Thursday, April 16, 2009

well last night we went to the house and the bath has been pulled out, and thats about it, the tiles are still all there.

WE have finally got our letter regrading the practical completion inspection (which happened on the 31st March) so this letter was really pointless as it also said that handover will be the 20th April.

Apparently the plastering painintg and tiling will all be done next week ready for final inspection next friday arvo and then handover the following monday or tuesday...not holding my breath there is a whole house to repaint as well as outside as well, and we will not be taking possesion until everything is done at least on the inside...font want tradies coming in and out once we are living there

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

THE BRICKS

THE BRICK ISSUE EXPLAINED
The main hold up has been the bricks which is still not completely rectified. When the bricks were put up in November, a noticeable variance in color was detected on the side wall of the meals area. Boral checked it out and authorized for the wall to be pulled down and replaced. Only problem was while waiting for Boral to check the wall, the brickies continued and did the wall around the sliding door and the wall next to this one in the alfresco wrong color as well. We bought this up and it has taken up until last month for someone to acknowledge that they were infact different and for these bricks to finally be replaced.

But before they replaced them Boral suggested a procedure to make the bricks blend in (the right bricks had a paler line through and the wrong ones didn’t- but the wrong bricks were also very brown and the right bricks had a red tinge). So paint was put on the wrong bricks (and many of the correct bricks) and it looked liked a five year old had been playing with a paint brush, it was ridiculous.
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This all happened at the end of February.
Then we were told that the paint couldn’t come off, so more walls had to be replaced, the rear wall of the family room and the one next to it which is the side of the bedroom which was done mid march along with the walls of wrong bricks being replaced

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Our SS didn’t want to have to pull down the pillars which they had painted on or any more walls (under the windows in the ensuite and lounge room) so he called a graffiti removalist who suggested paint stripper, which worked. So they could have saved so much running around and stress and money by either not using this paint in the first place or by investigating removal options earlier. I dont understand why anyone would see this painting as acceptable.
After almost 5 months finally it is sorted and all the while we were holding off making our fix payment.


Along with this, almost every thing that has been done has had to be redone at least once as it was incorrectly done- such as mirrors, position of vanities, basins, tiling, bath placement, windows, the list goes on.

Lets hope it all happens soon

MARCH

MONTH SEVEN
MARCH


19th March Inside has been cleaned up and it is all looking good although it is now quite messy again, but the brick issue was still continuing.
kitchen
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kitchen

Outside was cleaned up after many complaints from the neighbours- the mess was terrible and embarrassing. (you can see some of it in previous photos)


site has been cleaned up


side and backyard, all cleaned up

20th March Carpet is in (vintage leather)


carpet in... 20th March




On 31st March we had our PC inspection with many painting and wall alignment issues, as well as a couple of other things such as the bath and spout not aligning, and it is all all connected up.

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Since the PC inspection very little has been done, none of the walls or paint issues have been touched, neither has the bath, which is also not centered. There are also doors which have been damaged and need replacing. All that seems to have been done is the realignment of cupboard doors in the kitchen and a power point has been replaced. Outside also still needs painting- including alfresco, entry porch render and above all windows and doors and the front door. I don’t think our handover will be next week as we were told before Easter. One thing we defiantly recommend is having an independent inspector through your home.

We continue to wait for work to be done and for contact from the SS ans CSC, which surprises me now that we are 5 weeks into the “they pay us” period

FEBRUARY

MONTH SIX
FEBRUARY
5th February- bath tiling and laundry tiling – Lucindo bianco gloss white 250x330-- (this bath tiling has been redone once and now needs to be redone again…15th April)
bath tiles


tiles in laundry


Lights are in also (thanks to the tradies who often leave doors unlocked, we have been able to get lots of progress photos)

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bedroom lights and lovely light shades

By 19th February- toilets showers and mirrors are in

shower has been tilesd and taps are done

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this toilet wasnt connected up and had no water in it but some tradie decided to use it anyway



25th February- yikes it is supposed to be purple- it took our SS two-three weeks to tell us this was an undercoat. It still remains today (15th April) and we have been told the purple (FEVER) gets painted on- not happy we thought the purple was render not paint. Otherwise why could we not just choose any paint color rather than the selection at Hopetoun?


render...25th feb 2009

January

MONTH FIVE
JANUARY


20th January 2009- floor tiling has begun (BANUR EARTH 450x450)
This was also something that we changed in our plan- we put tiles in front hallway and rear hallway instead of carpet.

tiling has begun

tiling 19th january


29th January splashback is in- ocean trapeze is the color- the hardest decision of the whole color selection stage for us, but we are wrapped with the color

splashback is in

31st January- garage door is in- beacuse we made the gargae wider the door had to be wider but is defiantley worth the extra cost

garage door closed

DECEMBER

MONTH FOUR

2nd December window frames skirts archs and doors underway

more architrave and a little bit of skirting board

window frame

its all coming together now

window frame


19th December- painter done for round one and bench top is in (quantum quartz- Ice)
Paint is new soft blush for walls and chalkdust on archs skirts and window frames and doors

kitchen

benchtop is on....16th December

painting in the bedroom


painting is done on walls, roof, window frames.....just skirts to go

painting in bedroom



24th December rendering has been started (now its time for the Christmas break)

rendering is underway




At this point our SS was predicting a late February early march handover date

NOVEMBER

MONTH THREE
NOVEMBER

6th November most of the plaster has been hung, bricks are still going, some walls were done with the wrong color bricks so a wall was pulled down and redone, but two walls were not redone at this time, in fact it wasn’t until march that they were finally pulled down and redone.

family room

veiw of kithen and front hallway from back window

master bedroom veiw two



22nd November - bricks are sort of finished and cabinets have arrived
front of house
side wall finished

24th November -vanities are ebony macassar in color for both bench top and cabinets in bathrooms and bench top in laundry is Peruvian clay to blend in with floor tiles

bathroom- the benchtop is actually the same color as the cupboard

laundry

basins are right now



26th November- kitchen is in- espresso under cupboards and moleskin overhead cupboards
kitchen cupboards- with MDF benchtop!!!!

OCTOBER

MONTH TWO
OCTOBER
By October 1st the roof trusses and windows were in. The color of the windows is paperbark October 10th the sisilation is up and gutters and fascias are done. The gutters are woodland grey and fascias are paperbark. The plumbing also began. October 16th- the Gunmetal Grey roof tiles were done in a day. October 30th- Bricking begins with Boral Brown Terrain bricks.















































CONSTRUCTION BEGINS

MONTH ONE
September 2008


It all began in September while we were on holidays, on September 21st we found that preperation had begun on the block. The slab was poured September 25th and the framing had begun September 26th.The frame was done by September 29th.