Roof frame up

Looks so much better with the roof frame on. Reduces the box shape a little bit

Wow! The house looks enormous!! We definitely wanted to have a big house but I am astounded by the size of it. Too think we were concerned when we had to reduce the house length by a metre because the council knocked back our 6 meter setback request.

The builders left their ladder their so i took the opportunity to walk around the top floor, which of course I'm not supposed to but it was was too tempting.

As usual the fence was left unlocked (although shut over) but considering the builders drill was lying around amongst other things I'm really surprised its not locked up.

Frame going well

The first floor is pretty much complete and looks amazing! Wrapped with the high ceilings in the living areas and the 3 steps down which was forced upon us because of the slope of the block is actually something that we would have chosen even without the slope, Separates the living/kitchen area really nicely.

Hopefully 2nd story will start today

Ground Floor frame almost done

Frame is going up quickly and is looking good. No way the roof will be on before Christmas but hopefully if the weather is good the frame will get finished.

There seems to be a water pipe where our island bench should be and we are definitely not having a sink or any running water so not quite sure what thats all about but will wait and see. Everyone has told me the rooms look small when it is just the frame. They look pretty big too me so with any luck they might look even bigger once the plaster is done.

The steel and the amount of posi struts being used looks really solid, which is good.

Frame going up

Well by the looks of the site there is not much pre made off site so far. Not sure if that will change with the second story. One thing that we mentioned to the SS was the gates to the site being not only unlocked but left open often.  Once again last night one of the gates was wide open, so I shut it over, so at least it looked like it was locked up. Not sure if people would bother stealing wood or steel but surely you don't wont to risk it

Rain :(

Well the wood and steel got delivered nice and early on Monday but alas it rained consistently all day, so nothing got done. So much for summer. I was under the impression that the frames were all constructed off site and that's why they are so quick to put them up. Nothing that was delivered is pre-made however, so I presume that a lot of the work is being done onsite after all. I was also surprised at how much steel was delivered. Not that I am a building expert but it just makes you feel better about the strength of the house when you that much steel.

Nice weather today and supposedly for the rest of the week so hopefully we might see some progress soon

Helpful hint

I came across another blog that mentioned getting the slab cut out where the sliding doors sit so the tracking that the door slides on, is sunken in and is completely level with the floor. We requested this and it is surprisingly inexpensive to have done (approx $300 from memory) and will make the overall finish of the room look way better. One of those things that you wouldn't really think of and once the slab is done its too late.

You can see in the second picture of the post below the lip has been cut out for the stacker doors

Slab Done!

Well the slab is done and literally before the concrete had time to dry we recieved the invoice! Wow, they must have sent it the second the builders walked off the site.

I haven't taken too much notice of slabs in the past but ours looks great. Looks very neat and perfectly smooth on top.

Framing is supposed to start Monday. Crazy pace at the moment.

The builders doing our slab told my wife that carter grange use far more steel in their slabs than most builders and that it would be super strong. Nice to hear that we are getting the quality build we expected.

Slab preparation almost complete

I know it won't always be like this but it's amazing that every time I drive past, which is daily there seems to be something new happening.

Slab is supposed to be poured tomorrow, so hopefully the weather enables that to go ahead

Slab Prepearation

Looks like the slab is on schedule for Friday as the preparation is well underway. If the house looked small with just the site cut, it looks enormous with the boards up for where the slab will go. Amazing how your perception of the same space can change so dramatically.

Plumbing

The plumbers don't muck around. 30+ degree day and a bunch of guys working away. Seemed to get a huge amount done in the time they were there.

Not quite plumbing

Of course those pipes on the truck weren't for plumbing! They were they piers, everyone knows that ;) Plumbing begins Monday.

One thing that has always surprised me on the plans was the size and the amount of 'voids'. I understand the need for voids but there just seems a ridiculous amount of them and a lot of them are not small. Well we have just been told that plumbing want yet another one. It is in the store room which is good, but I cant help thinking it's over the top. I can only presume they are making it very easy (read-cheaper) for themselves by putting in this many.


Here are a couple of the piers

Plumbing Underway!

It's lucky I drive past the old house on my way to work as I get to check in on it easily. Low and behold this morning a truck was out the front with pipes on it and a guy marking everything out. Good to see the exact ground floor marked out room by room even if it was just with blue spray paint.

Said hello to the guy working, who just completely ignored me?! Could have taken offence at this but there was no need to, I just took it as he was concentrating on an important job. To be honest I would prefer him to ignore me and get it right than to chat to me for 10 minutes, get distracted and do something wrong

Plumbing next

We have been told the slab should be done by the end of next week, so that means the plumbers should be due on site pretty soon

My wife has spoken to our site supervisor and he seems very friendly and pretty relaxed.

He has told us frame will be up by Christmas and he is pushing to get the roof done by Christmas! Holy smoke, that would be amazing.

We just booked in our 3 private inspections with New Home Inspections which will be good piece of mind. We decided on Frame stage, pre plaster and pre handover.

Here are some better shots of the site cut

Why wait 'till Monday?!

After being told a couple of days ago that the site cut was booked in for Monday and that if it rained this week it may be delayed a day or so, I was amazed to be told by my wife that a digger was working there yesterday doing the site cut!!

Went by this morning and had a chat to the guys, who were very friendly. Seemed to be doing a great job and it was interesting to see a very rough layout of the ground floor. It looked smaller than I expected, although I know we are building a big house and have been told be numerous people that the house will sometimes look small and sometimes look big depending on what stage the build is up to.

Got a bit concerned that the cut for the alfresco area seemed way too big and too close to the back fence as we are putting in a pool as well, but the digger guy informed me they dig out a much bigger area than needed which was a relief!

Very exciting to see the process start though.

Block ready to go!

Our block is flat. Soil test done. Engineering done.

Site cut begins next Monday. We should also be finding out who our site superviser is. Hopefully we get a good one!

Introduction

I will attempt to blog our custom house with Carter Grange. I am not a 'blogging' type person and don't think it will be as well written and informative as some of the other blogs that have really helped me but hopefully it will be of benefit to those thinking about signing up for a new house.

My first piece of advice if thinking about a new house is to read the home one forum thread on things to remember, that was really helpful to us. homeone thread

The other thing to do is find and read the blogs especially the people who have used the company you are thinking of.

We were very impressed with Carter Grange from Day one. They seemed more transparent and more helpful than any of the other builders we spoke to and quite honestly it was an easy choice to make to sign with them.

Apart from normal expected things like inconsistencies in plan updates, costings and updates taking a bit longer as well changes coming in at more then they estimated it has been very much smooth sailing so far.

Having said that the important part hasn't started yet and that will start with our site cut next Monday.

We have based out house design off the Bentleigh 48 which for whatever reason is not on their website. Maybe because it is a new design, it is in fact a variation on the Metropol design. Our house is a fully customised design. We literally have changed every room and I think even every window believe it or not. We seemed to have upgraded every option as well, which has cost alot of money but we are very happy with the design. Hopefully the reality lives up to our dreams

This is our old house being demolished