Chapter 03

Organising Things

On Thursday Irene isn’t surprised to have a visit from Marker’s wife and his mother with Hammer’s wife around ten o’clock. However, the other seven senior women of the tribe weren’t expected. They sit down for tea and biscuits while they chat about Irene’s circumstances. After half an hour Ma Hanson asks, “Irene, can you show us where you’re up to with the new houses, please?” Irene smiles as she nods yes.

They get up and go over to the new houses. While they walk Irene tells them where they’re at, “As you can see, the outer structure is done. We even have all of the solar panels on, thanks to Hammer and Marker. The pump-house is done and working, so is the waste system. I’ll talk about that in detail later, if you want. All of the waste is recycled and goes on the garden as fertiliser. It has to be watched closely because most of it’s biological processing. The toilets are done and work. The plasterboard is in. What’s left is the cornices, kick-boards, painting, interior doors, and fit-out of the rest of the wet areas.” She finishes speaking when they reach the main house and go into it after Irene unlocks the front door. She leads the ten ladies through the house then over to the smaller one. They note the status and all of the materials are there to finish everything except the wet areas. They return to the current house for the light picnic lunch the ladies brought, and to discuss the houses and work in detail.

While they eat Jedda asks, “Irene, how come the houses aren’t cold?”

She says, “Jim planned them well. The outer walls are two rows of large concrete blocks with foam insulation between. The concrete floors sit on some insulation that looks like bubble wrap on foil and the floors have in-slab heating elements with sensors. They’re controlled by zones and are hooked to a panel in the garage. They’ve been on for months. When we put the solar panels up Hammer finished hooking up all of the internal electrical work. We only turn on the circuit breakers for what we need to have powered. So the floors are kept warm by the solar panels. The roof has more of the bubble insulation under the roof panels and heavy duty insulation bats on the ceiling sheeting. More bats are in every wall. The windows are special jobs that are triple glazed and tinted. Tight fitting doors too. Thus the place is very well insulated, so the small amount of heating is all it needs to stay comfortably warm.”

“Damn, it sounds like it’ll survive a fire.”

“It will. Jim designed it to be as fireproof as can be made. Concrete walls seventy centimetres thick, steel roof and eaves, protected steel outer doors. Built in mesh on the gutters so leaves don’t get in, and well away from the forest. He had a Melbourne University guy put a mock up through a fire test facility. They’ll survive anything that doesn’t melt the steel. Even the electrical wires and water pipes are on the inside of the walls and not between the two outer layers, as is usual. All outside wires and pipes are a metre down, and they run through insulated steel pipes. The electricity is only at risk from the pole the sub-generator is on and back to the grid. He wasn’t taking any risks with fire here.” All of the visitors are surprised at the extreme lengths taken to make the place safe in a fire. “According to the guy in Melbourne, if a major fire-storm came through here the best place to be is in the house and not the dam. The house protects against the smoke because it’s air tight when locked up.” Ma Hanson has a huge grin. She’s lost too many relatives and friends to bush fires over the years, but she won’t lose any here.

Jemma speaks up, “Do you mind if we let the loggers know this is a safe harbour when there’s a fire?”

“That’s been the plan all along, but not until we had them finished.”

Ma Hanson helps Irene clean up after lunch while the other ladies change into work gear. The ladies head to the two houses to put the kick-boards and cornices in, some of them have done this before so they’ll show the others how to do it. Irene makes a few phone calls before she goes over to help while Ma Hanson stays to watch the phone. She’s a bit beyond this sort of work now, so she doesn’t try to do it.

When it’s time to go home from school Mack is surprised to find so many extras getting on the bus to go to his house. As this isn’t the bus they usually get they have to pay for the ride, but it’s cheap. The driver smiles when he drops nearly twenty kids at Sandy Knoll Farm. When they reach the house they all go in for a snack and then they spread out in the lounge room to work on their homework. Mack gets changed and he goes over to see what he can do to help. He’s soon chased back.

Mack is laughing hard when he walks back into the house, so all of the kids look at him. Jess asks, “What’s so funny?”

“I just went over to do the work listed as my current chores and I got chased off by your mothers. Wouldn’t you find it funny if the mother of a friend chased you away so she can get on with doing your chores for you?” All of the kids laugh too.

Ma Hanson calls out, “Mack, can you come and talk to me about the bathrooms and kitchens, please? Your mother said to talk to you.”

“Sure, just let me get some papers first, Missus Hanson.” A couple of minutes later he’s sitting at the dining table while he shows her the papers and sketches they have. “We’ve not ordered the shower units or baths yet, but we can order them at any time. Also, we want to have a kitchen designer go over the kitchen plans before committing to them.”

“Right, the phone’s there. Order the showers, baths, and sinks for the laundries etcetera. Then I’ll call a kitchen designer I know.” Mack knows an order when he hears it, so he does as told and he places the order. A moment after he hangs up he’s asked, “Mack, why no taps?”

“We have those already! They’re in boxes in the garages. We got them while they were on sale. Like we did with many of the other fittings.”

Mack only gets to work on his homework for about an hour before he’s called to the house, as he expected to be. They can’t work out the system for installing the pre-built interior door and lintel units. It only takes him twenty minutes to show them how to do it. It’s a very simple system and easy to use, once you know how it works.

Note: A sub-generator is a single-phase pole-mount transformer.

Friday

While Mack is at school the ladies visit the farm to finish getting it ready for painting. The ladies have a long lunch with the bathroom and kitchen designer while they discuss designs. The ones Jim did are very good and there’s little the professional can do to improve them, but that little is done. She leaves with an order for two kitchens and eight sink areas to be done real quick. A welcome order because business is slow.

Saturday

Hammer, Marker, and a few other men arrive early with some spray painting gear. Marker approaches Mack and says, “Right, Mate, I’m told you’ve got all of the paint for this job! Where is it?”

Mack smiles as he takes him to the garage for the main house and he opens it up. Along the back wall are several large piles of paint tins. He points at them as he says, “You start at the left. The first pile is a sealant that has to go on all of the woodwork and plasterboard, just go and paint all but the floor. The ladies have wrapped plastic around all of the fittings and covered the windows. Please clean up any spills on the floor. The next pile is the primer; again, paint the lot. Third pile is the light blue ceiling paint followed by the pile of aqua paint for the walls then the pile of dark blue for the kick-boards and wooden frames. The doors get the same paint as the walls. Two coats of everything. If you want to know what it looks like when finished look in the toilets as they’re all done.”

Marker turns around and catches the eyes of some men, they all nod to show they understand the decor. These are the ones who’ll do the painting while the rest are gophers (as in go for this and that). They all understand what’s to be done and the order to do it in.

Mack adds, “You need to wait two hours between coats for all of them. These are special fast drying paints. Have fun.” They smile. It’s OK for Mack to be sarcastic since he now doesn’t have to do the work.

The group breaks up with some men heading to their trucks to get their gear while others walk forward to grab cans of the sealant. Mack goes and unlocks all of the doors. In twenty minutes the only sounds in the new houses are those of five spray painting outfits at work.

Mack and Hammer spend the morning wandering around while they check all is going well. Marker is busy spraying paint. No one is allowed into the buildings without a breather mask due to the fumes. Men in old clothes and masks are going in and out to keep the paint supplies up to the painters. Those with the spray gear just spray and move to the next room, others prepare, clean up, and bring them more paint as needed.

About ten-thirty Mack is called out to check a load of gear on a truck that’s arrived. He’s surprised it’s already here. He didn’t expect this lot until late next week. It’s payment on receipt and next week is the end of the month and the financial year so they want the money in the books.

Mack checks the delivery docket, examines the load, and leads the driver to the house where he opens the Internet banking program on his computer and he processes a payment for the delivery of showers, baths, etc. After a short wait he has a receipt number. The driver is surprised the boy has the authority to make the payment, but he doesn’t care as long as he gets paid. A quick call to the office and he gets confirmation of the payment, along with the approval to unload the gear.

They go back to the truck and unload the items for each house at its garage. When they do this Mack smiles. He now knows why the work crew is so much bigger than he thought was needed. The extras have been busy making the forms for the access ramps to the garages and porches. These will be concrete made to look like flagstones similar to the porches and garages are. All of the forms are up, but only the ramps for the front porches and the triple garage have the reinforcing rods in them and are ready to pour concrete into them. Twenty minutes later a concrete truck drives in and sets up to pour the garage ramp first. Mack watches Hammer supervise the job, and he notes the concrete is tinted as if it’s new sandstone. He smiles at this nice touch to show this known work is new. The crew at work here are good. They soon have all of the concrete poured and being smoothed off. When the truck leaves Hammer is laying the matting for the block shapes. Ten minutes later he has Mack spreading the final covering because he’s the only one to have done this before. Many of the men watch and learn how to do it.

When they finish spraying the second coat of sealant the painters take a break for lunch. They have to stop and clean their gear so they have a feed as well. It takes them about an hour to make one pass with the sprayers so each coat is half dry by the time they finish one run. The work goes well. By dinnertime they’ve the sealant and primer coats on. That leaves only the final colour coats for later.

The delivered wet area gear is moved into the garages and locked up. After dinner with the Deans the men go home for the day.

Sunday

Both Mack and Irene are surprised when they’re followed home after church services. Yesterday’s work crew are following them. This is very unusual because Sunday is the family rest day in this area. Within minutes of arriving on site the men are getting ready for the next concrete delivery and masking some areas for painting while the ladies prepare lunch. By the time lunch is ready the garages are empty again and the men are ready to paint as soon as they finish eating.

Yesterday they worked in both houses at once with all using the same paint. Today they split between the houses again, but one crew uses the light blue ceiling paint while the other crew uses the aqua for the walls. By the time one group is finished in a house the paint is dry enough for it to be safe for the other group to enter and start painting. By the time both groups have been through both houses it’s time for the second coat to be done. Smart thinking by whoever thought it out.

About two o’clock a concrete truck arrives and the last of the concrete ramps are poured. When the painting is finished for the day the gear is cleaned and the stuff put back into the garages. Mack checks it’s locked up tight while the men pack some of the gear in their trucks as only two paint outfits are left here. Dinner is a nice roast, and Mack is at a total loss as to how they cooked so much roast in the one oven they have.

After everyone leaves Mack goes to where he had the men stacking the empty paint tins and he turns the hose on to clean them out. While he thoroughly cleans them he thinks on the oddities of life. Paint tins used to be made of thin steel sheets, now the big ones are made out of plastic and can be used for other things once properly cleaned out; but they’re still called paint tins until empty. The ten litre plastic buckets with lids are very good for many things, so Mack is cleaning them out for re-use. Until the painting is finished no one is allowed in the houses due to the fumes being a hazard, so there’s little that can be done at present.

Monday

Mack arrives home from school, bringing Jake, Jim, Jess, and Ian. After they’ve a snack he has them change into old clothes and go to the houses. Irene wonders what he’s up to but she lets him go, for now. He opens the garages and the front doors. They put on breathers and enter the houses, one after the other. A few minutes later they’re nodding yes as they walk out. They attack the shower and bath units to remove all of the travel packing and wrapping. Thus reducing the bulk a great deal.

The boys tip over one of the shower units and turn it to go through the doorway into the house from the garage. Two boys at each end while Jess directs traffic. A few minutes later they’re back out to lift up another shower unit. Irene decides to stay nearby while they do this as she’s not real happy with them being in the fume laden house. The paint fumes aren’t toxic but they can be overwhelming. It takes the teens about an hour to move the four showers and eight baths to their rooms. It could’ve been a lot harder except Mack ordered units with steel support frames already attached, so they only have to lift on the frames. The frames also makes them easy to place where they belong.

They close up the houses but don’t lock them. A little later Hammer and Marker join them for dinner. After dinner, while the other teens do their homework, Mack acts as gopher for the two men while they ready the woodwork for painting by masking what they don’t want painted after they remove the masking tape that had been applied on Sunday.

Tuesday

Mack’s teen work team comes home with him again. While they get ready to work he says, “Don’t worry, Mum, but we’ll be inside the houses for some time today. We’ll be putting the showers into place. The baths too, if we’ve time. We’ll mask them for the painting as we go.”

She says, “OK. I’ll come and check how you are every half hour.” He nods agreement while they leave the house. Irene puts on a breather and checks them like she said, but all seems to be going well. By the time the men arrive for dinner all four of the showers are attached to the walls via their frames, the drains glued into place, the taps and hoses installed, and the area around them sealed. One of the bath units is set up as well.

After dinner the two men start painting in the small house with Jim as their gopher while the teens work on the baths in the main house. When the men swap houses the teens do too. With just the two of them painting it takes two hours to get the painting done, so they can go back and start the second coat when the first is done. The teens swap houses to finish the baths in the main house. By the time the men finish the painting all of the baths are properly secured in place and are ready for use.

Knowing the teens are working on the bathrooms the men do them first. Even knowing this, the teens are careful not to touch the paint. There’s no need for them to go near the paint, except where it’ll soon be covered by the splash guards because they had the units in the rooms and in the right spots before the painting started, just not attached yet.

Later, after the rest leave, Mack gets out his master plan. He works out they’re almost a year and a half ahead of his original schedule.

Wednesday

Mack is up early, over an hour early. He goes to the houses and opens them up. He takes the masking off the windows and opens them wide. He goes through each house and he uses wood chocks to keep the doors open wide. The only doors he shuts are the security grills on the front and back doors, which he locks shut. About an hour after he gets up he’s back in the house on his way to the bathroom when his mother asks, “Did I hear you go out earlier?”

“Yes, Mum. I went over to remove the masking on the windows and chock the doors open. The security grills are locked with the doors open. The houses will cool down a bit, but by mid-morning they should be safe to enter without breathers. Especially if you open the garage doors to increase the air flow while you’re outside today.”

“Good. That means I no longer have to do that task. Some of the ladies will be out at lunchtime to help remove the rest of the masking.”

That afternoon Mack arrives home to find the ladies discussing the floor coverings. He gets the samples and prices he got of carpet for use in wet areas as this allows them to have the same carpet throughout the house. The ladies look at it and discuss it, then they discuss the colours that are available. While they do that he gets changed and goes over to the houses. He notices all the masking is gone and the rooms smell fresh.

About an hour later the ladies come looking for him. They find him in the last shower putting up the towel rack. He stands back to admire his work. All four showers are now sealed, fibreglass splash guards secured via their special clips, and towel racks installed on the walls. They only need the floor tiles to be laid and they’re finished.

He’d not heard them come in so he jumps when Jedda Hanson says, “He’s a good little worker, is this one. He just gets in and gets it done. He also does it well.” Mack turns and smiles while he picks up his tools.

Mack leaves the ladies to inspect the shower while he puts his tools in the bathroom, then he goes for the things he needs to finish in there.

Later, when the Deans finish their dinner they hear a car pull up in the yard. They go to see who it is because they’re not expecting anyone. Marker and Hammer get out of Marker’s ute. They’re getting tools out of it while Marker says, “I was looking forward to a nice night of television when my missus tells me about some little smart arse who can’t wait. So I’ve got to haul my arse out here tonight to do the shower tiling.” The Deans laugh because his huge smile belies the angry words.

Mack responds, “Well, I hope she doesn’t expect you back quick, as I plan to finish the bathrooms tonight so you can do them too.” Both men turn to stare at him for a moment before walking off while swearing hard. He shows them where the tiles, paste, and grout are.

True to his word Mack has the bathrooms ready for tiling in quick order. Like the showers, all he has to do is spray the foam around the units. Put the protection strips in place. Cut holes in splash guards for the taps etc. Drill mount holes for the fibreglass splash guards, insert plugs, apply sealant, and push the guards into the plugs. With the baths he does have to cut and secure a couple of battens for the splash guards to lock to. Attach the taps, and secure the drain covers in place. Install the towel racks. Not much, really. All of the hard work had been done earlier when his friends helped to place the units and secure them.

Both of the men are working on a room each because there isn’t space enough for the two of them in one room. They set out the tiles and glue the full tiles into place. They cut part tiles as needed and glue them into place. Last is to put grout between the tiles. They’ve special spacers to set the tiles the right distance apart. The grout and paste is premixed so it’s not a hard task, just tedious. The work goes fast. Because they’re in different rooms they don’t notice the extra use of the power saw being used to cut tiles until they meet in a hallway while it’s running. Hammer slowly shakes his head while they watch Mack cut five tiles and walk off in the other direction. It’s just on midnight when they pack up, but with a feeling of accomplishment. Both houses have their toilet, shower, bath, en suite, and laundry areas tiled. The kitchens aren’t done yet as the kitchen people will do them and the wash basin areas will have carpet.

While they pack up the truck Hammer asks, “Mack, what have you got planned for tomorrow? Just so I can see if I get a night off.”

Mack grins, “Unless I get caught out by the carpets or the kitchens arriving I plan to have tomorrow night off. I’m pushing things because I got the impression you’ve a pressing need to move in soon.”

Marker speaks up, “My lease is up at the end of next week and his is the week after. The owner is looking to double the rent. The previous owner was decent, but he died and his kids sold the houses. The new owner is looking to get us out. So being able to move here is a heaven sent blessing.” Irene and Mack nod their understanding.

When the men drive off Mack and Irene walk inside. He thinks about the houses. They need the carpets, the wash basins, the kitchens, the power turned on, plus move the phone and satellite cables to be ready to live in. The pump is powered up and supplying water, the sewerage system is functional - it just needs to be ramped up as people move in.

Thursday is a nice and easy day. The only activity is the visit by three assessors. They look over the houses, the dam, and the stands of trees. They’re surprised to find the small forest of exotics. One says, “I think I found the secret supplier of exotic woods to my brother-in-law.”

Irene nods, “Please keep that information very confidential. Also, I don’t want the information we’re selling to get out as it’s a private sale. Few will know because this is all freehold, not leasehold.”

“I’ll put their worth in the assessment but I won’t note them. If they vanish I’m dead. I’ll note the quote is confidential. I was very surprised to learn this was freehold. I think it’s the only forestry one in the shire.” It’s late in the afternoon before they finish and hand over the written valuation. Irene pays the bill and thanks them for their quick response.

Friday

When Mack leaves for school he’s surprised to see several trucks arrive at the farm. The kitchen people are here to do their work, and so are the carpet people. Mack is halfway to town before he realises neither he or his mother have ordered any carpets. He decides to let her worry about it, which is a wise decision by the young man.

Irene unlocks both houses and the work crews get started. Both the delivery teams are from Rivers while most of the workers are from the next town, Ryan’s Ridge, with city supervisors. Everything is offloaded into the garages with the carpets on one side and the kitchen gear on the other side. The stuff for basin areas is taken to where it’s going. Both crews work smart. The basin units are small work compared to the kitchens so they get right to work and install all of the basin areas before morning tea. Working on the main house first. Then a couple go to do the basins in the other house while the rest work on the kitchen in the main house. Once all the basin areas are done the crew in the other house starts work on the kitchen in there. Both kitchens are the same design. The carpet crews start on the main house at both ends and work toward the garage so they don’t have to walk all over done work. They know what they’re doing so it goes fast. The company is paying by the metre not the hour, so they want to get this job done and move to another job. The supervisor from the company is checking the quality, and it’s all good.

Mack arrives home from school just as the carpet crews are packing up the packaging in one of their trucks. They’ll dump it at the tip on their way back to their shop. He walks to the main house. Before he enters he wipes his boots on the bristle doormat that’s made a magical appearance at the front door. He gives it a close look to see it has the logo and details of the carpet supply company. He walks through the house. The carpet isn’t a pattern or colour he would have chosen, but it suits the rest of the house décor and is nice. The kitchen is finished, it also has a big stove and huge fridge. The back door sports a nice doormat as well. This house is ready to live in. He leaves and goes to the other house. Which is just like the main house, same doormats, carpet, and kitchen. The only difference is two men are cleaning up the kitchen while two other men are putting door handles on cupboards. They look like they’ll be finished in a few minutes. Mack can’t believe they got it all done in the one day. At school he often hears stories about other families having their lives disrupted for many days while carpet is laid, and a week or more for a kitchen. He goes home to ask his mother about it.

Irene grins, “They’re quicker than I expected, but a job like this is a lot easier and quicker to do than most they get. In this case they didn’t have to pull up old carpet and underlay or rip out an old kitchen. They just had to put the new stuff into an empty place. Oh, the supervisor of the kitchen people said to thank you for the great idea that made their job very simple. Having the water pipes for the sinks and the dish washers end with in-line cut-off taps meant they didn’t need to mess with the mains while they worked on the gear. And those flexible hoses you had on them were more than long enough, also making the job a lot easier. They usually have to fight to make the copper pipes fit. He’s going to recommend that sort of finish to all of the local builders.”

“I can’t believe it, Mum. A week and a half ago we had what looked like another eighteen months of work to do, and now it’s all done.”

“I know what you mean. But two weeks ago we had to do it all and thought we had a lot of time. This is how things go when you get a lot of people involved and you offer quick finish bonuses. That carpet isn’t one I’d select, but it’s not bad. What made you choose it?”

“I didn’t. I suspect one of the Missus Hansons did.”

“They probably did. I’ve paid today’s bills, making the owners of both companies happy. I’ll add the cost to the valuation. Now all we need to do is sit down with Marker to talk money and payment schedules.”

“Not quite, Mum. You need a new will, to contact Helen Thomas to ask her if she’ll take me and to have her local Child Welfare do a family check. Plus, we have to move house. What do we do with this one?”

“Marker knows someone who’ll take it. They’ll simply lift it off the blocks.” They’re interrupted by a phone call. Irene answers it and listens. Laughing, she waves at Mack and they go to the new houses. The last of the workmen are loading tools into the last truck from the kitchen mob. Workers and trucks leave as soon as they complete their work. All of the packing and packaging goes with them.

They enter the smaller house and go to the kitchen. The supervisor is there checking if the stove and fridge work - they do. Irene talks with him while Mack opens and closes cupboards. He checks the taps work and he goes through the house checking all of the other taps. While doing that he notices one task done he thought still had to be done. So he goes to check everything in the other house as well. It’s the same there. He goes back to where his mother and the kitchen man are. He waits for the man to finish saying, “The stoves are ready and right to use now, but I’d suggest giving the fridges and freezers twelve to eighteen hours to cool down now they’re turned on.” Irene nods her agreement.

“Excuse me, Mum,” Mack says. “When did Hammer come out and put the electrical fittings back in place?”

The kitchen man says, “Our electrician had to wait for his lift to the shop. So he went around and did all of that while he was waiting. He can’t stand to be doing nothing. As it was, he was still finished and waiting before the guys with the truck were ready to go.”

“Thank you, Sir,” Mack replies. “Please thank him for us.”

Irene smiles as she reaches into her pocket. Pulling out her purse she gets out a fifty dollar note and hands it over, “Please give him this for me. It saves us a lot of time and trouble.”

The man is embarrassed as he takes the money and promises to give it to him. “Thank you. Ivan, my son, will really appreciate this bonus.”