We went with the lemon spotted gum (my partner's preference, I would personally have also been happy with the blackbutt).

Whoops, I did respond to HugoBarney via PM, and intended to also post it here - thanks, ligongl, the RecoveryVent was who I…

Okay, a recap of the time since my last post:
Much as I'd like to blame the plumber for that given some of the quality of his other work, it turns…

Good to see it all coming along well - I'm really looking forward to seeing the final product given the interesting plan you have!

Looking good so far - how have you found dealing with the builder?

Me providing the lender won't help you (SGB for the record, though) - because it's not the LENDER that determines the value, its the VALUER.
The banks don't do valuations on…

Looks great! How was the build process for you?

Sorry for delay in replying - I'm not much on these forums these days!
The build: the structural quality of the build was good, although there were a few minor cosmetic…

Finally! Congratulations!

There are 'adaptors' (not sure what the proper term is) available that enable the use of curved woks (and similar items) on induction cooktops. And cast iron is probably…

I'm not sure that that's possible - a thermal break almost by definition involves disrupting the monolith.
Personally, I'd do two separate slabs - an insulated one (including slab-edge insulation, most…

Progress, at last! Hopefully the drama with the utilities is the biggest difficulty you'll face. Will be interesting to see how it all progresses.

Fingers crossed for you - good luck!

Thanks! We did put a lot of effort into planning and research - but yes, there's always the "unknown unknowns", and we've had a few of those. Now…

A quick update on how the winter's gone: we're definitely not getting our money's worth out of the upstairs aircon! (although it'll be used a lot more in summer). We've…

Although there will be some thermal bridging from the nails, the timber studs themselves are a bigger thermal bridging concern (assuming that you're insulating between the studs - timber is…

It'll be tricky getting the Gyprock level and flush and staying that way, especially taking expansion/contraction into account - not impossible, but difficult. Traditional skirting boards can (and do)…

For what it's worth, I prefer the new plan - I think that it has a better flow between areas and makes better use of natural light into the main…

Engage both an independent building inspector and a solicitor BEFORE contract signing (get the building inspector sorted first, they're usually able to recommend appropriate solicitors).
The building inspector can do a…

Good to see another Canberra build!
I think you've done a good job of capturing the orientation with that plan, although I second ' concerns about those two west-facing windows .…

Looking a lot better, I think (although I do agree with 's suggestion about the ensuite.
Using the BIR in bed 4 as a noise shield to the PWC is a…

One error I can see in your calculations: you're taking 360mm off the height for the cut. That's not consistent with what's on the plan provided, which only has…

I was thinking Rumpus > PWC > Bath > Bed 4 > Bed 3, losing the mini-WIR in bed 4 in exchange for a built-in robe along the wall adjoining…

On the figures provided there, the net proceeds of borrowing (i,e. what goes towards paying for the house) is $296K. On top of that, there's an 'extra' $7.7K added…

We recently finished our own custom build in Canberra, which is performing well so far this winter (we've even had a couple of times where it's actually overheated and we've…

I think the new rumpus/bed 4 layout is better than the original - but on this plan I'd argue for swapping bed 4 and the wet areas, for noise and…

Lights are looking good, and glad that progress is still being made, albeit slowly.

Looks to me like the brickies and the window supplier might have had different ideas about either the correct head height, or the window height - the brickwork, including articulation…

Very interesting - why did you decide to go with pre-cast concrete?