Every Vision has a Mission.

When you craft a vision the mission is set and put into motion.

Our mission in 1992 was to build our house?so that it was able to be locked up and left. This all had to be completed in a 11 month window, as we had a ticket to San Francisco.

Now, you may be thinking — that’s a long time to build the house to lock up.

Here's a run down of the beginning of the Hand Made House

Month 1:

We began by clearing and prepping the land, before having a surveyor lay out the house. We had 23 hardwood poles which we had to dig holes for.?This did not sway my husband, however, who merely just said we would bring in an Auger machine.?Little did we realise North Arm Cove boasts home to some of the hardest granite rock in the entirety of Australia.?The Auger machine came and gave a short attempt at drilling the holes — it wasn’t long before we saw smoke emerge from the holes and the drill shot out of the hole!

Massive Floaters in the hard ground meant we had to dig the holes by hand with crow bars, shovels and sweat. It took us three laborious weeks to dig the holes needed for the poles.?

The deepest hole measured 1.8 metres and was for the central pole — this is an immense piece of wood, 16 metres tall. This main hole took 17 wheelbarrows of hand mixed cement alone.?Luckily it was a dry season, so our holes didn’t fill up with rain water. We filled them instead with the poles!?

The pole erection was the only time we had any machinery into help throughout the entire building process. We called in a machine commonly utilised to erect telegraph poles.?We pulled out our plumb bob, aligned and erected the poles.

During those three weeks, we poured over the plans for the house and drew up a cutting sheet. We then had to order all the beams and joists for the platform of the house.?

Month 2:

The platform of the house was the first thing we needed to erect in order to have a base to work from.?Standing at the base of the poles we could already see the next step — the creation of the scaffolding. Uli welded the scaffolding together and we then hoisted them up to make the initial platform.?

Picture it.?An octagon has 8 corners — so we went around each corner creating a mini platform in order to build the frame for the bigger platform.?Oregon beams and hardwood joists were soon delivered, with blocks and ropes we made up a block and tackle system in order to hoist each of the beams up.?Each beam was secured by 2 threaded rods, nuts and washers — painted to protect from the weather.?

Month 3:

With our 8 Oregon 400 x 100 mm beams securely in place, the exciting time of hoisting the hard wood joists had arrived. Our Block and Tackle technology worked like a dream. We securely tied the end of each joist, fitting the blocks to them and having the ropes run back to our trustworthy combi, with a smiley face on the front.?Uli would then direct the beam and I reversed our VW combi down the drive. It was a great combination of old technology and ourselves in order to get the job done.?

With the basis of the platform in place, we needed flooring to stand on. Never doing anything the easy way and being on a tight budget and time frame, we ordered tongue and groove flooring — which was not kiln dried. As per instructions from the timber mill, we laid the whole floor upside down. That’s right, upside down! It stayed that way for the next 36 months, so that it could dry before turning it over and laying it properly.?

Month 4:

It was time for the majestic laminated beams to come up off the ground! Arranging them on the platform, coating them with varnish and we were then ready to hoist.?These are some big 500 x 100 mm beams!?

Hoisting them up one by one, using our block and tackle system and our trusty VW combi —?we hoisted and secured them with threaded rod, washers and nuts. After having drilled holes through the beams and the poles, slowly, slowly the shape of the pole home was emerging.

Month 5:

When building, it is important to note that a roof over your head is an integral part of the construction. This keeps the weather out and adds to the sense of achievement — you can see the progress!?

With the beams in place, next came the roof joists — and this is perhaps one of most prominent challenges that an 8 sided natural pole home provides. The myriad of angles each had to be painstakingly measured out and worked out one by one (keep in mind that there are 8 sides, so by the end we really knew what we were doing!). There were times when Uli and I were each standing on the top a ladder, arguing about how to best measure the angle out. Sometime it was just time to get down off the ladder and have a cup of tea — this?always helped things get sorted out.?

Month 6:

Uli is German, but not in every sense of the word. He is indeed unusual — with his aversion to precise square spaces, brick and corrugated iron. This saw the roofing?material we sourced have to be unique, so we sourced special Hardy tiles.?

To begin the roofing process, we had to get the tiles up to the platform. Once we worked out the system of tiling, Uli would be on the roof and I would carry exactly 8 tiles up the ladder each time — this was the maximum I could take! At the end of each triangular section, the tile had to be measured for the angle which would then be lowered down to me on the platform, I’d cut it and Uli would hoist it back up. If we were lucky, the first cut worked, although sometimes it would take 2-3 measurements to get it right.?

Month 7:

Still working on the roof!?Pretty good view up there by the way?

Month 8:

Roof is nearing completion and how we have a tall tree house. The design is such that the walls are not structural so we could “fill in the blanks" once the roof was on. With our 11 month time line, things were heating up and we were on site 7 days a week. Shopping was once a fortnight, we were hard working hermits with a mission and vision in place.?

Month 9:

The Trading Post was our favourite newspaper of the week. Back in ’92, there was no mobile phones and no internet. We used to drive to Karuah, buy The Trading Post and furiously flick through the sections relevant to our needs. If there was an item there that could be what wanted, we'd get a coin and the pay phone would get us the answer. Then we'd debate as to whether the item sounded like what we were after as it was mostly in Sydney.

?While we were fast encroaching the end, we still needed doors and windows to fill the expansive gaps in the walls!?

Month 10:

We did it! The gaps were filled with as much glass and doors as we could possibly fit. Then came the immense 4 metre long pieces of hard wood cladding. Utilising hardwood results in every hole having to be drilled, then the 4 inch nail dipped in grease and hammered in by hand with a hammer. What a job.

Month 11:

Lock up! We were staring down the barrel of the gun. Our final departure date to the US was fast approaching. But, we had done it. The house was locked up.?We moved from the rental we had been living in for the last 11 months, hoisted it up into our house, threw the ladder down and drove off into the sunset.?Our trusty VW Combi carried us down to the airport & was off with a new owner, sold though the trading post and our mission was complete.

If we had not been possessed by The Mission to make that flight, would we have built our house to lock up with our own hands in 12 months??

We will never know, but, certainly having the mission got the house to lock up in remarkable time.