31/03/2010 - Retaining Wall Completed

The saga of the retaining wall is finally over. Went and had a quick inspection last evening and wall looks good. Here are some pictures.

Was wondering whether to stain finish the wood myself. Is it really worth it as the wall will not be visible from the street... shall ponder about it over the weekend.

The SS had given me 10 days to finish the wall, so i am not sure if anything else is goin to happen this week. Till then Happy Easter and have a safe holidays.

30/03/2010 - Retaining Wall 1/2 Done

The retaining wall is almost there. The lower wall has been completed. The builder assures me that the entire job will be completed today. Will go and meet him in the evening to check on the completion status.

27/03/2010 - Retaining wall in progress

Its been 3 days and the retaining wall is 1/4 done. There is only 3 more days remaining for it to be completed before the SS comes and has a look at it.

I guess the worst of it is over. The drilling of rocks and installing the posts there is done. The rest of it should be comparatively quicker.

24/03/2010 - Retaining Walls Commences

Met the retaining wall builder this afternoon and walked him through the plans. The materials were not delivered yet but he was marking the site where the poles had to go in for the timber retaining wall.

The site has been neatly cut and filled. The wall builder was quite pleased with it as he didnt have to do a lot of back-fills. Here are some pictures from various angles:

Received some bad news from the wall builder this afternoon ... the top right corner of the block has a massive rock underneath and he cant get the poles in. There goes another $500 for extra labour and hiring a jack hammer ....

Anyways, i am not too stressed at the moment .....

22/03/2010 - The earth has moved ...

Reached the site at the break of dawn this morning to meet the Site Supervisor:

And when i reached the heavy machines were already operating there:

While talking to the SS a Port-a-loo was installed and driveway gravel was delivered:

By mid afternoon, half the site was leveled:

The pad needs to be at this level:

Thats all for today. By tomorrow the site should be completely cut and the Retaining Wall builder comes in on Wednesday.

The excavator man said that the neighbor already has a retaining wall on the right hand side of the block and i might not have to build one there myself .... lets see if the Retaining Wall builder gives me some discount as a result of this :)

Note: My neighbors, dunno which of the four ones that i have, had dumped some building and construction material on my site for which i had to pay an extra $600 to be taken to the tip (this was not included in the tender) 

19/03/2010 - Stay Tuned

That weekend is finally here. Weather permit (thanks to Severe TC Ului) the site should be cut on Monday. I have my appointment with the retaining wall builder tomorrow to sign his contract.

The Site Supervisor should have put up the Coral Homes sign by now. I shall go and have a look later today.

There will be loads of photos being uploaded pretty soon .... so stay tuned.

Let the excitement begin !!!

Final Site Plan:

05/03/2010 - We have a start date

After over 6 months of paper work and other formalities, we finally have a start date. The construction is to commence on the 22nd of March ....
Thats over 2 weeks from now :( Would have preferred an earlier date. But considering that its been raining for the whole of last week and there is forecast of rain for the next week as well, i guess its a good enough compromise :)
The construction manager and site supervisor were quick to get in touch with me to confirm the date. Have scheduled an onsite appointment with the site supervisor on 22nd at 7:30 in the morning.... 17 days to go !!!