The final countdown!

Saturday 15 November 2014

We're on the final countdown now!  It's taken some 18 months of anxious waiting to finally get to this point.  I don't think that is a typical timeframe for a normal 'green' build when constructing a new home on a new/vacant block of land.  Our situation involved the demolition of the old home and the construction of the new home on the same block of land in an older, existing, well established suburb in western Sydney.  Consequently, there was a lot of extra bureaucratic red tape and extra work to be done which contributed to such a prolonged process.  Conversely, I think that 18 month timeframe is probably typical for a knockdown and rebuild process.

Again, it is important and relevant to emphasise that McDonald Jones Homes does not specialise in, or offers, a knockdown and rebuild package.  The home owner is therefore responsible for sourcing the demolition company and arranging all the necessary Development Application Approvals (DA) for the demolition work with the relevant authority/Council, before McDonald Jones Homes commences the construction work.

Our Site Supervisor is due to meet Pete and I onsite on Tuesday morning, 18 November 2014, for our final building inspection and to hand-over the keys and the new home to us.  Only 3 more sleeps away now!  A Private Certifying Agent will be issuing the forthcoming Interim Occupation Certificate and the Final Occupation Certificate in due course (in lieu of Holroyd City Council), after a number of minor items have been fixed-up by McDonald Jones.  We're not quite certain about the timing for those actions but we're confident that everything will sort itself out.

We’re also waiting to arrange our ground-glass house plaque with mounted embossed silver-coloured lettering displaying our chosen house name.  That is another quoted inclusion in the free Impressions Upgrade Package, which McDonald Jones Homes voluntarily gave us long ago.  Pete and I have been running a list of preferred names and we still can’t really decide on one just yet.  More on that in another Post at a later date.

Whilst on the way home from work on Wednesday evening, 12 November 2014, I noticed that the front door of our house was left wide open and a sliding glass door at the rear of the house was left unlocked.  I investigated inside because I didn’t know if somebody was in there without authorisation and I was worried about the risk of vandalism.  During construction, we had a case of theft when 2 of our double-glazed sliding glass doors were stolen.  There’s also evidence of vandalism that has previously occurred, specifically, to the garage door.  A number of panels on the garage door have been damaged in a number of places as a result of some bastard throwing stones/rocks at it.  Somebody has also punctured a hole into the garage door with a sharp object.  We therefore have good reason to be really worried about the risk of vandalism while the new home is in such a vulnerable situation until we can move in and occupy it.  The kitchen appliances (SMEG underbench electric oven, gas cooktop, microwave oven, rangehood and dishwasher, and the Hot Water Service/Tank) will not be installed until the last possible minute before we occupy the new home, to avoid the risk of further theft.

I complained to the Site Supervisor about the house having been left open.  He subsequently explained that the painter had been working on some final painting touch-ups that day.  Apparently the front door had some painting work done to it and the painter had left the door open so that the paint could dry, and the painter was intending to return to the site to lock-up later that night.  When I locked-up the place on Wednesday night, there didn’t appear to be any wet paint.

I had my Samsung Smart Phone with me and took the following photos whilst I was checking out the house on Wednesday night.

(Click on photos to view enlarged images)

 Floor Plan for the ‘Douglas 10M’ with Chase façade

Overall Home Dimensions

Dimensions quoted in metres (m).

Home width:	8.45m
Home length:	21.21m
Width of block of land:	12m
Depth of block of land:	49.5m
Size of block of land:	594m²
Internal Ceiling Height:	2.70m
Height of doors (raised to):	2.34m

Room Dimensions

Open-plan Family & Dining rooms:	4.4m x 6.6m
Master Suite:	4.1m x 3.6m
Bedroom 2:	2.9m x 2.9m
Bedroom 3:	2.9m x 2.9m
Home Theatre room:	4.1m x 3.5m
Single Car Garage:	3.0m x 5.5m
Alfresco Cabana:	3.0m x 3.9m

Home security and alarm systems

As soon as we are able to, we’ll be installing a new whiz-bang home security system that includes a range of motion detection monitors, wired and wireless CCTV security and infrared cameras, both inside and outside the new home, along with an alarm system.  After a lot of research, it seems that we can install those security systems, supplied by Envious Technology for an initial outlay of under $4,000.00 and we won’t have to pay for any ongoing monitoring services on a monthly or yearly basis.  Envious Technology has a fantastic range of new and interesting technologies and it’s worthwhile checking out their Internet website at the following link:

http://www.envioustechnology.com.au 

The benefits of Envious Technology’s home security systems:

·         With secured wired and wireless technology, anti-tamper detection and a backup battery system, we can be confident that our home security systems are secure.

·         One feature that makes this one of the best security system systems on the market is its telephone integration.  It can be connected to our home telephone line, or for enhanced security, we can install a mobile GSM SIM card.

·         The home security system can call or SMS us in the event of an emergency.  We can even SMS or phone in, letting us arm and control our home security from anywhere in the world.

·         We can easily self-monitor our own home security systems via the Internet and/or our Smart Phones without paying for a security company to maintain a back-to-base system.

·         If we're away from home and an intruder, fire, or other emergency is detected, if urgent action is required but we need to know about it first, then we can check on the Internet or our Smart Phones ourselves and decide if it’s necessary to alert the Police, Fire Brigade or other authorities.

·         In the event of an alarm, the system’s VoiceAlert technology can also telephone or SMS up to 6 people that we trust to take immediate action if necessary.  We can also "listen in" from a remote location so that we can quickly determine how to respond.  If we hear a burglar we can then call our local Police Station (we already have their phone number on speed dial).

·         Envious Technology uses Secure Wireless Technology that is incorporated into every component.  It provides a powerful encryption that is literally one in a million, and practically impossible to crack.

·         If we decide later on that we want to expand our home security system with extra sensors they can be added wirelessly, anytime, with ease.

·         The CCTV surveillance cameras can easily be connected to a DVR (Digital Video Recorder) with varying storage capacities of up to 2 Terabytes (TB) to record any pesky prowlers and intruders.

·         Envious Technology offers an extensive range of appropriate and suitable home security systems including Door and Window Sensors, Broken Glass Sensors (that will trigger the alarm when the sound of broken glass is detected), they provide an Outdoor Siren and Strobe Light.

·         The motion sensors used by Envious Technology are pet-friendly (the movement of family pets and dogs will not trigger the alarm system).

·         Envious Technology also guarantees their home security systems will not generate any false alarms.

·         We can arm and control the home security system from anywhere in the world.  If we’re not sure that we armed our alarms there’s no problem because we can SMS or phone into the system to check its status and, if necessary, arm it.

·         If we want to disable the alarm system to let a tradesman or relative in when we're not home we can do that too, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, from anywhere in the world.

·         Installing the Envious Technology home security systems will give as more peace of mind and will certainly help us collate sufficient and appropriate legal evidence, if required, to successfully prosecute any prowlers later on.

Pete and I will be taking a few weeks off work soon, so that we can do the following work around the new home ourselves, before Christmas and in order to obtain our Final Occupation Certificate from the Private Certifying Agent as soon as possible:

·         the building of small retaining walls (under 1 metre in height) where necessary around the rear of the building work;

·         scraping-back the backyard with a rotary hoe and preparing the yards for the landscaping work;

·         the laying of the new Palmetto Buffalo turf; and

·         the planting of all the new trees, shrubs and plants.

We’ve got a lot of hard work to start doing very soon and we’re now heading into really hot weather.  Summer in Australia officially commences on 1 December.  In the last week we’ve had really early hot weather that, in the past, was usually typical of late February weather.  Yesterday, it got up to 41⁰C (105.8⁰F) in western Sydney and there were a number of bushfires raging out of control elsewhere in New South Wales, including Warrimoo and Blaxland in the lower Blue Mountains (about 50 km west of us).

I’m dreading the thought of trying to landscape and plant new gardens and lawns at this time of the year with this recurring extreme heat.  We’re going to have a massive water bill to pay for all the water that we’re going to need to keep everything alive.  There will be mass plantings of drought-tolerant plants and turf, but nevertheless, they will all require a lot of frequent watering every day until they become established.

If this recurring extreme heat continues, we’ll just have to start our landscaping and gardening work really early in the day before it gets too unbearably hot, and then recommence the work later in the day after a long siesta in the hot afternoon.  With Daylight Savings Time, Sunset is currently at about 7:37 p.m., so we can cram more work into the cooler late evening.

We still need to source a qualified, licenced, concreter to do the following work for us as soon as possible (fingers crossed):

·         a paint-through stencilled concrete driveway and paved area extending around to the 4,500 litre rainwater tank at the side of the garage;

·         a painted, stamped concrete surface to the flooring of the rear Alfresco Cabana area and cement rendering to those exposed sides of the underlying concrete slab that McDonald Jones Homes has built;

·         the laying of a concrete slab for the flooring of a backyard garden shed; and

·         work to the front patio/entry area.

Temporary Blinds

I ordered some fabulous temporary window blinds over the Internet last week.  They’re a pleated paper blind with draw strings and fasteners.  They’re self-adhesive.  You just peel-off the paper liner at the top of the blinds and affix them directly to the window frame or the glass window itself.  They’re a fantastic and inexpensive way to cover-up all our windows and sliding glass doors for privacy and security reasons, while we’re waiting to have our internal louvered plantation shutters installed in a few weeks’ time.  I ordered and paid for the temporary blinds online and they were promptly sent to me by courier delivery the next day, interstate from Victoria.  The following Link will take you to Blindsonline.com.au:

http://www.blindsonline.com.au  

Pete’s been busy packing-up some of our non-essential daily stuff for the past couple of weeks.  The ‘kids’, Buddy and Taz, are wondering what’s going on as they see all the boxes being packed-up again, in preparation for our forthcoming move.  We keep telling them, “You’re going to have a lovely new home to live in very soon!  There’s not too many Staffies who have such lovely air-conditioned new homes to live in.”  I can’t wait to see their reactions and curiosities about the new home when they see it for the first time.  Pete and I and the ‘kids’ have started to receive lovely farewell cards from the lovely people nearby who have befriended Buddy and Taz and us since we’ve been living in the rented house.

We’ve notified the real estate agent about our intention to vacate our current rental property.

So we’re now on the final countdown, folks!

The latest Stats'

Here's the latest statistics about the viewers who have been visiting our Blog as recorded and supplied by Google Blogger.

1.  Pageviews by Countries - Top 10 - Year to Date - as at Saturday 15 November 2014

Australia	3,187
United States	526
Hong Kong	182
Germany	50
Poland	44
Russia	43
Turkey	40
France	21
United Kingdom	17
Ukraine	17

2.  Pageviews by Countries - Top 10 - Past Month - as at Saturday 15 November 2014

Australia	566
United States	49
Hong Kong	13
Poland	12
Germany	5
France	5
India	4
Philippines	3
Ukraine	2
Canada	1

3.  Pageviews by Countries - Past Week - as at Saturday 15 November 2014

Australia	93
United States	9
Hong Kong	3
France	1
Indonesia	1
Italy	1
Netherlands	1
Swaziland	1