Losh's house build 5 years in the making

[losh1971]

I've been trying to get a quote for the last four days to have power connected to a vacant lot. Trouble is I'm not getting a reply from the two I used already. I just want an estimate so I can see if it's something we can have done. A builder told us $2k but I can't see that being enough since the meter install alone is around $750 plus another $80 to arrange the connection. I would be looking atleast 15m of 25mm2 and have it coiled in a trench about 6m from the green box.
I'm thinking more in the range of $5k but I really have no idea. I can't find my old invoice for my current house so can't work out if it's really $2k or even $10k. I tried some online searches but came up with estimates of $20k to $50k, obviously from people who have NFI. Because I don't think I even paid $10k at my current house,which had probably close to 35m of 25mm2 as it went up the pole and had an 18m set back plus coils at each base. But I still can't be sure and maybe it was close to that.
I'm hoping that someone on here is a sparky and can give me an estimate. I think the trench alone is about $500 as that's the minimum charge to wet hire.

 

[wetwork65]

So basically to me this whole grant scheme will only work for those who like the wife and I are, getting plans drawn up, but then have them approved by council by say mid November, which gives enough time to enlist a builder and arrange finance ready to commence by early to late Feb 2021.
However if you are having plans drawn up now, good luck signing a contract with a builder and finance approved by mid December when people are starting to shut down. What a balls up.....

Plus the time it takes for a builder to scratch his (her) arse, tell you they are really busy and couldn't even look at the job this side of Christmas, since they are already booked out for jobs to be done by Christmas.
Let alone getting around to a proper quote, if they answer their phone in the first place.
Then the council drek starts. Meh! Parallel universe.
Maybe I'm just refering to Sydney - bored of the whole building industry.

 

[losh1971]

I am thinking I am going to use a private certifier which will speed up the process. I have had a look and I should have planning approval within five months. I will push to have it done quicker if I can. I might be able to get the shed up this year as I can order the kit pretty much once I have planning approval. I think it takes about 5 weeks to make the kit. I can then have them store it for up to 4 weeks if I need to. I think the builder is ok if I give him a months' notice to build the shed. He indicated it's something he will fit in around his other projects. Key will be having permits by say mid November and shed kit delivered around the same time. Going to be a push but with private certification it may be doable.
Need to try and sign a contract mid December on the house build if we are to try for the $45k. We might be able to sign it with conditions, like sale of current property and or finance approval. I am thinking we are certainly going to try and have it all done by then if we can. I'd be willing to take a slightly lower price on my current home if it means we can secure the $45k.

 

[Varamand]

Wow, to be honest, I envy you. My dream is to acquire a plot and build my own home from scratch. Now I may not have enough strength or funds for this . Hopefully in about ten years I will be able to finally afford my own house, since while I live in rented apartments. By the way, I noticed that you do not have gutters installed. This may become a serious problem if it starts raining heavily. Hope you fix it. By the way, what else do you want to build in the future? Judging by the photos, you still have a lot of free space. I really wonder what you end up with. It's sad that now because due to quarantine, your construction process has stopped ... I hope you can continue construction soon. Good Luck!!!

 

[losh1971]

Wow, to be honest, I envy you. My dream is to acquire a plot and build my own home from scratch. Now I may not have enough strength or funds for this . Hopefully in about ten years I will be able to finally afford my own house, since while I live in rented apartments. By the way, I noticed that you do not have gutters installed. This may become a serious problem if it starts raining heavily. Hope you fix it. By the way, what else do you want to build in the future? Judging by the photos, you still have a lot of free space. I really wonder what you end up with. It's sad that now because due to quarantine, your construction process has stopped ... I hope you can continue construction soon. Good Luck!!!

House is now finished pretty well. Only a couple of cupboard doors and a bit of landscaping to go. I will post more pics in a few weeks.

 

[Varamand]

House is now finished pretty well. Only a couple of cupboard doors and a bit of landscaping to go. I will post more pics in a few weeks.

Ok, I will wait

 

[losh1971]

Been doing some maintenance over the last few days. I have finished the screws on the side fence, and shifted 1.5m of gravel to a better location in the backyard and off the driveway. I now need to see if a local builder I know is willing to come up and cut the tops of the pailings off.

I tried to whipper snipper but old trimmer is buggard, won't rev and stalls when I try. It was playing up last time, but I did manage. This time I threw it in the ute, before I threw it down a gold hole.... I will take it in but I'd say the carbi is buggard. It's getting up in hours so may be a throw away job now anyway.

I have a driveway covered in weeds. I'm trying something new to see if it works I poured about 300mls of glypho into a weed and feed hose bottle, filled it with water and sprayed the driveway. It will be interesting to see if its dead in two weeks time when come back out.
I have a young couple wanting to buy the property but it will depend if they are approved by the bank. I'm not bothered if I keep it, as I can afford two loans right now but that could change next year.
I need to get a few things tidied up before I could put it with an agent, and to get it in saleable condition I'd need another three weekends up here, maybe four, and I only get out here once a fortnight now.

I want to try and get the front Kikuyu to grow but three or four years since seeding and its still just a few patches here and there. If this was Adelaide the runners would be out of control by now. I'm thinking I will try and buy another box of seed and see if my neighbours will water it for a couple of weeks. We get about 10 weeks of growing temps for Kikuyu, so it's try and get as much water on it as you can and hope for rain. Trouble is out of those 10 weeks we probably end up with 30 -40 days where the temp is over 22deg.

I need an excavator or bobcat to clean up the driveway and rear parking area. But that's money. There is a local bloke with a 1T mini excavator which would work but I need to organise him. I may try for three weekend's time when I'm back out here.

What I have been able to do over the last few trips is take some loads to the new shed and a trip or two to the tip. I have the shed pretty much cleaned out I still need to dismantle my shelves and take them to the new shed. I have a load to go to the tip and I reckon I will do that next time I'm out.

In the meantime, as I had little I could do outside I decided to make some donuts.

 

[Lex]

I decided to make some donuts.

Yum!

 

[gtrboyy]

Hmm looking at that fence....rustic doors & random length palings.

Reckon it would look cooler if every paling was uneven & painted a different colour to match house next door.

Imagine the effect it would have on somebody with OCD driving past it

 

[greenacc]

How do you make donuts??
I'm not a big donut guy but my kids would go nuts for them!!