Brrrrickwork!

Thus far the bricks have been the longest part of the building process, but they look grrrreat! It's been progressing for about two weeks now. I went past to watch yesterday, and I can understand why it takes so long! They have to be so meticulous so that all the mortar is the same width along, it looks like a real skill! The houses around us are really happening too! Two doors down they are building an 'Allworth' home, which they built with frame and truss which were pre-made so they come up really quick! In our area there are 5 houses being built. It will be so strange in 5 years to look back at these pictures and see vacant land! Joe has found some really good floor boards within our budget this week so we are choosing from the samples soon. We are also picking our roof tiles as soon as we return from our holiday to Melbourne, so the tiles will be on, bricks done, and the house at lock up stage in about a month!

At present the bricks are just about completed on the bottom storey, the windows are all in, and the front pillars are just beginning :)

Frame Completed

In just two weeks the bottom storey, first storey and roof are complete! It has gone up really quickly! The weather has been great, with minimal rain, so we really haven't been delayed at all. 

The plumber came and connected all our water and gas lines, so now we have pipes running through the walls. We made sure to get a gas line running to the alfresco area, which will eventually be for the BBQ...no running out of petrol station gas bottles any more!! :)

The bricks have been delivered (we chose the Boral Storm...after much deliberation!) and the windows should be arriving tomorrow! 

Double Storey!

We started this week with 'Ice-cream Monday', as the boys were working in 41 degree heat! I thought Joe should have sent them home, but he is far too conscientious! So to compensate I took ice-creams and powerade :) There is very little shade so at least they were simultaneously working on some very deep tanning! The second storey went up in no time! This was probably the most exciting thing we've seen thus far, we were actually able to climb up and walk around our upstairs area! We were able to get a real sense of our room size, and the view! I'm guessing that Occupational Health and Safety regulations would stipulate we shouldn't be climbing around up there....so pretend you never saw these pictures! While we were up there we were able to make a couple of minor changes to door widths etc, which is really hard to preempt from the drawings. This is a major benefit to having an independent builder, it is no trouble to move things around!