July 2nd, 2026To build, or not to build, that was my query

Well, good news, the slab is down and the walls are up. Nah, only joking, still nothing happening on our block.

However there has been a positive update. The permit has finally been signed off by Hepburn Shire Council, which is great, and also by the builders – Sherridon Homes.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the forum, I mean permit sign-off.
Kyle only told me a few days later that he had opened an email, late at night, from Sherridon telling us they could sign off on the building but they needed another $7800. Kyle thought it was for a few different things but it ended up being just for a rubble pit. (They didn’t send it late at night, it was just when it was opened.)
And Kyle decided the best thing to do was just sign it and send it back – we really are hoping to get some action on the block soon.
I found out about it the following day and was a little surprised that to supply and install a 2.0m x 1.0m x 0.8m rubble pit in case our tank overflows one day, would cost $7800.
Now I have no doubt it is needed for the engineers to sign off on – even though most homes around us seem to have pipes that just direct their overflow rainwater out to the street – where the council has spent some time digging channels for that very purpose.
But perhaps it has not worked as well as they hoped so we need a rubble pit for the water to churn around for a while, maybe drain off more gently, and then disappear down the gutter.
It seems like a lot of money to dig a hole, put down some PVC lining and then fill with some rocks. Or rubble.
I popped a query on Facebook and most people seemed to think between $1000 to $3000 would be the right price. Thank you to the builders and plumbers who gave us that advice.
Anyway, we decided to ask Sherridon if we could employ our own plumber – to save money – but they came back with a “no”. It had to be done by their people at their price.
So we wrote back again with a Not Happy Jan email and this time to the general manager. And then we got a call from a very nice bloke called Craig, who is one of the Sherridon management team, who said the amount was, in fact, wrong.
It was excessive and he was sorry that had happened. Apparently it was taken from a quote for another similar property, or something like that. So, just a mistake. And it turned out our rubble pit would be just $2500 – but they would still prefer to have their people do it.
So we said “yes” and we are back on each other’s Christmas card lists. But it does stand as a word of warning that if you are building, it is worth querying figures if they seem a bit high.
It reminded me of when we first got permission to subdivide and the council said we had to include a rain garden (which pretty much does the same job as a rubble pit) for the overflow of our tank on the existing property. Garden pictured above. Actually, we had a choice, a rain garden or we could donate $5000 to the council.
We didn’t have $5000 to donate, and if we did I would rather give it to a real charity, so we asked a gardener to make us a rain garden – and it came in at just over $500. Winning.
Now, with the cost of the rubble pit sorted, we can get on with the slab, some walls, the kind of stuff you can actually see – so far we have just paid out money for things like permits – not really exciting.
So, at the end of June, our mortgage on the new property is still being paid each month and there is still nothing on the block.
I hope that July is more productive. Watch this space.
Words: Donna Kelly