Building approval

Well all the documents are stamped and approved. Terrific... now all I have to do is build the thing aaaaggghhhhh. Next expensive piece of paperwork I am waiting on is the ROW to be removed so then I can legally build something out the back of ths shed.

I have started to reinforse the rafters with c section steal beams... they look good and are doing the trick very nicely.... I have only got one so I will make sure I capture a damatic video of it : )

well that will do for today.... school finishes on the 18th so expect more posts afterwards.

PLANS ARE IN!!!

Well it has only taken... hmmm lets see... july August september and October... and probably $6000 in fees to get my plans in. But it is done. I am very excited it is only 2 weeks till they get back to me. All they need to do is rubber stamp the project and I can begin. I must admit it is probably a blessing that it hasnt started sooner as the weather has been terrible and I have not had the time. The draftsman took a month longer then he said he would and even told me to call him every othe day to get the work done.. and then charged me $1000 more than he quoted me... a bit cheeky. The waste water engineer has been the best so far... an absolute legend... quick and great customer service. The council and building surveyor have just been expensive so far.

I have contacted a lawyer about changing the ROW on my property... it is going to cost too. The neighbour has agreed to let me alter it (yeah) but not remove it (boohoo). I am greatful though that he agreed to change it. I wouldnt have been able to build other wise.

The engineer was a useless pott head. Never returned calls, never replied to emails and never did his job!!! He said that the current septic system was ok for a four bedroom home..... but after talking to someone else it wasnt even close! So now i have to add an additional grey water system to cope with the extra water. Nothing drastic but not anticipated!... he approved the slab though... right or wrong atleast he did that (only took 4 months to fill in a piece of paper! he even found time to take 2 holidays!!! but no time for me!)

So.... to recap.... unexpected expenses are growing rapidly but paying most of them with savings and money coming in.... so far.....

Heather and I are looking forward to moving in toward the end of the year. It will be easier when I am in the middle of it....

Wish me luck and pray for no problems with the council.

Update

Funny how a month flies past. Well this is where I am at now. I have contacted a building designer and talked with him regarding my plans. He was happy with my layout and will have them done in a month or two! Oh well. $2500?? it will cost... hurts but not as bad as first thought. Might have been all the work I originally did did pay off a tad. The engineer has finally finished his big high pressure contracts and finally seems to have time for me. Hope this all sorts it self out soon.

So all building has come to a halt. I have decided it is better this way. even though there are things I dont have to ask permission for it is better this way. So patience is a virtue and i can now focus on my teaching.

complications

Well i have gone a little nuts with the blogging today however things are crazy. My planning approval has finally been approved however at the same time the building approval has been turned down as they dont feel my drawings are up to scratch (Australian Standard blah blah blah) so looks like i have to pay someone a crazy amount of money do to them for me. However the many are doubting if i will be able to get it up to building code, this is a bit of a worry but i know when there is a will there is a way. however the question is how much will this way cost? and will it be worth it? very demoralizing really. So i feel i am back to square one again after months of effort. I am hoping going to through the building designer will make things go smoother for me. will it be worth.. the money... hmmm. maybe. I hope the dream doesnt die!!! Choking on all the red tape.

Wish me luck....

Back verandah

Planning in

what a big window!!!

And no.. it wont stay blue that is just the colour of the board. I was thinking of rendering it white to contrast the grey bricks and dark building?

We found the camera!!!!!

We were all so excited about buying a new camera tomorrow but heather had to go and find the camera. Well this part of the job was challenging yet satisfying. It made a big difference to the back of the shed. I love acro props.... with a job like this you cannot live without them.

been a while

Sorry that it has been a while. I have taken some video of the work and then couldnt find the uploading cable or sd card to usb converter. In the mean time I promptly lost the camera and havent been able to find it for weeks now. good news... i found the cables : ) It is very frustrating as I really wanted to document the building. I have achieved some really cool things this past few weeks... well i impressed myself atleast and that isnt hard at the moment everything i am doing i have never done before : ) Well the back of the shed that gets hammered by the wind and rain was sagging in a few places and really bad at one end. I managed to get it all straight with a few acro props and replacing the studwork it has come up fantastic and more importantly straight!!!! Worth the effort... i debated doing it for a while. Now i have nearly finished the verandah out the back too!!!! I have placed all the lazerlite ontop i just need to attached the guttering... either way the footings are safe and so are the walls... it is a big set forward.

Ok now for the issues... well the building surveyor sent me an email asking that I make some changes to my plans... so i did and now he isnt returning my calls saying the will contact me when they have made a decision... about what?!?!? i have no idea.... so that has been going on for a couple of weeks. I am a little worried about the slab being sufficent now which will be a huge problem if it is not. I had a engineer look at it before i started but i dont think he looked properly. There was a 100mm hole in the slab with evidence of rienforced steal meash however when i have removed some bottom sills there is only sand stone underneath... i hvae no idea what the original builders have done. looks like they have thrown a thin slab over the sandstone i would hate to think that they make me jack up the house and throw another 100mm slab ontop ... would kill my budget. It also seems that all the rafters will need reinforcing... also very costly and time consuming.... oh well... these problems are common with this type of building project and for me to think it should all go smoothly is silly.

i might send some photos from my phone. No time to proof read this so i hope it all makes sense.

Drainage and Bricks

The Tank Saga

And the rains came tumbling down.....

Just an update..... mansonary work... where is dad when you need him?

Unhappy with the initial defeat v's the sheds lean I decided to attack it again! I guess its seems, like people, as timber ages it becomes more stubborn.

My house plans

I thought I would share my house plans. I only hope it looks as good as I have drawn them. These have not yet been approved by the building surveyor but I have had an engineer look at them and the building and all seemed fine.

Welcome