And the official countdown begins.....

After receiving council approval for our plans there was a mad flurry of paperwork from our builder last week in order to move things to the next step. We got our final drawings to check and return, we received quotes on the last two items to be included in our plans and quickly organised a small modification  to our butlers pantry shelving. We received a post contract variation to sign for the minor changes and quickly signed and returned it.

On Friday we were advised that the last thing needed was an authority from our bank to commence construction. I wasn't holding my breath given how long they took for the approval process. Whilst waiting for the authority the actual loan documents arrived in the mail yesterday. A quick email to Plantation Homes and they said that a copy of the loan docs would suffice and they have now moved our file in to the "production" stage. So I've now got an image in my head of them building our house on a production line. He he. 



What it actually means is that they will start allocating materials, appoint a site supervisor and get ready to start building our home. This initial phase is expected to take two weeks, after which we will hopefully start to see some action on our block.

I can't wait to start posting photo's of the actual build! In the meantime, we have found a couple more light fittings for the house, and the perfect coffee table for our family room. 

Our long list of criteria for our coffee table - not timber because of the timber floors, not black  because of the dust factor, not glass or perspex because of the finger print factor, and big enough to put some magazines, drinks and snacks on. This one from Freedom is perfect AND it was on sale. Bargain!

This pendant for above the dining table, and a similar one for the master bedroom.

More excitement than one can handle in a day!

This morning we finally received unconditional approval for our construction loan. What a relief! It took so long we were starting to get worried. However, they have a good interest rate offer on at the moment so maybe they have received more applications than they are staffed to deal with. Either way, the letter came through this morning to a chorus of Yay's from both us and our Mortgage Broker. 

We promptly emailed our pre-construction coordinator at Plantation Homes to tell her the good news. She responded with even more exciting news that council approval for our plan has been received - two weeks quicker than we anticipated. Double Yay!!!!

We have a minor issue with our basin selection for the downstairs powder room to sort out, then one last item to be costed up and we are good to go. We expect to receive our final drawing revisions in the next 48 hours to sign off on, and then Plantation Homes just need to sight the mortgage documents (hopefully we receive them later this week to forward on) and they will start their two week materials allocation period. Then it will be allocated to a Site Supervisor, and all systems go!

So the chances of having a slab down before Christmas are increasing. But I am not going to count my chickens until..........

Final Drawings

Whilst awaiting the results of our Mortgage Broker putting a rocket up the bank which has been sooooo slow, we received the final draft of our house drawings on Thursday night. After checking them thoroughly we found only one minor error. The extra noggins we asked for in order to wall mount the TV are marked on the wrong wall. Not a big deal really, considering the amount of detail involved in the build, electricals, colour selections etc. I have to say I have been very impressed with Plantation Homes so far. 

The same can't be said for our erratic lender. Super efficient with the land purchase, yet now has dropped the ball completely. Thankfully we are still waiting for council approval too, so it's not a huge issue. If we were ready to turn soil and only waiting on the bank, then harsher words might be said. Other blogs indicate our bank is notorious for this. I wish I had known that beforehand. Hopefully we hear back from them this week. 

Since the block settled on Monday we have been contemplating the best way to deal with the weeds that have gone a bit nuts along the fence line. We don't want to annoy our neighbours before we even meet them. However, a heavy downpour and rain forecast for most of the week means it might be next weekend before we can do anything about that.

The land is officially ours!

A few minutes after 2pm today a huge wad of cash disappeared from our bank account and a home loan appeared in it's place! It was all part of the settlement plan, and means that the block of land is now officially ours! We are so excited that we are now one step closer to our goal. So tonight we're heading out for dinner to celebrate.  Tomorrow I will chase up the paperwork to send off to our builder as evidence that we own the block we want to build on.

The next things on the "to do" list are:

• Follow up construction loan approval - the broker tells me that the bank is taking ages at the moment. She is going to give them a hurry-on tomorrow.
• Await council approval - plans were submitted 3 weeks ago and we anticipate a response by the end of November. 
• Source the last 4 or 5 light fittings for installation when the time comes.
• Sell some of our possessions that we won't need in the new home on eBay.
• Remember to not get too stressed - we want to enjoy the build process!