Well, Day 1 went pretty good. Not too many hassles.  The shed had been emptied out of all contents (and they now all sitting in a friend’s garage feeling very lonely). Whatever didn’t fit there either got thrown out or put in a corner, hopefully out of the way of the contractors.

The Men in White arrived bright and early. And by lunch time, the shed was GONE ! Good to see that they wore protective gear … One cant be too careful these days with asbestos. I know of one case where the asbestos removal went very wrong and the contractor ended up having to pay over $40,000 to fix the asbestos contamination! Yep! You read that right … over $40,000! So its best to get it right first time.

Its all about managing the property project. Take a deep breath and jump in -  just one step at a time and making sure each is done properly. (Actually, its never as scary as it looks … Honest!)

So Day 1 and we say Goodbye Shed … One could get sentimental about it (or not) – but its got asbestos walls and roof – not exactly the ideal material to have around the house. BTW the graffiti was painted by my daughter and her friends. They were let loose on the shed since it was being demolised.

I’ve done just that … My house currently sits on 845 sqm of land and I HATE gardening with a passion. What better way to kill 2 birds with one stone. So I set about getting approval to sub-divide the land. That was the easy part – getting the paperwork was relatively painless (well, it is if you know what you’re doing).

Now for the REAL fun.

Rather than opt for the traditional double brick home, I’ve decided to go for the new alternative building material – Energy Lite panels to be precise. I’m told it will be a much quicker build time than with brick and with much higher energy rating.

Journey with me on my trials and tribulations with the building – and read all about the frustrations (I’ve been told that building a house is grounds for divorce!), the costs (I expect my pocket is going to suffer from this!) and hopefully the celebrations when I get to move into a brand new home.

Did you know … That from 9 August 2009, sellers of Australian residential properties MUST have 2 residual currency devices (RCDs) installed in the property? These safety devices must be in place by the settlement date. The same law applies to owners of newly leased rental properties. And if you’re lucky enough to have an existing tenant, you have till 9 August 2011 to comply. The only exemption is if you are planning to demolish the property – but you must specify the demolition date and it cannot be more than 6 months from the date of transfer.  There can also be an exemption if an inspector agrees that a switchboard is not suitable for 2 RCDs … but you will still have to fit at least 1 RCD.

There are other “minor” additional requirements … We recommend that you contact your relevant property managers or real estate agents for more information before August 2009.