Thanks to our soon-to-be neighbour Amanda, we’ve discovered that we’ve had site peg out! So what does that mean?

The builder (and quite often the surveyor) pegs out the dwelling footprint from the design drawings. They start at a boundary corner, peg a corner of the building, then lay a string line to describe the perimeter of construction. If the building has walls that step in and out each wall and its change in direction will need to be located on the site.

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The final construction plans have been sent across to us, with just a few minor questions regarding some of our decisions and triple checking everything for accuracy. After all, as soon as Metricon hits the go button, we can’t make any additional changes.

Since we received our Council Approval last Thursday, and our Commencement to Start construction from our lender on Monday, Metricon has been in control of the speed in which the project progresses. Up until then, Megan and I have been used to having three or four different companies involved in the approval process. Admittedly, since Metricon took the reigns, things have sped up. It took them less than a week to review and add any Council mandated changes into the plan.

Continue reading “Final Construction Plans – Complete!” »

Council has approved the plans, we’ve received or “Authorization to Commence Construction” from our lender and the land has been cleared of all rubbish, debris, and tall weeds. So now what?

Now we wait.

After the monotonous back and forth process between the builder, council, our bushfire consultant, and the Rural Bushfire Service over the past two months, it is nice to start getting into a routine and understand clearly what the process is from here.

Continue reading “We’ve been approved by Blacktown Council – now what?” »

158 painstakingly long days later, we finally have Council Approval. After a frustrating whirlwind adventure, complete with stories that you wouldn’t believe, we’ve got the approved stamped plans, hand delivered to Metricon by Megan this afternoon. After all the hardships it came down to a solution that, in my opinion, should have been suggested weeks months ago…

When the dust cleared this week over at Council, the solution that was left standing was exactly what we wanted in the first place, except the wood used in the bifold doors had changed and we were out another $5,000. We changed from the standard Meranti wood (softwood) that is used to build the doors to the more expensive Merbau wood. Merbau is a hardwood that has been tested against Level 3 bushfire zones (we’re level 1). While we’ll be paying a premium to get our bifold doors made of Merbau (they’ll need to be custom made) the upside, besides the approval process, is the way the doors age. They’re likely to last a lot longer than they would have otherwise. In fact, we’re looking into replacing our two sets of French Doors to Merbau too. Of course, that’s pending Metricon’s quote.

Continue reading “Council Approved!” »