Andrew's blog

Well, my plan of blogging every month about the progress on the house build was a bit of a fail.

Before

Our house is now almost finished and our site has been transformed to look more like a house in need of decorating, rather than a construction site. It seems when people say that building is a time-consuming project, they are right!

Our build has come a long way since it kicked off last year.

The foundations went in without a hitch. Well, without any major hitches anyway. It turns out we needed more specific design engineered foundations than first anticipated but otherwise, it went much as expected.

We were pleasantly surprised to find the house looked relatively large despite having no walls or roof. But then I guess, by comparison to the house we're currently living in, it is twice the size.

We visited the site a few days later to see if the timber framing had arrived on time, just to discover the framing was already up. Man, what a transformation!

The framing really... well, framed the house. The rooms were defined by the walls now so you had a sense of what the space would be like once it was built. We had forgotten about 2 windows in the house plan, so it was exciting to see those in place.

A few days later the roof was mostly finished. The house was starting to take shape. And it was going up fast!

Before we knew it the windows and doors were in. Well, all of the doors, except the garage door. Muttermumblegrumble damn Specific Engineer Design Wind Zone muttermumblegrumble.

Over 1000 metres of cable

We expected the bricks to take 2 weeks to go up, but they took a record 3 days! The house was water tight... except for the garage door.

Geeks hard at work

During first fix, Andrew started spending most of his spare time at the house running miles and miles of network cable and speaker cable and who knows what else (with some much appreciated help, of course), to ensure the house reached Ultimate Geek standard.

The insulation went in (including, thanks to some friends of ours, some silencer batts in some strategic places) and then we needed to take a short pause. The house build had happened so fast that the timber framing hadn't had time to dry out after getting wet before the roof went on. A couple of weeks and some sunny days later, we were back into it.

The gib, skirtings, scotias, and internal doors were installed and, finally, the much awaited garage door, thanks to Jennian Homes.

The plasterer is now finishing off, the painter is starting this week, and second fix will begin next week. We're mostly on schedule with only 2 weeks overdue, which is pretty good for a house build. And would you believe, we'll be moving into the house in 5 weeks time! Let the packing begin.

A few observations so far:

It's surprising how few names are required within each field:


• Glenn and Glen, our excavators
• Nick and Nicola, the surveyors
• Brian and Ryan, the engineers
• Mark and Mark at Jennian Homes
• Shane and Shane, two of our electricians

It's surprising how many snap decisions are required:


• To centre the bath spout or to not centre the bath spout
• To install tiles above the bath or to install a splashback
• To install the sump 100mm above ground level or to install the sump flush with the ground
• To install a tap on the outside of a fence or to install it on the inside of the fence

A few tricks of the trade:


• Tradespeople don't schedule meetings, 'how about now' works for them
• Things deemed 'not needed until later', will be needed today
• The shorter your emails, the sooner you'll get a reply
• Variations and additional extras are a way of life

Would we do it again? Definitely yes!

When we build again, we would definitely use Keith Bullocks Contracting to excavate the site. They are The Best excavators. They turn digging into an art-form making the digger look like it's performing in a ballet. They are professional, reliable and are straight-up-and-down good guys. They know their business, they understand local Council and they work hard to ensure the job gets done to an exceptionally high standard.

We would also definitely build with Jennian Homes again. They really do make building an enjoyable and relatively stress-free experience. They know what they are doing. They've been in this business for a long time, and it shows. When problems arise, as is expected on any big project, Jennian takes the problems in their stride and finds a solution that works for all parties involved. They listen to the client and they work with the client every step of the way. The contractors they engage are hard-working and reliable, often working long hours and sometimes on weekends.

Although I'm not sure if I'd want to build with this local council again...