By the middle of Day 47 (Friday, 9 May), the lower floor of the main house has a surface and the team is moving rapidly to finish the art studio subfloor work and achieve the same there too. Two different materials are used to sheet the lower main floor: thick grey fibre cement sheet for the entire bathroom and ‘green tongue’, which isn’t itself green, for the rest:

The recessed square of fibre cement sheet (bottom) is where the shower stall will be fitted. Doing this now allows for the shower stall to be nearly level with the finished tiled floor.

A quick look underneath again, this time at the studio, shows a very tidy job indeed, and all done from above, saving time and money by not having to work from below on additional rented scaffolding.

Rapid progress is made in the new week, from Days 48–52 (12–16 May), thanks to excellent weather, little wind and the efficiencies of finally being able to  work from a stable, flat – and sizeable – area for the first time.

And then there’s a bit of materiality too, which contributes to the result by week’s end.

Ian, our builder, has decided to use LVL timber for the wall frames too. It comes in on price midway between the two traditional wall framing materials: standard plantation pine and plantation hardwood. The team of Damien, Jib and Nathan have never used LVL for this purpose before but they say they’re loving it for its light weight, super strength and almost complete lack of warping and twisting so common in traditional materials. The only downside? extra splinters that end up in fingers and hands compared to what typically happens with pine.

Let the frames begin! Your photographer’s midday visit on Day 51 (15 May) reveals: progress!

With a couple of more hours left on Day 51 and the morning of Day 52 (Friday, 16 May) before your photographer comes back for another look, how much more can be accomplished?

Midday on Day 52 (Friday, 16 May). There is more to do, but the lower floor plan of the main house is now a part of the materiality of this house-to-be. The transformation in only a few days is remarkable and, once again, a testimony to the skill and professionalism of the entire team and a vindication of their use of modern materials and methods.

At the same time, progress on framing the walls of the art studio has just stalled minutes before midday.

After erecting the rear wall frame, it’s become clear that a major tree branch, of the Eucalyptus viminalis, that would hopefully have been well above the roof is in the way. How much? It’s too low by just a few inches. The options?

• cut off all or part of the limb
• depart from the design dimensions by lowering the sloping roof as a whole to maintain its pitch or, lastly,
• drop the height of the roof just where the branch is and thus change the angle of the roof.

Because retaining the trees is such a big part of the project, the answer isn’t automatic.

A tree expert, known as an arborist, needs to be consulted. Will taking all or part of such a major limb off damage the overall health of the tree? How much of a gap between the roof and the underside of this major branch is needed to prevent the swaying branch from hitting the roof in high winds? Jib gets on the phone and rings an arborist he has known for years. Andy Angliss says he’ll come past first thing Saturday.

Meanwhile, architects Uta and David Green are also called and soon ring back with some design options. Their preference if the limb stays? Lower the roof under the tree branch by 300 mm (12 in.) and thus change the pitch from 12 degrees to 9.3 degrees.

So we wait. And work resumes, but not on the art studio wall framing.

After hearing Andy’s expert opinion on Saturday morning, something will have to give: gum tree branch or roof height.

The decision – to be announced in our next post – will mean one way or another, photos taken from this spot will never be the same again.