10-lot Subdivision Civil Works Thread

[brendio]

New Year Update

Sorry, thread, I've been neglecting you!

Well, we got the stormwater pipes and pits in before Christmas, and then our fencing guy removed all the back fencing. Early in the new year, the fencer came and put fence posts in. Our contractors had a couple of weeks off while all the concrete places shut down. Last week and this week, when it hasn't been raining, they've been putting in the concrete edge barrier strip along the property boundary. The fencer still has a few more fence posts to put in and then he'll get onto the railings and palings. Once all the edge strips are finished, they do the stormwater grates.

I got the first progress claim from our civil contractors today. The cost for clearing really blew out. They had 36 dump truck loads of tree stumps and other rubbish to remove. We didn't get a fixed quote for this component, so it had me worried seeing how many times the trucks left for the tip.

It also cost us an extra 2 grand for the changes needed to decommission the old sewer line.

Luckily, some provisional items were not required and we've had no other contingency claims, so we are still pretty much on budget. The project is nowhere near the initial time estimate though. Lesson learned: at least double any time estimate you are given and you will get a more realistic minimum time frame.

We have had a marathon negotiation process over contract conditions, but I think we are close to securing our first (third party) sale. I think I'll have to break out the champers when we finally get the signature on the dotted line.

 

[brendio]

Some more photos

Form work for the storm water pit

The storms come

The unfinished drain doesn't drain

Interallotment drainage pit

Fence under construction

 

[Kael]

I'm interested to see how much these will sell for - keep up the good work with the thread and the subdivision

 

[brendio]

I'm interested to see how much these will sell for

So am I!

I've PM'ed you our asking prices. We see if we can get that in the current market...

 

[brendio]

Thanks for the info mate - area looks pretty good.

Possibility to build a granny flat at the back if a house was built there? Or duplexes? if council approves?

I'll answer this question from a PM in here in case others are interested. We've had a lot of fun over the issue of duplexes. We are thinking of building a detached dual occupancy on one of the blocks which we made a bit bigger for that purpose. We have put a covenant on the lots and after a potential buyer first wanted the option of building a duplex, then decided they didn't want a duplex and didn't want duplexes beside them, we have now ruled out duplexes on all but the one larger block. The development is in a good area, and some buyers here have an aversion to duplexes because they attract less desirable tenants. Our larger blocks should be suitable for second or third home buyers who want the extra room for a shed and possibly a pool out the back.

Granny flats in Queensland aren't as easy to build as in NSW. Basically, it the same procedure to get approval for a detached granny flat as for a dual occupancy . Otherwise, it needs to be under the same roof as the main dwelling and I'm not sure whether you are allowed to rent it out separately.

 

[brendio]

It's been raining the past couple of days, and more rain is expected to come. Still, our fencing contractor was working this morning in the rain and has about 70 m of the fencing complete.

Note the concrete edge barrier strip at the bottom.

 

[aaarghhh]

nice pictures

Wow , the pics are good Brendio, I'd be interested in the time it took for you hand-rendered base/manhole A few years ago, I had a smaller jobbie that required two pre-benched, precast rocla manholes and connecting 28m of new sewer line, took 3 days from start to finish.

Keep the thread alive. It's great.

 

[brendio]

I'd be interested in the time it took for you hand-rendered base/manhole A few years ago, I had a smaller jobbie that required two pre-benched, precast rocla manholes and connecting 28m of new sewer line, took 3 days from start to finish.

It would have been around the 3 days each, or possibly more, as they were doing quite a bit at once. They are poured in three stages. First, the pipes need to be in place so they can bench the base at the right angles. Then they pour the sides, and finally the top and hole for the cover. They need to allow the concrete to set in between each stage, so that means at least 3 days to do it all.

 

[Terryw]

Thanks for the great detail and pcitures.

 

[brendio]

Back fence complete

The back fence is now complete. It looks quite impressive having a uniform 180 m long fence rather than the old mismash of dissimilar fences. Hopefully, it will help increase the saleability of the lots so we can recoup what we've invested in it.

 

[sanj]

thanks a lot for the regular updates and pics, much appreciated

 

[brendio]

I'm also hoping that, with the rain now looking like it has stopped, our civil contractors will come back again. I have a cheque for a progress payment waiting here for them to collect to hopefully entice them back.

 

[knightm]

That fence look great. Did the concrete base add significantly to the cost?

 

[brendio]

That fence look great. Did the concrete base add significantly to the cost?

We were quoted $38 per metre for the concreting, but they decided to make it wider (300 mm instead of 200 mm), so not sure of the final price. The concrete base (or a kerb in front of the fence line) was a requirement of the subdivision approval. We extended it along a bit further than we had to, and put it on the fence line, rather than in front, because I think it would look a lot better and not create a void that would accumulate leaves and other rubbish.

 

[brendio]

Update

Our contractors are back on site this week and they say they'll now stay until completion. Let's hope so.

On the weekend, we lifted turf from our yard and laid it in our neighbour's yard that we churned up putting our sewer in. It was a lot bigger job than I thought it would be and my elbows started playing up on me towards the end. It was two full afternoon's work and we ran out of turf a metre from the end. Been keeping the water on it and I think it will come up nice.

Yesterday, they levelled up the backs of the blocks, and it made a huge difference. I think it's looking really nice now.

This morning they poured most of the aprons for the stormwater grates.

They've now started on excavating the road verge ready for laying the geofabric, pavement and asphalt. They'll also put partial water service connections in, and today managed to locate the existing water main with a shovel and made a nice little fountain that council had to fix up. (I didn't get any photos of it, unfortunately.)

In other news, after a mammoth four months of negotiations, we finally have our first (third-party) sale.

I have had some interest lately, so here's hoping it will lead to some more!

 

[brendio]

Road widening

A bit of a set back this morning after our contractors were told by council we hadn't paid them for tapping into the water main for the partial water services to each new lot. I went in to council to pay, but was incorrectly told I would have to first apply for a quote and the people responsible for that were away and would call me on Monday. I had already been quoted verbally what it would cost and I was later able to speak with someone else in council who could confirm that it is a fixed cost but said I need to wait until his colleagues who can enter it in the system get back on Monday before they can accept our payment.

It turns out that the Telstra conduit will need to go in first anyway, because it sits lower down and the water services will cross above it. That is scheduled to go in next week.

They progressed with excavating the road verge ...

... rolling out the bidim (white) and Tensar film (black; used to decrease the thickness of pavement needed) ...

... and then dumping and rolling gravel on top.

The end of where they got up to shows the different layers nicely:

 

[brendio]

Not much new to report. Progress on the road widening continues, as is cosmetic surface levelling of the blocks.

To add interest to this post, I present a B-double doing gymnastics!

 

[brendio]

Wet Weather

We had a bit of rain to give the interallotment stormwater drainage a good testing. The turf planted for sediment control was no match for the volume of water in the deluge.

The road base is now all complete. We are waiting for the Telstra contractor to install the conduits, and then will put in the partial water services and then the concrete footpath (in order of decreasing depth).

I also finally made progress with the electricity company and now have a date for the commencement of works by their subcontractor. It only took three phone calls with promises of return calls that never came until I finally got the info.

 

[brendio]

Project Managing

There hasn't been much work happening on the ground the past couple of days, but I've had to do a bit of project management, liaising between Telstra, their sub-contractor and the electrical sub-contractor to help make way for works to continue. The wash up of it all is that we should be able to share a trench for the underground electricity cables and the telecom conduits, and we have to get a quote from Telstra to lower a few pits where our new footpath needs to go. Also, I found out that even though we have to supply trenches and pay Telstra to install conduits to NBN standard, the existing copper will stay in the ground and the conduits may stay empty until NBN gets around to putting fibre in them in 5 or 10 years or never, as the case may be.

 

[Aaron_C]

Very interesting read brendio. I have a possible 29 lot subdivision coming up and your thread is very insightful.