19 May 2026 - Pouring... but not yet concrete 

It's raining again... As forecast, so no big surprise. Instead of starting to pour the concrete, the building site needs to be covered up yet again. Oh well, nature simply has its way.

Very conscientious. Better safe than sorry. And there really is no rush.

18 May 2026 - Busy with the box work 

Everything is back to normal again after the big rains. Jaco and his team are busy with the box work for the concrete to set in. Tomorrow they will do all the preparations to start with the foundation work. It is starting to look like a real construction site.

Surveying.... Part of the bits and pieces to begin construction.

11 May 2026 - Even more stormy weather and rain

The wind is picking up again. Roads have been closed due to falling trees. The soil is just too wet and it is only a matter of time before even more damage is happening.

Safety first! Jaco pulled everybody off site for today and tomorrow and will assess on Wednesday.

8 May 2026 - Lots of rain and damage

And there is more torrential rain forecast for early next week. Possibly a delay of one week for the constructions works on my site; no-one's fault though. Gondwana can certainly do with such beneficial rain after the long dry stretch. But such intense downpours can unfortunately and rather easily create quite some problems. 

Luckily, the access road to my site does not cross this bridge. An even bigger stroke of luck that construction at my site has not yet started. Keeping fingers crossed that such an engineering "quality" is not sympomatic or foreboding of what is yet to come there.

6 May 2026 - Level 8 severe weather warning for the Garden Route

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday heavy disruptive rains are being expected.

The site needed to be covered to protect the results of the survey. No work is going to take place in the next couple of days. 

30 April 2026 - Surveying taking place

The heavy equipment is gone, and the maths takes over.

Staking out the key building corners, determining the elevation of the foundations, and the position and elevation of other structural elements. Key lines and elevations are being transferred from the building plan onto the site and properly marked.

24 April 2026 - Levelling complete

Ten days after the site handover meeting, the site looks quite different now.

A first glimpse of how large the house is going to be.

22 April 2026 - Levelling in progress

Almost there...

This begins to look like a building site.

20 April 2026 - Lots of earth being moved

Ground work well under way.

Heavy equipment at work.

17 April 2026 - New signage

We really do not want anybody and their heavy equipment getting lost on the way to the construction site, do we?

Now that some serious work is going on. 

14 April 2026 - Site handover meeting

Three months after the launch date, the first major milestone has been reached. The architect and the builder together with the quantiy surveyor held the first of many meetings to come during the construction phase.

Men at work.

13 April 2026 - Site office set up

Jaco set up shop at the Red Rocks 19 construction site.

Everything is ready to go.

20 March 2026 - Things are starting to get serious

The first payment certificate and thus the first invoice was submitted.

Now we are waiting for the soil report for the final documents to be submitted to the NHBRC.

Then, finally, Jaco and his team can start breaking ground.

16 March 2026 - Hoarding complete

The site fence is up, the office container and the storeroom are in place, and the loo is there as well. Tomorrow, the holes for the soil testing will be dug . Hopefully no surprises.

The branches are about to be cleared. Once the site has been handed over, the trees will also be taken out. Jaco is planning to keep some of the wood for my future fireplace.

12 March 2026 - Work on the fence continues

It may not look like much. Properly setting up the fence does take time, though; especially in this weather. Today saw 41°C on the thermometer, but it felt like 46°C, while the Sahara is draped in snow with record low temperatures. A sympathetic guest staying at a neighbouring house came over with a bottle of soda and glasses for the guys working on site. What a wonderful gesture!

Still difficult for me to imagine that there will be house in some months' time.

11 March 2026 - Site almost cleared and fence going up

What a difference to eight weeks ago. The access road to the site has been cleared. Apart from a few patches that still need trimming, the overgrowth has largely been cut. Now the fence is being erected.

And all of this during one of the hottest days of the year so far; 38°C tops.

4 February 2026 - Waiting

If there is one constant in the universe, apart from such fundamental ones as the speed of light or gravitation, it's bureaucracy. Forms to be filed, invoices to be paid, permits to be issued. Another couple of weeks or so.

Even the cat is bored.

30 January 2026 - Busy with the programme

Jaco being busy with the plans for my house and will have a brainstorming session with his foreman soon.

Lots of things still to plan, consider, discuss and decide. First things first, though, JBCC PBA Principal Building Agreement to be signed in the next couple of days and then submitted to the NHBRC.

16 January 2026 - What a Mess!

That's what happens when nature runs its course for years. 1 ha of wild overgrowth - grasses, shrubs, trees - and the access road to the building site barely visible. No big surprise, despite the current drought. A lot of clearing will be necessary before this wilderness becomes a blossoming Fynbos garden befitting a private safari lodge.

Thanks, Jaco, for stopping by at the site. Now we all know what to expect and to contend with upon groundbreaking.

14 January 2026 - Launch Date

Finally. After eight years of saving and two years of planning, construction of my future home is about to begin. Quite an adventure ahead. Now it is up to FC Holm Architects and Jaco / PSI Builders to bring the design to life.