Final Inspection......

Well we had our final inspection yesterday 20/11/08 and all went well, although I think our SS needed some more little sticky thingys...lol...... We ran out of the first pack he bought in.... But we were as picky as all hell though.... But it is our house and I don't want to do any extra stuff.... that should have already been done... I will have enough to do in the coming weeks ahead....

We still have turf, garden, concrete... 150 sq metres of the stuff... Oh My Gawd.....

Everything that was picked up was pretty minor, considering some of the horror stories I have heard about builders.... Mostly painting issues, some missing, scratches from carpet being laid, excess grout in some places and some tiles in the entrance... but otherwise all went pretty good I thought.....

We have been given our settlement date, but I will keep that to ourselves and let you all know once we are in.... I will get some more pics over the next few days as the fix ups are happening....

Getting Closer Now......

Well I thought I would actually take the camera up with me today after the cleaners had been in yesterday and noticed that while it was getting a clean inside we had a, "pretty general", site clean around the block too.... Pics enclosed....

Sorry to John And Andy though, I know how much you love our laundry... lol.. But I don't have one taken in there since the clean... I will make it my mission to get one for you guys....lol...

HTB - We are expecting hand over in the next week or so..... as we are scheduled to have an inspection in 3 days time.... yippeeee...

Mad Mel - Yes we are still scheduled to have our inspection on the 21st...... Not much left to do I wouldn't think....

Front cleaned and painted...

The kitchen and meals room cleaned...

The family room

Looking our of the family room to the Alfresco...

Back up the hall way...

Main bathroom shower...

Main bathroom bath and vanity.. All clean... yippeee.. Just waiting on mirror now...

Ensuite shower all clean and almost ready for use.. Waiting on shower screen...

Looking very nice and clean now... waiting for mirror...

Best colouring pic of the tile colours.... N i c e.... and clean....

A throne fit for a King..... or a good place to curl up with a newspaper.... lol....

The tilers efforts are good.....

Well, the tilers appear to have finished all there work so far... And here are some pics.... We love it... Great job boys.....

Our Floor Tile colour

Ensuite tiles all grouted....

Floor tiles are all grouted and a quick clean.....

Another view of the tiles... Don't know why but the true colour is not shown....

They must have a new scheduler on board......

This has been a great week and a half for ourselves and Rawdon Hill, there must be a new employee with some understanding of the word scheduling...... Finally.....

Well today is the 12th November....Since we last spoke the tilers have been in and have not stopped, except for Sunday... I will let them have that one...lol...... which was great news for us....

The sparkie made a return this morning to do some of his handy work. I call past about an hour ago to check up on his progress, as one does....

Bugger me, aparently we have some 60 (sixty) downlights... JESUS H Christ......

I didn't think there were that many thank the before mentioned we also have a few dimmers hooked up also...lol.... No photos of the sparkies hany work as yet But I have attached some pics of the tilers work..... Good stuff.... We hope to have a final inspection date this week.....

The entrance leading to the family room and kitchen....

The ensuite floor tiles and, the wall tiles are now grouted... yippee..

The ensuite shower is all grouted to now... just the floors to go...

The laundry.....

Family room and kitchen...

More of the kitchen...

The kids hallway....

Main bathroom

Again... mani bathroom....

An something I just relised too.....

We had work happening today....

and yep.....

It's Wednesday...

More movement....

Gav & Ness are happy campers, at the moment, the progress is moving forward well. For the time being. I don't think this pace can be kept up for the long haul, personally, but we shall see I guess.......

But here are some more updated pics........

The rendering has been painted now and the fiddly timer frett work has been painted also...

As you can also see we have roller doors in also......

We also have a rear roller door in too.... yippeeee..

The ensuite tiling is coming together well....

The main floor tiling has started today also....

We have had some Continuity of work.....

Finally, we have had some continuity with the workload at the new house. About bloody time we have some flow of trades..... This is starting to take shape and looking good for the 21st November final inspection and handover...... Yippppeeeee.......
The painters have been going now non stop, since the 30th October. It looks like the inside painting has been finished and started now on the outside. I went up this morning and we had the tilers start doing there thin as well.
Here are some pics below.....

ensuite vanity tiles

Close up of the ensuite vanity tiles with border...

And the kitchen tiles and border...

Painting, Painting and more Painting......

31/10/08 - Friday
Painter x 3 were in today, the doors have been rolled and some more painting has been accomplished. I asked if they were going to work over the weekend as we are expecting the tilers in on Monday, according to the SS, and they said yes we always end up doing work on a Saturday. Well I guess they worked somewhere else over the weekend, then.

I guess now all we have to do is see what this week will bring us......... We shall just have to wait and see...............

This weeks updates.........

Can't possibly be as bad as last week can it........ How much???????? I am willing to lay $500 on the table......

27/10/08 - Monday
Well the painters, sorry, I should say painter, started today even though the paint had been sitting in the family room for the past three - four weeks and gave the walls, skirts, archs, doors and the ceiling a good dose of spray painting.... Job done for the day... Let it dry.... How long... well see...

28/10/08 - Tuesday
The renderers came on site today.... Looks good I must say, I did tell him to do the best job he had ever done... At least I hope it is not like my mates Simmonds render job.... bits falling off it before they even had hand over...... ours had better stay up that is for sure... I am not in the mood.......

Garage front rendered

Front view...

29/10/08 - Wednesday

It's bloody Wednesday, no one there again, I thought... Although hasn't next doors started off well.... Anyway I thought, well I am here now, I may as well take a walk around..... Ooppppsss My apologies, we have had some work done after all all be it an hour or two at the most....We have our down pipes connected to real plumbing instead of those snake things that pop up out of the ground.... None else here today though........ Give a shit I thought....and went home.....

30/10/08 - Thursday

One painter in by himself until midday and then another two came along, then I went back after picking up my nephew from school and other painter arrived at 4.00 in the afternoon. I though what the hell is he here for, they will be knocking off shortly......and I went home... still pissed......

Ok here is the latest updates.........

Readers please be aware of frequent coarse language.......I aplogise if anyone is offended.......

Updates in date order......

17/10/08 - Friday
Well after a flurry of goings on yesterday, there was no body to be seen at our block today...

20/10/08 - Monday
Again no one anywhere near our block again today. It is really starting to piss me off.

21/10/08 - Tuesday
Chippies were back in today for a couple of hours and then, they ran out of beading... Again.......
Apparently fourth time is a charm..... We will see....

22/10/08 - Wednesday
Shit we are working today....... Bugger me, did some one forget to tell these guys it is Wednesday????????
Well, what can I say about today.... Yet another monumental stuff up.......Any wonder a bloke is about to do his block....... I rocked up this morning to see the chippies on site doing some more beading wood work, maybe this is the day they get it finished with out running out of the beaded wood.
The brickies were in also..........Just as they we laying in the last brick for the sills under the new windows for the front of the house, I asked (and knew the answer) if they had noticed any insulation under the new windows? To which the reply was, "I didn't notice any"..... Well, H E L L O !!!!!!!!! What does that tell you??? Not to brick up yet, until the insulation has been but in....... As the plasterers had been in already and re plastered the wall internally, under the new windows.......So after a rather phone call to the SS he contacts the chippies (on site) and tell them to remove the plaster internally so we can get some insulation (that he was reminded about last week) put in under the new windows.......

Oh well, here come some more delays in getting the painters in, I bet. Because now the painters can't start until we stick some bloody insulation in the gap and re plaster the wall again......

The new windows all bricked in....

Front side view, more bricks for me....

Brick piers ready for rendering, all filled with cement...

23/10/08 - Thursday
Oh well a man can't expect miracles........ I mean after all they did work on Wednesday........As the plasterers had been in already and plastered the wall internally, under the new windows.. There is no one there today....... This is really pissing me off now......

24/10/08 - Friday

Don't speak to me today.... Don't come near me.... any one..... I am so fucked off right about now it is not even slightly humorous....... I did not and have not posted what I would really love to say about this house, company, our SS or anything for I may just say the wrong thing today... But this is really beginning to shit me no end....

And at this point I don't give a flying Fuck if this is finished on the 21st November or the 28th November... Our contract date is 28th..... But I have been told the 30th September, but just last week I was told we think we will be right for hand over to be the 21st November... What a load of shit... we won't be anywhere near ready, and, if we are I will apologise... But I don't think that will be happening....

Here is the deal, Vanessa works for herself and is snowed under with her work schedule at present, (not to mention she also had her laptop pinched from her car the other week, lost a month or so work, last back up was 2 weeks before moving out of old house) and as we have lots of stuff still to do, i.e concreting driveway, moving the cross over and getting a new one laid, the decking fort he alfresco and other odds and ends including this up coming wedding. We have cleared four days of her work schedule for the 28th, to move in.....

Other wise it will be Feb sometime.... I may take them that long to go over any faults three independent inspectors may find..... for hand over..... Because that is what I have happening if we aren't ready for me to start concreting and decking from the 21st and moving in on the 28th.

Someone has inside information.......

Newbies must have known something I didn't.....

This morning there was a multitude of goings on at the house... We had the chippies back and the bloody painters have finally made an appearance......

Not much happened worthy of taking photos as yet... Bugger... Just realised that I didn't take any pics of the down pipes... Oh well, something for me to do tomorrow....

Below are some pics of the old and the new......

The old windows.....

The new windows....

The old windows....

The new windows.....ooohh and a downpipe....

It's Wednesday silly........

It's Wednesday silly...... Nothing happens on a Wednesday.... Almost never......

Hopefully something will be going on Thursday and Friday.... Cause this no go is pissing me off just a touch.... Considering it is now (well tomorrow) 2 weeks since I was told the painter will be tomorrow to start prep work and then start painting..... NOT....

It is making it bloody hard for Ness to schedule her work around this sort of thing. As a self employed person we need to get some dates of completion... We have now pretty much gathered the the ACTUAL contract date 21/11/08 will be completion..... Which again shits me no end....

We will still have so much to do and organise before hand.....and then with Christmas so damn close, then the wedding on New Years Eve.. It is making it very hard....

Oh well I will see what happens tomorrow.....Keep you posted....

Rendering.....

It would appear that the rendering guys have been in and started to set up some prep work in order to start doing the rendering work.... Getting very excited about the rendering happening...... Photos to come soon.....

We have some Downpipes....

Downpipes man has been today and made up and fitted all the down pipes. They look really good, I am very happy with them.... I am now getting more and more pissed off that the painter hasn't been yet. I was told he would be there nearly two weeks ago now......

C'mon Mr Painter.... Pull your finger out.....

Roof Tilers are back...

Roof tilers came back today to start the ridge work for the capping, not much else is happening at present..

This one is for Matt........

Quote...

"Dood!!Schweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!!I have just read your blog from the start. Either you are really kind (ahahahahah) or you are having a good build.Keep it up...and good luck!Matt"

Matt we have been lucky in some ways, unlucky in some others....

I know some people have had some shockers of building experiences and I am very happy to say that we are not one of them...... We have had some issues with regards to, kitchen, main bathtub, front windows, ensuite bulkhead/window movement in the enuite, front windows, the garage frame and the brick wall incident..... Not to mention the South East Water problems that caused us a 6 week delay....

But overall not one of the issues have been of a build quality problem and nothing has been too hard to fix..... We have had conversations about each and every issue.... Most I have bought up but some the SS has bought up with me before I even picked it up......

It also, I think, makes a difference that I am able to stick my beak in almost every day on the house.... Probably much to the disgust of the SS and the builders.... But I don't care.... heheheh

I would like to think we have a pretty good relationship and the SS has been great, very easy to contact, meet with and talk too... Openly about issues when they have arisen......

I am not happy about the fact that we not finished yet... We were initially told that it would take 5 - 5 1/2 months build time from the time of site scrape which was back 16 or 18/04.... Even though the contract date does say 14/11/08.... It still sucks that we are not in yet... But that was mainly because of the Sth East Water issue..... Also partly because we haven't been able to get a run on tradies.... my thought anyway.....

As we are not in November yet... I suppose I can't bitch too much.....

A couple of things we are still waiting on at present.... Are the solid doors for the rumpus room and the front windows need to be changed over as they were wrong in the drawings.... But no one picked it up including us... We believe a drafting error, And there were a number of drafts.... but we missed it every time...The original drawings had the right ones in it.... We looked back through all the plans last week........
But they too will be fixed, no arguing, no bitching, just fixed......

Compared to so many people building, that I have read about at homeone.com.au and or met, I thing we have been very lucky to have chosen the builder we did....

They would have been absolutely fantastic, if we had of finished by the 30/9.....
They will have been magic if we finish early....
They will have been great if we finish on time.....

I will kill them if we don't finish on time.......... only after they have paid me money for late build though...... hahahahhahahaha........


By the way.... The roof tiler is up there at present.... doig the bridge work.....

We are all gassed up........

Went up to the house yesterday and noticed a lot of dirt disturbed at the front of the block.

I thought what the????

So I followed the dirt and guess what?????

It's a bloody Wednesday and we got work done.... hahhahahahaha

Well we got gassed up anyway........

Kitchen now fixed too.....

Well we are on a roll.... we have had a few issues of late, mind you nothing that couldn't be rectified, it appears......

As some might know, we had an error regarding the colour of the overhead cupboards and the upright panels... We also had the bath in the wrong place, that has been fixed also.

Below are some pics of the new, new kitchen.......

The new kitchen sink benchtop. It now has a rolled "D form" edge at the end also...

Very happy....

The new over head cupboards, not a huge difference in colour, but it is the right colour... I also appreciate the effort the cabinet makers have taken on this lot of doors with regards to the door handles and being straight and aligned 100% vertically.... Good job.....

I forgot to take a pic of the island benchtop, but you can see the edges are all now also "D From" as well.......

The new upright panels.......... The underbench cupboards are "Beige" and the overhead cupboards are "Pearl Dust" and the benchtop is "Kalahari Topaz"

The shelves moved in Gav's WIR it now mirrors the other robe....

As you can see the other shelf was removed and the plasterers will be back to fix up the wall. So it's all good.....

Bathtub Fixed.....

Well the bathtub has been fixed....... see below.....

Before.....

After.....

Well it's meeting day again......

Well it apears I might be right.... No one here again today...... It's Wednesday.....

Chippies have been here over the last few days....25th , 26th & 29th and yesterday the bricks were washed.....

So here are some more pics including the busy little chippies workmanship.....

The dirty bricks not cleaned at the front will be cemented over and

so will the little brick piers of the porch area....

More clean bricks and check the eve work.... yippee....

More clean bricks.....

More clean bricks, the front view and more eve/porch and frett work....

Looking good...

Coming along nicely.... just not quickly.....

We love the green door.......

Today also marks the settlement of the old house, so we have now moved in with my mother, sister and her two kids..... So there are now 4 adults, 3 kids and a dog in a 4 bedroom house....

Yippee........