In the beginning...

How it all began:
Mid 2006 we started looking at (with no intention of buying) homes in the west of Melbourne. After a regular search of realestate.com I found a listing for a block in a good location for what I thought could not be the right price. We inquired and found out that, in fact it was the correct price and it had been dropped substantially not long before. After much discussion we decided it was an opportunity that was too good to refuse and put down a deposit.
We then began our search for a plan that would fit both the block and our needs and we always came back to Metricon. At that stage we were looking at the Connolly 23 plan, but found out (after spending time in meetings at the display) that it was being discontinued at the end of 2006, but the "replacement" was the Aspen 25. The cost was a little more, but we thought that the fact that we would have direct access to the house internally was a major advantage and fell in love with it.
We had the issue that our land has an easement at the rear, that would need the house being less than the standard council setback. In order to get approval, we needed to submit drawing to the council, and in order to get the drawings, we had to pay the initial deposit for the house. We paid our deposit in Feb '07 and received drawings shortly after which we submitted to council, only to find 3 weeks later that the drawings were not detailed enough and had to be re-submitted which took another 4 weeks. After this long drawn out process we found out that we had approval to build at 3.5m from the footpath (excluding the portico which could be closer), which meant that we could proceed with the plans.
June '07 we finally got booked in for our pre-contract and colour selection appointments, then our electrical appointment.
As it stands the buider has applied for the building permit late last week, and we should be starting on site some time next month by the time they get the permit and do the ordering, etc. It's very daunting but very exciting too! Our own home - at last!