some nice stuff #2

Diggin' it

It was Thursday. From somewhere in the velvety darkness of an autumnal morning the throaty rumble of trucks and the quiet murmur of voices wafted up to the boudoir.  6.30am, and the newest round of Homemade House contributors had arrived.

At the legally mandated time of 7am that throaty rumble turned to action and the mechanical ballet starring the 7 tonne excavator and it's fleet of foot companion the bobcat began. Deftly moving around one another, zipping between the rear garden and the three waiting tip trucks on the street.

By day's end a precisely-wrought chasm has appeared and so began Homemade House: Outside.

The next day:

And then a few days later:

We are all about concrete at the moment, being thrilled to the back teeth when the side path was poured too: 

I know, it only leads to the bins and the clothes line - but it's an oasis of civility in a muddy swamp.

And then.....

....the front verandah paving slab went down which meant we didn't have to fall out of our own front door anymore. It was followed by....

...lovely bluestone paving. Civilised!

A bit more concrete came in the form of the retaining wall:

which means we are now ready for even more concrete, in the form of a driveway and paths. Possibly this very week!

Follow your dream: a how-to guide

In case you missed it, we are not tradies. And yet we were able to make our dream home happen and do it as owner-builders. 12 months ago we were probably a bit sceptical that we were up to it, but we seemed to be going through an uncharacteristically whimsical phase. That led to deciding to build a house and buying a property within a week. A WEEK! 

And THEN we looked into what was involved in creating the Homemade House. 

That makes no sense. But it worked out for us - phew!

You should probably do it the other way around, especially if you are like us and constrained by the dimensions of a suburban block.

We didn't know anything at all about setbacks etc or even what the dimensions of the house would be. Lucky for us, it fit. 

Well. 

Plan B fit. Plan A was a house with a return verandah but we couldn't do that and have a driveway and get our setbacks from the side boundary approved.

Lesson learned: you can have a long-held vision AND you can also be flexible. It all worked out beautifully.

Many of the visitors to this blog are thinking about a similar path, either with the Lovely Building Company or another option and I'm very happy answering your questions and hearing your plans. In response to a request from Brierley and Clover (gorgeous vintage style blog), here are my musings on useful things to know. 

As mentioned, we are not tradies. We are not experts. We had not done this before. This is simply our individual experience and opinion, for what that is worth.

Which is the perfect lead-in for my first piece of advice if you decide to be an owner-builder:

1. Start educating yourself. I made full use of those 24 hours in a day to trawl through mountains of information. I read everything I could get my hands on. I read the Building Commission website, Consumer Affairs website, all sorts of web articles, I lurked on renovation/building discussion boards so I could soak up the issues that others were grappling with, I did an online owner-builder course, and even earned my "white card". I also purchased a couple of books that explain exactly how to build a house so I could grasp the process and the lingo. And I asked lots of questions. The Lovely Building Company never seems to get sick of answering the most mundane of building-related questions.

That researching did not stop during the entire process. As each stage arrived, so I became a "mini-expert" for a short while.

2. You cannot be too organised. It was 6 and a half months from when the slab was poured to when we moved in. There are two keys to that. The first is being very clear on what the sequence is going to be. How do you know that? Everything time I spoke to a trade during their quote phase I would ask them exactly at what stage they needed to come in, and I also asked them for some idea of when I could bring in the trade after them. Get that all scheduled into whatever kind of chart works for you.

The second key is to know what you want well in advance and have your fittings etc good to go. We had a room at our home stacked from end to end and to the rafters with baths, vanities, tiles, taps, hinges, toilets, exhaust fans, light fittings and so on. Start buying ASAP!

We were determined that any delays were not going to be due to us.

3. Always get three quotes. ALWAYS. Every time we sought quotes there was one business that wanted to charge us twice what the other two proposed. Imagine if the pricey one was the only one we received and we accepted it? That literally saved us tens of thousands of dollars. 

4. Don't just accept the cheapest quote. Factor in whether they have been recommended by someone else, are they registered in their trade, do they have insurance, will they give you a written quote, and do you feel you can communicate well with them? The Very Lovely Building Company provides a list of recommended trades - I can happily recommend their recommendations!

5. Be present: plan to visit the site every single day. Each morning I would arrive and ask two questions: "what do you need?" And "what else?". Usually enough of a conversation starter for me to be across what was happening that day and for whoever was there to know I was paying attention and  available to answer any questions and run the occasional errands.

Even on the weekends? Yes. As owner-builder you need to go there and do a bit of a tidy up each weekend, including giving the house a weekly sweep out and clearing out rubbish. It's also the best time to have a really good look at the work done during the week.

6. Final tip: love your tradies. Arrive with a smile, provide tea,coffee,cold drinks and a supply of snacks.  Lash out on the soft toilet paper. Send in the pizzas on the cold miserable days.

 Our home was built by happy chappies hopped up on sugar.

Walking on the moon

Giant steps are what we take...stepping out our front door.

The Homemade House is sitting pretty in a lunar landscape. While its been all fun and flowers on the inside, a desolate scene outside provokes concern even from David the Postie.

"What are you planning to do about a garden?" he enquired with a concerned tone.

"Nothing." I coolly replied. "It's low maintenance this way."

Except the bravado is starting to slip along with the startling embankment in the middle of our front yard which lies in wait for the unsuspecting outsider. 

Captain Laird has been warned off his online shopping habit, lest we lose a highly valued delivery person into the Valley of the Damned.

After a year of intense engagement with the building process, it would be fair to say that right now, we would be happy to take the landscaping side of things at a leisurely pace. But it isn't that simple. 

As the summer months wither away -much like our remaining vegetation - the impetus to get a driveway down is very real.  

First things first, however, and apparently if you are planning to put very heavy machinery in your backyard to do something, it is not wise to run it over the top of your newly poured driveway. Frustratingly logical.

So we find ourselves compelled to get all the landscaping planning done without pause. Sequencing: fight it at your peril in this game, my friends. 

It would be fair to say I am heartily sick of paying vast sums to have the earth on our site moved hither and thither. My mind is wearied with endless discussion of "levels". My soul a little crushed with talk of retaining walls. 

Our landscaping wounds were laid bare while the side fence was demolished, leaving our rawness exposed for all to see.

A gentle balm in the form of our landscape designer gives a flickering candle of hope that maybe one day we will nestle in a lush Eden. 

Right now even a clothesline would be garden highlight.

Some nice stuff

Cookery nook

Wandering around

Bathing sanctuary

Restful nights

Fresh baked muffins

Morning sun

The big catch -up

As you read this we are already getting our move on, no trip to the Homemade House to happen without a load of something.

The big truck arrives next Monday -this time next week we are IN!

While you may well have assumed that we had been sitting back basking in the success of our occupancy inspection, work has relentlessly continued. Relentless, but most fruitful.

There was the leadlighting:

The granite stepped off its flight from Brazil looking surprisingly refreshed:

Sinks were connected:

(This is one of the few parts of the house I am precious about. If you come to visit, do NOT take it upon yourself to wash dishes in this sink. Delicately rinsing a lettuce leaf may be permitted).

Light fittings were,indeed, fitted:

I also saw water pound down from the ceiling mounted shower head in the master suite. It was so awesome the plumber could be forgiven for inviting his offsider to shower with him. "Whatever makes you happy" I encouraged the happy couple.

I am also pleased to report that in the world of building there exists the concept of a builder's clean. This is when a couple of angels descend from on high to somehow turn a building site into a home.

Sills,ledges and shelves were divested of their earthly dust,windows were polished, bathrooms shined, and carpets tamed (oh yes! The carpets were also laid, looking and feeling sumptuous.).

Downstairs splashbacks were also completed. Let me tell you,if you ever use our tiler (and I know there are a few Lovely Building Company future clients out there),the gorgeous Joe is ALWAYS right. Give him your ideas and he will ask you just the right questions and give you just the right answers. He restored my faith in the tiling community.

THE END.

Just kidding. 

But do me a favour. While I know there have been over 5,000 views of this blog,  my eldest daughter mocks me for the tiny number of comments I receive here. Do me a favour and leave a one word comment on this post. Your Christmas gift to me. xx.

Homemade House 2014 to follow...

It's results week!

...and not just for our state's industrious Year 12 students.

I am very pleased to report that we passed our occupancy permit inspection with Mr Building Inspector!

It had been weighing heavily on me, not knowing exactly what it entailed.  I hovered around the house while he did his thing, hands involuntarily clenched together, prayer-like. I circled the remaining tradies hoping for a reassuring "she'll be right!" but none was forthcoming.

Would I be given a spot quiz on some obscure aspect of the construction? Had we unwittingly overlooked something critical?

I fully expected to receive a nit-picky shopping list of items to be done before we were allowed to move in - but the inspector was quite relaxed and happy for us to make the move: WE PASSED!

So it was straight home to pop the French in the fridge for a celebration with Captain Laird, served with a side of the sweet smell of success!