Welcome back to the site! We're now four or five days into demolition, and things are moving.
Most of what you see here was done last Friday. Right now the operator is using the grabber to pull out materials like metal, which you can see piled to the side. Sorting as we go shows us what we're dealing with and keeps the site organised.
A Delicate Demolition Process
You might notice the operator, Darren, is taking it slow. There's a good reason: we don't want to peel off roof sheeting or guttering and send debris flying toward the neighbours.
It's all about control. We're lucky with the weather today, overcast with a bit of rain, which is perfect for keeping dust down. That keeps the neighbours happy and is a key part of our dust and noise management plan.
Over by the pile, the team is sorting the structural steel coming out of the house: steel posts (columns) that carried loads down to the footings, and horizontal steel beams called universal beams that supported the main roof. It's a big puzzle we're taking apart piece by piece.
The Verge, the Crossover and the Kerb
A few site terms you may have come across. The strip of grass between the property boundary and the road is the verge, which is council land. The vehicle crossover is the section of driveway that crosses the verge to the road, and it meets the road at the kerb and channel (the concrete edge and gutter), where there's also a stormwater pit.
Because the crossover sits on council land, you need a permit to build or change one. On the Gold Coast that's a VXO (vehicle crossover) permit.
A short note on driveway details: many Queensland councils use the IPWEA (Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia) standard drawings, in particular RSD100 and RSD101 (see below). Check your own council's standards before you pour, as some (like the Gold Coast) publish their own.
We haven't installed the formal erosion and sediment controls yet, because the demolition would knock them over. For now, the grass verge is helping trap sediment, and we're sweeping any loose material on the driveway back onto the site.
Setting Up The Site: Site Facilities
Our focus this morning is setting up proper facilities for the crew. Here's the plan:
- Dig out this road base and use it to extend and level a platform next to the shipping container. This will become the main site hub.
Why? Two key reasons:
- The Toilet: The sewer main and manhole are right here. We'll move the portable toilet onto the new platform and have our licensed plumber connect it to the sewer and tee into the water line, making it a proper flushing toilet.
- Water for the Team: Workers must have access to clean drinking water by law, but we're going a step further with a chilled bubbler (drinking fountain) on the platform, connected by the plumber and electrician. In the Queensland heat, it's the right thing to do, and hydrated trades are more productive.
We're also adding another awning off the side of the container for shade. Containers turn into ovens in the sun, so the team needs a cool spot for breaks.
Securing the Site with Smart Tech
I've just finalised orders for the site security system. Instead of renting cameras (which can cost around $130 per camera, per week), we're installing our own, more permanent setup.
We'll have four cameras: a pole at the front with cameras covering the driveway, delivery area and front work zone, and another set covering the rear of the property.
Modern site cameras have built-in AI detection. The system runs off a 4G router with an antenna on the container. A network switch powers the cameras over the network cable (Power over Ethernet, or PoE), and footage records to a network video recorder (NVR) with a 10-terabyte drive.
The best part? We can use the UniFi Protect app to view the cameras live on our phones and get alerts for any movement on site, which gives us and the client real peace of mind.
So while the house comes down, we're firmly in the site setup phase, laying the groundwork for the whole project.
More progress updates to come.
