Serious sandstone

Visited site today to find that the rear retaining wall is being built. It will look stunning when complete as the blocks are 2m long solid sandstone. Not cheap mind you, but will look amazing when it's all in and frames the pool etc.

DA Approved

I can't even begin to explain how relieved we are - DA is done and we can now 'start the process'' Warringah have been useless. 3months+ to get the DA done.

But, at least we can now get on with it. A hurdle passed, and I'm sure there will be a few more to come.

For now, it's time for the bubbly.

Still waiting on council...

We have 'been in' with council for 9 weeks now and it's getting a little ridiculous. I called them last week to be told 'we are dealing with a backlog and should get to you soon'.Pigs might fly.In the meantime, we have now finished off the colour selections and signed off the variation form (upgrades etc) so now we are waiting on council with not much else to do.Also, the pool is starting to move along. Design and plans should be out this week and then submitted to council. Heaven alone knows how long it will take then to approve the DA for the pool.A large dose of patience will be required...

Colour selections

We had our 'colour selection' appointment today with Provincial and it went very well. Of course, being well prepared in advance was a great help :)
Will post some photo's as soon as we have the colour board selections and tiles. We decided to 'upgrade' the kitchen to polyurethane vanities and pencil edge which will negate the need for door handles and therefore give a very clean look.

Still waiting on council for the DA assesment so we can move forward, at the moment it's a race against the clock to get the slab down before end June so we can get the first homeowners grant. Fingers crossed...

Concept landscape plan

DA submitted - wooo!

Finally, we have gone to council :) About 4 weeks from the original plan but some of that is our fault - took much longer to get the concept landscape plan done, and also the arborist report done for the tree removal had to be done AFTER the landscape due to the driveway locations etc etc.

We had a good 'win' on the arborist report tho' - original quotes were around $1000 for 5 trees but I managed to find someone who is a retired consultant horticulturalist (sp?) who did it for us for $400 ish.

Now the clock starts to tick. We have absolutely no idea how long council will take and are completely at their mercy...

Land closure and DA prep

Met with SA again today to finalise plans prior to DA. All good but we want/need to bi-fold the whole of the back of the house. Need to check if they can span 6.5m+ or we will have to incorporate a column. Otherwise, we are 95% there on the final plans.

Land wise - we have movement! Heard from solicitor today that completion will be this monday. 'Bring us a cheque tomorrow or meet us in Sydney at 9am.' Tomorrow it is. Very scary to be writing a cheque for $615k.

I need wine, just thinking about it....