At Last At Last A Sign At Last

The Metricon Board is up!
Two sleeps until build start!


The Board



Board and Block

First Contact (with SS)

Managed to catch up with the SS over the phone yesterday and he has confirmed the site scrape will be going ahead next week. We are very very very excited and will have cameras at the ready to document every step of the way. We are meeting on site beforehand just to go over things. He tells us he thinks that this is the first Nolan to be built in Queensland (not sure how true that is so if you know of anyone who has built a Nolan in the sunshine state we to love to hear about it). While we had him on the phone we asked about the Metricon board and he laughed saying he'd gone to put it up on Monday but it was raining so hard that after sitting in his car for an hour he decided it'd be better to come back later this week rather than risk a soaking. What, you can't bash a sign in with one hand and hold an umbrella in another? No only teasing - as long as rain doesn't delay our build.

The SS Only Rings Once

Hello are you there?

Our SS rang yesterday, sadly I was busy at work and could not take his call. When I phoned back it was after 5pm and I got his voice message so guess we will have to try again today. Kicking myself that I had not given Sandy's mobile as alternative contact. Obviously we are keen to get things moving as start date is now 9 days and counting.

Due Date Count Down

Like expectant parents we are counting down the days to our due date of 2nd June, the date of our build start. Apparently we will get a call from the site supervisor (SS) before then so we can have a site meeting and introduce ourselves. Only 10 days to go - oh and we still don't have a Metricon board yet.

Start Date For Real

Yippee yippee yay. Metricon have given us the real site start date - Thursday June 2nd. Fantastic. Looks like we are building a house then.

Show M The Money

Metricon have all the paperwork from the bank.Yippee they have all the figures and the ACC arrived. Its all going to plan. Ah but no they need more paperwork.....we are funding part of the build ourselves from the profits of our house sale so we have had to provide a copy of our bank statement showing that we actually have the cash. And just in case that's not enough we also had to get a statutory declaration signed saying we are in a position to pay.
No problem printed off, signed off, Justice of the Peaced (?) and faxed. OK Metricon the ball is back in your court......Now can we start our build please!

Finances Are GO!!!

Yippeeeee

Time to start celebrating as finally we have the all clear from the bank, our finances have been approved for the construction loan. The ACC (authorisation to commence construction) letter will be at Metricon tomorrow so now hopefully we'll see some action.
I have paid the remainder of the deposit and can't wait for my Metricon board to go up on the land. There are 4 others building with M on the 30 plus blocks that I know of as they have their boards up already. I have a serious case of board envy.

More Variations - Building Compliance

What More Paperwork?

Our CSC phoned yesterday to let us know that the compliance team had spotted a couple of things that needed attention for example because we have opted for a 2340mm front door the bulk head in the entry way needs to be made smaller or we can choose a smaller front door err just change the bulk head please. The vanities have been drawn at standard height but the ones noted in our contract are taller than this for some reason, now seeing as Sandy and I are both vertically challenged in the height department I explained we had not asked for taller units just to have the pedestals the same as the ones noted in the contract. Now they have to generate yet another variation form for us to sign off - I hope the changes mean we might save some money?!

Start Delayed?

Got a call from the bank yesterday explaining that our application is still with the credit department as they only received our land and property valuations last Friday (over a week after the valuer had actually been out!). Fortunately it looks like all the numbers stack up but after the last fiasco we had with the bank when we remortgaged the investment property to buy the block of land I am not holding my breath until the official papers are ready to sign. Our mortgage manager said he can organise a letter for the CSC at Metricon giving authority to commence construction which is great. Spoke with our CSC about start date of this Friday 13th to be told oh nothing will happen for at least a couple of weeks after that as we have to book your job in, place orders and organise trades. Oh so apparently they don't put the wheels in motion until they know for definite you are able to pay. Fair enough but it's slightly disappointing - nobody on our land release has started their builds yet and we were sort of hoping to be the first. I guess seeing as we haven't even paid the balance of the deposit yet we have done well to get this far as to date we have only paid $5k out of the $20+k they required.
So it's time to stop rushing, no more worrying about the clock ticking, go back to waiting and accept that we will be squashed into the apartment for at least a month longer than we thought.

Colour Schemes

Interior and Exterior Design - The Colour Schemes

Thought it was time to share what colour scheme we have gone for. As you will see it is mainly greys and browns accented with whites and off whites. We have purposely kept it quite simple so we can add splashes of colour after the build is complete with things like feature walls, wallpaper, soft furnishings, artwork etc etc.

• Carpet sisal circuit (from carpet call at studio M) similar to this one

Range Sisal Colour Ciruit

Laminate for kitchen benches and butler's pantry 

• 2 Pac laminex polar white for base cupboards along outside wall

• island bench, appliance tower, over head kitchen cupboards and laundry blackened linewood natural finish (as above picture)

• bench tops and island waterfalls ice snow caeserstone, this will also be the bench top for powder room, bathroom and ensuite

• laundry bench top laminex stipple seal

• powder room, ensuite and bathroom brescia

• paint colour taubman crystal gazing (off white)

• glass splashback Bristol Mortar 

 

• glass wardrobe taubmans abstract metallic

• timber stairs and door frames walnut

• exposed aggregate driveway bushfire



• exterior metropolis stone bricks, charcoal linea roof tiles, monument gutters and facia, dune downpipes and garage, dune water tank and cladding, silver window frames (had orginally decided on black but then felt they would look too dark against the off white walls from inside the house).

Exterior

External Colour Scheme

Pictures from our trip to studio M showing tiles, laminates, handles, paint colours for walls, splash backs and glass wardrobe.

The Interior Colour Scheme

Kitchen

Tiles

The pale tiles are for the floors, white for the laundry splashback, the browns for the walls in ensuite, bathroom and powder room with a similar one for balcony area, the dark grey is the feature wall in the showers.



Kitchen handles red label upgrade additional $12 each (sorry about the flash glare)

 

Yellow Label handle for laundry and bathrooms (standard range)

Bathrooms



Tile samples



Our Tiles

Fire Ants

In eager anticipation of our site start we have booked our fire ant inspection. Apparently we need the all clear before any soil can be disturbed or removed. Fingers crossed the little critters aren't making themselves at home on our land.