Williams Landing aka The Windy City

Hey everyone

Its been a windy week down at Williams Landing, causing all sorts of issues: builder's delays, people losing loose waffle pods down the street and it definately plays havoc on your hair!



(http://static.squidoo.com/resize/squidoo_images/-1/draft_lens2137341module11123989photo_1219482997Very_Windy_Day.jpg)

We met up with the framer again yesterday and had another good chat. Its all come up well he says, and although they're a day or two behind, the framer will keep working while the next step is completed - the gutters and the roofing tiles.

I also spoke to our Site Supervisor (SS) for the first time the other day. I've read a lot of blogs where people get all upset when the SS doesn't call every other day or every week. I let him know that we're not like that and we'll catch him after each major stage for a chat onsite. He sounded glad and now we can all just focus on getting the place built!

As usual, below are the snaps from our trip down this weekend...

From the back fence looking toward the VERY Grand Alfresco (its massive!)

From the side:

From the front over the street:

Jason helping himself to an OJ from the fridge:

Looking through the open plan living towards the theatre room:

Looking down the boring side of the house. We think we're just going to get some sort of cheap rock to compact down in this area.

The guttering has been delivered in anticipation of this week:

Looking from the back fence to the grand alfresco and towards kitchen/dining in the background:

The grand alfresco again, this time looking back. Its very 'concrete jungle sheike' atm:

The small alfresco (the frame is in place for the timber bi-fold doors):

The side of the house. We're starting to think about how we are going to design the garden down this part, its going to be very important. Jason wants a fernery. I'm yet to be convinced.

Man it gets stuffy in our house! So Jase had to open a window and let some of the fresh air in!

Windows at the front of the house (the right is to the study, the left is to the ensuite - must remember to get blinds first thing we do!)

This is the soon-to-be front door. The door we've chosen has matching opaque glass - it's gonna look great!

This is the garage / wine cellar (the exact mix is yet to be determined)

House from the front:

Ok, that's it for this trip. By next weekend I'm hoping that we'll have the guttering up and perhaps the scaffold set up to allow the roof tilers to start.

Cheers

Drew and Jase

A house made of sticks

Hey all

As predicted last blog, we went to the block this weekend and saw that the builders have been busy - the frame is partially complete (and to think that it was only a piece of concrete in the ground on Wendesday night).

When we went down on Saturday, I met the frame builder. He was a great guy, very happy to have a chat about it all. Although I felt out of place taking photos when he was about so we had to go down again today (Sunday).


From over the street:


From the front looking 'through' the master bedroom to the three spare bedrooms rooms:

The small alfresco:

From the back of the house looking towards the front, across the large alfresco (theatre room to the left of the shot):

Looking down the central coridore from the front:

Looking towards the back again from the front:

The builder was there on site doing all the measuring and cutting of the wall supports. That's them lying on the ground. Which means that when his staff are on site from Monday, the supports are measured, cut and simply ready to put upright.

From here, they will finish the frame, the roof will be put on and then the house will be at 'Frame stage' - ready for bricking, windows and roof tiles!

Anyway, better dash. While my beloved Blues may be out of the finals, Saints had a good win tonight and I'm a little hoarse and tired from shouting. What can I say? Hot Saints and cold Pies.

Drew and Jase

The slab is nearly done!

... although they are building much quicker than I can blog! These were taken last weekend, but by the time you read this, our slab has been finished, poured and (hopefully) set. I say 'hopefully' because when we went out for a mid-week jaunt, Jase couldn't help but stand on it! He didn't sink so that's a good sign.

Slab from the front:



Looking at our site from over the street:



Our waffle pods and slab support




More waffle pods. Who would have thought styrophone eskis could have such an intrical part of building a home!




The side of the house (closest to the fence):

Me, standing on our neighbour's lawn, our house in the background. Tell you what, it was bloody cold - and they hadn't fixed the fence which blew down in the wind! But that's ok, it'll just blow down again anyway.

Slab from the back of the house looking towards the street

Jase getting very excited about our meter casing. You can tell he's an Origin Energy boy through and through can't you?

That's about it. Next blog we'll have pics of the slab and anything else they've done since then.

Cheers

Drew and Jase

Our plumbing is exposed for all the world to see

Hi everyone

Time for another update. I'll be blowed if I can get the hang of this blog writing window pane. I can't ever get the pics in the right order and stuff so you'll just have to bare with me.

We went out to the block on Saturday and took a few more snaps. I was full of the flu at the time, and still am at the time of writing, but with my work calendar being as it is, its lots of chicken soup at my desk right now...


From now 0n, I'm gonna take a few snaps for each blog post - roughly at the same spot. Through some wonder of modern techonology I might be able to set up a slide show or something but for the moment, this'll do :)

From the side (yep, that's our land beyond the fence)



From the back of the land looking forward towards the front of the house

Look what the wind did to our fence? No mean feat to be truthful, Jase and I tried to pull the fence upright again and couldn't manage it. Or maybe that might have something to do with our general levels of unfitness...

This is our backyard. Sure, it needs work, but its nothing a little working bee couldn't fix.

Pipes for the kitchen

Pipes for the guest bathroom and toot.

Some pipe buried in the dirt. I don't know why that's so exciting but it is.

Pipes for the ensuite

Anyway, you've seen enough of our plumbing, by this time next week the slab will be down. With Tropical Cyclone 'I'm just doing this to put Jase and Drew's build behind schedule' hopefully passing over Melbs this weekend, there shouldn't be too much holding back the builder from really getting stuck in.

See ya.

Drew and Jase

Ready, set, BUILD!

Hi all

Well, so much has happened since we last wrote... We have a new car, St Kilda finally lost a game, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince arrived (and sorta disappointed, sorry Obie, but it had such potential).

Meanwhile, our little block of land sat patiently, biding its time, waiting for the perfect moment to get underway.

I won't go through the mountains of painful issues which slowed things to a crawl since late June, because this is a 'happy blog' - but lets just say that if I saw the embodiment of Westpac sitting alone at a bar, I'd probably kick it in the fvajuutz.

BUT WE ARE UNDERWAY!

Having a barely completed house does not deter us from the most basic, built in state-of-being which Jase and I possess... Entertaining guests. Not wanting to waste any time, and before the house was more than an empty block, we popped to meet the locals and entertain:

ANYWAY, where are our manners? What sort of hosts would we be without offering our guest a cup of tea in the kitchen?

After dazzling in the kitchen, the boys retire to the theatre room to watch some Stargate SG1

Since our first visitor came past, a lot has happened. We have a temporary fence up! Jase can be seen here inspecting our block ('...strike a pose, there's nothing to it').

We've also had a site scape in preparation for the laying of the slab. This is the side of house which will have the bedrooms and garage

No, our little Hoondee did not burn down the block as the tyre tracks seem to indicate. She is waiting patiently for us to return on the front doorstep. Btw, the house in the background over the road was only a slab 4 weeks ago. I hope ours goes up that fast!

The toot has been installed (I know its outdoor and doesn't flush, but the indoor and porceline version was not included in our base price and was an upgrade)

More site scraping, this time down the side of the house which will be the entertaining side.



Finally, the site scrape from the back looking towards the front again


Anyway, that's it for the moment. The slab is due to go down next week. I suspect between now and then some drains and stuff will go in.

Cheers,

Jase and Drew