We took possession of the section on September 21st 2012 and we are now in April 2013. I think when we bought it, Guy and I had these ideals in our head, we were gonna have our plans in for consent by the end of 2012 and hopefully pouring our foundations in late Jan or Early Feb giving us plenty of long end of summer days to get as much work done before Winter....
That was before we met reality
Reality is often a slightly muddier version of what you imagine.
We did get our consent in as of two weeks ago and now we wait HOPING that it comes back with a big green light and a GO sign in the next few weeks. Cross your fingers for us. Because the days are getting shorter and shorter and winter is fast approaching which means Guy (an integral team member) will be working almost 100% of the time. This means that building is going to be pretty slow, add to that my parents are off on a well deserved holiday to the States to visit my Sister and Brother-in-law for 5 weeks! So there isn't a huge amount of the big stuff we can get done when Dad is away seeing as he is the man with the know how. Guy has picked up so many skills during the shed/workshop build though, I'm pretty sure he'll have a hefty list of what he can do in Dad's absence!
When we start to draw down on these mortgages we will need to move in with my parents.....goodbye little house.....that part will be hard.
My Parents are great, obviously, we live in front of them and soon they will live in a cottage on the 2.5 acres with us. But Guy and I have lived alone together for so many years now, that moving in with ANYONE would be hard. You have your own habits and roles/jobs around the house and... ya know when you just don't feel like seeing anyone or don't have the energy for chats after a long day, you can just BE with your husband, on the couch, watching tv and not even notice that you haven't spoken a word for over an hour because you're both totally comfortable and happy to be sitting silently in each others company. It's those times of just being completely alone together that I will miss. I'm sure my parents feel the same way!!! Haha! But it's not for a long time, hopefully this build won't turn out to be one of those 5 year long 'Grand Designs' fails.....it's a hardly a grand design so I'm sure we'll be fine.
When I think about what we've got done in that time though, I think we can all be pretty proud! We started with a paddock and we now have a proper section, complete with mailbox.....although I'll touch on that another time.
Jobs done so far-
Planted a shelter belt of 100 trees
Built a post and rail fence and entrance gates
Excavated and partially completed a 100m long drive way and turning pad
Built a board and batten pump shed
Put in a water tank
Set up hundreds of meters of irrigation
Built a 160sqm workshop and shed which will be hugely utilized during the build
Landscaped mounds ready to be planted
There are so many sub-jobs that go into every one of those things that I would be here forever, if I know anything for sure, it's that we will appreciate our new one more than anything. As every part of it will be built with our blood, sweat and tears!
There's always time to cut some beach shapes
