Commencement date getting closer

We have now paid the demolition people the deposit and a tentative start date of 24th of September. It will be back-breaking and very busy few weeks trying to pack the final essential "staff" still in our house.

Here is a great section from the greatest stand up comedian` George Carlin, talking about "Staff". Enjoy.

The Commencement Letter from the bank should be posted on Monday (10/9/2012), after small delay the bank had to make, to chase up and follow up on some paperwork from Masterton, even though I had already provided them with 3 weeks ago!

Neighbours have been notified of the house construction to start in the next few weeks.

We hope pegging and land scraping will start the first week of October.

Final plans arrived!

Got the final plans last night. Will be signing them today and post.

Not sure if we were supposed to get the electrical and plumbing as well, or we do not need to worry about them?

Still includes plans for the above ground rainwater tank. I asked Masterton to see if we still need them or remove it from the plans.

Demolition is booked for the week of 24th of September.

Final planning stages

Surprise day yesterday for us.

Last Friday our PCC told us the final tender with variations is done, and I signed them on Monday morning and that our plans will be ready in 2 weeks, as drafting is a bit busy.

Got an email yesterday saying the plans are in the mail and should arrive for us to inspect and sign! Already!

I have already posted all the documents to the bank. These include approved plans, final tender and Masterton insurance files.

All we need now is the letter from the bank and demolition, and our 20 day starts!

We were hoping to move by the weekend of the 8th-9th of September, but due to the rental we are moving to, we can only move by the 23rd of September, a delay of 2 weeks, and demolition to start from the Monday 24th.

Our 20 day countdown may start by 1st of October 2012.

CDC Approval obtained

We now have obtained the CDC certification approval. Took 22 days instead of the 10 claimed, but who's counting.

Final variation tender will be done by early next week as per our Pre-Construction Coordinator (PCC), followed by the drafting of our construction plans to be ready in 3 weeks from now.

According to Masterton's sales rep, it is now a law to have all new dwellings for their toilet flush to use rain water. So every time we flush, a water pump will start and re-fill the cistern. So to save the environment by using stored rain water, we now use more expensive and polluting energy of electricity. How nice!

Maybe I should plan and invest in solar energy once the house is built, with return on investment of over 10 years! If that.

Old kitchen sold

Looks like gumtree.com.au web site works. I have had few calls and one visit to have a look at the old kitchen. It is agreed on and it will be dismantled on the 1/9/2012.

This means we need to move to the rental home by the second week of September, else we will not have kitchen to cook any meals! LOL

Lets hope all plans get drawn quickly enough (wishful thinking) by the time we need to demolish the house.

Council Fee paid

Today we paid our Council 1% Section 94A fee, totalling nearly $4k!

What do we get for it? NOTHING!

Just because we have decided to build a new house. Even though we are getting approval from the state and not from the council, we still have to pay it.

Also placed the kitchen on gumtree.com.au , in hope to sell it, rather than ending up in the tip, and get some $$ for it, no matter how small.

We should get our CDC approval soon, so Masterton can draw the construction plans.

We hope to demolish the house sometime in September, THIS YEAR! lol.

CDC Plans Submitted

According to Masterton Pre-Construction Admin Assistant, our plans have been submitted to CDC certifier on Thursday 2nd of August 2012.

Technically, it should take 10 working days (17 August 2012) for the approval to be given.

Soon our pre-construction coordinator will be in touch to take us to the next stage.