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.

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).

Enclosed Stage Done!

It's a bittersweet moment when you finally see the bricks finished (especially when you know the house inside is so far ahead) as you know you are getting closer to moving in yet you receive an invoice for an amount that's almost as much as your first ever mortgage! Worse thing is, because the house is so far progressed on the inside, the fixing stage is just around the corner. Once that happens it's only the practical completion invoice (plus variations) remaining.

The scaffold has returned now that the bricks have finished. Yesterday saw the soffits on the verandah being completed with all the other overhangs having the boards ready to put into place - most likely Monday after the 'flood'!

Today sees the return of the rain. The predictions are that this April will be the wettest in Brisbane's history and yet this is only the second day of rain for the month. It last rained on April 1 and on that day we saw flooding as well. I am just thankful that all the bricks have been laid and that the house is fine no matter how much it stomps down. The only problem will be all of the rubbish that is uncaged washing down hill in the rain.

Here are the latest photos of the house, enjoy!

Brickies earning their wage by having enclose the front verandah.

Cyclone ratings mean it cannot be attached to outside of bricks.

I'm happy - it looks much better this way!

\

Side view of bedroom windows looking from back to front of house.

 Back wall leading on to the verandah all bricked!

 Scaff is back!

 The front with the verandah frame bricked-in. 

Different colour bricks as this face will be rendered.

 Garage overhang almost complete - the bricks around the garage will be rendered as well.

 The whopping big A/C unit!

The A/C ducts.

The A/C Return.

The A/C control panel!

(Okay, I'm a little excited to have A/C again - it's been a long 4 years!)

 My wine display cabinet (almost finished). 

 The over bench pendants.

 The solar power 'box' in the garage. Unfortunately it has been placed directly in line with hallway.

So if garage door is open, it can be seen from inside house.  

 The laundry cabinetry fully extended at last.

 Wasn't too sure what this was for - then I worked it out!

 It's the template for our curve in the portico.

 The front from portico to garage.

 The front from portico to master bedroom.

Who'd want to be a Tiler!

Late on Tuesday 31 March, Donna received a call from the tiler saying he'd be there tiling the next day and he would like to meet us on site prior to starting - can you be there by 7:30am? Lucky we live on site is all I can say. The tiler really didn't have a clue which tiles were going where, I had to go and get the tile plans from the file to explain the layout to him. (NOTE - whilst our tile choices are fairly straight forward, it was April 2013 when we made the selections and in all honesty, we just expected the tiler to have the same information as us!).

Anyway, he started Wednesday, worked Thursday, off Good Friday & Easter Saturday, worked a full day Easter Sunday, off again Monday and then worked Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday. Friday the painters were in, but the tiler still isn't finished yet!

Some of the areas that haven't been finished are due to cabinetry having to be replaced (laundry cupboards/benches should run the length of the wall) and running out of tiles (powder room tiles were also used as a feature in the main bathroom). He will also have to come back as there are tiles in the Ensuite that are about 1-2mm out around a corner - it's right at eye height and I have seen it, so it will have to be fixed!

Thursday afternoon saw the painters come in and tape everything up! We hadn't really taken tile updates each day as firstly it was always very late (and therefore dark) when we walked through and also because we were just waiting for them to be finished. Unfortunately now, they are all under plastic sheets and therefore cannot be seen.

Also on Friday, our caesarstone benchtops and basins/sinks were installed. Really happy with the colours and the styles we have selected - so far so good in that department! Our island bench in the kitchen is supposed to have gabled caesarstone ends, however it was installed with only one end gabled - this too will have to be fixed!

Painters were in and out on Friday doing their first coats and getting rid of the 'Disco Walls'. They will obviously be back on Monday to do the cutting in and possibly the finishing painting - certainly much faster that the tilers (lol).

BIG NEWS!! Hopefully the brickies arrive tomorrow!! They have set us back twice now, so it will be good to have the brick moved into place for Monday and for them to start to laying the bricks as well (fingers crossed)! If so, we will finally have an outside that looks as completed as the inside does!

The first two pictures below are from NearMaps - they usually update every couple of weeks (at worst), however this is the first update since November last year! Look closely and you can see all the bricks!

March 19 2015

November 23 2014

 

 Powder Room (Pre Paint)

 Main Bathroom (Pre Paint)

Main Bathroom (Pre Paint) 

 Undermount Sink in Kitchen

 Kitchen (Pre Paint)

 Garage (Pre Paint) - This is the best example of what the girls called 'Disco Walls'

 Garage (Post Paint) 

 Pantry (Post Paint)

 Master Bedroom (Post Paint)

 Main Bathroom (Post Paint)

 Powder Room (Post Paint)

 Home Theatre (Post Paint)

 Home Theatre (Post Paint) - the doors have been taken out to paint.

 Our double vanity in the Ensuite