So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye....

Its quote ironic that my previous post way back in 2012 was called we are still here as after living in our wonderful Nolan 45 for over 3 years we have decided its time to move on and up. We have loved everything about this house, the layout, the light, huge kitchen, wonderful master suite and on and on I could go. But due to our location it lacks on thing and that is a view. Since building work is complete on the surrounding blocks we feel slightly hemmed in and began talking about moving around 6 months ago. First we tested the waters by going to opens in our local area as we love our suburb and the school of son goes to so didn't want to look at leaving the area.

We decided it would be a good investment to move a rung up the property ladder and buy something more expensive while the housing market is flat.
Now while we had seen some lovely homes none of then held a candle to our beautifully designed and planned for our family Metricon Nolan.

In early November we viewed a large older style home on a very big block and decided it would be something we could renovate and possible sub-divide at a later date. However, there was intense interest and we learn we had been pipped to the post by about $25,000. Money we simply couldn't raise as we were not only at the top of our budget but past it.

Funny how things turn out though, the next day our real estate agent rang to tell us a contract had fallen through on a house she felt would suit us perfectly. Excited we tee'd up a view for later in the week. 

Well we weren't to be disappointed, it's not often I walk into a house and find myself saying 'wow'. But this house wowed me, from the huge expansive living ares, 4 car garage and master suite the size of a small apartment I was impressed. the add to that the piece de resistance - a river view!

And the rest is history - offer made and accepted and our Nolan on the market and sold within a matter of days. People just know a well built and well designed home when they see one.

So its a frenzy of packing and we move in less than 3 weeks.
Are we sad to be going - we'd be lying if we said no but it is time for the next adventure and project and to have room for our family and friends as our son grows.

So as a final farewell here are some photos of our home....

Its Been A Year

One year has passed since the diggers came and did our site scrape ready for construction of the lovely home we have now been living in for over 6 months. Time goes by so quickly. So to those of you caught up in all the stress of building your new home - hold on in there it will all soon be a dim and distant memory and hopefully you'll be as happy and satisfied with the end results as we have been.

A Few Photos

That Land Drain Doesn't Work Then

Where's The Ark?

Veggie Patch or Duck Pond?

Pumping Out The Downfall Again!

The Yard In Progress

From Another Angle

There's Going To Be A Shed There So Can You Shift Your Tools

Drainage! And It Works

Stepping Stones

And Its Finishes

Front Yard - We Will Plant Mini Black Mondos Between Paving

Closer View

Angel Appreciating The New Garden

Solar and Cracked Up

The boys from FreeSolar were up on the roof for most of yesterday in the blazing sun installing the solar panels for our 3kw solar system. From what I can see on the ground they have done a neat job. The inverter has been positioned over the electricity meter box so as to keep thinks looking tidy as we didn't want a random box just anywhere with loads of conduit running here there and everywhere. A few roof tiles paid the price during the fitting and apparently there were 3 broken ones up there anyway. So the asked if we had some spare tiles to replace the damaged ones - well the answer to that would be NO as Metricon didn't leave us any. Oh hang on I'm not being fair there - yes they did lave us some but....... they were all smashed so they went in the bin. Quick call to a couple of tile stockist who told us they'd need to order them in, followed by a call to Boral who told us that our tiles have been, wait for it wait for it, DISCONTINUED. Shock faint horror! You build a new house, have no spare roof tiles and the ones your builder used are discontinued. What to do now. Phone Metricon explain the situation and now they have promised to see if they have any that they can bring over, I reminded them we are still under our 6 month service and maintenance period so they better come up with the goods. In the meantime we have ordered 30 tiles from the supplier as there is stock but no more being made. That'll cost us around $175 (might send M the bill and see what happens ha ha).
The solar guys have moved all the broken tiles to the front row of the garage and sealed them up with silicone for now so if it does rain heavily before the replacement ones arrive and we get a leak it will be over the garage and not into the main body of the house. Also it will make it easier to swap them out.

Oh now I come to think of it we better order some ridge cap tiles too as we plan to live here a long time so don't want to get to the stage where we can't get hold of what we need if something gets cracked or dislodged.

The solar is all installed and on but we are not yet connected or is it producing electricity until Energex do their bit whenever that will be. Sorry to be so vague but I had some much other stuff happening yesterday that I didn't fully take it all in. I'll have to give FreeSolar a call and double check the facts.

Sometimes you can be generating power but not yet selling it back to the electricity provider and when that happens it actually makes you meter run backwards so your bill is smaller but you aren't getting the extra credits yet - not sure if that is true or whether the solar fitters were pulling my leg and having a joke at my expense. Time to do some research.

Metricon Visits

Finally after a couple of increasingly more urgent and slightly more irate emails to the service and maintenance dept at M the Qld Building Manager paid us a visit this morning to assess the drainage (or lack of) issues.
After listening to our concerns, looking at the photos of a water logged yard and examining the site he agreed that we actually need 4 more gully/land drains and a retaining wall between us and out right handside neighbours (who are at frame stage now with M). The retaining wall was originally included in the building plans but was never constructed so M will install this at no cost after discussing the potential land levels with the site supervisor to assess how high it needs to be. As for the land drains Metricon's plumber will come and do these for us and Metricon have agreed to split the cost 50-50. We felt this to be a fair arrangement as if the engineer had recommended additional drainage in the first place we would have had to pay for it all anyway and if we hadn't got M involved we would have also had to foot the bill. Hopefully the plumber can come and do the drains for us the week after next and then at last we can finish the landscaping.

The moral of this story is always get the builder to come out and look at potential issues, stay calm and be reasonable, state your case clearly and tell them how you would like to see matters resloved and then hopefully you get a win win situation.

Action Next Door

The rain eased to light showers and then glorious sunshine yesterday which was great timing as 3 cubic meters of soil arrived ready for spreading in the miniature lake feature that develops each time it rains along side the laundry area of the house. The thinking is if we can raise the levels and even the area out the water may not pool so much when it rains heavily (wishful thinking perhaps?). The next consideration is do we add some gravel pit soak aways as well as or instead of the 2 additional land drains proposed? I will need to do some more research to see how effective they are and compare costings as there really isn't much left in the gardening budget. I would like enough cash left over as we were hoping to have a small deck and pergola added to the outdoor entertaining area (as if it wasn't big enough already!!).

There has been activity finally on the block next door, site scrape happened Thursday followed by the concrete footings yesterday. My prayers have been answered and there house has been situated on the far side of their block away from us so their garden will be next to ours leaving a good 15 meters of space between our homes. This will allow us privacy, light and distance as well as good breezes and we don't completely lose the view out to the trees and fields beyond. Fantastic. It looks like they are building the Lindrum 52 which is a bit of a squeeze lengthwise but I'll keep you posted once I get some official information i.e. "morning building team do you know which house they've gone for?"

Plans for today, morning walk, light breakfast, family time playing with our rapidly growing spoodle pup Angel who is settling in brilliantly, then off to the landscape suppliers to choose some paving and gravel before a BBQ and afternoon of relaxing.