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!