Demolition Angst

Hmmmm...the high of bargaining my demolition down has worn off when you realise how much you have to organise. I understand now why builders charge a flat $20K to do a demolition when they probably get it for $12K. There's so much running around they probably only end up coming out even if they took into account their time.

For the demolition itself you need to have demolition approval. It's not really something you can do yourself, so I've engaged an external building certifying company that can do the certification and the approval. I don't really know how that works (self-certification??), but they were recommended by my Town Planner and I did compare pricing and they were competitive.

But then you also have to organise sewer disconnection and power disconnection. With the power I thought it was just about ringing Origin and disconnecting the power, but you have to arrange for the line to be physically moved to a temporary builder's pole. Of course it's never that simple, one company does the builder's pole (installation, rent and removal costs) and Energex has to do the physical line removal. AND, if you're on a slightly busier road like I am, they need traffic control so it takes EVEN longer to organise!! Argh. More delays.

The thing I found the WEIRDEST was that companies that do temporary power poles seem to also do temporary toilet hire. Bizarre. I didn't really want a "Hire a Dunny" sign on my property for the next 6 months. So I've chosen a company with a more discreet name. It's $80 more expensive over the 6 months, but I'm not worries. Note for companies - name does matter!

The sewer disconnection I'm still struggling with. The plumber told me I had to put forms in, so I went to Council and they told me the plumber had to put the forms in. I still have yet to get to the bottom of it.