The cost of clearing trees for the building site

As per her New Year promise, Viktoria has finally organised for the clearing of the building site.

We have decided to use a local company called Southern Excavations (you can click on their name to go to their website). The area we need to clear (by law, and particular to our site under the Bushfire legislation) is approximately 5000 square metres (or about 1.2 acres). Brian Monks and his team at Southern Excavations will take about a week to fell the trees, limb them and cut them into usable logs which will be stacked at the top of the property and all the limbs and undergrowth will be sorted into manageable piles for later destruction. They have quoted us $8,800 for all this.

Given they are an excavation company, we also asked Brian to have a look at the driveway option we had drawn on the site plan and quote for this as well. To construct a rock retaining wall to support the road access (which is to run to the middle of the building site as planned, lade with 60-100mm of road base gravel which will be rolled and compacted will be $5,500.  Yes, that is 1/10th of the price quoted by the other Hobart-based company. We can't really fathom the difference.

Needless to say, we have asked Southern Excavations to do the work. They are also going to "flatten out" an area near the house site and gravel it, so that the builders have somewhere close to the site to park their cars (and keep them off the road thereby reducing the annoyance caused to our new future neighbours).

Brian's crew have given us a tentative start date of around 4 March 2013 - which gives us enough time to let our future neighbours know that we will be disturbing their peace for about a week, and also that they will be able to help themselves to some logs for the winter as a result.

Viktoria has asked Neal-the-Architect to check in with Michael-the-Builder about his used of a preferred excavations contractor. If the one the builder was using was going to charge us over $50,000 for a driveway (which they didn't actually go to the site to see) which a local company could do for under $10,000, what would they be charging us to excavate the house pad?? Particularly as it will involve removal of rock. We would prefer that Southern Excavations be given the opportunity (and we get to keep more of the work local), but Neal will have to negotiate the political minefield for us first.

In the meantime, and closer to our present home, we are waiting results from the vet who is performing blood tests and xrays on an aging Captain Greatpants. He turned 14 a couple of weeks ago, and although he is showing signs of his age, we would love for him to share more of our lives for a bit longer. But his health and happiness come first, so we continue to await the phone call.

V&A

Fires, floods.... plague of locust?

In Queensland in December it was fire.

In Queensland in January it's floods.

While we currently live on a mountain therefore didn't get flooded (and if we  do ever flood, we will be talking water levels of biblical proportions) we didn't escape the storms.  

For three days and three nights we were battered by ceaseless cyclonic winds (officially clocked >125km/hr). We were left with no power from Australia Day (Saturday January 26th) until Friday 1^st February. And in the bush no power = no running water = no waste water system.

On Saturday 27th the phone lines went down too.

The view during the storm - not quite as effective without a sound track

Fortunately, we came through it all relatively unscathed - just the outdoor shade sails, the living room curtains (from horizontal rain coming in over the windows) and all the perishable food. We didn’t even try to kill each after being locked together with no power, no phone & no internet for 72 hours. The feline crew were in cat heaven as they had to eat tinned food (cat equivalent of McDonald's) for several days. 

The whole area's electrical system needs a rebuild.  Guy was saying on the radio that they sent a crew up the first night but they came straight back down as “trees were landing all around them”. Wusses.

The new water feature - oh wait, that's the front stairs

The Android managed to get up onto the roof Tuesday afternoon. Despite several ominous large bangs over the weekend, there wasn't a scratch on it. All the solar panels are intact & undamaged. 

Large sections of the mountain had blocked both roads , so we had to take the scenic route all week. The council had to put roadblocks up to stop non-residents - apparently there are a lot of “trauma tourists” wanting to get up to see the damage on the mountain.

Humans are weird.

We found an exhausted bird lying in the middle of the road on the way down to to work during the week - Viktoria made the Android stop so that we could pick it up (only a small tantrum). We took it to the vet. It’s apparently a juvenile Sooty Tern, which looks like it’s been blown all the way from the islands off the far north Queensland coast. Poor little thing. Fortunately, the vet have a specialist seabird carer to look after it (and a bedraggled pelican which arrived at the vet shortly before us). 

After a week of hauling water in buckets upstairs & taking cold sponge baths, we definitely want a header tank at the new Tasmanian place…

Bushfires in Tasmania

Australia is in the grip of one of the worst bushfire seasons in recorded history.
To assist people who have lost their homes and livelihoods in Tasmania, donations can be made directly using the links to the Red Cross Bushfire Appeal:

http://www.redcross.org.au/tasmanian-bushfires-appeal-2013.aspx

And so that we don't forget the enormous toll taken on our native wildlife, the volunteer carers, who have themselves often lost their homes, need your help to look after orphaned and injured wildlife. Donations can be made direct to Wildcare Tasmania:

https://www.wildcaretas.org.au/donation

Note that for Australian residents, donations over $2 are tax-deductible.
Our most sincere and heartfelt wishes for a speedy recovery for all those affected in the fires.

V&A

Christmas Wishes & New Year Plans

We have been a wee bit self-indulgent, neglecting any house-type decisions, and instead spending time with family and friends over the Christmas period. Which is what we believe Christmas is really all about (although with Viktoria's family involved, even a game of "Snakes & Ladders" has the potential to become a blood sport).
But we have still made time to go for walks in the bush surrounding our current home in Queensland. Even setting off before 6am, the air is already dense and humid. The heady scent of humus greets you as you crunch along foot worn paths. Leaves hang heavy on eucalyptus trees, their bark splitting and peeling to reveal fresh skin, a startling shade of burnt umber.
At one of the last stands of Bunya pines, the cicadas' song is so loud you need to block your ears. Their call waxes and wanes, until you come to the still-running creek which bubbles through bold slabs of grey granite on its way to the valley below.
The sky is that crazy shade of blue so unique to the subtropics.
You're already peeling off a T-shirt, dripping in perspiration, before you make it to the front door.
We will miss the Queensland bush - its colours, its smells, its sounds. But we won't miss the Queensland heat.
Following a couple of days R&R, in the New Year, Viktoria is going to make a concerted effort to get the whole "get the block cleared, get some access to the build site" organised.
Until then, we hope that you, your families and friends, had a safe and happy Christmas and that the New Year brings promise.
V&A

A Lesson in Bushfire Safety

The Universe has a perversely ironic sense of humour.

Just as we are working through the details of what vegetation to clear on site under the new national bushfire legislation, our home State of Queensland is facing mass outbreaks of bush fires across its length & breadth.

We had gone to work as usual on Tuesday. Following back-to-back meetings until about 2pm, Viktoria finally caught up on her emails & text messages - one of which ominously read:

"Residents should be aware that a potentially very serious bushfire situation is developing directly to our west. A significant area of private land is currently burning. It is unlikely that an opportunity to safely back burn into this country will eventuate between now and tomorrow when severe fire weather will come into play (40°C, gusty SW winds and 12% humidity). There is a high likelihood that a broad fire front will develop under NW winds tonight and then be pushed in the direction of the village..."

The next message was that the rural fire service was door knocking in the area telling people to leave. Emails were still downloading as Viktoria phoned the Android & he made the quick trip across town to pick her up & rush home. All we could think of during the 45 min journey from work back home getting the cats to safety. Not the house, not the furniture, not any stuff. Just making sure that the fur-kids were safe.

The smell of burning eucalyptus filled the air as we passed a steady stream of locals leaving the mountain.  Clearly we were heading in the wrong direction.

By the time we had packed the cars, most of the village had left, with just fire trucks and firemen milling around. Viktoria took the 3 cats in her car... the Android took 3 synthesizers (a Moog Voyager, a custom build Vostok, and something else with lots of knobs). Viktoria made it half way down the mountain before Captain Greatpants threw up – of course one of them would have to get motion sickness.

The Android's mother kindly let us descend on her with 3 cats in tow.  We let the cats out in the room we were sleeping in (after setting up food, water & a kitty litter tray for them). Mistress Surly immediately squooooozed herself underneath the ensemble bed where she stayed until the following morning. (The Android had to lift the bed so that she could be prised out.) Princess Daintyfeet commandeered the space underneath the dressing table. Captain Greatpants, needing to replace the meal he had lost, had something to eat.

The Android made a mad dash to a takeaway so we could at least provide dinner in lieu of board. During which time Captain Greatpants decided he wanted to check out the house. To his credit, the mad little guy was awesome. He rubbed on everything (including the Android's mother) and spent a long time trying to shoot a possum outside with his laser-vision, but was otherwise content just to sit at our feet while we were in the lounge room.
Viktoria didn’t really sleep (strange house, noisy suburbia, strange bed) which was made worse when at about 2am Princess Daintyfeet decided she wanted to look around – which meant she started doing laps of our bed ‘talking’ rather loudly. Not wanting to wake the rest of the house, Viktoria thought she would let Princess Daintyfeet out of the room and walk around the house with her... Captain Greatpants decided to be tour guide and kept herding her to the most interesting parts of the house (for a cat); mostly behind or underneath furniture. They were both rather dusty. Despite efforts to bring her back into the bedroom, Princess Daintyfeet wasn’t having any of that. By this stage, the Android had stirred, so we ended up shutting all the doors in the house except ours and leaving the fuzzy ninjas to roam. Which meant that Viktoria stayed awake listening & hoping that they didn’t decide to try climbing cabinets or breaking anything. We shouldn’t have worried – our cats are actually fairly well-behaved (most of the time) & know to stay off things like tables & cabinets.

That morning we couldn’t check the Internet for any fire updates, because the Android's mum doesn’t have the Internet. And Viktoria's mobile phone rapidly ran out of charge.  The official channels were actually pretty rubbish at providing updates on what was happening – much better and more accurate information came from the mountain chat room (the modern equivalent of the 'Bush Telegraph'), or just from phoning people.

So we decided to take the beasties back home & see how we go. There is still a severe fire warning, but the local firies managed to build containment lines last night & the winds haven’t been too bad.
Princess Daintyfeet seems to have largely just had a big adventure, while Mistress Surly is still preparing herself to forgive us. Oh, and Captain Greatpants threw up again on the way home. Cats-1 / Humans-0.
But we are all safe, if a little smoky, and it was a good opportunity to see if our bushfire emergency plan worked, or needed work.
Now, exactly which trees did we want to keep in Tassie???
V&A

The cost of moving to Tasmania... and how shall we do it?

Yes, yes... we know that we don't actually have a house to live in yet (in fact, we haven't so much as cleared a single tree), but so that we can plan our budgeting, we have started looking into they "how's" and "when's" of moving all our crap belongings from Queensland to Tasmania.
We looked at a number of different 'traditional' removalists, but eventually decided that the best option (for us at least) would be to ship everything down there in a shipping container - and if we bought the shipping container, we could include it's location and installation on the block as part of our Building Application (yes folks, you do need permission to keep a shipping container on your land).

"Honey, have you seen the car keys?"

We sent out requests to four different shipping companies, but only two responded. Mind you, a 50% response rate is pretty awesome these days.
The criteria we set out were:

• Moving from Queensland to Tasmania sometime in the vicinity of 2013 - 2014 (yes, we were that vague)
• Would like to purchase a 20 foot high top container
• Would like to pack our stuff up ourselves
• Destination is rural Tasmania
• May need to store the container somewhere in Tasmania if the house build is still ongoing

We received responses from both Anglia Container Services and Budget Self Pack Containers. In alphabetical order, here is what they had to say....

Thank you for your inquiry.

I know that your relocation is around a year away so please treat the following quote as an indication of what we would expect your costs to be then. If you decided to use our services, we would need to review our quote again closer to that time.

We can deliver one lease 20’ shipping container to {Queensland} for you to load. We would then relocate the loaded container to {Tasmania} for you to unload. We would then recover our empty container. We expect that the total cost to you for this will be between $3600.00 and $3800.00.

Extended Lease option - Our quote includes your use of our container for up to 28 days and you decide how to use that time. If you need to extend this free lease period, the only extra cost to you after the 28 days is, at this time, $2.75/day.

All quoted prices include GST.

Please note that our quote is based on good access for our delivery vehicles and on you loading personal household effects and furniture. It is okay to load complete motor cars or motor cycles if you wish. If you intend to load heavy building materials or industrial machinery etc though, please tell us in advance because additional costs may apply due to excess weight.

Thanks again for the opportunity to quote and please do not hesitate to call if we can assist.

Regards, Ed

Ed Smith

Anglia Container Services Pty Ltd

Phone:  1300 296040  -  0488 421342

Fax:  02 6336 8080

And the second response we received goes something like this....

Thank you for requesting a quote from Budget Self Pack Containers. Should you have further questions, I can be contacted directly on either 1300 659 221 (key option 2) or on

0478 124 219. Please note that all prices include GST. Your quote is valid until 30/9/13.
Price
The price for a 20ft shipping container (supplied by BSPC) from {QLD} to anywhere TAS is $5850. The price for a 20ft shipping container (supplied by you) from  {QLD} to anywhere TAS is $4350.
How it works

1.     We deliver an empty container to your current address.

2.     You pack your belongings into the container.

3.     We transport the container to your new address (or store it until you are ready to receive it).

4.     Once unloaded, we remove the empty container.

Days to Pack / Unpack

We give you up to 40 days to split between packing and unpacking. If you need to keep the container for an extended period, the hire rate is $30 per week.
Transit time
The door to door transit time is 6 days.
Packing Equipment and Materials
Included in the price above is use of 1 furniture trolley and 10 heavy duty furniture blankets. We also provide you with 2 x 30m rolls of soft woven nylon rope that is yours to use and keep.
Insurance
All customers of Budget Self Pack Containers are covered under our transit insurance policy at no additional cost. Events covered are; fire, explosion, lightning, flood, collision, overturning, jack-knifing and derailment. The limit of any one claim is $150k. We also carry public liability insurance ($20m).
Container Specifications
The container has tie rails and a heat / condensation vent as well as multiple padlock points for keeping your belongings secure during the move. The internal capacity is 38m3. Internal dimensions are 5.95m long x 2.35m wide x 2.75m high. There are heavy lugs at floor and ceiling level for securing a vehicle or other heavy object.
Weight Allowance (base weight)
Your quoted price allows for a total weight (container and contents) of 8 tonne.  The container itself weighs 2.2 tonne. Additional weight is charged at $20 per tonne.
Container Transportation
By default, we transport 20ft containers to and from rail using tilt-tray trucks. Side-loading trucks are available upon request at additional cost.
Storage - BSPC Container
If required, we can store the container prior to delivery.  The weekly storage rate is $20 per week for the first 3 weeks and $85 per week after that. There is also a one-off charge of $190 to cover the cost of the additional container movement. Container hire charges are included in our storage rates.
Storage - Your Container
The weekly storage rate is $30. There is also a one-off charge of $190 to cover the cost of the additional container movement. Container hire charges are included in our storage rates.
Customer Service
The customer testimonials on our website are genuine. At Budget Self Pack Containers, we understand that you have a lot to organise besides getting your belongings to your new home. It is our commitment to our customers to offer an exceptional customer service experience that will take some of the pain out of moving interstate.
Payment Terms
We require a $300 deposit prior to empty container delivery with the balance payable prior to the full container being delivered to the final destination. We accept Mastercard or Visa (1.5% surcharge on transactions over $300) or direct deposit.
Quote Acceptance
You can either call or email advising acceptance of this quote. The more notice you can give us the better, but we can get things going with as little as 3 days notice. Please note that your quoted price is based upon the information provided.
Kind Regards

Clarke Davies

Budget Self Pack Containers
1300 659 221

0478 124 219

So there you have it. Both were friendly and helpful and we will definitely be contacting them once we get closer to "The Relocation"... The Android has, however, since advised that some of his more sensitive electronic components won't cope well with sitting in a hot shipping container, so he needs to come up with a solution to transporting those... And of course, the three ships' cats are unlikely to take all that well to being packed into a container, so we need to investigate getting the beasties transported also.
But that is something for another day.
Look after each other, and we'll catch up with you soon. 
V&A
B

The Android's Solo Expedition

It's been a while since we posted an update. We have no real excuse, bar the usual "It's that time of year" version.
Since our last post, however, there have been a few developments.
Firstly, the Android went to visit the block in Tasmania (well, Viktoria actually packed him up and sent him away so that he could become a little more 'engaged with the project'). But while he was there, he managed to catch up with Neal-the-Architect as well as Michael-the-Builder in the slightly damp surrounds of the Huon Valley.
The Android hadn't seen where the new house site was going to be, nor had he met Michael since Viktoria went down to Tasmania several months ago, so even though there was nothing really that prompted the presence of either of us, it was a fantastic opportunity for him to get back in touch with how things were going.

TIP: It's really important that all parties involved in the project stay connected .. even if that means that one of you has to coerce the other (by force, if necessary). The distribution of tasks may not be equal due to simple time factors, but you need to have an equal mental investment.

The most fruitful discussions from the Android's perspective were with Michael-the-Builder, who was able to discuss the driveway options and costings in greater detail. Michael offered some handy advice on different surfacing options and is currently preparing an updated version of his quote which will show what can be done before the build, and what can be done after the build (so we don't end up with our brand new driveway being churned up by heavy machinery).
Neal-the-Architect had also built some models of the house, much to the Android's delight, complete with the proposed roof design. The Android took several photos of the models... and then refused to share them with Viktoria until he returned home.
We have included a couple of these below. The roof is essentially one continuous curved sheet of roofing iron, which wraps over and down the side of each wing of the house to the ground. 

View from above (facing West) - roof curving over side walls



View back of house (facing West)

And so the layout makes a bit more sense under the roof line, here is a photo of the same model, but with the roof and walls removed (OK, so it's upside down, but you get what we mean)...

View facing South (no walls or roof)

One of the other architects at jawsarchitects, Fiona Graham, is valiantly trying to decipher our wish list into something that resembles and interior, and we have some updated floor plans from her to share with you too.

Basically, Viktoria had the brainwave (or minor synapse fizz) that we would get more bathroom space if we moved the laundry out of the bathroom and into the kitchen area. But only Fiona could come up with such a neat solution...

Revised Floorplan with Relocated Laundry

Will are starting to source people with chainsaws who will be able to clear the building site for us (whilst leaving the trees we wish to keep unscathed) and will let you know how we go.

And we do still have that information from the removalists to put together for you, but we left the papers in our other trousers.... so until next time, V&A