Incorrect Walk In Linen Access Location

Driving to work this morning I realised that the access door position to the WIL is in the incorrect position.  The doorway needs to be on the far left as per plans (currently on far right) or access will be hindered due to washing machine space. I have emailed SS with photo this afternoon but am yet to hear back. Looks like a relatively simple fix but I am glad I picked it up early.

Site looks like it was cleaned up with a bobcat today,  exervated rock was moved to outside of site area and crushed rock has been spread at base of house to assist bricklayers. 

Guttering Installed

Guttering has now been installed. All frame looks to be competed apart from front and rear garage wall.

No other materials are on site so I am excecting a lull for a few days.

Windows Installed

Windows and entry door frame installed yesturday. Guttering also delivered to site.

Frame Erection Day 2

Frame now looks mostly complete apart from some bracing. Aircon contractor meeting with me at site later this week to discuss internal ceiling mounted unit location. 

Happy with progress.

Begining Of Frame Erection

Frame erection begun today,  19 days after slab pour. I was suprised as we had some very heavy rain and thunderstorms , but at least 70% of the frame has been stood up. Garage is still on ground.

Rooms feel very spacious and no surprises as far as layout. Hallway as pictured gives a good indication of the length of the house design.

My only concern is the amount of steel in the roof. We have engaged an external contractor to install a Ducted RC aircon which requires a large unit in the ceiling. It will be challenging for the unit to be installed without effecting the structural integrity.

I wouldn't be surprised if frame is completed tomorrow.

Update

Frame is still to be erected. No frame work begun until yesterday, when the frame seems to have been moved into position. I am not overly concerned about this as the more time the slab has to cure the better (currently at 16 days). I expect frame to be erected next week.

Windows have been delivered to site. We have had some heavy rain the past week and I am concerned about the MDF borders swelling due to this as they are exposed. Will be watching this closely.

Powercor have completed their connection meaning we now have a live switchboard with temp power.

Frame Delivery

Frame delivered today. JG King uses a steel frame design as oppose to timber. Although it wasn't a deal breaker when selecting a builder, I personally prefur the steel frame as I have good experence working with it in a commercial environment.

Bluescope steel branded,  frame seems good quality. Walls are assembled and ready to stand as along with the roof.  Sharp edges all around, gloves would have to be used when erecting.

SS expects frame to begin erection this week.

Leveling Of Access Driveway

Met a local Bobcat operator at site this morning who I required to spread/level the crushed rock driveway more evenly. Great result.

Charge was $80ph with a minimum of 4 hours, costing $320.

This brings the total cost for the access driveway to $1620

Access Driveway Rock

I calculated we required about 40sqm of cubic crushed rock to make an access track to the house location as requested by the builder.  Frame is arriving monday so only had 5 days to get it done.

The track will eventually be the base for a permanent driveway after the house is built. I decided on 40mm crushed rock (over the standard 20mm) as it is better suited to heavy vehicles. 

I suggest anyone purchasing rock or soil in this quantity try organise a truck owner/driver to source directly from a quarry, it halved our cost compared to a local sand and soil buisness.

An old friend owns a Truck and Trailer and I was able to track him down. Was a paid job, but I knew he was reliable and had an account at a few quarrys. He also was able to put chains on this truck and trailer to slowly spread the rock instead of just dropping it in a pile. This will help alot with spreading the rock evenly.

I have a bobcat and operator arriving Sunday morning to do this.

Total cost of the rock was $1000 (53 tones, approx 38m). This took up 2 full truck and trailer loads, delivered in 2 consecutive nights. $300 cash to my old friend for the delivery was money very well spent.

Slab Pour

Slab poured on Wednesday as promised. Footings at alfresco and entry; I assume top of these areas will be done at later stage. House size now seems to look alot larger. SS has promised frame delivered Monday and erection started by end of next week. Things are moving very quickly.

Slab Ready For Pour & Inspections

Today slab Waffle Pods and formwork were competed.

This was also the day for the first inspection by our independent building inspector.  All seemed well. Upon leaving JG Kings inspector turned up. Was great to be able to meet both.  All good for pour tomorrow.

Rock was also measured on site today with 15 metres for electrical and 96 for  plumbing. That brings a total of 191 metres. Little less than what was expected although still very pricey!

Site Update

No more work has been done at site the past 4 days. I recieved a call from the SS on Friday suggesting I need to lay crushed rock from the front of the block to the house site (50m). Am trying to organize this week as I do not want site access hindered if heavy rain falls. Calculations work out to approx 30m/40m of crushed rock will be required along with bobcat hire.

SS also mentioned he will be measuring rock with the plumbers tomorrow. I am expecting 150sqm, but hoping SS can cut a bit of a deal.

Slab will be poured Wednesday 4/2 and inspected by our personal building inspector a day before. The frame will be delivered 9/2.

Slab Preparation

No works Monday (Public holiday) or Tuesday (RDO) but work seems to have commenced today.  Crushed rock has been spread to level the site and packed down. Footings have been excervated around the alfresco and front entrance. Site Supervisor expects slab to be poured next week. 

Services & Trenching

Contractors started back on site on the 12th of January. Plumbers began trenching and this confirmed that rock was going to be an issue all over the property. 60 more metres came out on the first day back,  and although I have not confirmed with Site Supervisor, I have measured 100-150 cubes of rock has been removed from the ground since Christmas,  bringing us to 200-250 cubic metres. At this point my Wife called Kings and suggested work stop on site until we sit down and negotiate rock excervation costs. Kings did the right thing and proposed a much better deal within 24 hours (which I won't go into) that is fair to both parties. We were very impressed.

Strangely enough, minimal rock came out of the electrical conduit run. We have a meter box ready for Powercor to commission. Electrical work looks a good standard.

The site now looks ready for slab prep to begin, SS expects slab poured in a week.

Site Cut

Site work started mid December and this is where the fun began. Kings had allowed $6900 provisional rock allowance  in the quote (33 cubic metres). The 800mm cut took 2 days, and a whopping 105 cubic metres of rock came out of the ground. Contract price was $210 a cubic meter.

All extra soil was moved to front of cut to bring us more useable space directly at the front of the house. We struck a deal with Kings and the exervation contractor to slightly lower the cost of excess rock. At this stage I was a bit worried about how much more rock would come out for the trenching of services.

House Design

We decided on the JG King Renaissance 295 design for our home. It is ranch style 4 bedroom home which suited our needs without too many modifications. JG King has good standard inclusions. Plenty of power points (only needed to add 3) 
Below are extras/modifications we added, structural are in Bold


3 Phase power (52m run from put to MSB)
3 Phase power run to future shed location on property (for future solar panel installation)
Stormwater dispersion pit (as per property covenant requirements
20,000L water tank (as per property covenant requirements)
Square set cornice in all rooms apart from bedrooms.
Downlights throughout living areas
40mm caeserstone kitchen bench top, extended to 1200mm depth with waterfalls

20mm caeserstone for bathroom, ensuite and powderoom bechtops

Walk in Linen (by reducing size of laundry)
2700 Ceiling height
BAL (bushfire attack level) 12.5 upgrade
450mm eaves
Extend garage by 500mm side and rear (check your garage measurments when building, you will find a standard garage is quite small)
Extend master bedroom to fill void at front of house
10x5m alfresco at rear
Hume 2340x1200 front door
2340 high internal doors
Provide internal wall from hallway to library, we did not want access from hallway as per standard plans.

We also had quite a few minor upgrades that I wont list individually that were picked up at the colour selection such as bathroom basins/baths. If anyone would like a full list of the extras we chose and pricing, do not hesitate to ask.

 The total extras were approx $70,000 (not including site costs).

Introduction

I am creating this blog to give prospect home builders an insight into the JG King building process. I was initially not going to create a blog, but feel there is a lack of information out there about the building process and would like to pass the knowledge I learn on to others.

We purchased our 3 acre block at Merrimu Victoria January 2014 with a 30 day settlement. We put an offer in (below agents reserve) about a month before the Auction date and got accepted within two hours. We were direct and made it clear we had the cash, and I think this helped.

We were set on the Metricon Denver design and approached them strait away, We paid our $1000 deposit and started the extensive process but found throughout the process the sales people we dealt with too unreliable at keeping appointment times and made plenty of false promises they would not include in the final contract. We decided to cut a loss on the deposit and start fresh.

We visited many other builders, both Volume and Local, and finally decided to settle on a JG King Renaissance home with a few modifications. I tried to make the process as thorough as possible. We has a few hiccups such as a mixup with the house placement and a few drafting issues but overall the JG King sales process went well.

We signed contracts with JG King Melbourne early December 2014 after approx 6 months of negotiations.

I am an electrician by trade but never worked in a domestic environment. I was working away doing FIFO work during the negotiating and design process with Kings so most was done via Email or via  my Wife (who is alot better at negotiating costs than me due to her line of work). Just after the contracts  were signed I managed to get a transfer back to Melbourne, perfect timing!