Resource Consent

Our Excavator is awesome. My husband has been hassling him about getting our section as flat as possible, and he has listened carefully to our requests and is doing his best to give us what we want.

He has also figured out a way that he can save us money AND optimise our views - by getting rid of the proposed retaining wall that we are meant to have at the back of our section. Ben has decided to pack the dirt in such a way that would mean we will not require a retaining wall to hold it together - which is fantastic! (esp since retaining walls are expensive and it would have been a shame to block our view of the countryside in this area.)

But before we get to the retaining wall stage we have another slight delay. The Council will not issue our resource consent until I give them my chosen colour scheme of the interior AND exterior of our proposed house. This is part of the covenants, as they dont want us to clash with the neighbours, haha.

Anyway, if I get the colour scheme to them today, the resource consent should be issued within 7 days.

I have a non-offensive eye for design so decided to just google "exterior colour scheme", and came across this idea: http://www.resene.co.nz/homeown/decorating_inspirations/house_paint.htm

The main colour (Resene Don Juan) is a bit darker than what I'm used to, but I think it'll work.

I have also decided to go with the suggested complementary colour Resene Gallery for the interior of our house, which is a light, neutral colour.

And just because I have submitted my colour scheme to the council, I am now having doubts.

Our Builder and Drainlayer

We went through all the Builders and Drainlayers that responsed to our job postings on TradeExperts.co.nz and we think we have chosen the best Tradesmen with the most knowledge and experience.

The Builder we have chosen is is Nick Neville from Howick. Nick is a very experienced Kiwi Builder who has come in to meet us a couple of times to talk about what needs to be done.

He was a bit more expensive than a couple of the other builders who offered us a quote, but I think we'll get along better with Nick - and its important to have a good working relationship with your crew. Also, I feel that his superior workmanship is worth the extra dollars.

Nick also does that extra bit, such as driving up to meet the Excavator and Steve from Latitude Homes so that they can keep him in the loop.

He also told the Excavator that he would like to be there as the platform goes down so that he can make sure it is done to suit our plans. This is excellent service, considering that Nick does not need to be on site until the frames arrive (which is in about 4 weeks).

The Drainlayer we have chosen is also excellent. His name is Alan Standing, and he's an old school type person with a lot of experience. Coincidentally, he's the Drainlayer that Latitude Homes uses, which says a lot about his knowledge and workmanship.

The Picture above is of our Drainlayer

The Diggers are Here!

Well the diggers arrived on site only one day later than expected, and work started a day after that.

My husband kind of pushed things along by hassling Latitude Homes who took the Excavator off a job he was completing on Waiheke Island, and brought him over to start ours.

The Excavators name is Ben, a good Kiwi Bloke who had to hire some diggers for our job (as his diggers are being used on Waiheke Island). My husband said that's okay, because it is sometimes hard for Tradesmen to schedule in jobs perfectly.

Latitude Homes are really trying to get the ball rolling for us, and despite the delays have always been friendly and approachable.

New Delay

First of all, thank you to the 3 people who sent me comments about the ludicracy of paying an invoice before the materials are delivered and before the work is done.

Unfortunately, I have to pay for the frames before they are delivered - as Latitude Homes orders them from Carter Holts so they have to pay them to make them.

My husband told Latitude Homes that their business should have the funds to pay Carter Holts for the material and then we should pay Latitude Homes upon delivery. Steves response was "but you may go under". My husbands response was "We've been pre-approved by BNZ so we're covered - What if Latitude Homes goes under?"

At least charge us a deposit - not the full amount in advance!

However, call me stupid but to avoid any further delays last Thursday I paid the full amount for the Excavation work to Latitude Homes. I am not happy about this as I know how Tradesmen work, and paying a Tradesman beforehand means that he can start work at his leisure and may not do the work to our satisfaction.

And as I suspected, they did not turn up last Friday as planned, and have moved their new starting date to this Tuesday 27th April.

This time They'd better be there!!

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!