Building with Valeco

22 April 2017 - Well after 9 weeks since the excavation was done in error, Valeco finally came to fill and compact the area. I am speechless, because it's starting to feel like a comedy of errors. If this is the finished product then we are still left with a 1.5 metre drop in the smack in the middle of our driveway - great for dirt bikes for a car impossible. Maybe there is more work to be done but since we have received no communication from the site supervisor who knows? Well back on to the office, hopefully the problem will not take 4 weeks to acknowledge this time. 24 April 2017 - get a call from the site supervisor. He makes it pretty clear that's all we were going to get, but he may do something in the future maybe - so reassuring! His back to 'natural level' is not what was agreed and it is not the level that was there before he dug 'his hole'. Hopefully the owners who are aware of our situation will take care of it who knows? I am waiting with bated br...

  Click for latest update March 2018 - Still not finished 17th April 2017 - Let 2 weeks go by for for tanks to cure, did not hear anything and then contacted the office after 3 weeks. Was told that an engineer would assess the site 7/04/2017 as it was deemed to be too wet after Cyclone Debbie. Contacted the office again on 10/04/2017 and was told that the site supervisor would be in touch.  It has been 16 days since we last had rain - surely something will happen this week? I really want to try to remain upbeat and start seeing this moving.

Estimated Completion Date 11/09/2017 The new year came and I was looking forward to meeting the site supervisor for our first on-site meeting. Jan 2017 - So I was pretty surprised when I got a call in mid January to inform me that if i wanted to get extra conduit in (part of our contract) then it would need to be done that day. This was my first contact with the site supervisor and I found out at that point the site had been cut and pipes were been laid. With the slab to be scheduled for the following week (end of Jan).  There was no first on-site meeting to discuss the project but hey work was underway and it was moving fast. That weekend I was itching to have a look at what had had been done. And yes a cut block with pipes sticking out was exciting because it was a start. Just as I was about to leave a chap pulled up and told me he was there to scope the site for the water tanks. The guy was not happy that the pipes had already been installed saying he needed to...

Valeco Estimated Completion Date 11/09/2017 I have been driven to write this blog to share my building experience with others and for the sake of complete disclosure, this is also an attempt to keep our builders honest. Firstly four points I would like to make upfront:  I am pragmatic - mistakes happen its how they are put right that make all the difference The builders have described our site difficult to build on. I can assure you that there is a flat building envelope that would be comparable with any 500/600 metre block that is seemingly the norm. I have built before I would never have dreamed I would set up a blog and I am a first timer so please be kind. Background In July 2016 we finalised the contract on an acreage site in a small cul-de-sac with only a few neighbours and a very private outlook down the valley. In short, our dream. We took our time finding the right builder doing all the normal things, deciding what we wanted, the best aspect and des...