ON TO CONSTRUCTION!!! Well, in about a week

So, first let's catch you up on the latest happenings before we get to the good stuff. From our previous post, we had mentioned that our old administrator had said that despite our folder being handed over to the construction department, our site supervisor had noticed some inconsistencies that needed to be re-drawn and sent to us to sign. We received those, signed them, but also noticed that one of the things we had originally asked for hadn't been implemented in the drawings. We checked with our admin and indeed this was the case, though she was very reluctant to just have the change made, almost as if she thought we may have been trying to pull a fast one, by 'suddenly changing our minds' and then saying that it was something we had wanted a long time ago. The houses original plans have two openings in two of the walls, one on the Theater Room wall and one between the Study and the Living Room. We had asked for both of these to be closed up and in our drawings, the Theater Room wall had been done, but not the Study. We chased an answer (well, really the paperwork) for this with our admin for two or three days and were only told that "management is looking into it." The wife then decided to drive the paperwork we had already signed down to Henley and called our administrator on the way there. When she asked about the opening in the wall being re-drawn on the plan, she said, "yeah, well you can't have that...management has determined that it was supposed to be in your Tender and because it wasn't you will just have to have the opening in the wall because materials have already been ordered." My wife was NOT happy with that and said so and reiterated that despite the fact that it was Henley's fault for not putting it in at Tender even though we had requested it during our Tender appointment (and had proof of this), we were just going to have to live with it? To which she responded, "well pretty much, yes" The wife then reiterated that she wasn't happy with that and the response was "Yes, well I'll be sure to voice your concern with management and someone will get back to you."
Needless to say, my wife arrived at Henley's office about 15 minutes later with our other paperwork and asked for Melanie, who was conveniently unavailable. She had to take our son to the restroom and when she returned, in walked the Customer Service Team Leader (essentially our admin's boss), called her out by name and had the documents with the wall the way we wanted in his hand and ready to go. Problem suddenly solved! She has no idea what happened between her phone call and turning in the other papers, but he came out with the pages already re-printed and was quite nice about it, no questions asked and that was enough to satisfy us.

Got a call from the new administrator yesterday to introduce herself and to let me know that she'd be with us until the settlement stage. She informed me of who our site supervisor was, said she'd be sending out an introduction letter that day with her card in it. She also informed me that site supervisors are in the office on Wednesday's and part of the time on Friday's and they catch up with them on Wednesday's to find out about the sites they are looking after. She says that each week she will call me Wednesday afternoon (sometimes Thursday if she doesn't get to all her calls) to inform me what will be happening on site for the next week. She said she'd call tomorrow (which was today) to let me know when the start date would be etc. She called again this afternoon and informed us that the start date will be August 2nd (excavation of the site) and that they were hoping to have the foundation (slab) poured by August 14th! She said she'd be sending out an official site start letter either late this week or early next week and will speak with us again soon. All great and FINALLY we can get going with this project. I think we've abandoned any hope of getting in before Christmas, but should be in by February/March '08. Introduction letter from the Construction Administrator arrived today, so all very positive. Next post will have pictures from the newly excavated site on August 2nd, so watch this space!

Some updates.....well, kinda.....

I was hoping to have more exciting updates than the ones I do have, but it is what it is. We did receive the final drawings for the house last week (Wednesday), after our administrator told us that we would receive them Friday of the previous week, or "early the following week." So, Wednesday wasn't too bad, we promptly signed them and drove them to the Henley office the following morning (Thursday, June 12th), so our file could be moved on to construction phase! We hand delivered the folder to our Admin. and were assured that we'd be hearing from the "New Admin." early next week, that the site supervisor had received the folder and was organizing tradespeople to start the job ("probably early next week") and all was well. So "early next week" came and went and I finally called the 'old admin' today to find out what stage we were at and when we should expect to hear from the new admin and for work to start. I was told that we would for sure hear from them tomorrow, Friday the 20th of June (I think in admin language that means Monday) and that work is being ordered and should start either tomorrow as well, or Monday (again in admin language that means "early next week"), so I'm not holding my breath, but I'm hopeful. I think 'old admin' is swamped right now and is probably happy to be handing us off as they just have too much on their plate right now!

To backtrack a bit, we also had a person from our local council call us yesterday to inform us that he'd been over to inspect our site as Henley were close to starting (sounded encouraging, but probably something that needs to be done before they CAN start) and that our demolition company had done some damage to the old crossover (driveway) and sidewalk (footpath) and said that he noted what the damage was and phoned Henley to inform them that they would be responsible for any new damage beyond what was already there. We are liable for the current damage, but it's nothing to really worry about because the size of our new garage will dictate that the footpath (sidewalk) and driveway (crossover) will have to be widened to accommodate it, so it's literaly a cost we'd be incurring anyway!

Also, we had spoken to 'old admin' on Tuesday and she said that the site manager who now has our file has built a couple hundred houses of the type we are building and there were a few changes from the 'final' drawings that needed further adjustment. She reassured us that these were very minor, quite standard and that it wouldn't be delaying the process at all (which doesn't seem to be the case as we haven't had any progress since then, but we'll see), and that he's busy ordering the tradespeople, etc. etc. The items in question are the rendered band on the garage. The original drawing calls for a band of render (or cement) at the top of the garage, which matches the rest of the house, but due to the fact that the garage wall will be the boundary line between the two properties, the render (even though it's not very thick at all), would encroach on the neighbors property, so it will be a solid brick wall all the way up. Second was an adjustment to the one of the beams on the outdoor alfresco, something about it not being drawn properly (thank goodness he caught it!) and finally was something engineering caught with the cut and fill, so that's being adjusted as well. We were originally told we'd have the papers by today, but when the didn't arrive, chased the 'old admin' and were told they'd be express posted and to us for sure by tomorrow (Friday the 20th).

So, there you have it. Some updates, but nothing really to show for it yet, but we're hoping soon. We're not holding our breath, but we're hopeful we should have the papers tomorrow, might hear from the 'new admin' tomorrow and if it's really our lucky day, someone will have started work on the site tomorrow, but probably thinking that will really take place next week.

As always....we'll keep ya posted!

Still Waiting on Final Drawings, But...

We have been re-established! I went to the Lot today to see collect some last minute 'trash' items off the Lot before construction is set to begin (hopefully this week), and found that the re-establishment survey had taken place. The four corners of the Lot had been pegged with nail-like peg's and paint that was florescent pink! So, there is nothing left to do but to sign and return the final drawings, which we are still waiting for from Henley (I was told they would be express posted to us on Monday) and they can start! I suspect that they will start this week as our materials have been ordered and the final checking process has been completed. The signing of the final drawings is a mere formality and Henley has 31 days from the date of the issuance of the building permit to begin work. The 31st day is a week from tomorrow, so it seems they will have to begin next week. We'll let you know if it happens or not, so watch this space!

Getting Close to Construction Phase

Hey all,

It's been a while since I have updated (about 2.5 weeks), but nothing physically has happened to the lot in that time. While we were enjoying the warmth of the California sun for a couple of weeks, the second soil test was conducted and it has been determined that we will remain an 'M' Class for soil and an 'M' class for our slab (foundation), meaning that we are listed as 'normal' which is good because that is inclusive in the Henley price cost. There were some site revisions however and our total site costs have gone up by about $3,400, which I will explain soon when the detailed paperwork arrives. We need to sign off on that paperwork and send it back to Henley so that we can get to the Construction phase and have things start to happen. We'll fill you in on the new site costs and revisions shortly, so stay tuned!