Xmas shutdown pretty much goes to the end of January, and we had some delays sorting out lapsed permits, some variations to the house and another typically Byzantine decision by council which chewed up February. Finally, in March we were ready for the site scrape. Sounds like a painful dental procedure. Not sure about other volume builders but PD assigns a site supervisor (SS) for the base stage (which includes site scrape & slab), and then another one takes over for the build. Anyway, site scrape day had arrived, and sure enough they were there as scheduled despite the rain. Promising. Completely irrelevant but love the neighbour’s Illawarra Flame Tree. Nothing like the exuberant chatter of Rainbow Lorikeets to make you forget you live 30mins from the CBD.
05/03/20 Another digger on site … these things are like the Prius in Get Shorty!
Site scrape has significance in the sense that it represents the commencement of the build, and starts the clock. However, to continue the sporting parlance, it needs to be noted that the clock also stops for unforeseen events … as we were about to find out. And you can guess the reason … yup, the f****g tree again! (like the song named after the aforementioned Flame Tree, “we share some history, this tree and I”). Normally the roots tend to be very thin by the time they extend beyond the ‘drip line’ (i.e. the vertical line down from the outer edge of the canopy). Problem is that our tree there were as thick as Tom Hawkins’ legs even 3 meters past the drip line into what would become the slab. Knowing there was a Tree Protection Plan (TPP), the excavator driver sensed the potential issue, stopped and called the SS, who in turn called me.
Thought it was going to be another episode where I would be bounced around like a billiard ball to find a solution like the last 1 ½ years. However, the SS did what I had been missing all this time – took ownership of the problem. Set up a meeting on-site with lead tradies for all services (folks doing earth works, concreters, plumbers, electrician) and importantly, the arborist consultant. As a complete noob to this industry it was fascinating for me to see how industrialised the volume building process was, and how a tree-shaped spanner interferes with the homogeneity that the building machine depends on. The tree’s location meant that the house would sit within the TPZ (Tree Protection Zone) which means care needed to be taken, even for roots that were going to be cut, because it affected the health of the tree. Additionally, the works required for the provisioning of services (e.g. water supply, storm water, electricity etc) meant that we were getting closer to the SRZ (Structural Root Zone), i.e. affected the structure of the tree so it wouldn’t fall over.
Anyway, with everyone there it took just an hour to come up with a solution. An expensive solution, but a solution nonetheless.
20/03/20 First, clean cuts needed where the works would happen …. You can see the extent & size of the roots which is ~ 3m past the dripline.
25/03/20 This allowed the earth folks to finish the scrape …..
08/04/20 Next part of the solution could begin … service provision trenching … in a big L-shape using a hydrajet (to avoid damaging remaining tree root structure) ….
09/04/20 With that little hiccup out of the way, the team continue with their normal processes. Provisioning in the slab area … from memory pink = waste water, and blue = storm water
Below is the set up for our charged storm water system (due to the flatness of our block & lack of natural fall to the kerb)
Provisioning completed and ready for the next stage …
