Land settled and Council Approval!!

Well, today was a busy day! Within half an hour, we settled on the land and had council approve the DA and Construction Certificate! I have received SMS from MJH advising that it has come out of council and they will shortly forward me the stamped plans that we can forward to our lender so they can issue an authority to commence construction. Not long until we are on the construction list.. Fingers crossed.

Electrical appointment complete!

Well, that was pretty easy. Electrical appointment only took 2 hours. We went over budget by a whopping $265.00! Well, in fact we came in under budget so I changed the downlights in the home theatre room(Fancy name for lounge room) from 11watt downlights to 15watt dimmable downlights and this took us slightly over.

Here is our electrical layout. You can find more details on the electricals page at: Electricals

The good;
We got extra downlights in the great room that we did not plan on. so this should light the place up a bit. There was also some extra powerpoints that I did not expect so that was a welcome surprise. There was also an outdoor light as standard to the rear outside the main bedroom. I wanted an outdoor light so this was welcomed. Added an extra one anyway.

We  also changed the standard white double GPOs on the splashback to a grey coloured one.

The bad;
I had allowed $95 in my mind for the lighting under the overhead cupboards. Imagine my surprise when I am told those lights do not fit, and I will need to use these other ones that are $195/each! Thats more than double the price I allowed for. Not a lot in the whole build costs, but it all adds up.

The Ugly;
OK, so some regulation states that the coooker must have an isolation switch within sight. The only 45amp switch that Clipsal supply is a big fat ugly white switch that needs to be placed on to the dark grey splashback. Not really happy about this. Apparently Clipsal will have a coloured one(like our double GPO's) in the future. I will be keeping an eye out for that.. Or a suitable replacement.
UPDATE: After looking at the lighting plans, it seems we do indeed have a grey coloured switch for the oven. Still, large and on the splashback? At least it will be mounted on the sides and not directly on the back.

The NBN fibre equipment was to be located at the front of the garage right near the roller door. To be more precise, they wanted it right next to the power box. When I asked to have this moved I was told this is a McDonald Jones rule. It was only a quick discussion, but we did eventually move it to where I wanted... In the recess at the back of the garage. This makes more sense to me as a central location for our comms requirements. We will utilise some spare equipment I have laying around for the data network.

To see more of the selections, see the Electricals Page.

Plans submitted to council

I received the following SMS on the way home yesterday:

So, our plans are now in council! Everything is moving along quite quickly now after months of waiting.