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Contracts and applications and permits, oh my!

September 3rd, 2014 | Trae's Blog

By Trae Flett

I’m quite terrified of being caught out by fine print. I’m one of the fifteen people in the world who actually reads terms and conditions before checking that box. Part of me imagines somewhere amongst pages and pages of miniscule text there will be a clause saying I have to hand over my firstborn if I default on a payment.

I was really happy to find that Perth builders Exactus use the standard HIA contract because it is really fair on both parties plus has the added advantage of being able to ring up HIA and clarify what something means if like us, it is your first ever experience with builders and you don’t know the difference between your beams and your trusses (Beam is an alcoholic beverage, right?). So that part was relatively painless unless you count the RSI from initialling and signing my name over and over and over again.

The ‘great unknown’ we faced was waiting for council approval. We had one person at the council telling us it would be through quickly because we’d had the engineering on the plans done privately, and another telling us it would make no difference and could take months. But before we knew it, Ralph was on the phone letting us know that approval would be finalized the next day – it went a little something like this:

Ralph: Approval will be finalized tomorrow and we will have the bobcat there bright and early on Friday morning!
Nicholas: Excellent! How exciting!
Ralph: How is Trae?
Nicholas: Well, funny you should ask, she’s actually in labour right now.
Ralph: Right! I’ll leave you to it then!

I can’t promise your phone call for building approval will be as memorable as that, but even without the imminent arrival of a new bub the whole thing is quite exciting – it might just be a phone call or letter but it heralds the start of the whole build and makes it real.

From there everything seemed to happen so quickly. Day one and the team was on site (complete with gorgeous gift for our new bub) ready and raring to go at 7:00am on the dot. Before our eyes our backyard transformed in to gigantic sandpit, and the street bore witness to every type of truck you can imagine, much to the delight of our toddler.
As the build progressed we had to get down to the nitty gritty – choosing windows, taps, tiles, you name it. The contract had allowances for all of them but a change of mind on the style of window we wanted meant signing a Variation To Contract, a simple piece of paper that either added on a cost where we chose a more expensive product or took some away. It was painless. If only I could say that about choosing tile colours. And paint colours. And new lounge suites. Argh, too many choices!!

Time is flying and I feel like I’m in a time lapse video watching my house come up around me so fast. We’ve got the roof on, all the plumbing and wiring done and the render going up on the walls. Next up they’ll break through the back wall… the wall keeping out all the dust!

Next up: Sand pit or sand castle? The ups and downs of living on site when building.

Trae and her husband Nicholas are clients of Exactus, currently extending their Northern Suburbs house. Trae, the face behind popular ‘Mum Blog’ Where’s My Glow, shares with us the highs and lows of the building process while living onsite with two small children.

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Contracts and applications and permits, oh my!

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