Tuesday, 12 August 2014
The Last Month
Handover was done on a Friday morning with the house still not complete. The remaining items were going to be completed that day or the next...yeah...like that happened. Three weeks later and the balcony was finally complete. We still have a brick clean to go. But at least we are in the house.
Tuesday, 5 August 2014
Quick Update
WE ARE FINALLY IN!
We have been in our home for about 5 weeks now. Why no updates? Because internet took forever to get! Will be posting pictures soon! Loving the house but still having to deal with the builder to get a few things sorted left over from PCI.
We have been in our home for about 5 weeks now. Why no updates? Because internet took forever to get! Will be posting pictures soon! Loving the house but still having to deal with the builder to get a few things sorted left over from PCI.
Monday, 30 June 2014
PCI
We had the official PCI on Friday. Still quite a few things to be completed but they are definitely working hard (for once).
Here are some tips for a PCI:
1. Take a few people along: I took my parents along, partly for an extra set of eyes (we all look for different things) and partly to help distract the Site Supervisor so that my partner and I could really look at things or privately discuss things whennecessary. You could see our Site Supervisor trying to keep an eye on us all and struggling. He tried to palm off quite a few things but its hard to tell multiple people they are wrong!
2. Take your plans along: I am sure good Site Supervisors take copies but take yours in case they don't and to make sure you can easily check anything you want.
3. Check everything! Even if the supervisor says it is not necessary do it anyway. Question all the things you find, even tiny marks etc.
4. Take your own notes: Write everything you find down and compare it to the list the Site Supervisor writes down. You don't want them to miss something (accidental or otherwise).
Hopefully we get to move in this weekend. The bank, however, may hold us up. They say it takes 2-7 days for the inspector to come out and then for the payment to be arranged. We lodged the claim with 6 days to go. If we had done it any earlier the house probably would have failed the inspection.
Carpets were also successfully installed and the Site Supervisor also came through on fixing the Power Point trip hazard in the floor. It is now a pop up one that sits flush with the floor. YAH!
Cross your fingers for us!!
Here are some tips for a PCI:
1. Take a few people along: I took my parents along, partly for an extra set of eyes (we all look for different things) and partly to help distract the Site Supervisor so that my partner and I could really look at things or privately discuss things whennecessary. You could see our Site Supervisor trying to keep an eye on us all and struggling. He tried to palm off quite a few things but its hard to tell multiple people they are wrong!
2. Take your plans along: I am sure good Site Supervisors take copies but take yours in case they don't and to make sure you can easily check anything you want.
3. Check everything! Even if the supervisor says it is not necessary do it anyway. Question all the things you find, even tiny marks etc.
4. Take your own notes: Write everything you find down and compare it to the list the Site Supervisor writes down. You don't want them to miss something (accidental or otherwise).
Hopefully we get to move in this weekend. The bank, however, may hold us up. They say it takes 2-7 days for the inspector to come out and then for the payment to be arranged. We lodged the claim with 6 days to go. If we had done it any earlier the house probably would have failed the inspection.
Carpets were also successfully installed and the Site Supervisor also came through on fixing the Power Point trip hazard in the floor. It is now a pop up one that sits flush with the floor. YAH!
Cross your fingers for us!!
Entertainment room with sunken day bed. You can just make out the power point towards the bottom left of the screen. The carpet looks funny because it needs a vacuum.
My bath spout is in.Not the best ever but at least it's in the middle of the bath.
Balcony tiling is done. Not a huge fan of the tiles but because it was for outside and had to be non slip there wasn't much of a selection.
Kids bathroom lookds very posh, this picture does not do it justice.
Saturday, 21 June 2014
Busy Busy Busy
So...we are still not in the house :-(
We have been so busy over the last month and a half. Our little girl takes up a lot of time and then we have also got the carpets and tiles sorted to go in. These were booked for what was meant to be after handover but the builder is letting us still get them put on the dates. We have also had more and more trouble with our builder including my bathroom bath tapes (yes still!), shower heads, tiles, communication issues etc.Not worth going into all the details.
We had a pre PCI yesterday....basically what you would do for a PCI without us signing off on it, so they can address any problems and (hopefully) have them fixed by the 6th of July. This is the date the general manager of the business says it will be finished. If not they will be paying for any bills I can come up with for rent, hotel fees (as this is when we have told our landlord we will be out of our current house), storage fees etc.I still cannot believe how incompetent our builders are at scheduling and communication. It is ridiculous!
The pre PCI went okay, I took my parents along and they provided frequent distraction so that my husband and I didn't have the site manager on top of us the whole time. We found numerous things that need fixing but nothing too extreme. Many times the site manager tried to deter me from checking up on things but I am so glad I took out the plans and contract (Nope, he didn't bring a copy) and did check. For example I was 90% sure we had planned holes through our laundry cupboards to allow for the connection of washing machine dryer and powerpoint to the tapes and powerpoints hidden in the cupboard. He tried to tell me that they didn't do that etc and boy did I love proving him wrong when I showed that it was in the plans.
On a good front here is my beautiful staircase that has the balustrade fully installed and looks amazing!
We have been so busy over the last month and a half. Our little girl takes up a lot of time and then we have also got the carpets and tiles sorted to go in. These were booked for what was meant to be after handover but the builder is letting us still get them put on the dates. We have also had more and more trouble with our builder including my bathroom bath tapes (yes still!), shower heads, tiles, communication issues etc.Not worth going into all the details.
We had a pre PCI yesterday....basically what you would do for a PCI without us signing off on it, so they can address any problems and (hopefully) have them fixed by the 6th of July. This is the date the general manager of the business says it will be finished. If not they will be paying for any bills I can come up with for rent, hotel fees (as this is when we have told our landlord we will be out of our current house), storage fees etc.I still cannot believe how incompetent our builders are at scheduling and communication. It is ridiculous!
The pre PCI went okay, I took my parents along and they provided frequent distraction so that my husband and I didn't have the site manager on top of us the whole time. We found numerous things that need fixing but nothing too extreme. Many times the site manager tried to deter me from checking up on things but I am so glad I took out the plans and contract (Nope, he didn't bring a copy) and did check. For example I was 90% sure we had planned holes through our laundry cupboards to allow for the connection of washing machine dryer and powerpoint to the tapes and powerpoints hidden in the cupboard. He tried to tell me that they didn't do that etc and boy did I love proving him wrong when I showed that it was in the plans.
On a good front here is my beautiful staircase that has the balustrade fully installed and looks amazing!
Sunday, 25 May 2014
Introducing....
Well, the house was originally meant to be finished before she arrived but we had known for a long time that was not going to happen.
Unlike our house she arrived almost 2 weeks earlier.... Introducing Aria Rose. Born 20th May 2014 at 6:46 weighing 2.85kg
Unlike our house she arrived almost 2 weeks earlier.... Introducing Aria Rose. Born 20th May 2014 at 6:46 weighing 2.85kg
Monday, 5 May 2014
Slow and Steady...
I swear the tilers have slowed down! They didn't have as much completed as I thought they would based on how much they had previously done (when they laid the wrong tiles)
It is looking good though.
It is looking good though.
The render is fully painted....in two different colours... The top looks like the right colour but the bottom half looks way too purple.
Our Essa Stone kitchen benches are in and look fantastic. However the tilers have been using it as a workspace. They better not scratch it.
Friday, 25 April 2014
What else would you expect?
Jake and I went out to the block yesterday hoping the tradies would be there so we could get in and see the tiling that should have been mostly completed.
The house was open, but no tradies around.....at least if anything gets stolen we don't have to pay for it.
I walked into the laundry and for 2 seconds I was really happy to see tiling in there but it was quickly ruined when I realised it was the wrong tile! Jake got straight on the phone to our builder and I checked the other bathrooms. Two others were wrong with all the tiles having been laid but no grout.
For once I was able to just laugh it off. There's no way the builders can charge us for it so its just another costly mistake for them. Apparently tiling wasn't meant to be started until after the tiling meeting where we check the tiles - which doesn't make sense because we were only going to be contacted for a meeting this week to book for next week and tiling was on the agenda to be done the last 2 weeks....
Just after we arrived back home (a 25 minute journey) we got a phone call from out site manager asking us to come out for the tiling meeting...... Jake said yes because he wanted everything sorted out quickly.
they blamed it on the tile supply company delivering the wrong ones but due to the other ones being laid the tiler said they probably wouldn't take them back for a swap. The tilers came back on site straight away to rip up the tiles while the glue was still wet. They are in all weekend for tiling but the right tiles for the wrongly completed areas can't be delivered till Monday so we are probably looking at a few days delay.
The site manager said its usually 8 weeks after tiling is completed that you have the PCI and then handover 2 weeks later but this is a month longer then what the general manager told us to expect so we figure he's trying to give himself wiggle room.
Other mistakes this week include the plumbing for the bathroom spout and mixer have been put in the wrong place....again, missing cabinetry in the laundry and a shelf that is now too small due to other changes that has to be bricked in. Completed on site this week was the varnish to the front doors, grano to the garage and all ceilings and cornices done. The best thing was that I got to try out my bath and its fantastic! I had to buy it blind as none of the retailers where we lived had it in their showrooms.
The house was open, but no tradies around.....at least if anything gets stolen we don't have to pay for it.
I walked into the laundry and for 2 seconds I was really happy to see tiling in there but it was quickly ruined when I realised it was the wrong tile! Jake got straight on the phone to our builder and I checked the other bathrooms. Two others were wrong with all the tiles having been laid but no grout.
For once I was able to just laugh it off. There's no way the builders can charge us for it so its just another costly mistake for them. Apparently tiling wasn't meant to be started until after the tiling meeting where we check the tiles - which doesn't make sense because we were only going to be contacted for a meeting this week to book for next week and tiling was on the agenda to be done the last 2 weeks....
Just after we arrived back home (a 25 minute journey) we got a phone call from out site manager asking us to come out for the tiling meeting...... Jake said yes because he wanted everything sorted out quickly.
they blamed it on the tile supply company delivering the wrong ones but due to the other ones being laid the tiler said they probably wouldn't take them back for a swap. The tilers came back on site straight away to rip up the tiles while the glue was still wet. They are in all weekend for tiling but the right tiles for the wrongly completed areas can't be delivered till Monday so we are probably looking at a few days delay.
The site manager said its usually 8 weeks after tiling is completed that you have the PCI and then handover 2 weeks later but this is a month longer then what the general manager told us to expect so we figure he's trying to give himself wiggle room.
Other mistakes this week include the plumbing for the bathroom spout and mixer have been put in the wrong place....again, missing cabinetry in the laundry and a shelf that is now too small due to other changes that has to be bricked in. Completed on site this week was the varnish to the front doors, grano to the garage and all ceilings and cornices done. The best thing was that I got to try out my bath and its fantastic! I had to buy it blind as none of the retailers where we lived had it in their showrooms.
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