Week 2 - Still Barren Land

No major development to report this week. Work was slowed down by the strong winds that visited Melbourne in the past 3 days.

The good news is that our builder left a note and informed as that slab will be poured down next week.

Here is a photo of the block taken yesterday. The circles at the back highlight the dimension of the block.

Week 1 - I Peg to Disagree!

We've passed by the block yesterday and found out that the re-establishment survey has been done.

Two-thumbs up to Porter Davis for a quick action!

Seems that there will be lots of action around our block next week..

I will send some photos of the diggings done to the developer and will point to them that its very obvious that the pegs were misplaced due to them and if they will not give me any positive feedback, I will try and see if Consumer Affairs Victoria has the same view as them!

The fencing erected by the developer at the back of the block.

Here's the $900 peg

Week 1 - Reply from the developer

I sent an email to the developer of the Estate to try reimburse from them the cost of the re-establishment survey.

Here's the reply that I got.

Hi Edward,

Lot XXXX is now your property. It is your responsibility to ensure that your block is re-pegged.

Regards,


XXXXXXXXXXX

$900 bucks down the drain but I wont let this ruin our excitement for the build!

I will just charge this to experience :)

Week 1 - Site Start

I received a call from our builder that survey pegs are missing and they cannot start construction without these. I went to the block and confirmed that the survey pegs were indeed missing because the developer erected fencing at the back of our block and their contractor removed the pegs.

The builder quoted me $900.00 (ouch!) bucks for them to organise the re-establishment survey. We have no choice but to let them organise the re-survey because if we miss the site start date, which is 31st of August, we need to pay an additional $1,500.00 for the materials price increase. So I sent an email to our builder and instructed them to go ahead with the re-survey.

Now here's a long shot, I will now contact the developer of the Estate and ask them for a reimbursement because the pegs were misplaced due to their fencing. I know it's a remote possibility that they will pay me for this, but $900 bucks is worth a try!

Our Dream Starts Now!

“Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Psalm 127″

Finally, after so many months of waiting for loan approval, savings for downpayment and choosing the right builder, our construction will start in the week of 17th of August 2009.

My family arrived here in Australia in the last quarter of 2007 and we are very blessed that we have settled well in this wonderful country, and in less than 2 years, our dream to have a place of our own is about to come true.

Initially, my family were looking at Carolines Springs which is one of the best suburbs here in West Melbourne but when the affordable lots were first released in 2008, we didnt have enough savings for deposit and I was still wary of committing ourselves to a large amount of debt, being new to my job and was still trying gauge our expenses.

So come 2009 when interest rates were at 40-year low and the government increased the First Home Owners Grant to $26k to cushion the global financial crisis, my family decided that now is the best time to buy our first home. Some people are saying that getting a huge debt in time of crisis is like playing with fire since you will never know if you will still have job tomorrow. However, I always believe that pessimism would get you nowhere, and you will never know the outcome of your decision unless you try and do it! Anyway, we came here in Australia with just few bucks in our pocket with no relatives to help us out in starting our lives here, so how is getting a home loan riskier than that?

We looked around for a nice and affordable suburb here in West Melbourne since most of our friends are in the West. After several trips and meetings with agents, we have decided that Brimbank Gardens is where we want to build our dream home. The estate is about 18kms from the CBD and will house a private and a government school. There is also a large park which includes 2 football fields, playground, basketball court and jogging path.

We chose Porter Davis to build our 1st home due to their good reputation in the industry. Our home will just be an average sized homes here in Australia (note that lots here ranges from 350sqm to 1000 sqm and we are building on a 476sqm block). There will be 4 bedrooms, 2 living areas, rumpus/theater room and and an alfresco area.

We are very excited about this build and hopefully, this will be a smooth sailing process.

This is the facade of the house

The House Plan