Thursday 30 June 2011

Tears for Piers!!

So there has been some action...thank you rain for staying away ......for a while!

On Friday 17 June we had the site excavated, then on the Monday 20 June we had the piering done. Dad went out to inspect with D3 on his RDO.Mum was at work on stanby to hear the good and bad news! The good news....hhhmmmm..... well the piering had started. The bad news the costs of our build were going up, and up with each new hole.

Dad says you could hear the drill hitting the clay then you would know the pier had hit it's limit in depth. It was a great sound when you knew it wouldn't go further. Mum says it should have sounded like a cash register..ching ching!!

D3 site supervisor! You do not want to know what is in the pink Hannah Montana bag?? They had better get that slab right or her Zu Zu pets will be unleashed!
So our tender with Alkira allowed for us to have a maximum of 70 lin metres of piering. We ended up needing 103 linear metres! Bugger! On top of that we also had to get rid of 120m3 of excess spoil!!  So "ching ching" there goes some more items from the wish list.
Piering work underway



The piering was something we always knew was going to be a variable and was something that we just could not get a price (not even ballpark) during our contract negotiations. Even on the day, Dad says that each pier was different and just depended on what was under there!!


The removal of the spoil was something that we didn't realise was not included in our contract! It took us by surprise so we had to go back and read over the contract to make sure. In hindsight it is funny that it did not register with us though. A few months before we were furiously getting quotes for an in-ground pool for the block. Every quote had a sketchy answer for the spoil removal and varied from company to company. Friends and family were always quick to point out that the spoil would be an added cost "don't forget the fill removal"! blah blah Well, nobody mentioned that for the house did they? It was off the radar.


We were hoping to get the pool installed before the build then they come back and finish it all off once the house is completed. We were getting too rushed for time, we did not have final prices for our upgrades (and still don't) and it would have delayed our build time. So we have put it on hold for now...


But now, thousands of $$ from our "wish list budget' has GOOOONNNEEE!!! The pool is not looking good at the moment girls!Mum will have to rustle up some more Body Shop Parties!

BUT we have piers....and what lovely piers they are

So over the space of 4 days we had the site leveled and marked out, then our piering undertaken. Next thing to come was the....???

 SLAB!


The site prepared and ready for concrete!

We did drive bys every day through the week and finally...on Saturday 25 June after soccer we turned up to see it done! Dissapointed that we missed seeing it being poured but thankful that it is now installed.

It is a reality check once the slab is in, as it helps you see the foundation of the house. It helps you gain a perspective of what goes where and exactly how big/small everything will be!

We have been really worried aboutthe size of the yard..or lack of it, since our last home was on a beautiful quarter acre block (and so is the house we are renting) but with the slab down we could now step and walk around in what will be our yard. It is not too bad which is a comforting relief.

On the sunday 26 it was D3's birthday (she turned 4) we had an eventful day and then in the evening went to The ponds Dinner night to check it all out! It was lovely. The girls had a ball (I think that it may have been from the lemonade and birthday cake they had before we went) and the adults had some friendly banter with other people in the area. Most people though, had already moved into their homes. We were very proudly proclaiming though that "we have a slab!".

We heard from the Landcom Project Manager who told us a bit about the rain gardens. It was quite interesting and we look forward to seeing them progress also. Has anyone seen a concept of what the Riverbank Drive bridge will look like? Love the red pylons on the Stanhope Parkway one! Hope the Riverbank one gets a bit of razzle dazzle too. We cannot find any info or pictures of it! Google has let us down on this occasion.

Check out the backyard!Hope the new neighbours don't hear us yelling at the girls!

We didn't put up too many photos of the foundations of our home.So hopefully they will not bore you to tears..or bring you to tears like they did us! Tears of joy that we have started building and tears of sadness as we buried our pool dreams under  a heap of concrete.

4 comments:

  1. LOL, just had a good laugh reading your post. What a pity about the unforeseen costs with the piering. Anyway, you can save up for the pool later down the track. I forgot all about the Sunday dinner, I had registered. Glad you enjoyed it, I love meeting the neighbours and other Pondsies. I was there when they were pouring your slab. Was surprised to see them work on a Saturday. It looks good. Hope to meet you again soon.

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  2. Hi there, just had a read of ur blog, congrats on ur progress!! Bummer bout the piers, we held our breath while ours were dug! We had a 70m allowance too and went 6m over...thank god!! We too hav alot of fill to be removed. Would you mind if i asked who you got to remove urs??

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  3. hi Nat and Ash, we had a few contacts from people from the forum. I only have one name and number but I know we did not use him. Another pondsie did and said he was ok. I don't want to put it on here though...is there a way to send messages privately on here/? Are you on the home one forum?

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  4. Yeh we are on the homeone forum. Our name is Natandash. We have had one lot of fill taken already but the guy was pretty costly! If you find us on home one, that would be awesome, otherwise ill give you our email address if thats ok? Im only new to home one, is there a pondsie thread? Ive just been chatting on the beechwood builders thread. I love finding people to chat to that are building at the ponds :) :)

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