how long to draw up plans??

[LukeC]

I recently did some plans for a very similar house, for a client who was doing the exact same thing, but bringing the house to NSW. The plans took only a couple of days, but I did have to go and measure the house up. However the client could not find anyone else to do it and his quotes were $2000 to $3000 also.
I am still completing a dip in arch tech so the work and experience comes in handy.

I also just finished a job for a mate. Same sort of thing but for soem factories. Council required plans to be redrawn as there were add ons mezzanines etc and the structure was very different from the original. I decided to time myself from attending the site taking a few happy snappys, to the finshed drawings, site plan(with landscape etc) floor plans, elevatiosn and sections. It took 17 hours solid. In saying this these plans are just reproductions of what is already there. There is little to work out but it still takes a fair while. So I think $900 to $1000 is reasonable.

[journeyman Mick]

Womble,
how's the drainage holding up now? Don't know about your corner but we had 250mm of rain last night, a good test for the drains!

Mick

[womble]

It's pretty wet at the block, only a tarp on the roof at the moment too which isn't the best...

We're in Cairns at the moment and its got flooding in places due to more heavy rain overnight, the drains and creeks were still high from the 250mils saturday night so they couldn't cope I guess!

[womble]

the latest photos, stumping finished and roof back on...you can see how the grader didn't quite get the level right, we'll have to scrape away half a meter or so of dirt before building can start.

On the plus side it drained the recent rain away pretty well

They didn't put as many posts in as the house had originally, there's some large u-shaped steel beams going to be reinforcing the bearers instead so apparently there can be fewer posts...I would still like to have a post under some areas though as the photos shows, doesn't seem right!

[journeyman Mick]

Womble,
don't worry too much about there being less posts and it not looking "right". You'll appreciate the uncluttered space that it will give you. Looking at the amount of catchment area uphill from the house you might want to add some water diversion landscaping. A low mound in an arc or "V" above the cut will divert most of the runoff around either side of your house. I did this around my shed as the back wall is cut 1M into the ground. I get a fair bit of runoff during heavy rain - the backyard gets a small creek flowing through it and the mound diverts the water away from the small spoon drain above the reatining wall. No leaks yet, even with the 250mm we got recently so it's working.

Mick

[womble]

well I'm hoping there's something left tomorrow afternoon...

this cyclone doesn't look good at all for our place, it's not yet fully ready for one

[womble]

house has survived!!! Very happy!

[ThePope]

the place looked awfully vunerable in your last photos, you dodged a bullet there mate

sadly many up that way are not so fortunate...

[womble]

Here's a before and after photo of the house, the pine trees in the background did not survive too well at all! The house is now finished with cyclone proofing with the council building inspector signing off on it, we are now waiting on some fine weather to get the septic trench laid out so the building work can begin. The trench was 'supposed' to be done this week but it will have to wait now due to the rain from cyclone monica flooding out everything...sigh...

Getting a couple of quotes off local builders, of course since cyclone larry they are snowed under with work so am not expecting to hear from them for a while. We can get the plumbing, phone and electrical connected in the meantime while we're waiting.

We are also going to start cleaning up inside prepping for undercoating, during the move rain poured through the exposed ceiling and pigeon crup/dirt etc ran done the walls. Combined with the explosion of mould in the past few weeks it's not a job I'm looking forward to at all.

[TEEJAY]

Funny really it looks like a box on sticks - should have flown away in a cyclone - WOW

[womble]

well after waiting for well over a month for builders to get back to us it looks like we might be able to start some work on the extension soon...or at least get a contract together! Getting married in a few weeks so that will take a chunk out of the school holidays which I could have spent cleaning up the inside walls...

[womble]

This is the first stage of building that we need done, with the extension out the back with laundry downstairs. Butterfly stairs at the front, not straight as in the plans.

French doors opening from the kitchen as well as the bathroom out onto the deck, which has a scissor truss roof over it that is blended with the existing roof. We didn't want a straight roof off the original like a lot of Queenslanders have here, it looks tacked on and doesn't seem to suit them well at all.

It's difficult trying to get a balance between authentic and modern. The french doors for example arent in the typical older style that these houses had, the kitchen area will have a wood stove but also dishwasher and rangehood etc. And the bathroom wont be a corrugated iron lined room downstairs! We will try and put matching windows in the bathroom though to suit the rest of the house, nothing worse than mix-n-match windows on these old places.

[womble]

Finally signed a contract with a builder yesterday, work has to be complete by the 31st of december, should start in a couple of weeks. Hopefully they wont take until december to finish though!!

[Cliff Rogers]

Finally signed a contract with a builder yesterday, work has to be complete by the 31st of december,....

Who did you get?

Which year?

[womble]

Who did you get?

Which year?

builder is david johnston from atherton, year of completion is 2006...hopefully!!