Final Draw Down

The last payment from the building loan has been completed and now we can convert the loan into a mortgage. I have no real idea what the final total amount we have had to borrow is as I'm living in denial of what the repayments will be. Hopefully we can negotiate a good deal with the bank as we have previous and existing loans with them. The good news is since we started our build the interest rates have fallen which is a blessing to everyone out there who has home loans as it eases the pressure if only ever so slightly.

Th first electricity bill arrived for $261; hard to say if that's an accurate reflection of our power consumption at this stage or not. The pool runs for 6 hours a day but we have a very efficient pump,oh but it only got installed at the end of December. The washing machine averages 1 load a day as does the dishwasher. So far we have not used the air con during the day as we haven't needed to even on a day like yesterday which was 34 deg and very humid. However it has been on for about 50% of the nights since moving in. Then there are the lights but we tend to only have on what we need and switch things off when we are finished, the TV, foxtel, DVD player etc which use their amounts as does the extractor over the cooker (that gets a good workout as we do a lot of cooking!). It all starts to add up. Luckily we have a gas hob and hot water system which I hear would massively add to our electricity consumption otherwise.
If it is a true reflection (I think it is slightly under) then our power bill would be around $1100 per year which is much cheaper than our old house.
Now I wonder how much the gas bill will be?

Site Cleared of Bricks

The bricks have been touched up and damaged ones replaced. The expansion joints have been filled with silicone and the piles and piles of spare bricks have been removed from site. For one moment we though we were going to get stuck with them all. Could have made a brick cubby house from them I guess?

The Council are investigating the build next door to see if they are in breach of the rule for the native vegetation covenant. The inspector is off to discuss it with the development application department and will inform me tomorrow of what is really going on. Hopefully they aren't and never were intending to build their house that far forward but I have a feeling the builder is going to be in trouble for digging up protected land.

PCI tomorrow and if all goes well we might get our keys next week. The bank do not have to send out their valuer yet as we have the pool and fencing included as part of our finances so they will do the valuation only when everything is finished. That means once we are happy with the build we fax in our final invoice for the practical completion stage and it will be paid to Metricon the very next day - no excuse for any delays...excellent!

The bob cat is coming next week and the fence is being erected next weekend. Move date has been set for 17th November. As Sandy is doing all the organising it doesn't seem real to me yet as I'm so busy at work right now my focus is taken up with running the business. It will start being real when everything disappears into boxes!!!

Vanity Solution

The vanity position will be rectified but it will cost us more money as they will have to make a new kicker and alter the carcass. It is to be moved over 500mm so it will be centred give or take 5-10mm either side. Our SS said it would be done yesterday because the tilers are starting to prepare the floors today but as I'm away I can't go on site and check it out until Monday so here's hoping its done properly and that they don't make a botch job of it. We have no idea how much it will cost at this stage however we did get a bonus of a $255 refund for the pot drawers that couldn't fit below our different specification ovens. Fingers crossed that will cover the vanity moving costs.

Please Move 500mm to The Left

Well done to our SS for sorting it out the vanity as at first he said there wasn't much scope to move it by more than 300mm but I persisted that there had to be a way to rectify the problem. I explained that I didn't want to spend all that time, effort and cash in planning a home the way we wanted to have to compromise on something that would royally pee me off every time I went in my ensuite. He was pretty understanding and didn't mess about coming up with a solution that suits us and the build. He'll have to draw up some paperwork now for both the refund and the additional charge on the vanity - there better not be any admin fees.

So floor prep for the tiles starts today and the holes were being cut for the electrical sockets and lights (hope they move the one in the ensuite over to be in the middle of the vanity!!!). I will be having a very good look around when we get back.

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.

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.

Ready.......Set....GO!!!!

Slow and steady wins the race

At the last minute before closing for Easter Metricon provided us with a start date!!!

Friday 13th May (dah dah daaaaaah). It's a good job we are not superstitious.

The bank have to finalise the construction loan before anything can proceed but seeing as start date is 3 weeks from now that shouldn't be a problem.

Guess we'd better pay the rest of the deposit as well.

The Variations Have Come

After what seemed like a long wait the variations arrived yesterday afternoon. I opened the e-mail attachments with baited breath and trepidation as we were about to find out if we'd gone totally bonkers at Studio M. Phew after a quick read through it looks like we won't have to sell a kidney or send our 4 year old out to work to fund the project.

What's the damage then?



Essentially we spent $650 on tiles, an additional $6200 on electricals ($16,200 in total but we had a $10k provision in our contract), $3200 on carpet and roughly $7000 at Studio M. Giving a grand total of...........$17,000 extra on the contract price. We had estimated more like $20-22k so we feel we have done really well.

After getting some rough quotes for concreting the driveway, portico area and some pathways we have decided to go with Metricon as they were only going to charge a couple of thousand dollars more. Our reasoning for justifying paying the higher price is that it will all be completed without the need for us to wait until the house is finished, we don't have to organise it and Metricon will be responsible for any problems or issues that may arise. Sometimes the easier option makes more sense to us than the cheaper one.

OK so what is the build going to cost? We had budgeted/estimated that we would need $485k just for the house and the final contract price comes in at $472k which with the inclusion of the driveway/concrete totals $489k.
We are pleased to be so close to our initial figure which we came up with after much guess work. There were a few things that we had overlooked in our budget calculations plus some additional doors and upgrades which we put in along the way so we were relieved to have actually spent less than the budget on the house and not blown the overspend out more than this by opting for Metricon to do the driveway.

There will be further costs for the swimming pool $30k, hard landscaping $12k, fencing $16k (includes glass pool fences) and lawns $10k - estimate an additional $70 to $75k. I had originally factored a cost of $100k for all this including driveway and concreting so hopefully we can bring the completed house and garden in under what we were prepared to spend. Hmm might be able to buy some new furniture after all (wishfull thinking!?).

Metricon have suggested that we may hear about a tentative start date today!!

We Have Building Approval

Got notification that Metricon have received our Building Approval - yippee! It has been checked for conditions by the Compliance Department and two items were found that need attention so there will be more variations to include these items. The first is rotary roof vents (whirly birds) and eave vents are required to ensure appropriate ventilation to the upper level because we are having a steel frame and roof sarking. The second item is to delete the rumble pit and connect the surface drains to the storm water line as requested by the certifier. Too easy but I guess that will cost us more money!

Sandy is off for a meeting with the bank today to look at our options for financing the construction loan. It'll be good to know exactly where we stand financially. Once all the variations arrive (yes we are still waiting to know how much we spent at Studio M!) we can finalise the loan and provide Metricon with all the necessary paperwork.

Hoping to hear about a tentative start date soon. Can't wait.

What Happens Next?

Selection appointments are all done, so what happens now? Firstly we have to wait for the variations to be generated so we can sign off on them. Then we have to provide proof that we own the land e.g title or rates bill. Show Metricon the money....once we have all our figures for costings it's back to the bank to finalise the construction loan and send that in so they can see we can pay. And also give details of who will be doing our pool. Oh yes and pay the rest of our deposit!!
We are busy getting everything quoted so we can include as much as we can in the construction loan as possible but it still feels like we are now some how holding up the process! Our house plans have gone through the certifier and are in with Council so we could have approval any time now.
Once Metricon are satisfied with all the information and have double checked the contracts and drawings again then when they have the nod from council we will be provided with a start date.
Better get some phone calls done today so we can complete the things we need to do.

P.S We have another new CSC - that is now our third one.