Sooo close!

Just a quick note to let everyone know that we are very close to moving in :D :D

The bank have given us their final approval, the builder has the final payment and the house is officially ours! We are still waiting on the council to inspect and approve for occupancy. The builder has told us that he can give us the keys but we can't move anything into the house before the inspection or we will be fined by the council. We will have our walk through this week.

Although we will soon be able to move in we are still waiting on a few things. We still don't have turf but the builder has applied for a special application to allow us to move in and get the turf after (possibly even in the new year) Our builder says that the turf farm is underwater and our yard is also way too wet to scrape again (our yard is COVERED in weeds after all the rain) We are also still waiting on a clothesline, mailbox and tv antenna which i think will be done this week (?) and the whirly bird won't be here til the new year.

The power, gas and water are all connected and we have to be out of our current rental by the 15th. We have booked the carpet cleaner for the 14th and are hoping that the council will approve everythnig this week so that we can move everything this weekend.

In other news the site for the shed slab was boxed up today and the concrete will be done on Wednesday. We need to start packing but haven't done any yet :S It still doesn't seem like it is real and we are FINALLY moving, even if the move is only ONE WEEK away!!

I can't wait to put up the Christmas decorations! :D :D We plan to have the shed, paving and a basic garden finished before we host Christmas at our house. Here's hoping we get time to get it all done!

The carpet was installed on Monday (i've been busy so i haven't uploaded the pics til now)

I LOVE the carpet! It complements everything else in the house (and even DH approves!) These are the best photos i have until i can get access to the house again.

Third bedroom

Main bedroom













The list of things still to be done:
Install shower screen
Mirror for bathroom
'Whirly bird' and two eave vents to roof
Tv antenna
Turf
Clothes line
Mail box
Finish shelving in main bedroom
Hand towel ring installed in laundry
Turn around blinds above sink (so they hang at opposite end to sink)
Clean whole house and SCRUB the toilet til it's looking brand new again!!!
*Check to make sure all powerpoints are in (especially at end of kitchen bench)
*Check to make sure towel rail is installed in bathroom
*Paint - touch up where needed
*Possible re-paint of paint around front door

That's all i can think of for now :)

We still haven't got a move in date. We've been told it could be up to EIGHT WEEKS for the bank/council to process paperwork if they take the maximum time allowed! :( :S We can't start that process until the turf goes in (condition of council to have the house & land 'finished' and presentable) The problem is it keeps raining in Newcastle (where turf iscoming from) so they can't dig it up and it's been raining here so it would be too muddy to install it :S

Delays... hmmm

We have had no work on our house for the last three weeks. Last week we found out why. The builder hadn't recieved the third payment (for lockup) and so our contract was extended by 14 days. The reason it wasn't paid was:

1. I was away when the email was sent in JULY and didn't know anything about it until early August
2. Hubby doesn't check his emails anywhere near as often as he should :S We also thought it wasn't at lockup when it was as the front door wasn't on. The plaster was the next stage, so that's when the lockup money was due.
3. When I gave the release form to the SS he held onto it for a week not knowing what to do with it as the Builder was away in Perth for a month.
4. The bank held onto the form for another week before they processed it.

We are very lucky that the builder didn't charge interest on the money - as they are entitled to this according to the contract :S

So the GOOD news is that the drama is all sorted, the builders will be back to work next week :D, the front door needs to be reordered (which means i can now upgrade to wood stain, something i was going to pass off if they already had it ordered) and the tilers will be coming soon :)

I think the delay actually helped in a way, as it meant they could catch up on all their other work. So *hopefully* they will now have some more time working on ours :)

The builder also said that we were lucky that our slab went down when it did, as they have another house that has been waiting 6 WEEKS for good enough weather to get the slad done :S

We also got to decide on our cupboard set out while we were there.

So back on track and hopefully lots of progress soon :)

A site start date, could it be possible???

fingers and toes crossed!!!

Over the last few weeks (well months really) we have been chasing the bank trying to get them to sort everything out, find all our lost paperwork & give us the all clear to start building. It seems that we may have actually achieved something, as today we got not one but THREE calls from builder, bank and broker informing us that we have a letter in the post for us to sign & return. They assure us that once they have this form signed the builder will be given notice asap and we will be able to start.

Should we get this in writing? hmm. Maybe we should also trace this letter through the post, just to make sure it doesn't get lost like all of our other documents have : (

So far all the bank has actually provided us with is a headache and a pair of fluffy slippers (no joke!)
heres hoping we can start building sometime this century...

GRRRRR

We have been waiting for weeks to get the go ahead from the bank so that we can have a site start. We had previously been told that all we were waiting on was the final permission to start.

Today we found out that they have had everything for ages but somehow failed to ring us to let us know they were missing some forms. As far as the builder and we were concerned they had everything weeks ago. Grrr. So now we have to meet up with the builder AGAIN, go over everything and make sure there is NOTHING else that the bank could possibly need, as they have been hopeless at everything so far.

Luckily the builder has been good so far and has helped us sort through everything. As far as i can see they have gone out of their way to help so hopefully once the bank is sorted the rest of the build will go smoothly.

Land Settlement & FHOG money!!

Yesterday we became the proud owners of our very own 900m2 block of land! YAY!!! We also got the FHOG cash in the bank! double yay! We had all of our deposit ready to give away but then they decided that they could use the grant $$ instead so now we have MORE cash in the bank!. We were told not to spend anything though as we will need it for later in the build?? (not that we were going to splurge it or anything) Anyway all the paperwork is finalised. I think we will use some of the grant money for a few extras such as an alarm system, upgrade taps to mixers and a little extra for the feature tiles. The rest will go straight onto the mortgage and car loan.
The builder told us once they got the ok to start it would happen very quickly as they are ready & waiting. If i understand correctly we just need to confirm all of our selections (already chosen) and then we could have a slab as early as 1 or 2 weeks from now! YAY so excited
The builder also said he will let us know when they are pouring the slab so that we can come & write our names on it :) I will be sure to start taking piccies once there is anything to see besides dirt :P
 
So tempted to go set up our tent on the block!!! (not sure if this is even legal but i am tempted none the less!)

banks, builders etc

Today we finally got unconditional approval from the bank! yay. Now it has to go to settlement (fingers crossed this doesn't take too long) and then everything's ready to roll.

I was talking to the builder today and he said he will let us know next week what our start date is. I'm guessing late jan/early feb. Originally he said we would start in mid jan. I guess it all depends on the settlement but hopefully we will get to see some action soon. Things are actually happening!!