BlandDesignsNZ

So, despite our best back and forth, the only solution (other than the recess box and associated fee) that the company could come up with was to shrink the windows in the childrens' bedrooms and put the califont there. (You'll have to picture the facepalm).  Naturally, that wildly impractical brain fart didn't go down too well but we managed to "negotiate" a single variation fee to recess both califonts. Which I'm slightly less annoyed about. At least it's resolved, at this point.  We've also been told that consent should be through this week (squeeeee!) ao hopefully we should be 4 weeks or so from turning ground.  Can't. Wait. 

So, it seems the documents were sent to the council the day they were went to us (to approve. Derp) Which means, we're 15 working days into council's theoretical 20 working days to approve.  So this time next week, we might have consent!

While the building company sent us the documents and asked for our feedback before submission (which led to the delightful and hilarious back and forth about the fricken hot water heater and the location thereof; "No, we're not *changing* it; we never approved it to be there in the first place"), in the meantime, they'd already sent the (unapproved) plans to Council.  Lord, give me strength to not go on a rampage.  We're still in back and forth with them (a delightful passtime not unlike a root canal, I'd wager). Presumably, we'll need to amend the damn plans with council once we've made the change. (Insert teeth gnashing).  Tomorrow, we break out the PassAg emails. And tomorrow night, hopefully, we feast on the flesh of our vanquished foes. Or something.  Oh, in other exciting* news, they sent us a sample of the kitchen meltica stuff. In case we weren't sure what it looked like, I suppose.  *ymmv

So, when you build using a design and build company (as we are), once plans are finished and approved, anything changed becomes a variation and the company can charge $500 as a "variation fee" on top of the price to do the actual changed work. The cynic in me considers this nothing more than a cash grab anyway.  So, we discovered that the gas hot water heater was going to be plonked onto a wall that was going to end up being right in the middle of our outdoor decked area. Less than ideal when you consider the water heater itself is a pretty ugly slug of a thing.  Fortunately, the manufacturer must think the same (ugly slug), as they sell a neat recess box which can recess into the wall cavity and hide the slug (and the associated pipes and wiring). Naturally, when we discovered slug was gonna be in an awkward place, we asked for a price for the recess box.  The company, in quoting this, has chucked a Variation Fee on it for good measure. Despite the fact that if they'd bo...

The community Facebook page for where the build is today posted the fact that a whole lot of cows were roaming the area. Included were several pictures, including one of a cow sitting on our section.  (Fucking "Moo") The side effects of building in the country, I guess. With any luck, it'll do me a favour and keep the grass down. 

So, my wife sent to the QS an email. Not "snarky" per se, but maybe a little cold.  Then started quietly fuming Cos he hadn't written back quickly enough.  "Mumble, mutter, etc" And then realized that she hadn't actually sent the email in the first place. So all her fuming was because the QS hadn't replied to an email she hadn't actually sent.  One day she'll look back on that and laugh. I'm already laughing about it. 

So, when I had a whinge that we didn't have the engineering drawings back yet, they turned up the next day.  Which is a nice twist of fate. Or the designers are stalking me and found this. *waves*. Hi! Can we discuss font? I feel like you could have used comic sans here.  Anyway, these are mainly for our approval before docs are sent to council for their little elephant stamp and we can commence getting the thing built.  They aren't *quite* right, which is mildly frustrating given the back and forth we've already had. Still, better we make sure everything is unicorns and buttercups now than later when it's time (and $$) to fix.  We're also visiting another showhome this weekend (*sob*) and meeting with the sparky (which will be interesting). All in all, it's marching on. Can't. Wait. 

That's right; nothing.  Engineering drawings were meant to be done and ready to go to Council by end of July. So far, we've had to sign authorisation forms for the architects to submit on out behalf, so hopefully, we're close.  I'm really keen to see the finished drawings. Its another big step in the process.  Meantme, carpet and wooden flooring has been chosen. We have to meet with a colour consultant to decide on the rest of the stuff. Helpfully, she works 9-5, Mon-Fri so we'll have to take day off for that.