Crane gone; now the hard work begins!

I didn't go by the site tonight, but apparently the crane has been taken away, so we should just have a clear block now!

Emailed our CSC last night, and what happens now is a re-establishment survey to check the block of land is as big as the titles office say it is. We then get a "pre planner" to survey the block for the slab, but before that's done I need to get 7m of side fence removed (where the garage is going to be 150mm from the boundary). With any luck, we may have a bit of activity in a couple of weeks or so? Not that it particularly bothers us, I can't see much productivity before xmas, anyway, then everything shuts down for a few weeks.

Anyone who has built with Metricon (or really, any other builder): any idea how long the christmas shutdown period is?

Of course, after 2 months of ringing around for a fence person to come and quote me for the work on the side fence, I could only get 1 to even give me a quote, and he didn't return my calls today.... *sigh*... so if it's not done by this weekend I'll have to do it myself. Not happy!

Anyway, I also called Tru Energy who said that they usually revisit an underground power pit after 5-6 weeks to check it's setup right, and then fix up the concrete around it. One less thing to worry about.

Also will go to the council tomorrow to organise a reinspection of the footpath, crossover etc, as they've got $1000 out of me as a bond to cover any damage. If there's damage, it's up to the demo crew to rectify/pay for repairs, but I have to make sure the inspection is done by the council, before M start building.

I thought I would also have to take out an Asset Protection Permit for M, but they're going to handle that, so one less thing to worry about, I think!

I also need to get the temporary fence removed, as M will install their own temporary fence prior to the build. So yep, having that temp fence there for a month cost about $300 (same as what it costs to have it there for 6 months!)

Whoever is planning a knockdown/rebuild, just make sure you're super organised, as there's a LOT of things you need to plan and co-ordinate prior to the build! I reckon my first piece of advice would be to get the demolition complete and over at least a month or two before you plan to build - the sooner the better! Especially as any delays after signing the contract will cost you in delay fees per week, and we all know how much paying any further $$$ hurts!

I'll get a picture of the empty block, sans crane posted up tomorrow. And to Paul & Jason - sounds like we're close enough neighbours to you at the moment :)

T&T

Edit/PS: If you're thinking about a home loan, I would think twice before looking at Heritage Building Society. We were meant to have everything fully approved by the start of October - it's now nearly the end of November and we don't have much to show for it, thanks to poor customer service, inept recordkeeping, them randomly changing our mailing address so we don't receive any communications etc. Not looking promising, so I'm seriously going to LOSE IT the next time they screw something up, and tell my broker to get our certificate of title and other documents back from them so we can get a loan from someone else. I've been recommended St George, so maybe we'll see how good they are. Fucking banks - c'mon, there can't be a single person in Australia who hasn't said that!