We'll start with the good! Our much longed for Baby No. 3 is on its way! We had our 12 week ultrasound today and there is a beautiful baby in there with all its bits in the right places! We are very excited! We actually found out we were expecting the day we sent our eldest off to Prep, so it really brightened an otherwise happy/sad day!
On to the bad....we got a call from the Council yesterday regarding our Planning Permit. A couple of issues I sorted out straight away, so that was easy. The stumbling block is that the Council don't like the solar orientation of our house. It isn't ideal (all our bedrooms will get the daily winter sun, rather than the living areas), but it was a conscious choice on our behalf to flip the design of our house so this would occur. Our block is a corner block, with a main road right down the side. We wanted all the bedrooms furthest away from that road so that:
1. the traffic noise, both night and day, wouldn't affect sleeping children.
2. The chances of idiot/drunk drivers careering down the hill, through our fence and into the house, though remote, is still not impossible and if it were to happen, would more likely occur during the night - into the bedrooms if they were there.
We have put the bedrooms side of the house as close to the left side of the block as possible, giving us more usable living space outside and minimising the excavating that would need to be done if it was reversed, as we would then have to move the house as close to the fence (and main road) on the right, to give us the same living space. More excavating means more money!
So, we have written all these reasons down and sent them to Council, and now we await their decision. Worst case scenario, we would rather not build on that block if we had to have the bedrooms on the main road side. Fingers crossed they will agree that our reasons are valid.
So that's how it stands at the moment! It's pretty much a case of 'wait and see'. In the meantime, I'm just going to concentrate on growing this babe and enjoying eating loads of good and bad foods for the last time!!!!
Over and out,
xMadmel
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
Bloody contracts.....
We pushed the colour selection through quickly, as everything was coming together really well and the building contract looked like it was getting pretty close......
Back in December, whilst reading through our Contract, I noticed the part about "Planning Permits" and noted that it was the "Owner's" responsibility. I queried this with our builder who told me that we didn't need to worry about a Planning Permit, because they were only necessary if you were building units or something out of the ordinary etc.
Back in February, we received in the mail, a Notice of Planning Permit for the house that is being built ACROSS from ours. Alarm bells rang. I again rang the Builder, but they still stood by their first comment. Big lesson No. 1. Do your own homework. A simple call to our local Council would have told us everything we needed to know.
What we needed to know was this: Because we are building in Wandin, this is classed as "Rural"; we fall just outside the "metropolitan ring" by about 5 kms. This requires us to have a Planning Permit. So what looked like a TWO week wait on the Building Contract has turned into a TWELVE week wait to get the Planning Permit through Council. Not happy one little bit. It buggers up a whole lot of things which I will reveal more about in the next week..... !
We learnt a lot through our first building experience, but unfortunately, we didn't need a Planning Permit for that one, so another learning experience!!! I thought this house building caper was meant to get easier the more you did it!!!!!!
I will update as things come to hand. Meanwhile, I will sit here and twiddle my bloody thumbs just a little bit more for something different! Papers have been with Council for two weeks, so only TEN (or so) to go!!!!!!
xMadmel
Back in December, whilst reading through our Contract, I noticed the part about "Planning Permits" and noted that it was the "Owner's" responsibility. I queried this with our builder who told me that we didn't need to worry about a Planning Permit, because they were only necessary if you were building units or something out of the ordinary etc.
Back in February, we received in the mail, a Notice of Planning Permit for the house that is being built ACROSS from ours. Alarm bells rang. I again rang the Builder, but they still stood by their first comment. Big lesson No. 1. Do your own homework. A simple call to our local Council would have told us everything we needed to know.
What we needed to know was this: Because we are building in Wandin, this is classed as "Rural"; we fall just outside the "metropolitan ring" by about 5 kms. This requires us to have a Planning Permit. So what looked like a TWO week wait on the Building Contract has turned into a TWELVE week wait to get the Planning Permit through Council. Not happy one little bit. It buggers up a whole lot of things which I will reveal more about in the next week..... !
We learnt a lot through our first building experience, but unfortunately, we didn't need a Planning Permit for that one, so another learning experience!!! I thought this house building caper was meant to get easier the more you did it!!!!!!
I will update as things come to hand. Meanwhile, I will sit here and twiddle my bloody thumbs just a little bit more for something different! Papers have been with Council for two weeks, so only TEN (or so) to go!!!!!!
xMadmel
Colours!
All our colours are done! I met with Janette from Jaymac Interior Designs and it was all done in just over an hour! I took my Mum with me, because dear Hubby didn't really give a continental, so I figured I'd at least take someone who was interested! We just have to pick the carpets and tiles now, but I know what I want, so that will be easy!
xMadmel
xMadmel
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