Windows are up!

We noticed that our windows and doors were installed prior to Christmas Eve!  Everything looks good so far and we've had no dramas with MJD…..1st progress payment processed though for the slab which now means extra loan repayments! Just need to win the NYE lotto jackpot and we'd be set for life!

Frames are up!!! Christmas wish granted by MDJ

Santa aka McDonald Jones surprised us by putting up the frames and roof truss today….our windows were also delivered.  It's so exciting to see our house progress through the construction stage.  We wished for this stage to be completed by Christmas and it has come true - YAY!!!   Merry Christmas everyone, we look forward to moving in and being a part of this great community in 2012!!

SLAB Sunday!

Monday 5th December - Drove past on my way home from work to check out the freshly laid waffle pods and steel mesh reinforcing.  Looking good so far :-)

Sunday 11th December - Well didn't I get the surprise of my life when I drove by late this afternoon - Our SLAB!  Between Friday night and Sunday night the concrete fairy had paid our block a visit!  Happy curing slab & get ready for the next stages - our steel frames!

Who ever is doing the rain dance…..PLEASE STOP!

So with all this rain torturing us, there's not much hope of getting our slab down any time soon.  Site excavation happened 18/11 and the piers holes were drilled 29/11 - we are waiting waiting waiting for the weather to dry up so the waffle pods can be laid and slab poured.  I really wish the sun would come out for a few weeks so we can at least have frames up before christmas.

Pop the champagne…..site action has commenced!

"What a feeling!"  Today's drive past our block was far more exciting than the previous 100 other times…..why…..because our land has been cut in preparation for our slab!! WOOHOO!!  We admired it from every angle and can't wait to see all our planning and dreams come to life!  We also had the opportunity to meet with the builder next door today. He's installing the fence next week - woodland grey to match our roof!  The whole suburb is looking great….hurry up approx. April 2012 so we can move in and enjoy our brand new home!

Hi Ho Hi Ho it's off to construction we go!

You lil' beauty!!  The loan is sorted and today we met with Suzzanne from McDonald Jones to make sure they have everything required to move our file into the construction zone!!  We are so excited :-)  Suzzanne has been fantastic and very helpful with everything we've needed throughout the admin period.  As long as the rain stays away, construction should commence within the next few weeks!!

The welcoming news of a rate cut today also caused for celebration……so we popped a bottle of champagne to mark the occasion.  Visits to our land will now become more frequent to admire the build of our dream home. 

The waiting game sucks!

Well we've been waiting for nearly 4 weeks now for our broker & lender to get everything sorted and get our loan approved.  We got the call 2 weeks ago to say we have conditional approval (based on valuation) and we're still waiting……Wait for it…….the person responsible for the valuation started work on our file and then went on leave…..WTF!!!  Who does that??  Especially to us……so close to construction yet so far away.  Our builder has been waiting patiently for their letter to commence construction and SO ARE WE!  So much for having slab and frames done by end of October.

On another note…we are amazed at how quickly our suburb is coming together.  The homes are popping up all over the estate now and look great.  The house next door to us is almost at completion and a 'for sale' sign is already on display.  I'm sure we'll receive the bill for fencing very soon - but will it be timber or colourbond - we don't really have a preference.

Did anyone else notice that the address on the November Council Rates notice indicates 'Mulgoa' as the property's suburb?!?!  What happened to Glenmore Park :-)

Anyway, not much else to write about…..just one word…..waiting!

Es & Tim

A few weeks to go before the action starts!

Hi all,  It's been a while since my last update.


We received approval from Stockland and approval for complying development from NSW building code about 2 weeks ago. I was so happy to receive the approvals in under 2 weeks from date of submission. Now it's up to our lender to get things moving quickly so our builder can start construction!


Electrical appointment is booked for monday so we'll spend the weekend planning the layout of lights/powerpoints etc.


We drove past last weekend and can't believe how many homes have sprouted since we saw it last.  Our community is really coming together and looks great.  Will hopefully meet everyone again at the event scheduled at Jacaranda Park this Sunday.

Building contracts signed & we have neighbours YAY!

So we signed our building contracts and returned them to our builder today.  How exciting that we're about to enter the construction phase YAY!!!! We can't wait to see action on our block of land.  The house to the left of us looks amazing and a few doors down there's plenty of action happening with Fowler homes.
Oh we had a lovely surprise waiting for us on the HomeOne forum….a post from our new neighbours - Annette & Pete! We look forward to meeting them both & their boys….they sound really nice.


We finalised our plant selection for landscaping - grevilleas, gardenias, cliveas, birds of paradise, murraya hedges & cycads.  We did an amateur sketch of our design ready for stockland.  I hope it's approved - we just need to win lotto so a professional landscaper can do all the hard work lol...Tim & I will definitely need to find a set of green thumbs!


Q - how do we get driveway quotes?  Tim contacted a few contractors and they wouldn't help us one bit cause the house isn't done yet.  How on earth do we get a quote so this can be covered under the funding?  Anyone know how much coloured concrete costs?

Building contract received!!

Hi fellow bloggers, we received our building contract today!  We are eager to sign everything and send it back to get the building started…..but without any building experience how on earth are we supposed to understand all the fine print.
We have to send it back in 5 days, so it's exciting yet scary.  I've been told construction should commence in the next 7wks if all goes to plan.  We also need to finalise our landscaping design so the developer can provide approval.  At this stage, we have the layout done but haven't decided on the plants.  The only one I'm 100% certain on is gardenias.  Still not sure what natives to choose though?? Any suggestions??
We also need to arrange a few quotes for the driveway, tiling and carpet in order to proceed with funding arrangements.

Prelim plans signed, building contract next!

We met with our designated customer service liaison today at head office and signed off on the prelim plans.  We should have the building contract back by end of next week and were advised that construction should commence in approx 6-8 weeks.  We also walked through the newly opened Havana at Kellyville Ridge.  It was so good seeing our chosen home design with tiles instead of floor boards.  The colour scheme was similar to our selections which provided a good visual.

OMG Tiles - I can't decide whether to have the wood grain look or choose the much cheaper alternative of gloss porcelain.  I spoke with a tiler today who indicated that the wood grain tiles are very expensive to lay so I think I'm going to have to settle for 2nd best to save a lot of money.  I like the 600x600 size.


Did our weekly drive by of our block and admired our new neighbours house which looks great….the house across the road is almost finished.  Great to see so much action happening at our future address: 62 Glenmore Ridge Drive!!

Preliminary plans are in our hands!!

We received our much awaited preliminary plans today :-)  There are so many lines, dots and measurements.  This'll be fun trying to read and sign off.


Question for soon to be residents of Glenmore Ridge - What size rainwater tank do we need to install?  Our prelim plans indicate 4500L.  Is 3000L sufficient for our area?


Landscaping is the next thing keeping me awake at night!  I'm not sure what type of native tree to plant out front and back in order to meet Stockland guidelines.  Any ideas??

Inside Flooring

We're going to organise the inside flooring after handover.  This will delay moving in for a little bit but gives us more time to shop for the ones we love.
Alot of display homes we've seen have porcelain tiles which look like floor boards because of the wood grain feature - see photo below.  We've also found a really nice external tile for our portico and alfresco which has a sandstone appearance.  The main thing affecting which tile we select is the cost of installation.  In the process of finding a recommended tiler in our area.  In terms of carpet we like the waffle pod style and will most likely choose a mocha brown colour.

Colour Selections

Wow there's so much to choose from at the Colour Studio Norwest.  We had a 4 hour appointment to choose everything for external and internal colours.  Christine (our dedicated colour expert) was very helpful.  We chose a few items from the standard range and upgraded much more!  

Roof - Colorbond Woodland Grey

Gutters, Downpipes - Woodland Grey

Fascia, Eaves, Windows - Surfmist

Bricks - Austral Symmetry Earth
Portico piers - Rendered Surfmist

Mortar - off white ironed

Garage Door - Caoba timber grain

Internal walls - Warm smoke

Ceiling, skirting, internal doors, architraves - Illusive White

Bathroom vanity - Macchiato

Bathroom cupboards - Mocha

Bathroom, Laundry tiles - Hamilton Latte

Kitchen bench - Ceaserstone White shimmer

Kitchen cupboards - Pumice

Kitchen overhead - Satin White finish gloss

Omega Gas cooktop and 900mm Omega oven

Added fly screens, shelving to built in wardrobes, pull out bin instead of microwave space, pot drawers, sorrento doors, bright chrome door handles, plus much more!

April 2011 - May 2011

Display home shopping was so exhausting.  We went to Oran Park, Masterton village, Clarendon village and the very old-fashioned homeworld Kellyville.  

After several weekends of searching for THE one….we made our way back to Oran Park where the shortlisted homes were.

It was between Masterton Symphony, Eden Brae Saville or McDonald Jones Havana.

The front runner was McDonald Jones because we loved the floor plan.  It didn't matter how many homes we looked at something was telling us that this was the one!  We can see our future in this home and the display home has a good vibe.

We made a few changes to the plan:

• added sliding windows in children activities room
• deleted built in desk and added linen cupboard for extra storage space
• removed decorative vase cavity and replaced with toilet door so it's separate to main bathroom
• entrance hallway coffered ceiling
• kept the entrance door like the one on display
• kept the fancy interior doors for the main bedroom, home theatre, pantry and sliding doors into children's activity room

Next step is the site survey and soil test…… well the results are in and we've been advised that highly reactive soil = deeper slab and more piers = $$$$.  Also because of driveway gradient being too steep to meet Council guidelines and Aus Standards we now have to introduce 2 steps into our garage.  Don't mind having to do that but it's the inconvenience of having to find someone to remove approx 130 tonne of spoil from our site and pay them for the labour.  I've been told it won't be cheap (but what is when you're building hey!)

October 2010 - March 2011

Well after years of renting we have taken the plunge and purchased our 1st block of land @ Glenmore Ridge.  OMG we about to build our 1st home!!!! We decided on impulse to attend the Stockland information session late Oct 2010 and just before our holiday to NZ mid Nov 2010 we signed the contracts for the purchase!!  We used Glenmore Conveyancing and were very happy with Sandy's expertise and friendly service regarding our settlement.


Late March 2011 = land registration.  Lot 211 is officially ours!!  The block is north facing 16m x 33m and is positioned very close to the future shopping centre.


We are renting and paying the land mortgage now which means tight budget but the end result of having keys to our brand new home is going to be worth every cent.