Endorsed council drawings

Finally the updated plans with Condition 1 has been endorsed.  Only took 6 weeks. So slow.

Flooring

My house sprung another 4 leaks, which shorted out the power...just hoping my house lasts a couple more months...

So I've been looking into the flooring options, leaning towards the blackbutt look.

Solid wood flooring - expensive but quality, looks really good, but reluctant to go with it again due to water, scratching and fading issues
Engineered wood - cheaper than timber, but still has the same issues, may as well go with timber.  Also P&J have been having issues with theirs
Laminate - cheapest option, and nowadays looks pretty good, however still have the water issues
Vinyl hybrid - in the past, vinyl has looked bad, however the quality of it is much better nowadays.  Hybrid version means it can now be laid as planks.  Lots of pros including waterproof, very hard wearing. However it still has a different feel, slightly spongy, and the look is still different.

Decisions, decisions

Things are progressing, and I'm not ready!

Yesterday rang to follow up from my builder as I hadn't heard back from him after my email.  Feeling stressed if he said he wouldn't be able to to do it as I know he's reliable.  Good news is that he will have availability next year.  Also followed up with the builder from next door.  He was nice, and always seemed to be onsite.  But he builds million dollar houses...

Also received pre lim construction drawings yesterday. Need to do quite a bit of editing.
Living room - open plan living or closing it off, can't work out the furniture placement
Butler's pantry - whether to expand it, take out the window, +/- door for the opening
Guest ensuite - the toilet seems to jut out, so might need to take space from the WIR, also whether I should change orientation

Have also looked at Beaumont tiles, Reece bathrooms, lighting shop.

Need to think about electrical plan

Ugh can't decide on flooring - laminate wood look, engineered timber, real timber - don't like the water issue, but it's feels like quality.

Spent 4 hours today looking at display homes for ideas.

Hate. Selections.

Looking for a builder

This is the most crucial part, and so stressful.  So hard to find a good, trustworthy builder.

I'm going to email my previous builder and see what his schedule is like for next year.  P has told me he's really busy :'(

I realised while I was waiting for my draftsperson to do the endorsed town planning drawings I could have commenced on the working drawings...  I'm not a great project manager.

Conditional permit approved!

Couple weeks prior to going on hols, it was past the 60 days time limit, and an option was to lodge to VCAT with failure to decide.  However my draftsperson had spoken to the town planner and had been advised that it was likely to be approved. I was also advised that if that was the case, it was better to avoid VCAT.  Was getting anxious though as the response from the permit was taking so long, and if the conditions were too harsh, I would have to go to VCAT anyway, which would delay the process even longer.  So I called up the town planner, who sounded young, inexperienced, and he apologised for the delay as said he would be getting it reviewed by his team leader soon.  1 week went by, and still no word.  Called again, and again I was told the following week.  Was hoping it would happen before I went on holidays with poor internet connection, but nothing.

Anyway, while overseas with sparse internet connection, I finally managed to get a response.

After 6.5 months, I finally got my permit approved with conditions.

Thank God the conditions were few and relatively straight forward!

I realised during this time I was waiting that I should have been looking at finishings etc.  This is the part I hate, and now I have to start doing it with time pressures.

Post advertising limbo

It took about a month after response for council to finally start advertising.

Apparently they went out to site prior to advertising which my draftsman thought odd, as they normally do it after.  Maybe they wanted to check out the street trees?  Pity it's nearing winter and all the leaves have fallen off!

Anyway, advertising closed after 2 weeks on Jun 6.

The next door neighbours conveniently wrote a letter of support - but I found out today that council had initially misread it as an objection!  They are now aware it was not.

So now I'm waiting for a response.

Waiting, waiting, everything takes so long.

Good thing I'm not in a rush.  Sort of.  My roof sprung a leak last month with heavy rains, and apparently the whole roof needs replacing.  Just needs to last this winter rain...

Landscaping

Last time, I really didn't care what my landscaping was - only that it was low maintenance.  I didn't even check what plants were being used.  Which I regretted after as Honey Locust trees are ugly.  Apart from that I liked my landscaping, but I think my builder had a big part to play by putting in these nice rocks which really add to it.

Anyway, I again needed to find another service.  I've learnt that it's better to go with recommendations.
So I asked my draftsman for one.
Also I asked for D's landscaper's designer - who she didn't use in the end, but wished she had as she had so many issues with the other one.  I coincidentally found out that D's landscaper's designer was actually one that my next door neighbour's builder had recommended.

I liked the plans of my draftsman's recommendation better as they were more detailed, however he was nearly double the price.

In the end I decided to go with D's one as he was
1. technically recommended twice
2. cheaper
3. I still don't really care THAT much about my landscaping
At first I wasn't sure if he would have enough time to do it, however after further clarification he was able to make the tight 3 week deadline.

So now my landscape brief:
Again it was the same as last time, low maintenance garden (plants don't grow too high, or need to be trimmed, or watered)
However I added more this time
- low cost plants
- no decking. Ah decking the bane of my summer. I will never ever get decking again.
- herb garden area
- fake grass.  Love my fake grass. No mowing!
.. So not that much more detailed.

Then thought more and added
- dark coloured exposed aggregate driveway (landscape designer was requesting colour)
- no pink flowers
- low pollen flowers/plants/trees - I think this one is actually quite important especially as I'm so sensitive to hay fever.

The hard part about my landscape is that I'm not sure of my house colour scheme!
I was also hoping that my landscaper would be quite creative with vision.

I got the first concept back - bleh. It wasn't very inspiring.

So I went to my local nursery to get some inspiration.

Decided on this colour scheme
- leaf colours of red/brown/dark green, with white flowers
- example would be Pacific Sunsest, Border black designer foliage, phormium bronze baby

I also realised I needed to have smaller shrubs on the west wall that didn't need much trimming as they would be difficult to prune due to level differences.

Due to the small private open space I've put in a narrow canopy tree - Pyrus Calleyana Pear tree.  It's unfortunately deciduous though so will drop leaves in the backyard.

I also put in more plants in the front garden bed to minimise the grass area as fake lawn is expensive...Although I don't know how much the plants cost...

I was pretty happy with the responses from my landscape designer and after 4 concept plans, came up with the final version - in time for the deadline given by council.

So response all submitted by April 19.

Request for Information

I was surprised to get a fairly quick response from council on 20 March, which required a response by 19 April.  Not much time considering it also included Easter.

They required further information on a number of things including landscape. Which annoyingly meant that I needed to think about what I wanted for landscaping.

They also raised a number of issues:
- exceeding 40% site coverage - which I expected
- high level of visual bulk on the south side - again was told that this might happen
- failure to meet POS - huh?  This did not make sense.  I was definitely compliant.

Ending with and underlined 'Council is unlikely support your application in its current form' (I guess they also have poor grammar.)

Anyway, I thought it wasn't too bad, until my town planner friend highlighted that they said they're unlike to support the application!  Also that it was best to avoid VCAT.  After some sleuthing, I was also forewarned the council town planner might have or be about to resign.

My draftsman tried to get in contact with the council town planner numerous times to get clarification about the POS, and also arrange a meeting.  When he was finally able to contact her it seemed like she wasn't sure what had been written in the ROI, and she would need to discuss with her team leader.  Again difficulty getting in contact with her.  Which made it difficult with the looming deadline.  While also needing enough time to complete my landscape plan.

Lo and behold on Monday I found out that she had left.  My draftsman was able to get in contact with the senior town planner and the POS seems to be okay.  So we've made some minor changes and decided that it will be submitted without a meeting.

Draftsman - what am I paying him for :'''(

Can't catch a break.

I thought it would be better this time.  Went with someone I know who's been used.

See today's date.

Town planning application was only just submitted last week.

My draftsperson was so slow.

First sketch didn't even comply with my design brief - de ja vu - wasn't even disabled friendly, had all these steps from the garage.  Should have been a warning sign then.

Then was so slow between sketch updates.

In the end, he just did what I had sketched out.  What am I paying him for.

First facade was so hideous that I came up with an alternative.

So ugly

After about 9 sketches, with long delays in between, finally came up with something I was happy with.

Then today, I received the town planning application that had been submitted.

So many typographical/grammatical errors. There was even a section that had been copy and pasted from another development application.  SO UNPROFESSIONAL. What am I paying him for.

My crazy fingers was writing another email in anger, but I've learnt to get it vetted before I send it off.  Still need to work with the guy.

Not happy.

EDIT: I found out the next day that my draftsman hadn't actually submitted the full application - he had not submitted the written submission with all the errors, which made me feel a bit better, although I was then annoyed that it hadn't even been fully submitted it.