Day 54 - Telephone, TV and Data & Site Chaos

I think back to October last year when I started talking to Metricon about installing Fibre to our home through the company recommended to us by the estate. I had 4 months of them being completely obvlivious to my request regardless of the conversations I was having with them. Then in February it was escalated and after I received some advice from Building Concilliation & Advice Victoria (BCAV). In the final week before signing my contract they finally gave me permission to go onsite and told me I was on my own and I'd have to ensure everything happened at the right time.

Today the data cables, telephone cables, tv cables, hub cables etc...were all installed by Opticomm's contracted company Techlife. The engineer was really friendly and accomodating. Over the last 3 months I have done my best to ensure that techlife were onsite after the electrical company but because they electrician's didn't attend the site last week they ended up being there at exactly the same time.

I had to drop in before work to meet techlife to ensure everything was going to the right place. When I arrived onsite you could say it was somewhat chaotic. There were about 6-8 electricians onsite, 2 carpenters, 4 brickies and 1 techlife engineer. Techlife were reluctant to lay the cables for fear of getting in the electrician's way but they seem to have worked it all out.

I ended up removing a phone point from my original quote and relocating it in a different room. I considered where to put the wireless router but I ended up having to put in 2 additional data cables to where the router will sit so that I can then hook back into the switch in the hills hub. The electricians very reluctantly listened to my request to put the power points in a corner between 2 studs.

Anyway the moto of the story is that now all of our electricals have been done, the data cabling etc ended up proceeding without too much grief and I managed to get it in before plaster which was great.

The lock-up inspection is booked in for later this week, however we will have the son of our inspector because ours has gone on holidays.

This is the photo I took today. You can see the bricks are pretty much finished at the front, the garage is now bricked in and apparently the garage door was meant to be measured this week.


On a side note, I also found out that Metricon didn't install a 32mm conduit when they put in the electrical box. Now I need to pay another $660 to have a backhoe come in and dig the hole for the conduit to be laid for the fibre. Normally the fibre would just be installed after handover but I need to get the conduit laid before Metricon put my driveway down. I also need to buy an extra switch for the hills hub.

I will put together another blog entry on the opticomm installation and the how it all happens for those people that might have to do it at some point in the future.

Day 53 - Another Day Closer To Lock-Up

Things are moving along quickly and I like it! We're making good progress, there are things going wrong that need to be fixed, but for the most part they are all things that are par for the course.

At the start of last week I was concerned about some of the issues we'd been having but as more progress has been made the house is looking good and I'm happy with how things are coming along.

I went on site today because I had to get a few things sorted out and I caught up with my site supervisor while I was there. We did a walk through and by the end of it I felt pretty good about the things that had to be resolved.

Last week we had our evaporative cooling and ducted heating installed, the bricks continued and are now almost finished I would assume that it should be finished by tomorrow. The plumbing rough-in was finished today, however the plumber hasn't punched the holes through the bricks for the hot water system. Initially he did but he was told by the SS to fix it and he would incur any costs to have the brickies out to fix anything he stuffed up, if he stuffed it up.

The garage that co-joins the neighbours garage is really messy on the side, but they are going to clean it up when they're finished, they didn't roll any of the mortar even though they could have walked in the gap which is small, but not that small.

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The shower bases are now both in:

The bath is in:
The evaporative cooling and ducted heating:
The ensuite doors are installed, you might mistake the bedroom for looking a little more like a camp site:
The view from the sitting room towards the back of the house next room is the family room and at the back the rumpus room:
The evaporative cooling unit on the roof and the bricking pretty much complete along the side and back. I'm really happy with the colour of the bricks with the roof, gutters and facia:
The side of the house bricked up:
Initially the power outlet was all bent on the side but that has now all been completely fixed and its sitting in nicely.

VIEW ALL PHOTOS IN SLIDESHOW

Over the coming week the lock-up is expected to be completed. My SS said that we're well ahead of schedule at this point which is nice to hear. There are still a few frame issues outstanding, all of which were picked up by Metricon's quality control people.

The rear door is still a bit of an issue, the double glazing still isn't in, the door doesn't quite slide properly and the padding is just slapped together but that will hopefully be fixed this week.

There are probably a few more things I could put down but I'll save them for another time!

Happy for comments on colours or progress etc!!

Day 48 - Pleasant Surprises

Tonight I decided to drop by to check on the progress of the bricks and it is fair to say that I was pleasantly surprised for many reasons.

On the weekend I was a little concerned that the building was continuing and there were a few issues that I thought might cause bigger issues down the track. After firing off an email to my Customer Service Co-ordinator and not receiving a reply I was getting a little worried. My Site Supervisor (SS) called very late in the day to put my mind at ease.

We're actually very lucky to have the SS that we were allocated. He seems very organised and just seems to know what needs to be done. That said I hope we don't run into more issues down the track that cause us major problems but he seems to have his finger on the pulse.

He assured me that the plumbing that was in the wrong place will be fixed by the plumbers, I wasn't sure about this given they bricked over it, but after inspection today I found that the pipes aren't sticking through and he's right, they can fix it, I'll just be interested to see if the messages get passed on and are processed by the guys doing the work (call me pessimistic).

He also assured me that the frame items will be fixed this week, the rear door glazing will be fixed prior to lockup and the missing window and door will be installed this week.

Driving down the street I was interested to see how much of the brickwork had been completed. I was initially thought they hadn't made much progress because the front hadn't progressed since Monday but one side, and the back were pretty much complete, the garage which was tricky because it is very close to next door was complete and it looks like they have one more side to go and then some remaining work on the front.

The mortar has really lightened up a lot, something that initially it crossed my mind that it appeared a little dark but after a bit of research I found it takes about 3 days to find something close to its colour after drying and then it is about another 4-6 weeks for it to completely dry weather depending. I have to say though it looks good.

I noticed the front door frame has been installed finally and the garage internal door is also installed. After venturing into a very dark uninviting house with fading light of my phone I found the frames issues has mostly been fixed, the ensuite doors had been installed, the bath is installed the rear window is in and I have to say, the double glazing kept the house incredibly quiet. When the door wasn't in and the rear window was missing it was like a wind tunnel and it was very noisy, now it is very quiet, can't wait to see what it's like once we move in.

The shower in the bathroom had also been marked out and there is a few plasterboards onsite also. Over the next few days the brickies should finish up and the electrician should be in.

Next week should ideally be the last week before lock-up is complete. Currently Metricon have lock-up scheduled for next Wednesday.

Probably one of the best sites I've seen apart from seeing the slab and frame flying up and forming what would be our house. As much as it is disappointing to know that we are going to be locked out within the next couple of weeks its exciting to know it's all starting to happen!

Day 46 - Bricks Started & Outstanding Issues

It's hard to believe we've been building for a month and a half now. Things are starting to take a little bit longer than they did in the first month. Now we're starting to get into the tricky bit of building where we have identified a few issues and building is continuing and the issues aren't getting resolved too quickly.

I think part of the reason things don't happen quickly is because I don't have much contact with my site supervisor because I need to go through my customer service co-ordinator who just forwards on my email. Based on this I think they sometimes don't comprehend what the issues are and therefore are unable to resolve them in a reasonable efficient manner.

I'm still yet to pay for the frame stage installment because the 3 issues that were identified haven't been resolved. On a more positive note the window that was upside down has been turned up the right way. The tri-stacker door at the rear still has the single glazed glass in it.

New Issues:

1. Hot Water System in Wrong Location
We moved the hot water system so that we could fit a water tank between the downpipe and bedroom window however the plumber has roughed in the water tank wherever he thought might be best.
2. Wrapping Has Come Off
In the wind over the last few days the wrapping has blown off.


3. Gutter / Fascia Dropped Off
The fascia and gutter dropped off a small section of the front. This is no biggy, the site supervisor knows about it it is just a matter of getting it put back on.

4. Board is coming off wall
This hopefully won't be a big one either, it could be caused by the wind coming in from the west side of the house but the board has popped over a nail and is bent. It may not be that easy to see in the photo but up close it is pretty obvious.

Last week I had the plumbing rough-in take place, it all looks pretty good except they put the hot water system in the wrong place as mentioned above. I'll be interested to see if they can move it or if they'll propose I leave it where it is.

I bumped into a neighbour yesterday while at the block. She built with Metricon in another estate and has had 4 years worth of issues. The main issues appear to be with plastering and tiling so I'm thinking I might follow up with my SS to see if he's booked in good plasterers rather than the 16 and 60 year old's that apparently plastered this other ladies house.

It looks like the tri-stacker door is going to need to be pulled out of the frame to replace the door panels so I want to get that sorted out within the next couple of weeks before plastering gets done but I'm not liking my chances.

This week the bricking will continue, hopefully the wrapping will get fixed, the electrician is meant to be onsite at the end of the week and the plumber back next week. The correct front door (or what I think is the correct front door) has arrived onsite as has the rear window which was on back-order because they had delays with glass deliveries I'm told.

The mortar looks a little darker than it is meant to be at the moment but I think that's because it hasn't dried yet. Apparently it takes about 4-6 weeks to reach its final colour. I'm really hoping it dries up a lot and ends up quite a bit lighter, at the moment it's basically grey and blends in with the bricks.

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Latest update with the bricks starting to go up:

The bricks at the side of the house:
The bath frame was also started this week:
Plumbing rough-in started:
The new door and window onsite:

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I've requested a meeting onsite this week with my site supervisor so I'll see how that goes and maybe provide another update afterwards. For now I'm not feeling that great until we have a few of the issues above resolved.