DEMOLISH THAT HOUSE!
Last week I took some time out to interview Ohnmar Ruault, another one of the BuildHer8 Team for the Rathmines Blog for BuildHer Collective. You can read the original blog here.
Ohnmar Ruault (@dream.plan.build) is responsible for All Things On Site on the team and she has been doing a fantastic job of getting us to smoothly… which is that the old house at Rathmines St has been finally been demolish!!!
Ohnmar kindly shared some of her learnings (and I’m sure there will be plenty more later too) and key steps starting up a new site!
I just love Ohnmar’s story because she is a a busy mother of 2 with a challenging government role, yet she has taken time to invest in herself and to find her true passion. I think that is inspirational for women everywhere!
Melway Demolition crew cracking on with the job!
KEY STEPS
I know that Ohnmar is an incredibly process driven person, so I wanted to find out from Ohnmar what her summary of the key steps were leading up to demolition.
She reckons first and foremost - understand the site, what is currently on there and what needs to be done to prepare the site for construction.
Here’s her take:
1. Understand & determine the scope of works.
2. Tender the job & engage a demolition contractor.
3. Once property was vacant, secure the site & organise the site office and amenities.
4. Abolish all services to the site & cap the water service.
5. Then we are ready to demo!
With @MelwayBinHireAndDemolition having been, smashed through and just completed their job today, the site is looking FRESH and ready to go! There’s certainly quite a buzz in the BuildHer8 group chat!!
EASY PEASY LEMON SQUEEZY
As we know things don’t always go to plan, and this project is already proving to be no different. O shared with me some of the causes for pivot already.
COVID-19 is certainly an obvious one! This delayed our our demo date by about a month. But instead we used that time to get ahead with our planning and design.
Another pivot we’ve done is re-designing the garden and alfresco in the South House. Originally we had a pool designed for each house, but we recently discovered that the South house pool design was directly above some council assets.
It was through discussions with our agent, Sam Rigopoulos from Jellis Craig Inner North, that we realised… actually, pools are not for everyone!
We are really putting this ‘complementary but different’ concept to the test!! This is what makes this project so much fun!
So now South House will have the lushest landscaping and amazing alfresco area, and North House will have a gorgeous swimming pool. YAY!
Render of North House with pool by Ben Callery Architect
ABOUT OHNMAR RUAULT
Ohnmar is passionate about property and encouraging other women to give it a go.
Hooked on property from the age of 25, Ohnmar had been wanting to transition from buy-and-hold to property development for some time. It was perhaps turning 40, or perhaps simply that she knew in her heart it was finally time to invest in herself, that she signed up and completed her Cert IV in Building and Construction.
Being only 1 of 4 women in the Cert IV course, Ohnmar craved to find other women out there who were passionate about property development. She was stoked to find the BuildHer Collective. Her first development site – the Rose St Project – is now underway.
Today, she is also working on Rathmines Project with the BuildHer8 as the Trade Coordinator and Site Assistant (Ohnmar is definitely helping us get set up for success with this project), all whilst working a part-time government role and running a household. It is frantic and chaotic at the best of times but to her, her projects never feels like work!
Follow her on insta to see Ohnmar’s projects and inspirations.
