The house is now looking slightly more organised, too. Most boxes are now unpacked (with the exception of toys, which I’m just too scared to do!). The garage is still a work in progress, as is the office, but once we get furniture and storage options in then we’ll tackle them.

We have decided to put in a pool! That, I guess, is the biggest news! Oh, and that the media room is now fully set up with the projector and screen, and surround sound. It’s like being at the movies – talk about sensory overload! We had the family here yesterday for Boxing Day and the boys were in cricket heaven (so much so that most of them fell asleep on the lounge, but that’s another story).

We’ve had visits from a few Wisdom Tradies last week, to finish off a few things that needed doing. All was good – a small hiccup with some careless plumbers, but they were sorted out very quickly by The Amazing Joe, as well as their boss!

So now we have a week off before we have to go back to work, time to squeeze as much work into that week as possible! We’d love to start on the front yard, not sure how much we’ll achieve as they are forecasting rain all week (again), but we’ll see how we go.

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas, and wishing everyone the best for the New Year.

The appliances were delivered that morning, our beautiful big oven and dishwasher, ready for installation the following day (after handover, for security reasons!).

So after going through the house again, we made our way to Narellan and FINALLY met The Lovely Sandi (who is still lovely…) We went through the handover within about 45 minutes, were presented with our keys and a lovely gift basket of chocolates, an ice bucket, some glasses and a bottle of Moet, and then VIOLA, we were the proud owners of our new home!

That afternoon was a bit of a blur, with deliveries starting. My in-laws helped us out with their van, and brought over all the flat packed furniture from Ikea that I’d purchased earlier in the week.

On Friday the house was full of tradies again, installing the appliances (oven, dishwasher and hot water). The air conditioner external unit was still on the production line so we had to wait until Monday for that to be installed (which we thought would be OK, but didn’t anticipate the weather being so warm over the weekend!)

Saturday was moving day. And down came the rain! I feared at one stage that we’d have to float our furniture to the house! Talk about stressful. It didn’t help that the removalist company I’d hired sent us 3 of the most careless, untrained people we’d ever met, who didn’t do anything to take care of, or protect, our furniture. As a result, after lots of dropped boxes and deeply scratched and gouged furniture, we sacked them after the first load, and sent them on their way.

Luckily we found another mover who could help us out, and by the time they were available the rain had stopped and the sun came out. And these guys were FANTASTIC! By 5pm, we had everything in. Boxes were too wet to take upstairs on the carpet so everything was piled in to the garage and the downstairs living areas. Now the fun begins – unpacking!

After being here now for a week, we’ve made some really good progress. I built all the furniture through the week, and unpacked a HEAP of boxes. We still have to organise the pantry – didn’t realise we had so many appliances! The kids think that Christmas has come early because of the toys that they’re rediscovering after being in storage for the last 18 months. I’m hoping to get rid of a lot of them before they realise though, as there are way too many toys!

And the most important thing? We’re home. Our rental was never home for us, it was just a means to an end. I haven’t felt “at home” since we moved from our house last year.

But now, we’re home…

And we’ve been keeping a very close eye on things, so unless something major happens between now PCI, we will be moving in 3 weeks time.

The house is looking fantastic! The bathroom and laundry tiling is now complete, and the painters have finished. The scaffolding is coming down so it’s starting to look less like a construction site. The toilets, spa and bath should go in this week. The tilers will be back to do the floors. The plumber and the electrician have both finished. And I think the last thing will be the carpet. Externally, the driveway should start this week or early next week, and the site should be cleaned. The house cleaners have been booked for a few days before PCI. We have now selected the supplier for our window coverings – Craig from All Blind Solutions also happens to be a new neighbour, and from what we’ve been told by others who have had their shutters and blinds installed by him, he does a great job. And if we’re lucky, we may even have the shutters by Christmas!

We’ve also contacted Telstra and have an appointment for their technician to come in and set up the home phone. I’ll be calling the energy company this week to get that all sorted too, so I don’t have to leave anything to the last minute.

Now we just need to find a good quality, affordable (if there’s such a combination) removal company, and we’ll be ready. Oh, and give notice to our landlord (can’t WAIT to do that!!).

I have to say, I’m a little bit overwhelmed by my every-growing “to do” list. It’s very busy at work at the moment, hubby is going through a transition to a new company / new job (which he starts 3 days after PCI – guess who’s going to be unpacking by herself!), and now we have to pack and move. But we thrive on challenges, and I know it will all be worth it.

Our house is almost ready for us to turn it into a home. How good is that?!

Craig Gardiner
All Blind Solutions
M: 0414 648 944

So, before the build commenced, we opted to include pre-wiring for speakers in our media room & alfresco area, as well as HDMI cabling for a ceiling mounted projector. This was at a significant cost, and involved the services of an external contractor who Wisdom use on all their jobs for this kind of work.

Last week we were looking at the house, and commenting that the painting was almost finished, the holes for the downlights, power points, etc, were all cut, and that we were getting close to handover, and it dawned on us that we’d seen no provision for the speaker wiring, other than a hole in the media room ceiling for a powerpoint (for the projector).

So I called The Amazing Joe late that afternoon and asked him if it had been done. He told me he actually wasn’t sure, and he’d get back to me. Alarm bells!! Obviously now we’re starting to panic, and imaging ceilings being ripped apart, seeing handover delays, and of course thinking the worst.

Next morning, I called the contractor who was responsible for installing the cables, and I asked him if he remembered doing our house. And guess what? He was on site while I was speaking to him. He was doing the work because it actually HAD been forgotten. But in true Wisdom fashion, they were just getting on and fixing it, and yes, it was a bigger job to have to do it at this stage of the build, he had to run much longer cables to the alfresco, but it wasn’t a problem. Then I got a call from The Amazing Joe to tell me that it was all under control.

I haven’t met Joe yet, but I am so grateful that he is our building supervisor. He is old school – he just makes things happen. And he’s exactly the kind of person you want overseeing your job!

So to The Amazing Joe, thank you! Yes, there are some things that aren’t right, but I know that they’ll be addressed and resolved because Joe’s on the job!

We are now almost at lock up. The bricks are finished and have been cleaned. The cladding has started to be installed. The rendering on the balcony is finished. The roof is almost finished – they are working on the ground floor eaves & fascias today, and should install the balance of the roofing sheets today or tomorrow.

The aircon ducting has been installed and is being boxed in. And the electricals have been roughed in.

Last week we had HowardRyan from H&K Ryan come and do a mid-build inspection for us, and his report showed a few things that needed to be done, but nothing really significant. Glad we spent the money to get the report done though – with this kind of investment, it’s worth making sure things are right!

So hopefully we’re only about 12-14 weeks away from handover. We are still aiming for the end of November, and The Amazing Joe has confirmed this. For me, it can’t come soon enough! I’m tired of renting… tired of living on top of each other, tired of having to move my 2yr old into our bedroom every time my 16ry old step son stays over (every weekend), tired of not having a dishwasher, tired of living on top of my neighbours. You get the picture. We’ve been here for 12 months longer than we’d originally hoped, and while renting for us was a necessity, and simply a means to an end, it’s definitely now past its used-by date, and we’re ready to get out of here.

I took Dad out to the block last week, and helped him to squeeze through the fence and have a wander around. He was very impressed by how much work had been done in such a short space of time. And for the first time, he even seemed excited for us. Progress!

I spoke today to Joe, our site supervisor, who from now on I think I shall refer to as The Amazing Joe. The Amazing Joe told me that the frame is now complete, our windows have been delivered, and he’s just waiting to find out when he can get the bricks delivered, so that the brickwork can commence. I’m loving this whole trend of things happening ahead of schedule, and really hope that they continue to forge ahead, taking advantage of the dry weather while they can.

So here’s the house so far, taken today from the other side of the park.

It rained on Saturday afternoon. It rained on Sunday. And it poured on Monday! So on Tuesday when I took a drive out to the site (more to make sure nobody had done anything to the frame!) I was very pleased to see that the steel beams were being delivered (in the pouring rain).

Finally on Wednesday the weather started to clear, so my drive to the site uncovered some builders out there, organising the jigsaw pieces. And on Wednesday afternoon when I drove back out there, there was actually some progress – the frame had started being erected.

On Thursday they completed the lower level framework, and this morning we took a drive out to discover the that crane was onsite moving things up:

I had imaged that this would be a fairly big job, and so when we went out there again this afternoon to play in the park, we certainly weren’t expecting to see this!

It looks so imposing from the park!

Now all we need are the roof trusses before another enormous progress payment bill arrives in my email inbox. Yay!!!

So when we got our first progress payment bill after the slab was laid last week, I thought I’d better get onto it immediately, given that it was most likely going to be a lengthy process.

I had registered already for Verbal Authorisation, which is a service that Westpac offer, allowing me to just phone and say, yep, pay this one! Sounds too easy, right? So I phoned Westpac and told them that I needed to arrange the first progress payment. Our figures matched up, so they were fine to process it, but they did say that given it was the first payment, it would take a full 5 working days.

Two days later I emailed Wisdom to say that I’d requested the payment, but it would take a full 5 days, and I was told that the money had already been received. Wow! Imagine that, a bank under promising and over delivering!

Thanks Westpac – I only hope the rest of our journey together is this easy!