Well, more accurately, the Stage is beginning. There’s not any physical construction starting, but at least we are moving to a stage where it might begin. We at least feel that we are moving forward. I am torn between the following lyrics: Forward he cried, from the rear (and the front rank died.) The General…
Category: House Design
Pre-Start Haggling
My neighbour and I were comparing progress notes the other day. He described the pre-start process as one of “contrived extortion”. What a great term. I am beginning to understand what he means. When we attended the pre-start process, we were all optimistic, enthusiastic and excited to be finally customising our own house. So we…
Electrical Plan
We’ve done our electrical plan. I wanted electric and data points every metre everywhere, but of course there was compromise. I also wanted the spotlights from the Sydney Opera House above my kitchen workbench, but again we found some middle ground. Smart Homes allocated us a consultant just for this part of the house infrastructure…
No Going Back now!
We’ve signed our contracts and are moving into the next stage. We have a written guarantee from Smart Homes, that so long as we don’t delay our side then there will be no price increases. We’re basically happy with the plans. There are two changes needed but they will not alter the basic structure and…
Rainwater Tank Downsized
For our block, we knew we had to make provision for a rainwater tank, as part of council’s water efficiency and conservation efforts. But the recommended rainwater tank for our block is too big and as ugly as a blind cobbler’s thumb. We decided we’d have a good chance of seeing if we could change…
Progress – Admin, but moving along
It’s hard writing a blog when there’s not much happening. We’re obviously in an admin queue – our builders have got more clients than their contract administrators and non-gender-specific draughtspersons. We’re officially at stage 2 of 14 Preconstruction stages. We’ve gone from the ‘Sales Admin’ stage to the ‘Contract Admin’ stage. I’m trying to think…
Scullery Out
We’ve scrapped the scullery. There will be no place in our home that separates the ‘downstairs staff’ and the hoi polloi from the the elite. There will be nowhere for the staff to cook, clean and gossip; there will be no place for the butler, housekeeper, footmen and maids to eat leftovers and plot schemes…