Lighting Plan

Although Chris from Lighting Plus was so helpful I decided to get a new quote from Lighting Direct as well. Also, because the quote I received from Lighting Plus came to a whopping $7000.

I can cut costs by getting rid of the really fancy entrance light that Chris suggested - valued at $1500, and replacing the downlights in all the kids bedrooms with a 100 watt bulb in the middle...but that would still make our lighting quote about $5000.

Oh well, lets see what Lighting Direct comes back with.

But on another issue - Latitude Homes have presented us with our first invoice which we will be paying for using our draw down mortgage plan that Pete from BNZ set up for us.

The invoice is a total of $100,692.50 which includes Excavations, Retaining and Foundations - $41884.44 (plus GST) AND $47,619.92 for the Frames, Trusses and Timber (plus GST)

We decided to use Latitude Homes for our Excavation work as they know exactly what we require.

I am not happy paying for an invoice before the work has been done or the goods have been received - but Steve said they need the funds before work can start.

My husband is talking to him about this, as he says "Since when do Tradesmen get paid BEFORE they do the job? That means they can start whenever they want, and do a half-pye job - because they already have the $$$!"

I do not want any more delays - and just want the work to start - so my husband is talking to Steve from Latitude Homes as we speak. P.S. Steve does appear to be a trustworthy guy, and Latitude Homes is a legitimate business but you can never be too sure.

Interviewing Tradesmen

Okay, so far 7 Certified Builders have replied to my job posting, and 4 have presented me with pretty good quotes. I know it is very important to have a good relationship with your builder, and at the moment I really like David Irwin, and BG Builders.

I have also met Ivan from Get it Tiled who I really like - so I might not bother getting quotes from other Tilers. Ivan is very professional and showed me his portfolio and samples which was great. His quote has come to about 15k which includes under-tile heating which I probably will not get - which will make Ivan's quote even cheaper.

I am getting each of our Bathrooms tiled from the floor to the ceiling, and our WC's tiled to window height - as this will give those areas the WOW factor.

I am yet to receive quotes from Electricians who have asked for my Lighting Plan before they can quote. Yes, gone are the days where people just used to have the one big lightbulb plonked in the middle of each room.

How cool is it that Lighting Plus provide free lighting plans? The catch is that you have to buy their lights, and choose the lights you want in each room on the spot.

I met with Chris at Lighting Plus in Manukau who was SO helpful. She helped me choose some chrome double downlights to go in most of the rooms, as they can be spaced further apart than individual downlights, meaning less lights and less cost. I have also ordered a nice fluro light for my breakfast bar, and 3 funky wall lights for my lounge area.

I dont think I will be going for a chandelier in the foyer as we have a pretty spectacular roof-light, and a chandelier may be over the top. Plus, I have only budgeted 3k for my lights :-P

SOOO Exciting!

We Have LIFT-OFF!!

Yes! Latitude Homes have come through for us and presented us with our Working Drawings! (Apparently the 3 month delay was due to the engineering, blah blah).

Anyway, Latitude are going to apply for our building consent on our behalf as they know all the short-cuts.

So in the meantime we are looking for suppliers for our tiles, carpet and kitchen cabinets, and have managed to get a few quotes.

We went to the Tile Depot and a really nice man worked out how many square metres of tiles we would need for each area. However, we may go with the Bath & Tile store on Cavendish Drive in Manukau because they sell porcelain tiles (which are very strong) and they have the best deal going at the moment - $45 for 600x600 premium tiles per square metre.

We also went to the Kitchen House in Mt Wellington to give them the specs of our kitchen, and they drew up a nice kitchen plan with a quote of $16323.38. This includes a granite benchtop, but not the applicances.

I rung TradeExperts.co.nz to ask them about Kitchen Designers, and they told me that they would get 3 Kitchen Designers to contact me for further quotes. So far Elite Kitchens in Mt Wellington and Todays Kitchens in Manukau have already phoned me and asked me to email through my specs and plan so that they can give me a price.

Hopefully they send through their quotes this week. SO Exciting!

DELAYS!!

Okay this sux. Latitude Homes has apologised for taking so long to draw up our working plans. They said they have a back log from Christmas but today it's March! And I dont understand what the hold-up is when we are using House-plans from an existing template that belongs to them.
And in the meantime we are paying a mortgage on a section that is doing nothing.

Oh well, I suppose the delay is giving me more time to save up :-(

Building Guide

I am on such a High! I can't wait to interview Tradesmen for the following jobs:
Excavations
Concrete Laying
Building
Electrics
Home Automation
Plumbing
and Drainlaying.

I have posted jobs onto Trade Experts for quotes for each job, and so far at least 3 Tradesmen have responded for each of my job postings.
What an awesome website.


Oh and I forgot to tell you, a really nice guy named Mark offered to send me a copy of the Building Guide. I picked one up from the MCC and I have to say that it is extremely handy!

So if you're building your house, check it out because the information is valuable.
Thank You Mark - awesome Customer Service!

PIM

We received our PIM last week which is the first step in the Building Consent Process. Stephen from Latitude Homes applied for it just before Christmas - just to get it out of the way, and because we were able to apply for it before our Settlement Date.

It clearly spells out that we need to pay a $6700 Development Contribution Fee. Yipee! Not!

Just waiting for our working drawings now. Tick tock, tick tock.

SETTLEMENT DATE!!

Today we have FINALLY settled our mortgage and our section is officially ours!