What are we building?

Since the last post about the house design, the final design for the house has changed quite a lot.  In comparison to the first draft design, the house is a little less contemporary, simplified and cheaper to build.  The design includes lots of windows so to minimise the heat loss, we've opted for low E glass.  Our exposed location also means that there is lots of weather to contend with, so on the south side of the house, the windows are either fixed or louvre windows which can be left open more often.

The cladding will be weatherboard, focusing on lightweight construction due to the slope of the site (although this hasn't meant smaller piers!).  Originally we decided on vertical weathertex panelling, but of course, I have since changed my mind and we're going to use horizontal boards, with maybe a modern take on fibro on the lower storey and bay windows sections.  The posts shown across the front of the house will now be partially retaining wall. 

Ignore the colour and cladding on the picture, they are just the basic program choice.  My thoughts on colour schemes to come in another post!

And so it begins.....

After two and a half years of planning, costing, planning, applications, costings, applications and planning.....the build has finally started!

In the lead up to the start of the build we had a landslide on site which caused a few headaches, but after 12 months of planning a few more weeks didn't really affect our morale.  If anything, at the moment I feel as though I have infinite patience with the process from here on in, mostly for the simple fact that something has happened on site. In the last few months I have had a major shift in attitude away from frustration and disappointment to contentment with our current situation and my desire to soak up every minute with our little monkey rather than let them pass me by.

Work started with a cleanup of our first attempts at site preparation.  The pier holes have been drilled (some to 3.8 metres and still no rock!).  The little monkey has been intrigued by the trucks and diggers getting about the site, and has promptly started to wake at 7 am when our builder arrives and drives past our house.  Her little voice sings out in the morning 'I want to say Hello!'. 

Overall the start of the build is a momentous step forward and perhaps the beginning of a long road ahead, but at least the end is in sight.  I couldn't be more grateful that we have been wise enough to engage a builder to manage the process, and leave a contingency for the project.   Although I had been trying to avoid it, the builder finally caught me out in my pj's this morning, it had to happen sometime....