My answer would be a resounding "Yes your spending a lot of money and putting in a big emotional investment into this project!". It's never a bad idea to have an independent inspector at key stages as once your home is built a lot of things can be hidden/covered up and you only find out when it all goes pear-shaped. Inspections are usually carried out at the following points:Footing inspectionSlab inspectionFraming inspectionLockup stage inspectionWaterproofing inspectionFinal inspectionPre-handover / practical completion stage inspectionFixing stage inspection But before any of this happens, save yourself potential grief and go over with a fine tooth comb the council approved plans vs the builders specs and budget - make sure that there's no oversights - raise any issues or queries early and get things sorted out before anything starts on site. Good luck with building your new home.

I have to chime in and say the Gardening with Angus site has been invaluable in my research on natives. Lots of natives you can buy in tube stock. Google suppliers. They say that in two years or less the tube stock has caught up with the nursery size plants. And they are way cheaper. Def use Pintrest, Instagram and Houzz for inspiration. My two cents worth is to do mass plantings of the same plant. Use very wide garden beds as you have space. And go for Height at the back, mixed in the middle and spilling at the front. I'd also stick to only a couple of colours in the flowers.

Hi there - a few things stand out to me... yes keep bedroom sizes no less than 3000mm wide, offset the door to the laundry so you can't see the toilet from the front door - yuk! Minimise/simplify number of piers by turning front porch 90º. Keep the footprint as simple as possible. With oklouise's plan, which i think makes more sense, cut 300mm into each of the bedrooms and push out towards the left into the deck. Much better use of space. If west is to the left put a whole wall of cupboards along in bed 1 and get rid of the others, and add door out to deck on the (new) north wall. Do you really need a bath? Living in country they are wasteful of water even if it goes back onto your land. Alternatively have a combined shower/bath? Babies and toddlers wash quite well in the laundry tub then learn to shower with you or on their own quite happily. I'd make the shower a big bigger (and the cupboard on the hall side) and get rid of the bath. Make sure you have excellent insulation in walls, ceiling and under floor. Consider hebel panels as flooring (also, the reinforced ones span great distances) and walls for both fire safety and insulation value. If possible look for ramp potential in case of disability and also for getting furniture into house. If you're in a fire zone make sure all windows and doors comply with your zone rating. And if you are building high up on piers make the external cladding is something that never needs painting and is minimal maintenance.

It’s a small price to pay for piece of mind. And if the builders are honest and doing their job right they shouldn’t have a problem with it.