Our Timeline

September 2012 – We found a Clarendon home we liked and requested a draft siting and tender.

September 28th – Our tender. Plenty of changes and issues at this stage due to costs yet again.

December 14th – We sold our home and settled on our land which happened to be in the same street.

December 15th – We signed up and proceeded with payments

January 15th – We went back into the Baulkham Hills office and again signed updated tender. We resolved issues with step downs in the house splitting them from 1 large step down (5steps) which encroached on our family / meals area to a step down in the hall (2steps) and a further one going into the meals / family area (2steps). Can you believe it was a cheaper option in the end. You have to challenge this sort of thing. Don’t accept what the tender manager or the engineers suggest. They are not the ones living there.

January 29th – Clarendon Create. We didn’t stay within budget. Be prepared to spend more than you think and prioritise. The electricals blew us out of the water. Data connections, heat/light/fan lights in bathrooms are a killer!

February – Clarendon lost our file! Our file wasn’t talking to their computer. Very frustrating and costly.

March to April – Council preparation.

March 1st – we move house. Into a friend’s home for 12mths. Bye bye old house. Thanks for giving us a good time.

April 24th – council submission

May 15th – Request for more information. A tree is in the way! And it isn’t even on the land, it is on the nature strip! We are encroaching on the tree protection zone. After spending $1000 on an arborist report and new set of plans drawn we resubmit.

June 14th – Resubmit plans into council. Still waiting for the cost! Very nervous. This is the difference between having the landscaping done or not as the case maybe.

June 24th -plans knocked back due to tree.

July 18th – meeting with council to discuss our options. Clarendon have worked hard today to make this work for us. Thank you. Our Arborist has also stuck his neck out for us without losing credibility. Thank you Adrian. We resubmit tomorrow and hope like hell we get into the next council meeting and get approval to start in September.

August 21st – after shifting the house on the land and being under 8.1% encroachment they passed the DA by exception at council today.

Contracts also signed today after a lot of negotiation. Big day all in all

September 9th – Certificate for Construction issued by Private Certifier. Engineering plans completed. Clearing of land complete. Land ready to be pegged. Contract for construction loan sent back to bank. Will Friday be the day for the driveway to be laid?

September 17th – full financial approval with letter of authorisation to construct. Very exciting.

September 25th – Section 96. (1A) approved enabling us to build the driveway after the house rather than prior to.

September 27th – Final plans and construction tender signed. Clarendon have now passed our file onto construction.

October 28th – Two weeks of fill arriving, 9000 cubic ltr water tank buried, land levelling and now the piering has started. They reckon the slab will be poured Monday 4th or Tuesday 5th November.

November 4th – Slab poured

November 6th – Our independent surveyors report (http://houspect.com.au) shows the measurements when compared against the plans do not match? We have sent this to Clarendon and wait for a response.

November 13th – Site shut down for western retaining

November 26th – Site hand back

December 8th – Clarendon’s water tank people mucked up the level of the HUGE tank and therefore wasted a week correcting this. Now complete, we can commence the 2nd retaining wall at Clarendon’s advice so they can erect the scaffolding and start brick work in January. This is the 2nd site shutdown over 3mths due to this! We are so behind!

December 10th – Clarendon decide to stop work on the land due to land fall on eastern boundary and OH&S issues, but also due to their concern for the frame being left your in the ‘elements’ over the break! This we challenged! Does that make every other frame substandard if left out in the elements over Christmas. As a result we are now 5wks min behind having started in mid October.

December 20th – Wall commences construction by neighbour.

January 3rd – Stop work on wall due to issues with engineering, boundary line and straightness of wall. Engineer and landscaper, Greg Tarte come to the rescue with 10days to go before Clarendon start work on site again due to frame company’s earliest delivery date of 14th Jan.

January 13th – Site cleared ready for frame delivery. Wall 90% completed.

January 14th – Frame arrives

January 20th-25th – Frame going up and windows going in!

February 2nd – Frame complete exc roof trusses in alfresco & garage.

February 11th – Matt the brickie started on site. The plumber continues and is nearly finished.

February 20th – After a few days of no work on site, the scaffolding arrives and is left on the nature strip.

February 26th – Bricklayer is back on site. He reckons another weeks work. 6000 bricks being delivered tomorrow. Storm tonight and pouring with rain. What’s the chances of them coming back this week with rain forecasted to Saturday?

March 1st – Bricks half way up in most parts of the house. The bricklayer had 3 others on site in the pouring rain yesterday. Still very slow. Met with SS and explained he needed to pick up a minimum of 2/3 weeks  so we could stay within the contracted timeframe of 30wks. That brings us to 2nd June with IOC so we can move in. A lot of rain Saturday.

March 11th – Bricklayer finished today. Site clean booked for Thursday.

March 18th – The gutters arrive and mostly erected.

March 20th – The tiles and I sarking are up.

March 31st – Flashing in, plumber back, no fascia in yet, bricks cleaned. Next render but only when bricks are dry!

April 4th – Fascia, weatherboard and silicone joints in. Carpenter not finished and didn’t turn up on Saturday as planned. Rain Sunday night so imagine no work on site tomorrow.

April 7th – Painters in. First coat upstairs on except for small corner of weatherboard. Impressed considering weather.

April 11th – Painting complete upstairs and scaffolding down in readiness for the carpenter and painters to return next week. Hope to be weather prof by Friday.

April 18th – Lower roof and alfresco roof ready to tile with sarking. The gutters are in. Tilers due Tuesday and then electrician and alarm wires in. Happy Easter!

April 22nd – Our pool is approved by council. So excited!

April 28th – Lower roof complete except for some tiles due to scaffolding being in the way. Electricians didn’t come last week.

May 3rd –  Scaffold down.

May 9th – Electrical work mostly done. Data cables etc. Air con tubing in. Alarm cabling in? Workman digging trench for gas pipe connection to street? Next week – certifier due Monday, site clean, wall & ceiling insulation, plasterboard delivery with plasterer due to start Friday. Not sure when wet areas will be done.

May 19th – Certifer came, site clean and plasterers in. Gyprock in and finished 19th. Cornices and sanding next. Staircase in next week.

May 27th – All going to plan. Cornices, sanders, kitchen nook and electrician in to fix mistake. Staircase, waterproofing and possibly front door.

May 29th – Stairs in. Lock up today. Doors on. Final corner panel on outside family rumpus.

June 1st – Carpenter in hanging doors, fitting skirting. Will continue next week. First coat of paint on walls (Taubmans Ashwood) and ceiling. The waterproofing done ready for tiler who will be there for over a week from Wednesday. On Monday the kitchen people arrive with cabinets for the laundry, 4 bathrooms and kitchen.

June 6th – Carpenter finished, tiler in Friday, bathroom & kitchen cabinets in, garage door on and Boral round to check the standard of the plasterwork.

June 13th – Tilers in full swing. All wet area floors have been tiled and now the walls are being done. A slow job but he is taking pride in his work. The alfresco still to do too. Painters in today doing first coat in Taubmans Endure Calico Beige for door & window frames, skirting and stairs.

June 20th – Tilers still going with grouting to do, both porches and alfresco to do. Painters nearly done except for feature walls and odd walls. Bench tops in today. They look great.

June 27th – Electricians in, tiler in.

June 28th – Tiler and carpenter

June 30th – Painter, alarm installation, delivery of bath, toilet etc.

July 1st – Plumber to install toilets etc.

July 2nd – Air conditioning installation

July 3rd – Floor sander in. HOUSPECT to go out and conduct final inspection in next few weeks.

July 4th – Roof insulation in? Not sure if this was done.

July 7th – House cleaners in with gusto. All windows looking sparkly. Bathroom fittings in today. No shower screens yet. Still waiting for the final BV’s from the provisional costs. Need a few thousand ……please! Then the final invoice can be issued.

July 8th – Site clean, silicon to be completed. We are going to have to move 2 pallets of bricks and some tiles as we don’t want these stolen from the land. Really happy about that. Site looks like a rubbish tip! Can’t wait to have all the junk cleared.

July 9th – Fence removal, windows cleaned and checked

July 10th – Painters in. The shower screens are in as are the mirrors. All looks great.

July 11th – 12th – Floorboards installation. Step nosings not available so we will have temporary  boards in the hall.

July 17th – Nearly all the skirting for floorboards completed except for meals area. Taps installed and toilet door hung. Still no TV point in Bed 2.

July 18th – Fly screens and temporary blinds in as they forgot to order the blinds from Ark Finishing Touches. They will be installed mid August after some negotiation.

July 18th – Certifier booked in for inspection. Still waiting for outside and all touch ups to be painted as well as blinds and all the other dents, scratches etc.

July 21st – 23rd – Carpets cancelled w/c 14th and reinstated for installation Monday 21st. SS to make any corrections before walk through

July 23rd –  Houspect to conduct the final inspection with SS at 9am. Report due in readiness for our house inspection on 24th.

July 24th (9am) – our walk through. PCI. Tiler to complete, another clean.

July 26th – Painter in to finish outside and all internal touch ups. Also changed my feature wall in my bedroom to TB Woolooware. This is in the Other Master and looks great against the carpet. Thank you Tomma.

July 29th – Appliances in, hot water system in.

July 31st – Completion booked for 9am.

August 1st – Crystal Pools to start the ‘dig’!

August 4th – Red Truck Removals booked. Excellent company. Air con due to be installed.

September 22nd with update on October 10th – The pool is poured. 4wk cure. We are due to receive an email from Clarendon to notify us of the 3mth maintenance follow up. We have a number of things that need to be adjusted or fixed.

1) The hand rail on the stairs is coming away from the wall!

2) Carpet is raising / lose on the stairs

3) the towel rail is lose,

4) the door handle on the front door is very lose,

5) their are some nasty gyprock lines on the ceiling which you only notice when the lights at on at night. Daylight disguises them.

6) the aircon slab has no soil under it due to the rain – we need to talk about this as the slab will drop in time.

7) tiles on the front doorstep not complete.

8) a light bulb in the alfresco keeps blowing – electrical issue?

9) Toilet lids are coming off

10) Smeg microwave getting very hot and making noises

11) honeycombing in doors coming through in most lights. Corinthian Doors came over prior to handover and suggested we leave it, but still not happy. Anyone else have the same problem?

12) replace soap dish in shower

13) faulty alarm sensor letting alarm off

14)And a few other minor things. I doubt being utterly hopeless around the house, most could be fixed by a person who is handy!

October 8th – landscapers start work on site.

October 30th – boundary fence complete. Landscaping nearly done (just a few more plants), driveway/side access coloured concrete completion Jan 2015,  coping around pool starts tomorrow.

December 10th – pool complete, landscaping done. Happy Christmas

February 2016 – driveway completed.