[Progress.101] We got power!

Friday morning, on my way to work I saw the electrician connecting power on our site.

When I return late in the afternoon, the 3 single phase meters were installed in the meter box.

As we don't have any lights installed, the only thing I can test is the fan in the down stair powder room. I switch it on and it works! Yes, after so many weeks, we finally got power connected!

[Others.017] Another blog from our builder's customer

Found another blog also building with our builder:
Building My First Home.

Looks like they are still in early excavation stage. Wish them good luck!

If you are aware of any other blog also about building houses with our builder, let me know! We can form a "House Building Blog Chain"!

[Progress.100] TermGuard installed, kitchen almost finished, tiger tails removed

We have the TermGuard termite protection thing installed the other day. There's now a long pink pipe surrounding our property. There's also a few green boxes around the house where the pest control guys will return after our paving done and pump the chemicals.


Our bathroom accessories also installed, tiling to ceiling in all 3 bathrooms completed.

Granite for kitchen also installed, only thing missing is the appliances. We will install our rangehood after handover.

The stairs finally finished, just need to wait for the painters to finish the paint job.

Our electrician Frank was back to remove the Tiger Tails during the weekend. He was really quick, when we were there he almost finished everything.

The ugly Tiger Tails finally removed, ready for reuse in other sites. We whinge about the price for these reusable plastics. Franks said it cost him $170K for the special truck, plus 12 years of experience, it's the quality of service we paid for, not the plastic...

[PropertyInfo.023] Horrible news about Sydney house value drops and people losing their properties

In case you are not aware, there are 2 articles on the Daily Telegraph:Landslide: Sydney house values drop and Grim repo man calls on 75 homes a week which talked about how Sydney house values have dropped in the past few years, and more than 75 NSW homeowners every week face losing heir properties due to unable to meet mortgage payments.

Some of the contents are quit shocking:

"Since the peak of the boom in early 2004, Sydney's southern suburbs has dipped the most in value, with the median price falling $82,750 over the ensuing 15 quarters, according to Australian Property Monitors figures."

"Other areas where the Australian dream is souring include Canterbury Bankstown which has registered $65,000 in losses, Sydney's south west $44,500 and Sydney's west $25,000."

"Among some of the worst losses studied, a home in New Cambridge St, Fairfield West bought for $780,000 in November 2004 sold in July last year for $415,000, a loss of 46.8 per cent."

"At Bond Place, Oxley Park, a unit bought for $455,000 in August 2005 sold last May for $250,000."

"At McAndrew Close, Lurnea, a house bought for $420,000 in December, 2004 sold last June for $267,000."

"Suburbs in the city's west, southwest and northwest were the hardest hit, with Blacktown becoming the repossession capital of Sydney - 84 writs in 2007. It was followed by Guildford (49), Fairfield (48), Merrylands (45), Auburn (42), Greystanes (37), Mount Druitt (37), Bankstown (32), Cabramatta (31), and Kellyville (27)."

"In Tregear, a home at 9 Gauss Place was repossessed and sold in August 2007 for $135,000 - 55 per cent less than the $300,000 paid for it in 2002. At 52 President Ave, Caringbah, a unit bought in 2004 for $421,950 was repossessed and sold in 2007 for $257,500."

"A Mount Druitt property purchased in September 2006 for $325,000 was repossessed and sold exactly a year later for $212,000."

"Since the previous interest rate rise last month, there has also been a jump in the number of homes listed for sale across the state by residents hoping to get a decent price before the banks were called in."

Today RBA is going to meet today and everyone is expecting the interest rate to rise again in tomorrow's announcement. Hope this would be the last one for a while, no one would want to have more house value drop or rent increases!

[Progress.099] Second report of things missing

The standard 45L laundry tub provided by our builder wasn't big enough, so we purchased a Clark 70L ourselves. And our builder has been very kind to allow us to install the 70L one in the laundry during the construction. We then leave the 45L one under the stairs, not finalised yet, probably use it in the alfresco near the BBQ/2nd kitchen area.

On Thursday (28/2) afternoon, we move it out to clean that area but forgot to put in back. On Friday morning, there's another trades person on site sanding the 1st floor floor board - for the second time as we complained that certain area of the 1st floor floor board wasn't very level. In the afternoon when we return, the laundry tub disappeared.

As this is the 2nd time things missing and the fence was always locked all the time, we can't help to again suspect it's another "insider" job, just like the last one.

So a warning to everyone who's building houses: be very careful with anything left on site.