The wait is over!

Firstly, here's a peek at our babe in-utero - at 12 weeks, so over 5 weeks ago but we just got a new scanner!!!!

Yippee!!!!!!!! Had a phone call from our Council chick today who told me I could go and pick up the Permit tomorrow!!!!!!! So excited!

It took 8 weeks rather than the 12 they had told us to expect, though I still find it hard to accept that they have wasted 8 of our precious weeks to end up saying, "Yep it's fine, no changes". What a waste.

Anyway!!!!! It's done and we now move on! Dave will be talking to the Builder at first light tomorrow to let them know so that we can get this ball rolling!

In the meantime, the first whispers of feathery movements in-utero have begun; I'd forgotten what it felt like! So cool! We have our 20 week scan in two weeks; can't wait to find out if it's another little bloke or whether all hell is going to break loose and it's a little chick!!!!

Will hopefully update again tomorrow with news from the Builder!

xxMel

Still waiting...

We're still hanging in there!!! We received a letter from the Council about three weeks ago, asking for more money to pay for them to 'notify persons in the immediate vicinity who may be affected by the proposal'. Me being me got straight on the phone and demanded to know why they needed more money, considering we'd had to pay $400 odd to apply for the Permit. Basically the reply was 'because you just do, so pay it or nothing will happen'. So grudgingly off I went to pay. Hubby saw it as a good sign though, in that it more than likely meant that they had accepted our reasons for the solar orientation and were happy enough to accept it, so were moving on to the next step.

Seems he could have been right! I emailed our contact during the week, asking for an update. We were told that the 'advertising period' was ending that day (neighbours have 14 days to go and check out plans and complain if they wish), she would wait until Monday to see if any mail arrived and if not, all going well, the Permit would be issued next week!!! Woo hoo I say!!!!! So, we'll just wait and see! I'm not holding my breath! If it does, then we'll be rapt, especially as it will be 9 weeks rather than the 12 they had originally told us. Every day counts!

So that's where we are at. I will update next week, hopefully with some great news! Cross your fingers for us!

xMel

More dramas.....good AND bad!!!!!

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

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

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

Finally!

Well finally the bank has come through with the goods. Over 6 weeks to get approval - not happy Jan. BUT...it's all done now, so onward we go - next step is the Building Permit - more waiting! We're getting good at this! So that's where we stand! On another note, our eldest started Prep a couple of weeks ago, which has been keeping us very busy, and he's loving it which is making us all very happy! Here's a snap of our boy on his first day! Will update again when we have more news!

xxxMadmel

The final quote is in!

Yey! We received our final quote on the weekend! $30k over and above the base price of the house, which considering we have hardly changed anything, that's a bummer! This includes all the excavating and the fact that our soil test came back as "P" class, so we're pretty happy. The contracts are being drawn up as we speak and we will be getting together with Peta on the weekend to go through it! Hopefully it won't take long for the plans to get to and go through Council and we'll be on our way! Fingers and toes crossed to an early start in January some time!

Ciao for now,
Madmel