Off to the Shed

Hi there, i guess you’re wondering about how our renovation is going, now that we are 8 weeks in. I have heard and seen many stories about renovations gone bad and would like to let you know that ours is not one of them.

The Builder that we have selected is going great, and doing a really good job. Now, I dont want to jinx it or anything, but I would like to re-iterate the importance of good documentation, ie a well defined scope of works and information about how the building is going to be put together. This is the key to getting a good job with the minimal of disruptions. Too many times you have people who haven’t quite made up their mind about what they want when the Builder has started, and want to make changes mid-way through the project, and then wonder why the building is taking so long to finish and why the original budget is exceeded.

Obviously, there are minor changes that require clarification during the construction, and in a renovation ie. renovating an existing house, especially and old one like ours, there are always unforeseen things that are not factored in prior to commencing works, I dont care how long you have been in the industry or how much experience you’ve had you can never foresee every minute detail, unless of course you have a crystal ball.
So, with things going really well, the renovation status is as follows:

• Demolition complete - the chimney, the old internal walls, external walls, floor coverings, the old bathroom, laundry and toilet and a stack of other stuff…
• Base Stage - the frame that the walls sit on, ie. stumps, bearers and joists
• Frame Stage - the timber walls and timber roof, this does not include the internal walls within the existing house, but these have been done too.
• Lock up - this is nearly complete and should be by the end of this week. This will mean that the extension part of the renovation will be able to be locked up, this means that the wall cladding will be done, the roof will be on and the doors and windows will be installed.

Just to keep things in perspective and to not get too excited, there is still a while to go, but we are very happy with the progress to date.

This is the the western view after 6 weeks

Just to let you know, the lemon tree protection authority (Lisa) had written into the specification for the house - protect the lemon tree at all cost!

More photos and updates to follow! Enjoy.