Framing started

Frame material delivered.. Nothing happening

Frame material was delivered a week ago but nothing happening. Received an email from building coordinator advise about frame work completed by 19 December 2014. Seems planning to 2nd Payment before Christmas Holiday..

Slab Pour

Slab preparation in process>>>>

 

 

Slab Poured…..

 

 

Work Started – Cut and Fill

The work started and land is cut-fill as per the drawings. Retaining wall and pier work performed-

The land looks quite high from the back. Landscaping will be expensive :-)

 

Site Cost Increased

Received an email from Building coordinator that site cost will increase by $12k. What the hell. The reason given were:

 

 

With no option left and stuck, we proceed with this. Felt really cheated and can’t believe PD did so much underestimate…

Monash Council – Nature strip backfill

Received letter from Monash Council to backfill the nature strip in 2 days else fine will be issues. Found quite wired as we still need to build the house and this all will damage. Called them but was very unhelpful. Finally ordered topsoil from Garden Gear and backfill the nature strip. Send an email to Council with no reply….

Second Soil Test

Informed Porter Davis that land is ready for handover to them. PD ordered second soil test. Seems all going good!

Crossover Damaged

The crossover has been damaged by the demolition company due to electric pit not installed properly. Send an email to Zinfra for the same. Received reply with blame shifted to demolition company. Council people from Asset protection department believe this was demolition company fault.
Lucas from Melbourne City Demolition took ownership and work with Zinfra to fix this.

Electric Pit Installed

Went pass the house today and found that electric pit has been installed. A very doggy work, called United electricity to have hole fixed as it is dangerous to pedestrians

After second reminder, they came and fixed it.


Updated Council about the completion of demolition work

Demolition

Melbourne City Demolition are here and started demolition..It will take 2 weeks for it to complete.



  
House gone:

Finally..Something happened

Something moved- Tenant vacating the property. Received Asset Protection permit
Called United electricity in relation to electric pit. Told to wait some more days. After 1 month received email with quote, paid the amount – would take 20 working days to install
What a surprise – electricity and gas meter removed
Demolition could proceed now

Start the demolishing process

We finalised Melbourne City Demolition to perform the demolition as found Lucas quite helpful.

• Gave tenant notice to vacant the house – 60 days
• Applied for Asset Protection Permit - $2200 ($2000 deposit)
• Applied for electric pit installation(United Energy)
• Applied for removal of electricity meter(after house is vacant)
• Gas meter removal – This was hardest as it need to be raised by Account Holder(the tenants). The supplier were Dodo that have no clue about the process. Eventually request tenants to raise this
• Got the tree removed

Wait now……………………………………………

Contract Signed

We went to contract and all went fine with our changes. No surprise apart from latest changed from Kitchen and electrical were not received. So, this will be added later. Signed lots of papers and went home exhausted

Electrical Selection

We went overboard with electrical and included batten everywhere. Some of point to be seen in below photos-

• Power socket for electric blind
• Theatre speaker pre-wiring
• Conduct in Study room for any future wire
• Fan/light in all rooms

Colour Selection

Went to new office location of Word of Style of Porter Davis. No information was provided about the parking or directions. Selected the upgrades as per previous blog.
Some of selections were:

• Moved Dishwasher to Pantry
• Have Microwave space instead of Dishwasher
• Changed sink in Pantry
• Double trough in Laundry
• Semi Frameless shower in Master Suite
• Soundproof insulation between ground and first floor

Did not went with:

• Lights – will get done after handover
• Curtains
• Theatre door – It was costing $4000+

Tender Process

We went to Narre-warren office and met the tender person who was very helpful. The process went really smooth and we met our building contractor for first time.
 The biggest shock was the site cost that increased from $40 to $47k. We were told that this is due to soil test report and estimated on higher side for any future risk.
We asked for changes in the plan to stay under the budget which were quicky updated. Provided $10K deposit and ready for colour selection and demolition process.

Learning: You will need full half day for tender process – so make sure you have made arrangement for kids to be picked up.

House Plan Changes

The first shock we received was amount of upgrade done by Porter Davis. A word of cautious for everyone – We found Porter Davis have maximum numbers of upgrades. We were very annoyed on realising staircase and void upgrade cost around $15,000 with all the windows/door in living, theatre and study have been upgraded. We found this link quite useful to view which is included in Standard
http://porterdavis-sandringham.blogspot.com.au/
We thought of making some changes to still have distinct feature of the house:

• The large window in living was costing around $3000. So we went with option to have an identical window to one below the void
• No sliding door in study area
• Have Balustrade instead of glass for stair and void

To confined in our budget, we added following upgrades(approx cost):

• 1.5 m Extension of Garage - $3500
• 600mm eave around house - $4000
• Roller door – garage rear - $150
• 3 Cavity doors - $1200
• Category 2 bricks - $2000
• Coniston Facade - $6100
• Flooring package - $11,000
• Colourbond roof – Included

Find the cost of other variations in images below

House Plan Finalised

We spend April/May 2014 meeting the builders and finally narrow down – Sahara Q1(Henley) and Balmoral(Dennis). They provided most of North sun to our living area with option for guest room downstairs. We visited them multiple time at Cranbourne centre and found Grant(Dennis) Viv(Henley) quite helpful.
As we have west facing land with crossover on left side, we applied for change of crossover to fit Henley’s house. This was promptly approved by the Council.
The land had a bit of slope(quite common in MT Waverley) so we were bit wired about the site cost. We provided deposit to both houses and then proceeded with Dennis from cost point. We found Dennis procedure not flexible – you could not visit their selection centre on weekend. In the mealtime, Carlo from Porter Davis contacted us and informed us that Chadwick would suits us. To view selection in their lifestyle range, we were advised to visit their Harcrest display home and view Barossa display home. We went there and did not liked the house and inclusions. While there by mistake, we entered Sandringham display home next door. We were astonished with the house and fell in love in first sight. The house has a factor that none of houses seen had. We thought it would be over the budget so with apprehension asked Carlo to provide the cost. The costing came around Henley house and we decided to pursue further. The site cost was advised $40k provided we move the house to left.
In meantime, we were asked attend colour selection at Dennis. We found they did not have enough selections and felt bit disappointed. We received tender document from Dennis with site code around $40K.
As we all felt love with Sandringham we cancelled tender with Dennis and proceeded with Carlo. The reason for selecting Porter Davis and Sandringham house were:

• Whao factor due to void
• Carlo(Sales Person) was very helpful and accommodating
• Downstairs master bedroom
• Inclusions
• Separate bathroom and toilets for kids upstairs

Existing Unit Sold

In Easter Holiday, we started renovating our unit. We end up painting the house our self, adding new tiles, changing dinning to spare room and tidy the outdoor area. We narrowed down to Jells Craig and were provided an estimate that was a bit over our expectation. The initial feedback was not good – the house is old, paint work not professionally done, and loose tiles. The agent came back with a bit lower figure that annoyed us. But the agent was very open and admit that they do over-quote to obtain the business. We liked the open communication and proceed with sale process.
We hired professional painter to fix the patch work. Ironically, the tiler closed his business and did not attended any work after full payment. Bad operator. We hired other tiler and got the floor fixed. The house appearance changed.

On auction day, we were bit nervous. The auction started and house finally sold above our expectation. Time to pack the stuff and move to rental house.

Original House

  

Renovated House