Lessons Learned - Building a House

[Dutchy]

Brave man Dutchy, I can see lots & lots of retaining walling there.
Do you (or the builder) have to retain to the right of the pic behind the bobcat?
I've just seen too many tears after the buildings up denying access for exterior trades.

yeah there is some but not as bad as it looks compared to many homes in the estate, will depend a bit on the house on the far side and their plans, its an empty block at the moment so the trades have access from there...the house on the near side have built on the same level us us so will only require retaining on the last 7-8 metres down the side.....as for the back (which I think you are referring too) we will have a wall going in this week 1400 high, I think the photo makes it look worse than it is, we will actually have a minimum of 7 metres between the back of the house and the back fence...not much I know but it is only a small block, a large pergola is going in on the right hand side

[dont think do]

Dutchy,

Not a bad area that you are moving into, and yes your blocks not the worst in the area for the slope. We looked there as we currently live on this side of town but the slopes killed us and I come from the country and like a bit of room so we have been able to get a big block.

Things are moving pretty quick now really just hope the pace continues.

[Dutchy]

DTD..yeah our block is actually pretty flat compared to some up there as we are on top of the hill, the excavator said we were very lucky we didnt hit rock as that would have been more $$$$ and plenty of houses up there have hit rock when digging...we know someone up there that was $20k out of pocket before they could even get to the footings stage..

to be honest Im not real comfortable with all the McMansions going up around us, but we will see once we move is if this will be our long term home or not

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Looks like I'm in the race now, Missus has just signed up for the building of a rental property.
Anyone got the guts on the new pump driven water tanks that have to be installed to the stormwater ? My brother in law, building two properties in Tranmere has been quoted 7k each.

how f**king big are the tanks???????? The new code states that it must be plumbed into a WC and only take a cetain percentage of the roof area which I cant remember at the moment.



Where I work I allow a PC Sum of around $1800 to $2200 depending on size constraints and client needs. That includes the cost of a plumber

Dont know a lot about them yet heater, just know they've got a pump. The ones I've noticed on worksites are around 1800x1000x500 & are connected to the stormwater & sit on a slab at the back of a house but apparantly these are different.

[dont think do]

Our slab is poured

Been a big week here, our slab was poured on Thursday, cant wait to go and have a look, was told by the father in law that it all looks good.

But been busy this week, we had our first baby on Wednesday ( a little girl) so between work and hospital not been any time.

Is a great feeling both the house and the baby ( the baby wins easily) With the house its relief to at last after signing up in June 06 to see something happening.

Ok off the he hospital and then cricket, catch you later.

[smac]

Great stuff DTD - congratulations on both counts.

[Psyber]

It is my opinion that there is no such thing as a properly damp-proofed cement slab. If the membrane is intact the cement takes too long to cure and causes delay, so a few judicious pokes witha crow bar and it drains away through the membrane and the concrete slab cures more quickly. The damp spots don't show for many years...

What type of advice is this?
Voiding Warranty springs immediately to mind...

I was suggesting that this is what some builders [or their subbies] do to speed things up and save time and money, because your warranty has lapsed by the time it shows up and you can't prove it ever happened anyway. Source - a friend who is a builder.

[Psyber]

Our house in Victoria is on concrete stumps and pillars that hold up a wooden floor assembly. [There are ant caps between them and the timber.] On the sloping ground the clearance is about 25cm at the front, and at the rear about 360cm. The surrounds have been bricked up - the house is brick-veneer - creating a substantial storeroom under the back. No bulldozing involved, dry floors, no flooding risk.

[Dutchy]

Lads...Our slab went down on Wednesday and retaining walls are being completed now...things are starting to happen..I guess they dont get paid unless there is progress so hopefully things will continue to move at this pace!!!

[Punk Rooster]

Our house in Victoria is on concrete stumps and pillars that hold up a wooden floor assembly. [There are ant caps between them and the timber.] On the sloping ground the clearance is about 25cm at the front, and at the rear about 360cm. The surrounds have been bricked up - the house is brick-veneer - creating a substantial storeroom under the back. No bulldozing involved, dry floors, no flooding risk.

good design. I don't know why builders have a love affair with concrete slabs.

[Dutchy]

Lads...Our slab went down on Wednesday and retaining walls are being completed now...things are starting to happen..I guess they dont get paid unless there is progress so hopefully things will continue to move at this pace!!!

slab down

[Kaiser Chief]

Hi guys,

I'm new to the forum, and would maybe like to enter into the race, Our slab has been poured 2 weeks ago, our frame and bricks are getting delivered on Monday, so the frame should start going up in the very near future, most likely during next week.

Unfortunately, we have received the dreaded letter saying they encountered rock, and will adjust the price and very kindly send the variation form to us.
We are not looking forward to knoing how much it is going to cost, as we are on our limit that the bank wanted to give us.

Has anyone encountered rock before? i don't believe they found rock, we couldn't see any on the site, I have had my excess soil removed (45tonne, $450), and he said he didn't remove any rock.

DO they have to prove somehow that they found this rock? We don't really have any money to throw around, so don't want to just hand over the money we don't have, if there is anyway of us getting out of it.

Who is everyone building with? We are building with Hickinbotham. The initial cost for the standard plan we chose was approximately 90k, when we came to sign the contract, it is approximately 140k, including adding extra space to laundry, ensuite, garage, and upgrading appliances etc.

[heater31]

Kaiser, ask them to show you the original soil report, then prove that they found rock if they can't conduct your own independent investigation using an engineer.

[dont think do]

We are building with Statesman, who are part of the Hickinbotham group. Yeah the price does go up, the house we are build is listed at $124k and is costing us $220k, but we have made a lot of changes so are happy enough with that.

As for extra cost for the footings, Statesman have fixed price footings (dont know the fine print)

[Dutchy]

Hi guys,

I'm new to the forum, and would maybe like to enter into the race, Our slab has been poured 2 weeks ago, our frame and bricks are getting delivered on Monday, so the frame should start going up in the very near future, most likely during next week.

Unfortunately, we have received the dreaded letter saying they encountered rock, and will adjust the price and very kindly send the variation form to us.
We are not looking forward to knoing how much it is going to cost, as we are on our limit that the bank wanted to give us.

Has anyone encountered rock before? i don't believe they found rock, we couldn't see any on the site, I have had my excess soil removed (45tonne, $450), and he said he didn't remove any rock.

DO they have to prove somehow that they found this rock? We don't really have any money to throw around, so don't want to just hand over the money we don't have, if there is anyway of us getting out of it.

Who is everyone building with? We are building with Hickinbotham. The initial cost for the standard plan we chose was approximately 90k, when we came to sign the contract, it is approximately 140k, including adding extra space to laundry, ensuite, garage, and upgrading appliances etc.

Welcome Kaiser,

We didnt hit rock however our retaining wall guy pointed out 4-5 houses around us that did so we were lucky...if they found rock I dare say it would have been in the excess soil?

We are building with Distinctive and designed our own home, because of our unusual shaped block, hope it turns out OK!

Where are you building?

[Kaiser Chief]

We are building at Aldinga Beach.

Not sure who to ring for advice, don't know who I can trust, I don't want to talk to the building supervisor, or anyone who works for the building company.

I just don't think there is a way I can prove there wasn't rock, they're the footings experts, and I'm supposed to try to prove them wrong.

I suppose it applies to any trade, anyone can something WAS wrong, but if they've already "fixed" it, the consumer can't prove it didn't happen.

Might give Consumer Affairs a call tomorrow, they may be able to point me in the right direction.

[Psyber]

Our house in Victoria is on concrete stumps and pillars that hold up a wooden floor assembly. [There are ant caps between them and the timber.] On the sloping ground the clearance is about 25cm at the front, and at the rear about 360cm. The surrounds have been bricked up - the house is brick-veneer - creating a substantial storeroom under the back. No bulldozing involved, dry floors, no flooding risk.

good design. I don't know why builders have a love affair with concrete slabs.

Relatively cheap and fast, less labour involved, less movement, so they don't have issues with complaints inside the warranty period about cracks in the plaster board joins, and as I said before the fact that it is impossible to properly damp-proof a slab doesn't matter as it shows up many years later outside the warranty period.

The fact that it is hard underfoot doesn't matter either so long as nobody is asthmatic and the family can live with thick carpet and underlay.

[dont think do]

We have hit another snag,

Have been told by the builder that they need to leave the slab 5 weeks for it to cure. Will be ringing them tomorrow as not sure how they can build a house in 6 months if they have a 5 week break.

not sure which is harder, chasing after the builder or the baby?

[Punk Rooster]

We have hit another snag,

Have been told by the builder that they need to leave the slab 5 weeks for it to cure. Will be ringing them tomorrow as not sure how they can build a house in 6 months if they have a 5 week break.

not sure which is harder, chasing after the builder or the baby?

that is standard DTD. You might be annoyed with the delay, but they are doing the right thing by you in the long run.
Some builders put the studwork up before the concrete trucks have cleared the street, cowboys...

[heater31]

We have hit another snag,

Have been told by the builder that they need to leave the slab 5 weeks for it to cure. Will be ringing them tomorrow as not sure how they can build a house in 6 months if they have a 5 week break.

not sure which is harder, chasing after the builder or the baby?

Actually the builder is following the correct procedures like punk has said but they also must have some scheduling problems as well as, concrete reaches its max strength after 28 days ( Yay I actually learnt something at uni )