We are land owners!!
Oct 6th 2009, 7:09 pm
#61
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Location: Inglewood in New Plymouth
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Re: We are land owners!!
I will definetly need to call the council, in NP as long as its a suitable fence it doesnt matter the hight but can be up to 1.8 metre high. along the back of ours is our longest fence, we need millions of fence, we will do the same get the fence up with a wee drink or ten lol
Oct 6th 2009, 7:53 pm
#62
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Location: Rolleston
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Re: We are land owners!!
Hi all, thought I would update you to the progress on the house. All is going to plan, even with me changing my mind about the colour of the window frames at the last min, our builders were great about it. It's week 5 and they are storming along, the windows are due to go in next week and then the brick will go up. It's been stress free so far, and it feels a pleasure to build. We go up to the section most evening and just stand in the middle and smile and pinch ourselves and say 'god we are actually building a house - yippee'.
Our next next step is getting quotes for drive ways and the decking area, we have decided to do the fence ourselves, we contacted the council, who gave the phone number of our future neighbors both side, we have contacted them and had a glass of wine and decided between us that we will do the fencing ourselves. We are getting a builder to cement the posts in and we will do the rest, it works out at half the price. By law over here the fence costs have to be split with the neighbors and the height must be 1.8 meters. We have also contacted a drive way company to give us a quote, when we bought the land it looked pretty flat, but since building we have noticed it slightly dips at the end, making a big step upto the front of the garage and front entrance, but we will speak to them about solving that problem.
Anyway, enjoy the photos.
Our next next step is getting quotes for drive ways and the decking area, we have decided to do the fence ourselves, we contacted the council, who gave the phone number of our future neighbors both side, we have contacted them and had a glass of wine and decided between us that we will do the fencing ourselves. We are getting a builder to cement the posts in and we will do the rest, it works out at half the price. By law over here the fence costs have to be split with the neighbors and the height must be 1.8 meters. We have also contacted a drive way company to give us a quote, when we bought the land it looked pretty flat, but since building we have noticed it slightly dips at the end, making a big step upto the front of the garage and front entrance, but we will speak to them about solving that problem.
Anyway, enjoy the photos.
Its amazing how fast the build actually goes once it starts, once the roof is on and bricks are up it looks like a house, then it seems to slow down again when they are doing the internals.
The guys that did our fence know contacts for driveways so they might be worth a shout? they were pretty good at our fence and they actually chased the neighbours for the 50% of the fence costs so it was no hassle to us, but looks like you struck it lucky with the neighbours, we had to pay for the entire back fence coz it has nobody backing onto it, but al in all it was not too expensive (well I didnt think it was)
Are you using the same sparky we did for ours ? James? pretty good guy, even came back out to help mount our plasma telly in the second livingroom, and he was spot on with the lighting to have no dark spots.
House is looking good though, you must be getting excited
Oct 6th 2009, 8:13 pm
#63
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Location: Rolleston, Canterbury NZ
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Re: We are land owners!!
Hi Alanmac,
Thanks for the contacts, I will shout you if needed. We don't know who the sparky is at the moment, I think we are due to have a walk around with him within the next few months, I do know we will go slightly over on budget for him though, my pet hate in a house is not enough sockets, so we are going to have them coming out our ears (including outside).
We are talking about the garden at the moment, we are going to do the grass ourselves, but not quite sure what to do, someone said you have to kills the grass and weeds off first then rotovate then fertilize then seed, but not sure, we will have to get some advice on this.
Thanks for the contacts, I will shout you if needed. We don't know who the sparky is at the moment, I think we are due to have a walk around with him within the next few months, I do know we will go slightly over on budget for him though, my pet hate in a house is not enough sockets, so we are going to have them coming out our ears (including outside).
We are talking about the garden at the moment, we are going to do the grass ourselves, but not quite sure what to do, someone said you have to kills the grass and weeds off first then rotovate then fertilize then seed, but not sure, we will have to get some advice on this.
Oct 6th 2009, 10:03 pm
#64
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Joined: Mar 2008
Location: Rolleston
Posts: 734
Re: We are land owners!!
Hi Alanmac,
Thanks for the contacts, I will shout you if needed. We don't know who the sparky is at the moment, I think we are due to have a walk around with him within the next few months, I do know we will go slightly over on budget for him though, my pet hate in a house is not enough sockets, so we are going to have them coming out our ears (including outside).
We are talking about the garden at the moment, we are going to do the grass ourselves, but not quite sure what to do, someone said you have to kills the grass and weeds off first then rotovate then fertilize then seed, but not sure, we will have to get some advice on this.
Thanks for the contacts, I will shout you if needed. We don't know who the sparky is at the moment, I think we are due to have a walk around with him within the next few months, I do know we will go slightly over on budget for him though, my pet hate in a house is not enough sockets, so we are going to have them coming out our ears (including outside).
We are talking about the garden at the moment, we are going to do the grass ourselves, but not quite sure what to do, someone said you have to kills the grass and weeds off first then rotovate then fertilize then seed, but not sure, we will have to get some advice on this.
Oct 31st 2009, 12:00 am
#65
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Re: We are land owners!!
Hi all, thought I would give you a quick update on where we were with our house build. It has been a little slow the past 3 weeks, as we are waiting for the bricks to arrive from Oz, but they have promised us that they will be here next week. The window have gone in, and I think they look good, the only problem is the bi-fold doors, they open in a 2 one side and 2 the other side way, so it causes a problem if you want to go out side, if you close the doors behind you you can't get back in!, we had in our mind a 3 leaf + a normal door. Now we did sign off the buiding plans but what the builders had in mind and what we had in mind were slightly two different things, it is now going to cost us another $1300 on top to get the doors changed, it wasn't the builders fault, but what I have learnt is before signing the plans off, you make sure ever window opens the way you want it to open and doors do the same. The electrician has been in and done his bit, very quick and painless, it's quite brain taxing trying to think where you want every light switch, light, and socket etc, but we think we have cracked it.
As mentioned before, we are putting up the fence ourselves, never done it before, but really quite simple, us and the new neighbours are doing it, it's a great way to get to know everyone and a few beers have been sunk doing it!, we saved ourselves 50% by doing it ourselves, and it's almost done, but suddenly it makes the section really really massive, i'm just thinking of all that grass that has to be cut.
They are still saying we will be in by christmas, but we will wait on see on that one, but so far so good.
As mentioned before, we are putting up the fence ourselves, never done it before, but really quite simple, us and the new neighbours are doing it, it's a great way to get to know everyone and a few beers have been sunk doing it!, we saved ourselves 50% by doing it ourselves, and it's almost done, but suddenly it makes the section really really massive, i'm just thinking of all that grass that has to be cut.
They are still saying we will be in by christmas, but we will wait on see on that one, but so far so good.
Oct 31st 2009, 11:21 am
#66
Life is what YOU make it.
Joined: Oct 2009
Location: Christchurch
Posts: 3,312
Re: We are land owners!!
Wow............For a lot less than £200k you will have a dream house! and exactly where and how you want it.....mind blowing. Please keep us up to date with a list of pitfalls as this project is reeeaaaallllyyy interesting!
Nov 5th 2009, 8:54 am
#67
happy daisy
Joined: Oct 2009
Location: French Alps
Posts: 690
Re: We are land owners!!
thanks for posting your updates Tee, it's just what we need and all the tips are great.
looking forward to more updates and pics!
good luck with the rest of it and congrats!!
Nov 5th 2009, 10:57 pm
#68
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Joined: Mar 2008
Location: Rolleston
Posts: 734
Re: We are land owners!!
Hi all, thought I would give you a quick update on where we were with our house build. It has been a little slow the past 3 weeks, as we are waiting for the bricks to arrive from Oz, but they have promised us that they will be here next week. The window have gone in, and I think they look good, the only problem is the bi-fold doors, they open in a 2 one side and 2 the other side way, so it causes a problem if you want to go out side, if you close the doors behind you you can't get back in!, we had in our mind a 3 leaf + a normal door. Now we did sign off the buiding plans but what the builders had in mind and what we had in mind were slightly two different things, it is now going to cost us another $1300 on top to get the doors changed, it wasn't the builders fault, but what I have learnt is before signing the plans off, you make sure ever window opens the way you want it to open and doors do the same. The electrician has been in and done his bit, very quick and painless, it's quite brain taxing trying to think where you want every light switch, light, and socket etc, but we think we have cracked it.
As mentioned before, we are putting up the fence ourselves, never done it before, but really quite simple, us and the new neighbours are doing it, it's a great way to get to know everyone and a few beers have been sunk doing it!, we saved ourselves 50% by doing it ourselves, and it's almost done, but suddenly it makes the section really really massive, i'm just thinking of all that grass that has to be cut.
They are still saying we will be in by christmas, but we will wait on see on that one, but so far so good.
As mentioned before, we are putting up the fence ourselves, never done it before, but really quite simple, us and the new neighbours are doing it, it's a great way to get to know everyone and a few beers have been sunk doing it!, we saved ourselves 50% by doing it ourselves, and it's almost done, but suddenly it makes the section really really massive, i'm just thinking of all that grass that has to be cut.
They are still saying we will be in by christmas, but we will wait on see on that one, but so far so good.
Nov 12th 2009, 7:37 pm
#69
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Re: We are land owners!!
Well it's all going well, we did have to get onto the builders as it seemed nothing was being done, but they assured me, in the background things were moving.
The bricks have started to go up, they can only brick half way and then they have to get an inspection from the council, then they brick almost to the top and have to get another inspection, then the bricking is finished and yet another inspection is required (don't ask me why). The plumber was around yesterday laying the shower trays. The builders are still saying we will be in by Christmas.
One tip for the electrician, before you do a walk around, colour code your plans and make sure that is where you want your sockets and light fitting, tv ariel and phone lines. Then go to the house by yourself and walk around the house as if you were living in it and picturing if you were waking in the middle of the night where you would want to find the light switch to turn on etc. We did this and still forgot to put a socket behind the microwave which is being housed in a wall mounted unit, but a quick email to the project manager sorted that out.
We have decided to not scrape the garden and re-seed until Autumn, we were going to do it now, but we want the kids to be able to play outside in the summer holidays over Christmas, and we don't want to seed the garden and it all be burnt by the sun, so we will wait and do it properly.
So that's the update from this end, hope i haven't bored you too much.
The bricks have started to go up, they can only brick half way and then they have to get an inspection from the council, then they brick almost to the top and have to get another inspection, then the bricking is finished and yet another inspection is required (don't ask me why). The plumber was around yesterday laying the shower trays. The builders are still saying we will be in by Christmas.
One tip for the electrician, before you do a walk around, colour code your plans and make sure that is where you want your sockets and light fitting, tv ariel and phone lines. Then go to the house by yourself and walk around the house as if you were living in it and picturing if you were waking in the middle of the night where you would want to find the light switch to turn on etc. We did this and still forgot to put a socket behind the microwave which is being housed in a wall mounted unit, but a quick email to the project manager sorted that out.
We have decided to not scrape the garden and re-seed until Autumn, we were going to do it now, but we want the kids to be able to play outside in the summer holidays over Christmas, and we don't want to seed the garden and it all be burnt by the sun, so we will wait and do it properly.
So that's the update from this end, hope i haven't bored you too much.
Nov 14th 2009, 2:50 am
#70
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Joined: Feb 2008
Location: Dunedin
Posts: 1,383
Re: We are land owners!!
Well it's all going well, we did have to get onto the builders as it seemed nothing was being done, but they assured me, in the background things were moving.
The bricks have started to go up, they can only brick half way and then they have to get an inspection from the council, then they brick almost to the top and have to get another inspection, then the bricking is finished and yet another inspection is required (don't ask me why). The plumber was around yesterday laying the shower trays. The builders are still saying we will be in by Christmas.
One tip for the electrician, before you do a walk around, colour code your plans and make sure that is where you want your sockets and light fitting, tv ariel and phone lines. Then go to the house by yourself and walk around the house as if you were living in it and picturing if you were waking in the middle of the night where you would want to find the light switch to turn on etc. We did this and still forgot to put a socket behind the microwave which is being housed in a wall mounted unit, but a quick email to the project manager sorted that out.
We have decided to not scrape the garden and re-seed until Autumn, we were going to do it now, but we want the kids to be able to play outside in the summer holidays over Christmas, and we don't want to seed the garden and it all be burnt by the sun, so we will wait and do it properly.
So that's the update from this end, hope i haven't bored you too much.
The bricks have started to go up, they can only brick half way and then they have to get an inspection from the council, then they brick almost to the top and have to get another inspection, then the bricking is finished and yet another inspection is required (don't ask me why). The plumber was around yesterday laying the shower trays. The builders are still saying we will be in by Christmas.
One tip for the electrician, before you do a walk around, colour code your plans and make sure that is where you want your sockets and light fitting, tv ariel and phone lines. Then go to the house by yourself and walk around the house as if you were living in it and picturing if you were waking in the middle of the night where you would want to find the light switch to turn on etc. We did this and still forgot to put a socket behind the microwave which is being housed in a wall mounted unit, but a quick email to the project manager sorted that out.
We have decided to not scrape the garden and re-seed until Autumn, we were going to do it now, but we want the kids to be able to play outside in the summer holidays over Christmas, and we don't want to seed the garden and it all be burnt by the sun, so we will wait and do it properly.
So that's the update from this end, hope i haven't bored you too much.
you get in for Christmas as planned. Keep updates coming,fascinated by the progress.Phyl x
Nov 14th 2009, 3:31 pm
#71
happy daisy
Joined: Oct 2009
Location: French Alps
Posts: 690
Re: We are land owners!!
Well it's all going well, we did have to get onto the builders as it seemed nothing was being done, but they assured me, in the background things were moving.
The bricks have started to go up, they can only brick half way and then they have to get an inspection from the council, then they brick almost to the top and have to get another inspection, then the bricking is finished and yet another inspection is required (don't ask me why). The plumber was around yesterday laying the shower trays. The builders are still saying we will be in by Christmas.
One tip for the electrician, before you do a walk around, colour code your plans and make sure that is where you want your sockets and light fitting, tv ariel and phone lines. Then go to the house by yourself and walk around the house as if you were living in it and picturing if you were waking in the middle of the night where you would want to find the light switch to turn on etc. We did this and still forgot to put a socket behind the microwave which is being housed in a wall mounted unit, but a quick email to the project manager sorted that out.
We have decided to not scrape the garden and re-seed until Autumn, we were going to do it now, but we want the kids to be able to play outside in the summer holidays over Christmas, and we don't want to seed the garden and it all be burnt by the sun, so we will wait and do it properly.
So that's the update from this end, hope i haven't bored you too much.
The bricks have started to go up, they can only brick half way and then they have to get an inspection from the council, then they brick almost to the top and have to get another inspection, then the bricking is finished and yet another inspection is required (don't ask me why). The plumber was around yesterday laying the shower trays. The builders are still saying we will be in by Christmas.
One tip for the electrician, before you do a walk around, colour code your plans and make sure that is where you want your sockets and light fitting, tv ariel and phone lines. Then go to the house by yourself and walk around the house as if you were living in it and picturing if you were waking in the middle of the night where you would want to find the light switch to turn on etc. We did this and still forgot to put a socket behind the microwave which is being housed in a wall mounted unit, but a quick email to the project manager sorted that out.
We have decided to not scrape the garden and re-seed until Autumn, we were going to do it now, but we want the kids to be able to play outside in the summer holidays over Christmas, and we don't want to seed the garden and it all be burnt by the sun, so we will wait and do it properly.
So that's the update from this end, hope i haven't bored you too much.
Nov 16th 2009, 2:52 am
#72
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 181
Re: We are land owners!!
nice one guys looks great.
Is that a heat pump pipe I see above your hallway door?
if so make sure they are including a condensate pump otherwise when you use the heat pump in dehu or aircon mode you will have water running down your walls! (could be 1ltr an hour!) Dont pay them any extra as they should have included that in the quote.
If its not heat pump pipes the my bad!
keep the updates coming and well done doing the fence yourself thats good to see.
all the best
george
Is that a heat pump pipe I see above your hallway door?
if so make sure they are including a condensate pump otherwise when you use the heat pump in dehu or aircon mode you will have water running down your walls! (could be 1ltr an hour!) Dont pay them any extra as they should have included that in the quote.
If its not heat pump pipes the my bad!
keep the updates coming and well done doing the fence yourself thats good to see.
all the best
george
Nov 24th 2009, 4:13 am
#73
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Location: Rolleston, Canterbury NZ
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Re: We are land owners!!
Hi all, thought I would give you an update. The bricks are on and all the inspections from the council have been done. I must say, they have sooooo many inspections more than probably necessary, and the builders can't book all the inspection in one go on set dates etc they have to wait until the work is done then phone up and wait for the council to be available - I'm sure this house would of been built by now!
Anyway, as I said the bricks are up and looking good, so glad I changed the window frame colour at the last minute from the light sand to the dark, I don't know what we were thinking at the time. The insulation is in, it only took them 4 hours to complete and the gibbing (plaster board) walls were done today, and that only took 6 hours to complete - very fast. As I mentioned before, check every detail of the contract before signing, we noticed there wasn't a bulkhead running around the Media room ceiling, now this is a feature we particulary liked and really wanted, but when we check the final copy of the contract floor plan, it wasn't on there. It's very easy to miss on the plans as it's only a very faint dotted line. We approached the builders and they did say it wasn't on the signed contract, but luckily I had kept all the correspondence from them and all the amended floor plans and low and behold it was on the original. Now as we didn't ask for this feature to be removed, it should still be on the final plays. I must say, GJ Gardeners were very good, I think they released it was a mistake in the drawings and are now putting in the bulkhead free of charge.
Whilst the gibbing was off, hubby went around the house like a mad thing, putting speaker wire in every corner, we now have surround sound in the Media room, family room and Outside decking area. It's cheaper for us to do it than paying the electrician. Mind you we have asked the sparky to put the TV ariel on the roof and sky caballing into 3 rooms with a multi viewing switch, this worked out allot cheaper, and we will pay the sparky directly.
We are just waiting now for the drainage people to do their thing outside with all the down pipe and connection work and we will then get the driveway done.
GJ's are still saying we will be in before Christmas! hope so, we gave notice on our rental today, unfortunately we signed the contract until March and if we don't get anyone else to take over the tenancy we will have to pay the rent - ooccchhhhh
Anyway, as I said the bricks are up and looking good, so glad I changed the window frame colour at the last minute from the light sand to the dark, I don't know what we were thinking at the time. The insulation is in, it only took them 4 hours to complete and the gibbing (plaster board) walls were done today, and that only took 6 hours to complete - very fast. As I mentioned before, check every detail of the contract before signing, we noticed there wasn't a bulkhead running around the Media room ceiling, now this is a feature we particulary liked and really wanted, but when we check the final copy of the contract floor plan, it wasn't on there. It's very easy to miss on the plans as it's only a very faint dotted line. We approached the builders and they did say it wasn't on the signed contract, but luckily I had kept all the correspondence from them and all the amended floor plans and low and behold it was on the original. Now as we didn't ask for this feature to be removed, it should still be on the final plays. I must say, GJ Gardeners were very good, I think they released it was a mistake in the drawings and are now putting in the bulkhead free of charge.
Whilst the gibbing was off, hubby went around the house like a mad thing, putting speaker wire in every corner, we now have surround sound in the Media room, family room and Outside decking area. It's cheaper for us to do it than paying the electrician. Mind you we have asked the sparky to put the TV ariel on the roof and sky caballing into 3 rooms with a multi viewing switch, this worked out allot cheaper, and we will pay the sparky directly.
We are just waiting now for the drainage people to do their thing outside with all the down pipe and connection work and we will then get the driveway done.
GJ's are still saying we will be in before Christmas! hope so, we gave notice on our rental today, unfortunately we signed the contract until March and if we don't get anyone else to take over the tenancy we will have to pay the rent - ooccchhhhh
Nov 24th 2009, 4:46 am
#74
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Joined: Sep 2007
Location: Inglewood in New Plymouth
Posts: 867
Re: We are land owners!!
Looking great,bet your as excited as me . I must go update my thread
Nov 24th 2009, 6:28 am
#75
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Joined: Jul 2009
Location: Papamoa New Zealand and loving it so far.
Posts: 678
Re: We are land owners!!
Just wanted to share my excitement with you all, we managed to secure 1200m2 (1/4 acre) section of prime land in Rolleston (christchurch), we got it for an excellent price so well chuffed. We are hoping to start building our dream house on it next month. We are currently meeting with the builders and moving walls extra on the plans to get it the way we want it and then they will start. I never ever thought we would build our own home in our lifetime - fantastic.
great news, well done. Keep us posted.Tina, x