Thursday, August 16, 2007

We have approval!

We have been waiting for council approval for our building plans and we finally found out that they have been approved and we received in the mail today.
We had a bit of an issue when the final drawings were forwarded to us, as these were the first plans that had the correct spa bath in our ensuite, and were the first electrical drawings that showed the heating and cooling. The spa (Signature Spa's Ovelle Deluxe) that was included in our upgrade was the "Harmony" which is a rectangular single spa, but we wanted an oval spa (to fit 2) and we also were keen to have the headrests either end. This meant that they had to be re-drawn, then the wording of the contract didn't specify between 2 oval baths, so we had to get clarification which it was that was being included, and then the drawings re-done again as the 2 oval spas are slightly different dimentions. So our final drawings had the right spa (finally) but by the time we received them they had already been signed and approved... with the tap on the near side on the left "corner" which is where someone would potentially be getting in which we thought was a bad idea. We asked for the tap to be moved to the opposite side of the bath (still on the left but at the back of the bath in the corner of the room). We were told that we couldn't change anything as they could not be re-drawn (yada yada) but after a couple of chats explaining that it was the first time we had sighted the bath (even though the tap was in that position all along - we just hadn't noticed) they have decided to swap it over to the back for us (YAY). This means that the mixer and the spout are being moved, and it will make it harder to turn the tap on, we still think it's a better idea than having the spout at the front.
As for the electricals, we get 5 evaporative cooling points in the house as part of the summer promo ($1500 instead of $4500) and for the first time got to see where these would be placed. There is one in the master, sitting, dining and family room, with the 5th in the doorway of the 2nd bedroom. We thought this is a silly place for it - 1 the bedrooms aren't overly big and 2 - the 3rd bedroom misses out (which will probably end up being Miss Emily's). We thought it would be a much better idea to have it located in the middle of the passage way so that the air can flow to both bedrooms. After we approached them about this they said that they don't determine the location of the heating and cooling points but that the supplier/installer has set locations for maximum effectiveness (yada yada) and they couldn't do anything about it. We got the suggestion that we could bring it up with our site super (when we get one) and ask if it could be changed - but seeing as we won't have anything in writing I don't like our chances...
Finance is being finalised this week, so all going well we may actually have something to look at in a couple of weeks (just need to wait for the ordering). YAY!

1 comment:

Muzz & Holly said...

Hi May, Ray,

You don't know us, but we're also building out West in Melbourne with Metricon - but we have the Aspen 31.

We'd like to keep up with how your progress is going =) We're a couple of weeks ahead, but if the rain keeps coming down, then our slab might never get poured!

Good luck with your house =)