Demolition Stage

With tender documents signed, the emotional but necessary step of demolishing our old house was required. The demolition took 3 days and the wrecking machines made very short work of our old home. We have now been left with a complete clear site. The perfect site for a new home!

With the old house gone, Carter Grange (through our site supervisor) will now inspect the site and arrange for a second set of soil & survey tests to be performed so that final engineering can be determined for this build. Concurrently, I am told that contract drawings are being finalised in readiness for our contract appointment later this month. I have not yet met our site supervisor, and am looking forward to this meeting as this person will be integral to the final outcome and ultimately, our satisfaction with our new home. I am told Carter Grange employs the best in the business and that each supervisor has a limit of 8 builds at any one time. To me this seems manageable and is reassuring too.

Carter Grange has also helped us with the application to our electricity wholesaler, Jemena, in regards to setting up the electrical power pit required to get power on site for the build and also for our future home. This has been very helpful and I am confident we will have power to site ready for site start very soon. Our old house was serviced by overhead electricity that came in through a power pole across the street. A word of warning. While I was aware an electrical pit would be required (most new homes will now receive power from underground rather than overhead), I had no idea how expensive it would be to have one established - $2864. Unexpected expense number one. I actually have no idea why it is so expensive, since ownership of the pit actually remains with the power company. Perhaps I'll look into this.

The other cost you will need to consider (that I have already paid for and hence did not mention before) is asset protection (permit and bond). This is required by your local council and acts as insurance against any damage to council property (ie footpaths, crossovers, gutters) through the course of building your new home. The demolition company requires a copy of your asset protection permit before they will demolish your old house.

So at this stage, I am simply waiting to hear from Carter Grange that they are happy with the site and have completed final engineering and costs.