Yesterday, all external plumbing was completed. This does not include the underground detention tank. Looks like they will have to dig again for it later.

Today, not much has happened, but a small scaffolding was setup. I guess frames will start tomorrow.

On another note in regard to bank loans, they do not tell you the details, and expect you to know, and if you don't know, you can end up with some issues.

We are not borrowing the whole build amount from the bank. We will use our life savings to pay for some of the costs. Our idea was that the bank will pay its share and we will do the last progress payment from our savings. But, No! The bank expects you to pay the balance in advance and them to make the last payment. They don't tell you this.

So, here we are waiting for the bank's inspector to visit the site and report back to them, delay of a week. I chase up and they tell me the above 'rule', they won't pay the invoice until we pay our part. So we are now one week behind in paying the invoice.

Lucky, Masterton knows this and has agreed to extend the invoice due date till this Friday.

We already received the second progress payment invoice! 

Slab done

Finally, the first stage of the construction progress is done. The slab is poured this morning and by lunch time, formwork was being pulled down.

I guess the next step is to pay the first invoice payment!

Formwork completed

Looks like the formwork is complete and ready for concrete slab.

Waffle blocks installed

Visiting this afternoon, just saw all the waffle blocks installed. Slab should not be far off, possible Wednesday or Thursday.

Plumbing work done

Visited on Saturday morning and saw the main plumbing work complete.

I'm hoping to have the slab poured by end of the week.

Formwork perimeter

Looks like the formwork perimeter has started. We can now clearly see how big and final location of the house plan will be.

I still think the progress is too slow. It is now a month since Masterton started, and not much has happened. It feels like 1 or max 2 hour job is being carried out every few days, just to show someone is doing something, no matter how small.

Patience...

Finally, next step done

Upon visiting the site today, I found bunch of guys just finishing off the peering work. Looks like the 2 deep trenches dug, one at the front and one at the back, are for peering and support, not for rainwater tank as I previously thought.

Here are some photos.

Formwork in progress

On Wednesday, we had few piles of soil delivered. Funny, I had to sign a paper so that is any soil had to be taken away I agreed to pay for it. Now we have soil delivered? Must be a standard deal, just in case.

On Thursday, the below ground rainwater tank location has been dug and the house formwork soil levelled.

It starting show show how much of the land the house will take. Hardly any backyard left. LOL!

Survey and Pegging

Visited the site yesterday afternoon and as per Mastorton's email, the land survey was conducted and surveyor's pegging was done.

This marks the beginning of the construction phase of our build. Yay!

I'm hopeful sometime next week they will start to scrape the land, preparing for the formwork.

There is a bit of grass and weeds grown at the back of the block, I might have to go and mow over it quickly.

Finally, the land is cleared

Visited the site yesterday lunchtime and this is what I saw.

Looks like to make sure he finished the job on time and I don't charge him $1000/day for delays, he brought in the big truck to take it all in one go.

The site is now clear and ready for Masterton to take over.

 I already emailed Masterton informing them of the land being ready for the build. A surveyor should attend the site and do the final survey peg-out, hoping this week.

In the next few weeks a dunny and Masterton fence should appear, followed by the levelling of the site for formworks.

Demolition started

Visited the old house yesterday and the power line has been disconnected.

Looks like the internal dismantling will be done today, getting it ready for knock-down next Tuesday (due to long weekend public holiday on Monday).

I was hoping the process was a bit quicker, since we booked the demolition 4 weeks ago, but they had delays. I'm not 100% happy with it as when booking, they said it will take no more than 1 week.

Tile selection complete

Our tile selection at Tiles Direct today was a very pleasant, easy and professional. The staff were very helpful and offered large variety of tile options and colour themes. She was patient as I looked and made the decisions.

Only few extras, not included in the Masterton Mansion Package, like bigger soap holders, designer artefacts in the showers, sealed drain caps etc. came up just under $1300. This includes the balcony and front door & patio outdoor tiles, as well as the porcelain kitchen splash-back tiles.

Below are some photos, even though the colours do not reflect the actual product due to my phone's photo capability.

All main ground floor living areas, white matt 400x400mm

Front patio and balcony, Alfresco Moka 400x400mm

Kitchen splashback, Ultra Gloss white porcelain 600x600mm

All wet areas, floor- Espresso 300x300mm, walls - Gloss White 300x600 (laid horizontally), designer pattern feature - glass.

Closeup of the shower wall design feature

We also elected to have chrome edges around the bath tiling corners to give a rich, elegant and glamour look.

Concealed square drain that has same tile cut-out for all wet areas (sample photo)

Tomorrow, Air-Con selection. I hope we do not need too much upgrading, but important one if we need to.

Colour Selection booked

We have just been booked for our internal colour selection appointment on the 18th of July. It will be a full day to select all of our internal colours, benchtops, kitchen, vanities etc.

We hope by this time our plans would be ready to submit to CDC for DA approval.

While waiting for DA approval, we will need to do our air-con, electrical and alarm appointments.

Floor selections

Looks like I'm able to give a visit to another tiles supplier, Tiles Direct, to see if I can find matching 'white' tiles from the same manufacturer and range, but with at least 2 of the sizes` 450x450 & 300x300.

As we have selected timber laminate floors for upstairs, I need to make an appointment to visit Accent Floors and make the choice.

Roof Tiles, Fascia and Guttering Selection

We have selected the following roof tiles from Monier:

Monier Horizon Espresso

We have selected the following colours for our guttering:

Colorbond Loft

The following colour for fascia and guttering:

Colorbond Paperbark

Issue with frontage size

Here is the Google maps top down view of the current house.

Note the frontage of the house on the right hand side, 13 meters from council boundary or 15 meters from kerb!

Our current house is on 6.7 meters from council boundary (Warringah council reg min is 6.5 meters from boundary) will have move back to 8.1 meters due to the position house on the right!

We will try to move the house on the plan at least 1 meter forward to 7.1 meters, but not sure it will be possible.

Note, all the trees on the left hand side of our block are now gone. Bottom right hand corner gum tree will stay.

Trees removed

All problem trees have been removed. The house is now so much brighter. The whole street view opened up.
Not long to go for the plans to arrive.

Clearing of trees

Today we have the tree removelists start trimming and cutting down the 6 trees on our property to make way for the new house.

Four trees at the back are in path with the sewage line, causing constant problem with roots breaking and getting inside the pipes, costing us $100's of dollars each year to get them cleared by plumbers.

Two massive cyder trees at the front causing similar issues to the neighbour's drainage path.

Next day, three of them now gone, one more to go.

The chopped branches filled half the street! In front of our and neighbour's house.

We hope tomorrow and the next day, all of the six trees would have gone.

We will be planting a nice manageable trees to replace them in a better position so not to cause any issues in the future.

Demolition Quotes

Today I got 2 quotes for demolishing our old house to make room for the new one planned. They were both close to what we were told, about $15,000, to clear the land and ready for the new building to rest upon.

We have plans to sell some of the things that might be worth some money, like the kitchen and possibly the colourbond roofing, that was installed after we purchased the house in 2003.

On the other hand, we are still waiting for the our first tender and the plans to arrive. A daunting waiting game.