Final Contract Signed

YAY! The fixed price contract was issued today, and it's $2k cheaper than the original. After waiting what seems like forever the final contract variations have been signed off on and the documents are on the way to the Lender to issue the commencement letter. Once the commencement letter is issued the materials are ordered and they have 15 weeks to complete. So whatever colours have been picked are it, there is no going back now.

Also over the weekend I went through the garage as the new letterbox insert went missing. Bunnings had it on a clearance back so many months ago and it was the exact right colour combination of a brown face with brushed chrome collars for the newspaper hole and the mail slot. But in amongst the accumulation of this and that it went a-missing. So after unpacking half of the garage, there it was, apparently slipped from its position at the top the pile and down behind a few other boxes.
On another note I've had a read on google and the aperture of the letterbox (being the slot as far as I can figure) in a single mailbox arrangement should sit between 0.9m and 1.2m above the ground. Driving around Spring Farm I noticed that our new letterbox is a bit larger than most because it includes the newspaper hole. As the traditional post and box is not permitted in Spring Farm according to the Council guidelines, most homes have gone with a bricked in version. But typically they are a single slot with the column 2 bricks wide, or thereabouts. So thinking about the Bunnings bargain (can't recall what model it is without going out in the cold to check) I am a little concerned that it's going to look like a hobbit in the front yard. But too late to worry now as it is going to be installed no matter what.

Overall though this is turning out to be a good news week.

Neighbouring colour scheme

Just for giggles, now I have found the Colour Visualiser, I thought I'd have a go at recreating the neighbour who is to our left. It's the house pictured in the nearmap.com shown below, and sits North of us. I used the same design due to its simplicity and the limited selection of single stories on the website.



In reality it is a much more a peach colour scheme but Colorbond doesn't have anything exceptionally close so I went for the burnt orange colour. Mum and I have nick-named it the Peach Palace. I do think it is a bit of a safe scheme and would have benefited from using Manor Red a least in the gutters and maybe fascia to liven it up.
I am sure at some stage I read that at Spring Farm that colour schemes had to blend with nature and so specifically terracotta red roofs were not allowed, but down on Minorca there is a red house. My Aunt told me that in Harrington Park, where they live, non-compliant colour schemes are issued with an order to be rectified, so since I'll have to drive past it daily in future I'll be interested to see if it's ever challenged.

Colorbond Colour Visualiser

I found this useful free site to have a go at creating your external colour scheme, since our builder doesn't have that option. But because Colorbond also provides roofing you have to imagine the house roofed with a traditional profile tile in a Chocolate colour and the brick is a general dark brown colour, (you can choose other standard brick colours or a paint colour to imitate a render) but otherwise this is a pretty good idea of what is intended by the colour selection.
The other difference is that because you select a standard house from a range I went with what I felt was a simple single storey, but I do not anticipate the front garden will end up like this. I did appreciate playing around with the colour of the rendered, retained garden beds, and I feel that the dark blue colour actually looks really effective, but not a colour I would ordinarily consider. A deep plum also looked pretty good.

So go to http://www.colorbondcolours.com/home/residential/see-our-colours, and in the menu go to the Colour Visualiser, which opens up in a new tab or window, and give it a go.

Yay - Construction Certificate 20-05-10

I received the long awaited call this morning to say the construction certificate has been received by the costing department. The tender is up by $440 from the last one in March due to Council requiring some other report since they gave conditional DA and this report meets that condition.
On Monday afternoon we have an appointment to sign off on the fixed price contract and then we are underway people! This puts the completion date at approximately 6 September 2010.

Mid-May and where are we at?

Well we are approaching the final hurdles before building commences. Right now I feel like Homer Simpson climbing Mt Springfield, I reach a peak and cheer, but then I look down and look up and realise how much further there is to go - D'oh!
So what are the final hurdles. Today I spoke to our Customer Service chick, who isn't much chop I realise as last week she said she would find out why the engineer's report hadn't been received and let me know when it was expected and when it was anticipated to go to Council and then the Construction Certificate be prepared. Well, she didn't. So I rang her this morning, and yes the CC is being prepared and we will be called in once it is available to come into Allworth Parramatta office to sign off on the fixed price contract. And no, weekend appointments are not available, appointments are Monday to Friday at 9.30am, 11am or 2.30pm.
I think if I haven't heard from her by Thursday morning I'll call her up because as I realised last week, the ER should have been due mid-week and the CC one week later, so by my calculations, on Wednesday the CC should be in their hot little hands.

My Uncle and Aunt were also over on the weekend and we were talking about all of this and in particular if we could turn back time would we go with Allworth again, and really, maybe yes. For our price range, being in total $215k for the house (4 bed + study), landscaping and some internal dressing, there were very few options. Allworth is in fact including a pretty good extras package, have one of the quickest build times both according to their promise and what we have heard, and I found the website user friendly - I really loathe having to download a plan to view it. Huxley homes might have got a look in if the website had have been easier because their staff we really great to talk to at Kellyville, but Allworth's main appeal was the promise of speed.
That's why this really has been a let-down. So what I think is important is about having a good sense of how much time things will take and having confidence that the builder has built in the area and has a good understanding of the Council's requirements.

Really, Camden Council had a fantastic turnover time, which you can monitor by typing your suburb in and looking at similar applications in your area, so for example I knew that Spring Farm single stories were taking no more than three weeks. But had Allworth complied with Council guidelines we probably would have had DA back in January. But instead we were arguing whether to put in an application for non-compliance or to change the design and start from scratch, so we went through the original process twice in fact. If we hadn't, yeah I think I might be sitting in my new family room right now as Allworth has built a similar design in Spring Farm over in the Cornish side and those people have moved in about three weeks ago now (yes it pays to ask to get addresses to see your design being built - they won't give you an address after the people have moved in though).

So fingers crossed for a dry Winter now, as I still have my sights set on signing off early next week at which time 20 days starts to count down. Should be a June start then. But I guess the good news is I will be establishing a garden come Spring.

Our block

Found out you can find and share photomaps from www.nearmap.com

Back on track

Despite a few obstacles we are back on track. Almost 2 weeks ago now my MB advised that CBA had withdrawn the loan for building the house, which left us with a block of land, lands on foot, a contract requiring us to have moved in by late September and NO MONEY.
So after feeling like the earth had fallen out from beneath me I collected all the paperwork and shot of an email to the MB with what I thought were good reasons to suggest that CBA were being unconscionable. Once I calmed down I realised that my over-reaction may ultimately lead me to cutting my nose of to spite my face and sent another one simply asking for the reasons and retracting my demand that an appeal be lodged immediately.
Well the good news is that one week later the MB emailed to say he had spoken with CBA and it was all worked out, so the loan was back on track and a new application was no longer necessary. But the CBA continues to have some concerns about the delay in commencement and want what documents are available now to be lodged as a sign of good faith from Allworth.

I called Allworth and spoke to our CSO and asked if she would be able to comply with this. She explained that typically the stamped plans, copies of insurances, construction certificate and fixed price contract are not provided to the mortgagor until the contract was signed and all documents provided as one lot. I suggested that because this was a bit to a back to front effort in any event that maybe something could be worked out to satisfy CBA. She is going to look into it.
Whilst I was on the phone I asked where everything was up to as the geo-tech report was provided 2 weeks ago and previously she had told me the engineer's report took 2 weeks, and the construction certificate then takes 1 week. She advised that the engineer's report has not yet been received but she would follow this up.
Since I had this conversation yesterday and I didnt hear back from her today, I will call tomorrow to get an update. But fingers crossed we will be in next Saturday week to sign off which will start the 20 day countdown and hopefully have a start date no later than the week of 7 June 2010.

The day just got better, not

I went to a dance class tonight out near were I am building and so afterwards I thought "ooh, I'll go and see how the neighbours house is going". This is so I can just anticipate how quickly I can expect our house to be built compared to another builder, and can estimate how soon they will move in and have to start discussing fencing and anything else. So the neighbours house appears to be at lock-up.
Also, I drove around the block and saw a friends slab is down, so good news for him.
But then I saw the sold sign on the other neighbours. I have checked since getting home and Council doesn't have a DA in for them. However when I saw they were sold I thought what about the house at the rear in the middle, as we have three rear neighbours. Back around the block I drove and saw the deposit taken sticker. Not a happy girl.
Now because of all this delay it is most likely we will not be able have the concrete truck deliver directly to the entertainment area which will mean an extra fee for narrow access. I will have to wait and see how all this goes. But if possible and push comes to shove I will be seeking the concrete to be laid once the house is at lockup, even though I have been told Allworth never consents to early access. Absolute nuisance.

Withdrawn loan

Another bump in this house building mess is that the Bank has now withdrawn the loan because we did not commence within 6 months of the offer. So now we have to reapply. Great.