Hi all,
Handover happened as planned on Friday the 6th at Midday – plenty of dramas happened in the next week, but we have now finally got in properly and started making some real progress towards unpacking. Here are a couple of photos, the place still looks like a bit of a bomb site while everything finds it’s place… but a couple of the rooms we made an effort to get set up.
Here you go!
Well – PCI completed this morning, it went very well I think.
Went through and picked up all the bits that needs to be touched up etc and a few items which we had identified already. The bank valuer arrived whilst we were there, so that is good – but unfortunately we failed the Certificate of Occupancy inspection due to brick overhanging the slab a bit too much (25mm instead of the max 15mm), so they will fix that and hopefully we can get it on Monday to send to the bank.
Handover if everything goes well should be Friday the 6th he reckons. Woo!
Hi guys,
Well, today marks the big day… and by big day I mean the day that was ‘supposed’ to be the last possible day to handover. So Porter Davis are now paying us damages for each day we wait.
The house is completely done apart from the bathtub (and a few tiny electrical items to be pointed out at PCI). So the Certificate of Occupancy inspection cant take place till the tub is installed, and our bank wont do the final valuation till they have the certificate. its a domino effect which is now blowing out our handover date till mid June.
Not happy. We just cant believe that PD are holding everything up over something as standard as a bathtub. But all we can do is sit and wait now. Super hard to try and rent out a house we are living in at the same time as planning a move, when we don’t even have a date to pick the moving truck!
PCI is next week so we will give another update then…
Sorry for the delayed post Guys, The past week and a bit has been fantastic. But unfortunately its been hard to get good progress shots of the house because its normally dark when we visit. So, Without further adieu…
On Monday we had the electricians start, They cant work at the same time as other trades so are yet to finish, but we expect it to all be completed next week. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, all of our floor coverings were done. Bolero and Carpet – They look awesome and out colour scheme is finally all fitting together :). We also had the plumbing start on Tuesday, So sinks and mixers are in, We are just waiting on the bathtub, butlers pantry sink and main bathroom shower head now. On Friday we had the site leveled and cleaned up a bit (just the loo and fence needs to be taken away now), The brickwork caulked, Shower screens installed, and the sparkies worked for a bit too.
So whats left? Just a little bit to finish up for the electricians and plumbers, Mirrors, Wardrobe fit outs,front door painted and some touch ups(tiling, concrete, paint). No really. That’s all.
On a “not related to the build but still related to our new home note” This week we purchased a letterbox so we are ready come moving day, Our theatre curtain arrived, so I got to have a sticky beak at Eureka Curtains & Blinds (Highly recommend them if you are in the area!), We just spent half the day dog proofing the yard. Only half finished, but exhaustion took over and we will go back next Saturday to finish up….
So now its time for the important part…. PHOTOS! 🙂 *Note, the colours are a bit lighter in person than our dodgy iPhone pics on a cloudy Ballarat day….
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Hi all,
It’s been a pretty good week after the slowness of the last month, we have a new SS and it appears they are now trying to get the build finished.
So we went up to the house Today to have a look and luckily (or unluckily) the front door was unlocked, so in we went to have a look at the progress.
The tiling has all been completed and grouted (finally), the garage door to our surprise has also been put on, along with all the door furniture, door stops, handles, weather seals etc. It really is starting to look like a finished house.
We did have an update from our SS last week about the timeline of things. The tiler was supposed to be finished yesterday, but it must have taken him a bit longer than first thought – ‘end of this week’ (not sure if Thursday or Friday) the plumbers will be coming in to do their fit off (now the tiles are done there is nothing stopping them!), Monday the Electricians start to do their fit off, then apparently Tuesday the flooring starts going in! (I assume only the Bolero, I doubt they will be doing carpet yet…)
So exciting to finally see some progress after literally months of very little being done.
There are a couple of things which we aren’t too happy about in regards to the tiles.
First one is the tiler has been smoking in our brand new freshly painted house and leaving his cigarette butts all over the place. I could smell it this afternoon when we went in and it really pisses me off – extremely rude.
Second one is I am not sure I am very happy with the quality of the tiles. Some don’t line up, some have enormous gaps around joins, and some are just clearly not the same level as the one next to it. We tiled our bathroom in our current house with no experience, and I can honestly say it appears our DIY effort is on the same level as this guy in some parts of his work, not quite sure what we can do about it either… I can’t see them wanting to rip up the tiles are redo them willingly.
Third problem with the tiles is the fact that he obviously has not looked at the plan very carefully. He has made 2 fairly obvious mistakes which I guess we will need to raise with the SS. In the plan our Laundry splashback is supposed to wrap around the corner onto the wall which the external door is on – he has only done it on the back wall. Also, in our plan the splashback tiles in the pantry were not supposed to go the entire length of the wall, but they have been done that way (I’m not really worried about the pantry).
I can see this causing headaches and delays having to get him to come back and fix it. I wonder when he comes back and the flooring has been done if he will have a few fags and put them out on our carpet for us?
Apart from those couple of gripes, pretty happy with how they look – if anything I would probably like the grout to be a little lighter… but hopefully when the floors are in (which are dark) the tiles will look a bit lighter in contrast. I especially like the tiles in the ensuite, I think they look great and making them the full height of the wall in the shower really looks good.
Garage door yet to be installed, down pipes, front door, posts and infill yet to be painted (all jasper)
Hi all,
Time for an update… If I haven’t mentioned it already, we have a new SS! Yes, a Third SS! So hopefully he does a better job than the last one…. And note, none of the anger within this post is directed at the new guy!
Yesterday, marking a full week after the tiles were supposed to be finished and still no sign of the tiler returning, we got very frustrated.
Our final contracted date is only 3.5 weeks away, we paid our fixing invoice over 6 weeks ago and so are paying two mortgages with no end in sight (That’s 90% of our build paid for now, plus the full land and our current house). The $250 weekly allowance for the build going overtime does not come close to the amount of mortgage we are paying.
Not to mention spending a quarter of a million dollars with a company, we expect a bit more customer service than we have been given. A weekly call or email. A response from our contacts within 24 hours, not 3 days (or 3 weeks) later.
So we emailed and expressed our disappointment and asked for a date. We received an apologetic reply (same day though!) with a PCI date… The PCI date is a week past our final contract date, meaning handover will be 2 weeks late. So mixed feelings here, happy to have an answer finally, frustrated that it is late. If we were informed throughout the build process of all these delays, we probably would have been more understanding.
Another issue, our alfresco concrete has always been really crappy. The edges all broken, surface not level, discoloured, and a few hairline cracks. We have brought this up with the first two SS who advised they would look into it. Brought it up with SS number 3 to be told that it is only structural concrete, which needs to be decked or tiled, as it is not made to be a finished surface like most concrete alfrescos are. As such, if we don’t cover the concrete, within 5 years it will look terrible.
We checked the contract and it says structural concrete. But throughout the sales, tender, contract process, through a BC and two SS’s this is the first we have been told of it. When you build a house with a floorplan incorporating a concreted under roof alfresco, you assume it’s normal concrete, a finished product that you can enjoy straight away- not a basis for an alfresco. So I am very angry about this, but unfortunately can’t do anything. The contract is clear, just no one thought to explain the difference to us throughout the process. Great.
Upside to this post, we drove past today and the render had been painted. And obviously the PCI date. But it’s hard to be upbeat about it when you’re paying $700 a week to live in a crappy house while our new house sits there with no one working on it.
Over it 😦
Hi all,
Quick update whilst I am on my lunch break… Tiling began yesterday, all the floor tiles have been laid which is awesome.. no grout yet obviously or skirting tiles…. Here is a terrible picture due to there being no light (damn daylight savings!)
Will hopefully be able to get a better picture Tonight, and perhaps the splashback/shower/bath tiles will be started.
Oh – the electrician was also there and put all the heating vents in! So hopefully tonight we will have powerpoints or lights… or both!
Well last week was huge week at the house, thankfully as we have had a month of basically nothing done!
The painting has all been finished inside… They will need to come back and obviously touch up a few areas. Also none of the exterior painting has started and the garage still needs to be finished. But the inside is done which is the priority and should allow other trades to get to work.
On Thursday the stone bench tops went in, woohoo! In the pictures they look a look darker… and they appear to be a peachy cream colour… they are actually Crystal Chalk I believe which is white… I guess they just aren’t as white as the cabinets. I think once the tiles go in and the rustic coffee bolero go in, they will seem a bit whiter – just too many light colours around at the moment to tell properly with the concrete floor.
We are meeting the tiler on site at 7:30 Monday to confirm exactly how we want them laid. They have waterproofed all the wet areas and should be ready to get into it straight away! Excited to see them laid, but we are also a bit worried they are too dark (the splashback, shower tiles 300×100 that is) will have to wait and see :S
It also appears that the electrician has started, we haven’t been told he was due to come yet so that is great, hopefully he will be there all next week putting powerpoints and lights in! On Friday it appears that he terminated all of the network points back to the NBN box and terminated the power into the NBN box.
Last week (or the week before) the render on the front of the house was done, and our fencing has all been completed (as well as our gate down the side), it looks great and it’s awesome to finally see what it is like with fences around the place! Unfortunately it has rained for a week straight in Ballarat so we haven’t been able to run around in the mud bowl back/side yards yet, but will get some photos when it is dry.
Here are a bunch of pictures!
Hi all,
Have not updated for a while due to not much progress on site… Appears that things are well under way now with the painters being on site for the last week and a bit…. Here are a couple of photos, They should be finished mid next week apparently, the tilers are then booked in for the 14th – I believe we need to meet them on site to confirm our exact requirements before they start.
We are well and truly not ahead of schedule anymore – so really hoping that we will be in by mid May. Fingers crossed. The balance of our fencing has begun too and we should have that finished on Tuesday or Wednesday I assume, will show pics then!
Building in Ballarat 