I know there is already a housebuilding thread ongoing on here,but thought some of you might be interested anyway,and we are in South Australia,so there maybe some differences.
We arrived here in May 2006,took a years rental and had decided to take our time,have a good look around and see the suburbs the we liked.I was keen to buy a house that was established,OH veered towards building and after looking arond the display homes,it was getting very tempting.Of course the display homes are built to show off and as such have loads of premium extras in them which makes the base price of the house afar cry from the cost of the finished item.
Anyway,after going to lots of opens and not seeing anything that we both liked,OH saw a plot of land for sale in an established suburb,11kms from the CBD and not a bad size at 460 sqm .We looked - it was in a great area backing onto a fab park,near shops and schools-and was pretty reasonable at $179k.So we went to the estate agents to have a chat...and bought it half an hour later.
we paid no stamp duty on the land either as it had belonged to the governement,was actually part of the park and they had decided to sell a strip of it to release some cash to build a carpark or something!
The sale of the land settled in October,by November we had signed a contract with our builders,then we had to wait for building approval.We had been told 8 weeks ,it actually ended up being closer to 4 months.
In the first week in March,our 'gently sloping' block was leveled and revealed itself to be a now flat block that would need a rather large retaining wall at the back ($$$$).The next week the footings were dug and the week after that the concrete was poured.This was our greatest 'adjustment'.Because the land was reactive,the footings (foundations) had to be dug extra deep and it had added $38k on to our bill,which was a bit of a gutter,to say the least.Hey ho.Have to say here though,that we went with a fixed price builder,so at least we knew this at the quote stage.
First week in April and the frame was up.Very surreal to walk through the frame of what will be your house.pics attached -that's all for now.

oh wow how exciting - you are very lucky to have got such a piece of land.
good luck with the rest of the process I hope you will be very happy in your new home.

The park that we've bought a bit of is over the back fence.Now we won't have much of a garden compared to what we had in the UK,but I'm not a gardener anyway and when you've got a park like this a minute away......
Playpark,BBqQ araes,waterfall,nature trail,lake-even a little kiosk.Can't wait for sumer,andgreatfor our two boys!

oh stop it you are making me soooo jealous - who the hell needs a back garden with that in your back yard eh???

that's the part we find a bit scary - can you tell we are looking to build ourselves?

I know.It really is a beautiful spot,we go up to "the lake park" as my four year old calls it pretty much ever weekend to check on the build progress.It's just the kind of space that we imagined when we were back in the UK and we feel really lucky to have found it!

Yep.When they talk about a money pit I think theyare refering to our footings!!!

and even better she doesn't have to lift a finger to keep it looking lovely

good luck with the build

what a fantastic spot for a young family. Can you put a private gate onto the park?

Just wanted to wish you luck in your new life. We're about to set off with our four year old, and like you have bought land (in our case backing on to a golf course). Isn't it great to see the world through their fresh uncynical eyes?

Looks like a great location!

Unfortunately not....but we have got a ladder!

Looking good !!! Which suburb is the land and who is your builder ???

Builder is Rossdale Homes and the land backs onto Thorndon Park.

Once the frame was up,things startedto really move.The windows went in next and within a week the brickwork was started.There was a lot of rain at that time,but it didn't seem to hold anything up,we continued to go up once a week,and there had always been dome progress.
By end of April all the brickwork was done - beautifully on the outside-remember being a bit shocked at the mortar inside as it looked really messy..
First week in May and we had a roof.
First real shock!
We had dithered over slates or colourbond,also colours.At the final selection I was stilll undecided,also had to go alone as OH had a meeting for work that he couldn't get out of.Selections consultant eventually sold me on colourbond and then advised on the colour.We went with a mid grey which looked just right in artificial light,and on a two inch sample.
Hubby cycled up to see it ,came back and said it was "the wrong colour" and "F%%*($£ disgusting".
Well,what can I say,we have got used to it.It's much lighter than we expected,but I suppose the good thing is that it will reflect more sun in the summer so shouldhelp keep the house cool.
tip for all others out there building a house?have a walk/drive around and if you see a colour you like-knock on the door and ask the owners what colour they picked.
After the roof was on,the insulation was put in and also the a/c system stuck in the roof cavity.The electrician also put i their first fix.
By end of May,we definitelyhad something resembling a house!
The pictures show the main bedoom wall from the inside and the main family room and kitchen.The curved bit in the middleis where the kitchen would go.