New House & New Career

In other news, I have taken a leap of faith and have 'stepped out' of Education and have decided to try my hand at Mortgage Broking. Over the last month, I have completed a Diploma of Finance & Mortgage Broking and gained accreditation with all of Aussie's lenders and as of tomorrow, I can start my new career!

For those who know me, this is something that I have always had a passion for and where possible, I have assisted friends, family and colleagues through the home buying process. Having purchased numerous properties myself, I feel I have a deep understanding of the ways to help those also trying to enter the property market - either for the first time or fiftieth!

In recent weeks, I have seen my the total visits of my blog exceed 16000 - this is amazing and certainly makes me happy to think people are visiting and hopefully getting some benefit from the information I have been posting.

I have set up a Facebook page for client updates. I also have a Twitter account and a LinkedIn profile. If you know of anyone who needs home loan help, please contact me through anyone of these channels!

Handover is in sight - But still so much to do!

TUESDAY 14 JULY - It's booked in and it's happening (I hope).

As the title to this blog suggests, I have a fairly lengthy list of jobs not finished yet, not to mention my own jobs like getting the driveway cut, retained and sealed (just waiting on council approval to get rid of a tree in the middle of the proposed driveway).

At our Practical Completion Inspection, the house was still full of rubbish and dust, many of the defects that had been raised throughout the project had not been touched from the major (such as the dishwasher not being installed and the front door still not being completely sealed - you can still see the blue house wrap above the front door) through to the minor such as paint touch ups, screw holes in plaster board, handles on some cupboards and pendant lights not quite level.

On Thursday last week my patience ran out when I was informed that the brick in-fills over the back stacker door were not being done even though they had knocked out all of the bricks to lower the steel only to put bricks back at the same level. Further to my frustration, the deck (done separately by an awesome builder) had been thoroughly stained by careless workers. In contacting Metricon I was told that the Construction Manager would come and see me the next day. After meeting with him, I have at least some comfort in knowing that (hopefully) things are going to be done by Handover. Fingers crossed!

To qualify my rant above - we are very happy with the work done by Metricon as a whole - the house is amazing, it is everything that we had planned and then some! It has just been frustrating (as I am sure it is for most people building a house) watching next to nothing happening only to see one job get done and then the next tradesperson come in and wreck someone else's work with their carelessness. But again, all of that will seem trivial once we move in as (I'm sure) all will be forgotten!

Here are some of the latest photos, most of the deck.



Our Ensuite now with Mirror!

 The start of the deck.

Start of deck.

Looking good!

This will be a great place to be in Summer.

From the other side!

 Bringing the outside in!

 View from inside 

 Inside panorama.

 Outside panorama

 Deck with hand rails (minus balustrade)

 This bit over to the side was a last second add on - I'm so glad we included it!

 Our amazing deck!

 What a view off the back!

 

Deck & Practical Completion Inspection

UPDATE:
Our deck has now started - it wasn't meant to start until after handover, however due to the fact that Metricon cannot issue a certificate of occupancy without the deck (due to the drop off), they have now changed their mind! Based on the update today, the deck should be finished by next Friday (26 June).

I booked a Practical Completion Inspection with our new Site Supervisor for the Monday afterwards (29 June). As the SS has already gone through with me an addressed most of the 'niggling' issues we had, it should hopefully be a fairly painless process and should only mean a few more days after that for handover.

Hopefully they will also allow us to get started on the driveway, otherwise after handover, we'll have to wait another two weeks before we can move in.

So close but still so far!

I haven't really updated lately due to the limited amount of work getting done. We lost contact with our Site Supervisor for just over a week only to hear from his manager that we would have a new Site Supervisor contacting us soon. We have now met with him as he embarks on the task of finding out what still needs attention as well as tending to those parts of the house that need fixing/tinkering.

Since the last post there have been some changes - the roof is on the front verandah, the water tank and hot water system are in, the gutters have been attached and the splashbacks have been installed. You will also see in the photos that the water treatment lines have been installed (to that we needed to get rid of some little regrowth trees).

Hopefully some time in the two weeks our deck will commence. It should take three weeks to complete and hopefully this will coincide with Metricon having everything else done. All that will remain then will be to get a driveway cut and then move all of our belongings the 100 metres from one house to the other - which despite what everyone thinks, will still be just as annoying as a 'normal' move.

Below are some updated photos.

 

The Water Tank

DANGER!

 Render is done!

 Render and verandah battens.

 The excavator prepping the disposal site.

 More 'digger' shots 

More danger!

The finished product - Now I just need to turf it!

 The front façade with verandah!

 A look to the left.

 And a look to the right.

 The master window.

  Bricks look better now that they have been cleaned!

 The 'double' downpipes!

The 'thing' on the roof!

Side view of the 'almost' finished product!

 The hot water system - Yay!

SIDE NOTE - our current system does not even last long enough for a two minute shower - this is by far the most exciting part of the move!

The Kitchen - now with splashbacks!

 More Kitchen.

 More Kitchen!

A Quick Update

Just a quick update as the main work done to the house over the last 2 weeks has been mostly invisible. In fact, there are days when there is someone here all day and that afternoon there looks to be nothing done at all!

Since the last entry they have had the cleaners come through, installed the water tank, laid concrete at the front of the entrance, added flyscreens, finally put the laundry bench top on, laid the insulation in the roof and done a lot of fix ups.

Until the rain today we were looking at the last of our HSTP (fancy new name for the septic tank equivalent) however, it may be too boggy for that. The deck has gone to a private certifier and the driveway plan has been discussed and 'roughly' mapped out. All of our major purchases (bed, sofa, fridge, etc) have been ordered and will hopefully be ready in about 5 weeks when handover is due.

I will get some photos up soon.

Fixing Stage - Check, Timber & Carpet - Check, Final Invoice - Check

Things are moving very, very fast now! As expected, the invoice for the Fixing Stage did come soon after the enclosed stage - the next day in fact! In the week from then to now, we have also received a letter letting us know that the end is only a few weeks away and that we need to start to look at ordering the final bank cheque.

To that end, the deck has been arranged, the driveway has been tentatively mapped out (without the driveway earthworks we wont be able to drive into the house!) and key furniture - bed, sofa, etc - has been ordered.

In the last week we have seen the render started to the front, some of the external electrical work started and most importantly, the carpet and the timber floors laid. We were quite apprehensive about the floor selection as it has been over two years since it was chosen and we couldn't quite remember what we picked and why. We were just hoping that our choices back then still reflect our tastes now. Thankfully, we are still very much loving the choices we made!

Here are the latest pics.

The fans and down lights under the back verandah.

 Side light - the soffits still need painting.

 The rendered bedroom window.

 Another view of the bedroom window.

 Finally, the home theatre is coming together.

 Another view of the home theatre.

A view from the opening of the master through the formal lounge.

 Kitchen with the floor.

Kitchen and dining room.

 Dining room and family room.

 Master Bedroom.

 

 Walk In Robe.

 From the Master down the hall - Study on the right.

 Chloe's Bedroom. 

 Bethany's Room.

 Guest Bedroom.

 Toilet (ahead), Bathroom (left) & Broom Closet (right).