Day 38 - Frame Inspection & Roof Tiles Complete

Last Friday we had our building inspection and on Monday we received our report. Luckily everything went pretty well and we only had 2 issues picked up by the building inspector and I noticed an issue which I've also noted.

1. Frame corner blocks missing near laundry door
Apparently it is really important to have these blocks between the frame as it stops it from moving down the track.


2. Tri-Stacker Packing
There is a small gap between the rear door and the frame. It is important this is packed to stop the door bouncing when its closed.


3. Missing Bolt
I noticed that there is meant to be a bolt in the front room but it looksl ike the drill bit got stuck, so they left it there.


This week the roof tiles went on which is exciting, now the frame looks even more like a house. We upgraded to a flat tile from Bristile which is the roof tile range of Austral. The tile we picked is concrete right through so it does't fade like the typical default coloured concrete tiles which fade with time.

We're happy with the colour combination of gutters, fascia's and tiles. The house was also wrapped up this week ready for the bricking to start tomorrow. The front door still hasn't gone in yet because we have one door that is too small and one door that is too large sitting onsite. The tri-stacker at the back has had all the doors installed even though they need to be removed again.

VIEW PHOTOS AS SLIDESHOW

There front of the house is starting to come together, can't wait to see the bricks go up.


This is the view from the side, it's a little easier to see the roof. The bricks are also onsite.

We also had the solor panel for the hot water fitted when they did the roof.

VIEW PHOTOS AS SLIDESHOW

This week we're expecting to have the plumbing rough-in done and the bricks will start. Now that the roof is on the house is a little bit dark without the plasterboard or flooring in. In hindsight we're thinking we shoul dhaev put a window in the fourth bedroom, one of the long high ones. We had it quoted but pulled it out to save a bit of money, given time again we may have put it in but I'm sure it will be fine as the house comes along. The outdoor area is magnificant in the sun, let's hope that our neighbours behind us don't build double storey and block it out.

Colours Selections

Now that the fascia and guttering are up we have our first colours on the house. I thought this might be a good time to post all a list of most of our colour selections. Where appropriate I included the description from the product websites.

House:
Builder: Metricon
Design: Mercer
Facade: Plantation
House Size: 32sq

Description/Additional Info:
The Mercer combines a formal sitting room with a range of informal living options, making the home ideal for entertaining. The kids have free reign in the rumpus room located at the rear but conveniently located near the home’s modern hub with access to a stylish outdoor room. Suits a 16 metre frontage. We have different colours to the image above but it at least shows the facade with the timber features.


Bricks:
Style: Austral - Urban One
Colour: Chocolate
Mortar: Natural
Mortar Joints: Rolled

Description/Additional Info:
One out of the box! Chocolate is a warm, rich soft brown... milk chocolate at its best.
Soft and subtle designer neutrals.

Warm. Sophisticated. Stylish. That’s how designers are describing Austral Bricks exciting new Urban One series. Their seven neutral colours (from pale Almond to rich Chocolate) are the perfect complement to contemporary designs. Use Urban One for an overall monochromatic appearance, or harmonise with feature materials such as stone, timber or render. You’ll love the timeless look of Urban One.

Neutral colours are so versatile. The soft, subtle colours of Urban One create the perfect backdrop to feature walling materials such as Elements Series glazed bricks, render, timber and stone. Urban One colours also blend beautifully with each other. And being kiln fired, they are colourfast, low maintenance and will last a lifetime.

Roof Tiles:
Style: Bristile - Classic Range (Flat Roof Tile)
Colour: Char Grey

Description/Additional Info:
Prestigious, opulent, stylish…pick the adjective that best suits your home.

Char Grey is a colour through tile. Instead of an oxide / cement slurry being applied to the top of the tile, oxide is mixed into the concrete base of the tile which produces a product that is the same colour from top to bottom.

The Classic range of roof tiles has ten other beautiful colours ranging from the traditional Charcoal and Slate to the eye catching Lagoon which ensure a wide range of colour schemes are catered for. The flat Yeoman profile used in this range of tiles is a premium product that looks equally at home on a waterfront manor or a country retreat.

External Colour Selections:
GUTTERS AND FASCIA
Guttering Colour: Woodland Grey
Fascia Colour: Woodland Grey
Downpipes Colour: Woodland Grey

WINDOWS
Window Frames: Woodland Grey
Window Winder Colour: Black (was meant to be Woodland Grey)
Window Flyscreens: Woodland Grey
Window Infills (side of house): Woodland Grey

RENDERING:
Portico: Dulux Bull Ring
Bed 1 Projection: Dulux Dreyfus

DOORS:
Garage Door: Dune
Front Door:Dulux Woodland Grey
Tri-Stacker Door: Dulux Intergrain Merbau

Description/Additional Info:
We considered selecting 2 different colours for fascia and downpipes. We originally picked a dune fascia with a woodland grey downpipe and guttering.

We've seen this colour combination around a lot recently and now we're glad we stuck with the one colour, it is a little simpler and the facade we picked has afair bit going on anyway.The reason we changed everything to woodland grey is because the window infills would have been dune to brighten up the house but the windows would have been woodland grey and we didn't like the idea of split colours.

The render we selected from the display at Craigieburn. It is also where we got our bricks from. Ironically enough it was the same house as ours but with a different facade. The front door we decided to match with the guttering and window frames to bring it all together. We also went for the

Internal Colour Selections:
WALLS & CEILINGS
Walls: Dulux Antique White U.S.A
Architraves & Skirting: Dulux Antique White U.S.A
Ceilings: Dulux Lexicon Quarter

DOORS
Doors: Dulux Antique White U.S.A
Timber Doors: Dulux Integrain Merbau

KITCHEN
Cupboards Colour: Panelart Colorform Designer White
Cupboards Finish: Gloss
Cupboards Kicker: Metal Laminate - Brushed Natural
Benchtop Color: Caesarstone Snow
Splashback: Mist Silver

ENSUITE
Cupboards Colour: Panelart Concept Oak
Benchtop Color: Caesarstone Osprey

BATHROOM
Cupboards Colour: Panelart Concept Oak
Benchtop Color: Caesarstone Osprey

Description/Additional Info:
We had a lot of trouble picking kitchen colours. After having to give up at our first attempt, we picked up a kitchen magazine and we quickly realised that we really like the look of the white kitchen and benchtop. We upgraded the Caesarstone to Snow so that we had a more pure white no the bench top and we upgraded the cupboards to Colorform Gloss White.

We used Merbau Internal doors throughout, all of them the taller doors given the higher roofs in the house. The floor we picked was Spotted Gum which was a pretty easy choice in the end, we thought the brown and grey worked well with the house and colours we selected.

We knew we wanted a white roof and given we wanted feature walls we decided to go for a white wall colour so that it will be easy to paint over. It was still important to us however that we had a different colour to the roof. It will be really interesting to see how it comes out.

We picked an image off the Metricon website for our bathroom colours. The colours we selected are below:













We have a few more colours that I haven't put on here yet but I hope this gives you enough of an idea about the style of the house we went with. We tried to pick simple classic colours for key areas like the kitchen and jazzed it up a bit with the gloss and metal kicker.

The other areas we tried to pick contrasting colours but kept the colours similar with whites, greys and browns, then we'll add some pizang with furniture, pictures and feature walls.

Day 30 - First Issues

Yesterday we had our first site inspection, it was also the first time we met our building inspector and our site supervisor (SS). Both were really good guys. Our building inspector was recommended to us after he picked up 300 issues with another house, that wasn't Metricon and either the other builder was really bad, or he was really good, but either way he sounded like he had an attention to detail, which is what we wanted. The guttering and fascia is also finished.

Site Supervisor
Our SS said that things were going along well and that at this stage this week we should have the plumbing rough-in complete, the roof tiling complete and the windows installed in the frame. He also said that at a normal house build time is about 25-26 weeks for this type of house and that although he has no idea how long this one will take that if all things go well that's what we could base our completion date on. That would put us at completion in the middle of November which works out great for us. Let's hope things keep on track.

Building Inspector
We are yet to receive our report from the building inspector but he said that the quality of the frame was really good. He said they used very good wood and it was all pretty much square with all the rooms the right size. The slab he said was pretty much spot on and they had done a very good job. The only thing he picked up while we were onsite was a couple of blocks missing from the garge wall which need to be between each of the pre-fabricated frames. He was also happy they put down some weather-proofing below the frame where the bricks will go. I'll wait for the full report but hopefully it's all good and he found nothing more.

A Few Issues
All that said about Friday, today we visited the block to find the windows installed...we also stumbled across our first issues.

1. No Double Glazing
Our tri-stacker door has been installed but after close inspection there is no double glazing. It will be interesting to see what they do to fix this. The frame is in and it looks like they will have to take it out in order to fix it.


2. Window Upside-Down
Our family room window was installed upside-down. You wouldn't think it would be that hard to know that the handle is on the roof, just out of reach. Anyway, it will have to be fixed at some point obviously.


3. Broken Windows
We had 2 broken windows, the front window was the worst of the 2 with the family room, not only upside down but with a crack in it.


4. Wrong Door Frame
The front door frame hasn't been installed yet, it looks like it was because they ordered the wrong size. Today when we visited there was another door frame onsite but it didn't have the frosted glass. This is the first oen that was too small. The second picture shows the clear glass instead of the frosted glass.


5. Wrong Coloured Window Winders
The window winders were meant to be woodland grey, but they are black. In the end they look pretty good so I think we'll leave them the way they are.


6. Window Missing
It looks like we got all of our windows onsite except for one. The rear rumpus room window is missing...might get a bit chilly during winter....brrrr.



Progress Photos
There are also some photo's of things that aren't issues which is nice....see below:

VIEW ALL PHOTOS AS SLIDESHOW

The front of the house with the roof on

View from the front door

The guttering and fascia is finished

View of the Kitchen

The house by default has a cutout inbetween the family and rumpus rooms

VIEW ALL PHOTOS AS SLIDESHOW

It will be interesting to see what the outcomes with the above issues will be.....stay tuned.

Day 27 - Frame Complete

Very exciting times. Today I got a call from the Site Supervisor, it's the first time that I've spoken to him because I missed his call a few weeks ago and he didn't call last week. He seems like a good guy, he is motoring through getting the frame up, other Metricon houses in our estate are taking a little bit longer to go up compared to ours.

My SS told me that the roof should be finished (he hadn't followed up yet) and that the fascia and guttering would be starting today. At this stage, the roof tiles might be started by the end of the week. I visited the block today but I didn't get any images because it was too dark. The guttering and fascia were pretty much finished. There was a pile of sand in the driveway, most likely for the bricks but no roof tiles on site yet.

The tri-stacker door has been installed, however only the single door is on at the moment. The front door frame is also onsite but not yet installed. Even though it was dark and we don't have roof tiles or bricks yet the woodland grey guttering and fascia looked good.

I have an appointment booked in on Friday for my first inspection with my building inspector. Theoretically the builder is meant to stop going but they are motoring on despite the inspection. I'm sure if something bad comes up they'll have to stop and get it fixed.

The roof looks really high, it's going to be great seeing it all come together as they start the external walls over the coming weeks. I'll aim to get some photos on Friday.

Day 24 - Frame Walls Complete

Friday after checking the status of MyMetricon I found that the frame walls has been marked as completed. Friday night I dropped by quickly on my way to dinner to take a look but it was too dark to see how much progress had been made. Yesterday after a visit to the estate gym we drove by to do a more thorough inspection.

It was exciting to walk through the front door and get a feel for how everything is going to look, it's been a while since we visited the display homes and we made a few minor changes to our home from features we liked from them so it was good to see it starting to come to life.

VIEW ALL PHOTOS AS A SLIDESHOW

View from the front:

Initially looking at this i was a little worried. It looked like they put the shower in laundry, but after thinking about it, it made sense the pipe was where it was so the shower could come out of the wall :) Not sure where the other part of this wall will go, that will obviously happen later.
The tri-stacker door for the alfresco area waiting to be installed. The frame is also onsite, but in another location.
View from the kitchen looking towards the alfresco area.

View from the hallway looking towards the kitchen, dining and alfresco.

Looking at the garage, through to the sitting, family and rumpus rooms.

View from the backyard looking in through the alfresco.

Looking back in from the dining area towards the kitchen, walk in pantry and fridge area. The family room is on the right.

VIEW ALL PHOTOS AS A SLIDESHOW

Given I'm not a builder and I have no idea what I'm looking at, it appeared as though everything had been put together relatively well. We contacted our building inspector this week to make sure he received a copy of our plans etc. He told us to advise Metricon that we would be having a building inspector in at each stage. He said he needs about 2 days notice for each inspection.

I didn't hear from my SS or Customer Service rep this week, I guess at this point of building everything is relatively straight forward and they're busy, hopefully there will be a little more communication forthcoming as we move further into the process.

At this stage it looks like the frame is anticipated to be completed on Wednesday, this is about 5 days longer than the original estimate due to the rain last week. I will also start to update the site with some of our upgrades/inclusions and colour selections.

Day 18 - Slab Complete

The title of this one is a little misleading. The slab was actually laid on Friday which was day 15. On Wednesday when we visited the block the foam and reinforcements were on site ready to be laid. On Thursday they mapped everything out and Friday the slab was finished.

We had a browse around today, initial thoughts were that it looked bigger than what we expected but after looking where each of the pipes were going it appeared a lot smaller.

The biggest thing we noticed was that our slab is very high up from the street. We have a 5 metre set back and by my rough measurements today the front porch will be about 85-95 centimetres above the street level. We weren't anticipating it before but it looks like we're going to need some stairs, the driveway will also be relatively steep. That's enough, now for the pics.

I took about 24 pictures so each picture below links through to a slideshow.

View from the driveway.


View from the back...


View looking from the alfresco.


Height of the slab from the side.


View of the garage from the side.

My site supervisor called me on Friday for the first time and left me a voicemail but not a return phone number. He told me that they were hoping to have the frame started by the end of this week.

Hopefully next week I'll have some frame photos.