and druggies. Their parties brought the police sirens every week. I can't wait to see it razed. There's so much potential for this block. It's in a good location in a nice suburb. I hate to see good things go to waste.

Demolition is planned for tuesday the 14th April 09. I hope nothing goes wrong. The council has already demonstrated an amazing lethargy and incompetence. "How much notice do I have to give before the demolition begins?": 3 different council people give 3 different answers. It took 2 weeks for them to stick a stamp on an envelope to mail me the terms and conditions.

Council rant aside, the builder and floorplan have not yet been finalised. This needs to be done before end April 09. However, like all good dramas, there is dissention in the ranks. Someone has thrown a tantrum and is threatening to stop the project unless they get what they want. Nobody else wants what they want. Let's hope this problem goes away.