Day 95 - Up, Up & Away

You might have thought by the title of this post that this means we're getting closer to finishing. Well I guess we are, but it isn't what the subject is referring to.

On Saturday I dropped by the house to show a friend how it was coming along. After getting out of the car and walking around the easterly side of the house we noticed some scatter pieces of Evaporative Cooling unit on the ground. "Is you're evaporative unit in" he asked, "Yes" I responded. "Isn't yours the same colour as that one on the ground" looking at a 2 foot by .5 foot piece of evaporative cooling casing the on ground, "Yes" I responded again. Perhaps we should have a look to see if I'm missing any of it.

After walking around to the back of the house and gazing towards the roof I realised that a piece hadn't been blown off, the whole thing had. All that was left of the evaporative cooling unit was the pipe that goes into the roof. The whole thing had been blown off in the wind on Friday.

There were scattered pieces of it on the land next to our block, the majority of it which was about a metre squared was about 40-50 metres from the house, it's a good thing no one was hurt or there wasn't any houses there. At least it happened before we moved in, not sure how it came lose but it did, so we'll have to get a new one. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures because I didn't have a camera with me.

As for everything else things are coming along well. I had a call late Friday from my SS who told me painting was all done, the plaster hasn't been fixed yet but there will hopefully be someone out this week to check if there was any water damage over the last few weeks, they'll also fix up a few of the cornice and wall issues we're having.

The tilers will be in action this week, with the electrical fitoff and plumbing fitoff hopefully also taking place towards the end of the week depending on how quickly the tilers finish up. We only have wet areas to do because the rest of the house is carpet and floorboards.

After the tilers we'll have about 10-15 business days to wait for the shower screens and splashbacks to arrive and about a week or so after that we should be in for our final inspection. At this stage it would appear as though we're only about 6 weeks or so away from finishing up.

Day 91 - Painting Complete

We dropped by the house tonight after seeing on MyMetricon that the painting had been completed. We arrived to find that the driveway area had been raised up to the level of the garage which initially had a drop off of about 30cms. The site has also been cleaned up a little bit.

The painting does appear to have finished however there are still a few outstanding issues:
1. The tri-stacker doors aren't in yet, however the painters stained the current doors (even though they'll be disappearing)
2. The electrical box pole is still sticking into the bedroom
3. No plaster work has been completed at all. The fridge cavity wall is still not straight and no cornices have been fixed.

The living room windows have been fixed the bricks were taken out last week, the seals were placed on the windows during the week and the bricks have been put back in. I forgot to check if the expansion joint in the alfresco had been fixed. Theoretically next week tiling was meant to start, however with some of the minor plaster issues it will be interesting to see if they proceed.

There were a few red dots around the place, I haven't had a call from my SS this week and it is highly unlikely I will now given he normally rings on a Wednesday or Thursday.

I'll hopefully have some more photo's taken from outside over the weekend.

Day 87 - Looking Sexy!

We dropped by the house for a quick look. It is fair to say that once that house gets to this stage it looks a lot more like a house, but there is less to look at. In the first few weeks we had a slab one week, frame the next, roof the next, bricks the next. Now we have paint, more paint, more paint....

My first observation was how much brigher the house is now that it is painted. The merbau doros also look great. The painters actually stained the doors that need to be replaced because they are not double glazed. It will be interesting to see what happens there.


This is the bedroom wall that suffered a bit of water damage. It doesn't appear to have been fixed, but they painted over it anyway. We'll see what happens here.


The living room gets the afternoon sun. The walls still aren't finished yet but the roof is looking good.


When I said it was looking sexy, what I was referring to was the outside of the house. The window infills have been painted and they look great. We kept the infills on the sides of the house but we bricked over the rear window and the alfresco windows. We figured no one is really going to see these windows anyway.

And the other side of the house. You can see the window at the back has the bricks over it. It was quite a lot more expensive to do bricks over all of the windows hence why we opted out. They only need to do this when you get the higher ceilings.


The electrical pole that will not disappear continues its saga. I think this may become a permanent fixture in our bedroom. It has now been painted, at least it looks a little better when it matches the wall colour. Now it's been painted they might forget about it. Hopefully this is the last time I'll see it.

The showers have been waterproofed as well late in the week

Hopefully this week we'll have our painting finished. It is on MyMetricon to finish on Friday. Nothing else appears to have been fixed since my inspection on Thursday and I'm yet to receive the building inspectors report.

Getting closer though, both Casey and I are getting very excited with the wedding drawing closer and the house hopefully due for completion before we tie the knot!

Day 84 - Fixing Inspection

This morning we had our independant building inspector come out to site to conduct what will be our second last inspection with him. We were met by our SS who we spent about an hour walking around the house and talking to about a few of the issues outstanding including where we go from here and what we can expect.

Given that our building inspector wasn't available last time around he checked off the previous report to make sure everything had been done correctly, which it had so he was satisified. He said that there weren't too many issues and all of the issues that he did find Metricon had already picked up anyway, lucky we've got a transparent and honest SS.

Yesterday I spoke to the SS as normal, he gives me a buzz every Wednesday afternoon let me know how we're tracking. The day before I had sent him an email asking whether any water might be getting into the roof through some tiles that hadn't been put back properly. the thing that alerted me to it was some water running down the render outside. He mentioned that he had a missed call from the painter along the same lines..except there was water in the master bedroom. Our diligent SS dropped in on his way home and fixed up the tiles, on inspection he found the cornices had bowed and the plaster was a little wet, he put up a pole to keep the wall upright :)

He's was trying to get onto the maintenance guys today to come out and inspect the plaster and see if it needed to be replaced. Either way the bowed cornices are going to be replaced.

The hole in the wall still exists, apparently the carpenters try to hit it in with a hammer....they need something a little bigger. The SS was disappointed when he found this wasn't fixed prior to plaster, he had instructed the tradies to fix it and they left it thinking it was back in enough. By the time he realised the plasterer's had been in and had to leave a hole. This has happened at 3 other sites he is building at the moment so it seems to be a common problem.

This is the only really bad plastering issue we have at the moment that is a genuine fault. The plaster appears to come out further on one side of the wall rather than following the frame. They are going to have to take this wall out and possibly the cupboard as well to redo the plaster etc.

Apparently in our house design they had a design issue with the front door. These days it is fashionable to have the higher ceiling with higher doors. The ceilings aren't an issue but the higher front door causes a little problem under our portico. The support beams weren't designed with a high door in mind so the door is actually higher than these beams. They need to put in some boards that they can render over because they can't get bricks in there. Once this is done, they'll render it up and lay the plaster for the portico.

The brickies need to come out and pull out these eaves as per my previous blog because the rubber seals are missing from the bottom of the window. The eaves are also too high. In the next few weeks the brickies will come out, pull out the eaves, window guys will insert the seals and brickies will re-brick it.

I'm thinking of becoming a building inspector. I noticed above our bedroom door that the frame and wall didn't appear to be square. There is also a mysterious hole in the roof that isn't near an electrical point and it isn't centered, someone must have put a piece of wood through the roof. They are going to pull down the cornices and try to get this straight again. We have a few doors like this.


We weren't allowed to put a power point on the other side of our mirror because it was a risk near the bath. Instead they put the electrical power point on the side of the stud that sits within the shower frame cavity. What this means is that we'll be able to shower and dry our hair all at the same time. This is apparently common with some designs and we're told it is no biggy to fix. It is because the electricians need to guess how far out the mirror frame will come and then guess the hole...they were close at least.

We are still waiting on a quote about our fence. We need to put in a sleeper to build it up to our ground level on our side which we need to fill. A few people have commented how close the houses are, that's because of where the driveways are, our living areas are a reasonable space apart.
This is how high we need to fill up the garage side of the house.

We're thinking about putting a deck in here, still not sure whether to do it ourselves or pay someone. Metricon aren't going to fill it though so that way we can do the deck more easiliy and we won't have to clear it out again.

The painting started today, they spent most of the time we were there covering windows, doors and cupboards. They had started painting just before we left and we hope they'll be finished by the end of next week.

This is all the cupboards covered up.

VIEW ALL PHOTOS AS A SLIDESHOW

All in all things are going pretty well, we've had a few issues but for the most part they have been resolved quite well. The tilers are booked in for around the 24th of August and it should take them about a week to finish. From that point Metricon normally aim for about 4-5 weeks to get to one of our final walkthrough's.

Before Metricon will let us in their quality assurance team needs to come in and give the site at least a 97% complete mark so that we don't pick up little things that haven't been done. This ensures we don't complain and think we're miles from completion and it also ensures we get in not too much longer after that.

Based on those estimates we will hopefully be in by about mid to late October.

Day 83 - Pre-Fixing Inspection

Tomorrow we have our inspection for the fixing stage which will be the second last inspection before we take the keys.

Toady I had a call from the SS and he said that things were way ahead of schedule and that they were working on rectifying the outstanding issues including the windows without the rubber seals, some roof tiles that aren't on correctly, doors that are on back order and a few issues with the plaster.

We got in trouble for going into the house...when I say in trouble they said you shouldn't be going in and taking photos etc, but I think the only reason being that for some reason my SS's boss seen the photos of the issues outstanding, not sure how that happened.

He said that normally after painting and tiles it is about 4-5 weeks to completion, or at least that's what they aim for. At the moment we're at about the 12 week (3 month) mark and we're in the final stage of completion. Working on a rough timeline that could put us in anywhere from mid September all going well right through to the end of October I hope as a worst case if we run into issues.

I'll post some photo's after the inspection tomorrow, apparently the painting has begun.

Day 81 - Kitchen & Cabinets Installed

On the weekend we arrived to find the cedar feature installed at the front of the house so now the facade just needs to be painted the correct colour to finish it off. I'm told this will happen closer to completion. We love the way the cedar looks, it is great to see the front finally coming together.

After the plaster was completed the only thing that had to be done to finish the fixing stage was the cabinets, the most anticipated one being the kitchen cabinets. To our delight we found the cabinets installed and looking great. We're really happy we went with the white colorform gloss white cupboards. We felt it was a bit of a gamble to keep everything white but the metal kicker really finishes it off and after the floorboards go in it will offset everything nicely..or so i hope. The bathroom and laundry cabinets were also installed.

There appears to be quite a bit of work done over the last few days to finish off the fixing stage, meaning we are now basically into the completion phase of building. We're now probably only a couple of months away from getting the keys. We don't have an anticipated end date yet but given where we're at hopefully we'll start to get an idea over the coming weeks.

VIEW ALL PHOTOS AND MORE AS A SLIDESHOW

View from the front with the plantation cedar along the top


View from the side, the other side looks great in the sunlight, I'll get a shot next time.

Kitchen looking good....

kitchen looking towards dining room on the left and alfresco area

Kitchen with view of walk in pantry, fridge cutout and front door.

Ensuite cabinets and board for mirror. The bottom section will all be tiled right up to underneath the cabinets.


Laundary cabinets installed...we paid a bit extra to get the top cabinets can never go wrong with more storage.
Bath sink installed...same deal here with tiles going up to meet the cabinet. This was an upgrade but we though it would like nice to go with the full tiled shower base compared to laminate.

It looks like they did the best they could to hit the electrical pole back into the wall of the bedroom but it hasn't appeared to budge, it's just dented. Still a bit to go here we'll see how they fix it..and it better be fixed well!The door in and ready for some paint.

VIEW ALL PHOTOS AND MORE AS A SLIDESHOW

We upgraded all of the handles and we also upgraded the ceasarstone benchtop but apparently that waits until the end to go in. All of our doors are upgraded to be taller doors as you can see near the kitchen and we also upgraded the bedroom and pantry doors to be merbau translucent....it cost a bit but was well worth it based on how it looks.

We're wrapped with how it is coming along, there are still a few plaster issues etc but I'll see what the SS says about them this week. We are also planning on getting an inspection later this week.

Day 76 - Plaster Complete

We're about 2 and a half months into building and today our plaster was completed. All of the skirtings are done on the roof and the floor. This week the kitchen is expected to go in whcih means we would have finished the fixing stage by the end of this week and next week we'll be into completion...the final stage.

It is safe to say that things have gone up really quickly, we've been lucky and haven't had any delays with brickies etc. The front has been a little delayed due to someone pinching the cedar for the top of the house which was apparently inside. That's probably still a week or two away.

I had a chat to my SS today and below are the updates.

• Windows that didn't have rubber seals:
  The window eave bricks need to be pulled out, the window fixed and the bricks put back in. Initially I told him this and he said na we'll just put some sealant..then when I said i wanted it replaced he said ok, we'll just put the seal back on. Today he acknowledged everything has to come back out.
  
  
• Bricks Cleaned
  Today the bricks were cleaned....they came up great...I'm really happy with the job they did.
  
  
• Plaster Issues
  From what I can tell we haven't had too many issues but tonight when I was out there I could see some minor defects which will need to be fixed prior to painting, which is meant to begin next week.
  
  
• Doors Delayed
  All of the internal doors have gone in except for the doors in the master bedroom due to a delay in stock. SS said they should be a few weeks away. The rest look great though.
  
  
• Window Packing
  I highly doubt that the windows were packed when they put the trimming on. I'll see if they vibrate when I shut them and perhaps we might need to resolve that issue later on.

We heard that our neighbours have their final inspection on the weekend and they are planning to move in within the next few weeks. They are more than happy to use the fencing company that is doing most of the estate however after talking to the estate design panel they advised me that my neighbours will most likely need to put in some wood panels to hold up the soil between our blocks.

The issue appears to be because they dug out their block that they need to re-inforce it, that's going to be something that we're going to have to talk to them about, let's hope we agree on how to go forward to start off the relationship on the right foot.

The next few weeks should include: cabinets, painting & tiles. I better get onto my inspector to get the fixing stage inspection done asap.

Day 74 - Lock-Up Inspection & Plastering

A lot has been happening the last few weeks. On the 17th July we had our lock-up inspection. Lock-up came up very quickly and at the last minute we booked the in our building inspector, except he was on leave for a few weeks so instead we got his son.

The inspection went very well, there were quite a few items to come out of it, but we'll get to those. There were actually a series of frame issues that were also picked up that our first inspector missed which is a little disappointing.

It might be worth while getting a cup of coffee or tea before reading this MEGA update.

Lock-Up Stage
The list of things that were picked up during the lock-up inspection were:

1. Fit infills above doors and windows where required.
2. Fit infills to raised roof area.
3. Clean bricks.
4. Provide weepholes and flashing under all windows.
5. Brickwork overhangs the slab by approximately 22mm at the Outdoor Area/Dining
6. Room door – maximum overhang allowed is 15mm.
   Articulation joints to the right hand side of the Outdoor Area and north wall of garage are not continuous.
7. Brick lintel above garage front door to be galvanised to match all other lintels.
8. Rubber window sill gaskets are missing to the Sitting Room windows and the brick sills should have a clearance gap.
9. Provide fascia and spouting above retreat window and complete roof cover.
10. Door stud to left hand side of Bathroom door opening is not nailed to the bottom plate.
11. Ensure bath & spa hob tops are flush and continue to window frame.
12. Window and door frames to be installed to manufacturers requirements.
13. Pack studs to wall under opening at Family/Rumpus – both sides.
14. Explain partial roof sarking.
15. Fit stud to left hand side Kitchen bulkhead.
16. Ensure insulation is installed to manufacturers requirements.
17. Provide trimming for plaster south west corner Sitting Room.
18. Ensure all walls are straight, plumb, corners fixed and correctly packed.
19. Ensure adequate bracing to internal wall frames.
20. Ensure floor flashing is complete to both shower bases.
21. Cut out Ensuite toilet door plate.
22. Provide nogs for panel lift garage door.
23. Ensure power points are as plan in Laundry and Bathroom.
24. Replace odd coloured bricks (3), left and right hand side of front door (orange coloured).

As you can see most of these are not an issue. Some of them are things that the building inspectors pick up are just because you're paying them money and the longer the list the better it looks. The first observation that was made was that the bricks were very good, they were very well aligned and he commented how they looked good even though they hadn't been cleaned.

Now for the issues:

You can see the brick below is a litle bit orange, the surface had been scraped away so it had to be replaced. I think the bricky must have thought that this area was rendered so he left it.


These are some bricks in the portico that were also damaged.

These were the bricks by the garage that had some surface damage.

This is the replacement bricks that were put in a few days later. They managed to grab one more brick that was slightly damaged but there isn't much I can do about it. I mentioned it to the SS and he basically said yeah if you look at them all they are all like that...which they aren't.
These are the garage bricks that were replaced.

The waterproof skirting around the bathroom didn't go all the way to the showerbase esentially meaning that it may not be waterproof. This area was fixed, but another one wasn't.

This one below didn't get fixed. The SS said it would be alright, I don't believe him but I will follow up on it this week. Because Metricon passed their frame inspection they said it was fine to proceed to plaster.
This is how they decided to fix it...its better but still a bit dodgy.This bit wasn't even touched. This is the one I'm going to follow up about. It is the cloest point to the shower and Metricon said it would be fine!!!


I can't believe this was missed in the first frame inspection, however it is harder to pick it up without a roof etc. There is a whole stud missing from the kitchen to make it square. This is now fixed.
There should be a rubber seal under the window which is missing from 2 windows. They initially said they would just put some sealant over it but I asked for the windows to be replaced..after all there new.
This was meant to be packed prior to plaster, I don't think it happened.....
All of the beams on the portico are galvanised steel meaning they won't rust. This one above the garage entry wasn't for some reason. My inspector said make them put in galvanised which would have meant pulling all these bricks down. I called the council and the surveying firm that did our building permit and they said it should be alright. What it means is that I'm going to have to keep painting it to ensure it doesn't rust.

The insulation was a little dodgy with whole areas missed.
You can see they thought this area wasn't even worth doing. This has now been fixed.
There was an expansion joint that was missed at the bottom. Initially my SS forgot to tell the brickies to fix it so they'll have to come back to fix this bit. Apparently they just cut off some of the brick at the bottom.

The spa is in as is the pump. This is a dodgy bit of work however there is a cover that goes over the hole in the bricks so we'll see how this turns out.

You can see the window bowing from the weight of not being packed correctly. Getting the windows packed has been a real issue. The manufacturer says they should be nailed at 3 points in the side, ours are nailed at 2, they are also meant to be packed solid, ours aren't packed at all. I was told by the SS that there is a gap after plaster and they will pack them. I know they won't but there isn't much I can do except for keep asking, I can only assume it will happen otherwise they can pull off the window skirting and pack them properly.

There were a couple of braces missing from the frame initally. I ended up getting a copy of the bracing plan. You can see here that they replaced a stud and in doing so cut the brace. I had them replace it prior to plaster and I also confirmed every brace as per the bracing plan to ensure nothing was missed. Apparently Metricon's frame stage is quite strict but still, you're better off checking it yourself to be safe.



Plaster
It took us a couple of weeks to get to plaster after lock-up was meant to be finished. The main reason for this was due to the issues with the frame needing to be resolved. They got all of them except for a few minor issues, but building with a volume builder what do you expect. I trust that 99% of the issues are resolved that we picked up and the rest will be done in due course.

The house has now been rendered at the front as you can see below. This is just the prime coat of render, it isn't the final colours, it will be painted closer to completion.

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As you can see below the plaster is now all in. The skirting boards are going in this week with plaster expected to be finished by the end of the week. The plaster actually looks pretty good, we'll see how the next inspection goes but it seems pretty straight. Most of that I think comes down to the fact our frame was made really well with good timber and it was already quite straight which has been commented on by the 2 building inspectors and also Metricon.

The spa is now also in which is very exciting!!!!!


This is the view looking in from the front door. You can see that you can look straight through to the backyard which I really like.

One of the issues that wasn't resolved before plaster was the electricity box pole that is meant and was leaning into the bedroom. I'm not sure how they will fix this without damaging the plaster but we'll see what they do.

This is the view from the family room looking towards the dining area and backyard.

This is the projection in the bedroom...it's hard to get a full shot of the bedroom it's a little big for the camera without a wide angle lens
I'm guessing that the optic fibre has been installed. I can only trust that this locked box is the ONU where the fibre is terminated.

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It is funny how by writing this blog I realise how much stuff has happened in the last few weeks. Not seeing any progress between bricks finishing and the plaster for 2 weeks I thought nothing was happening but it appears as though things were busier than I thought.

This week hopefully all the cabinets should go in, next week we'll hopefully be painting and based on the estimates I've been given we should be in within about 3 months.

Our next door neighbours appear as though they are basically ready to move in, we got a letter today about the fences. That side of the fence will needs a wall to reinforce it which was included in the quote however I'm not sure how deep they are going to do it given that our soil needs to be built up quite considerably.

We also got a bill from Metricon for removing our rocks, they didn't ask us they took them and charged us about $300 but we were going to keep a couple for the front yard. I still need to work out if I'm going to pay it or argue that they should have told us first.

Hopefully next time it won't be so long between entries.