It was going to be an awesome day today! We were so excited that tender signing day was here!

We received a confirmation email from our tender presenter about a couple of days after our tender presentation to advise of our appointment and that it would take about 1.5 hours. During the appointment we will go through the tender, new plans, and any other questions that we had.

It was pretty straight forward. We still did make some changes at the appointment (based on our new house plans), and our tender presenter also picked up a couple of errors that we didn't pick up which was awesome!

Once all was ok and we had finished going through the tender, we had to sign our life away and also initial every single page. That is correct, every.single.page! It wasn't that bad as I ended up making a game out of it with my husband to see who could sign all the pages first. He won...! haha

Once that was done, we gave our 5% deposit. It was awesome that you could pay by credit card (really helped with my points), and you didn't get charged a surcharge either!

We also got introduced to our CSA in person which was a nice touch. Was good to meet the person/voice behind the emails/calls.

And that was it! We were given a Home Options Gallery pack which basically had brochures to try and upsell you some stuff. If I can, I'll try and post up some of the brochures for you.

Our tender presenter recommended to head to PGH bricks to have a look at the brick selection before our appointment which was a good idea. So that will be our first stop!

The day after our tender presentation, we received a confirmation email from our tender presenter of our appointment for our contract signing.

They recommend that you read the sample HIA contract in between.

I knew from other posts on the homeone forum is that you pretty much don't receive your building contract about 48 hours before your tender presentation, and you know what, that was pretty much right on point. We didn't receive our contract until the Wednesday avo before our signing.

I guess the main points to look for in your building contract are that they didn't miss anything from your tender presentation, and that all the dollar values (+/-) are the correct prices as per your presentation.

I went through the pricing like a fine tooth comb, and made sure that all our upgrades were as discussed, I then looked at our house plans (and they looked amazing), to make sure that they added all the additions. Things to check on your house plans are:

• Where your hose outlets are (if that's where you requested them);
• Same with your gas outlets;
• The placement of the rainwater tank;
• The placement of your airconditioner; and
• That your window sizes are all the same as per previous plans or upgrades

When all is ok and you're happy with your upgrades and pricing etc, you will have to give $2500 to have the new plans and building contract drawn.

It does sound a lot to just draw plans as some people don't even continue once they have the plans drawn! We decided to pay the $2500 as we knew that there was no turning back for us!

At the same time, they give you a 5% amount that you are required to pay at the contract signing (which will then be another 2 weeks from your tender presentation). This 5% equates to the total 5% including your upgrades (just for the building contract). They are pretty flexible with payment. You can pay your deposit either via bank transfer, cheque or credit card.

The 5% is also minus the $1000 you paid at the sales centre and the $2500 you paid at the tender presentation.

Once you have paid the $2500 you can decide if you want to book your contract signing appointment there and then. We decided to do it then as we got first dibs before our tender presenter's calendar filled up. We managed to get 2.30pm on a Friday afternoon, which was perfect for us!

It was another productive afternoon!