Nearly There?

18 weeks have passed by since the build started with the site scrape and it has flashed by in a blur of concrete, steel, plaster, timber, cables, pipes, bricks and tiles.

Things are slowly coming to an end, the balustrade on the balcony is in place and the air conditioning unit has been installed. We were trying to think what else needs to be completed before our home is finished and this is what we came up with:

• carpets
• appliances in the kitchen
• driveway and concrete path to portico
• stain the stairs
• little bits of painting
• robe doors
• fix minor hiccups
• and let me see can I think of anything more ...... no I can't

No way, is that really all that is left to do before the final inspection and handover, surely we have forgotten something? No it actually looks like this house will be finished in a few weeks (or may be less than that who knows?) now we are starting to get a tiny bit excited, yes!

Balcony With Silver Balustrade

Air Conditioning Unit (This Is The "Ugly" Working Side of The House)

Over Bench Lighting In Kitchen

We have had a stressful few days with the SS verbally fighting with the pool builders. It got very heated and quite nasty and I had to tell everyone to pull their heads in and try to get them to reach a compromise but sadly because tempers had become so heated everyone was digging their heals in and refusing to budge. In the end I had to call the construction manager who eventually calmed things down and got the situation rectified. I never knew temporary pool fencing would cause so much mayhem. I tell you they are worse than kids. However, we are determined not to let a moody SS spoil it for us. But had this happened earlier in the build I would be approaching Metricon regarding a change of site supervisor as I don't appreciate dealing with someone who is dismissive and aggressively defensive and then tries to bully people in to doing everything his way. It is interesting that when you ask him about something his answer is always a sharp "that's standard" I think I'll ask him if he'd like that as his middle name! Yes it has been irritating but Sandy and I are very calm people and can see the funny side of it but when people are threatening to walk off the job and rip up your concrete because a pool fence is too close to the house you know that it's time to say enough is enough. We are supposed to be having a site meeting on Friday so have decided that each time we point out something that needs changing we will be a little tongue in cheek and simply ask "erm is that standard?".

We have had a native plant gardener come and look at the nature covenant, he is going to pull out all the weeds and spray to prevent them coming back, then plant around 40 lovely native shrubs and mulch the entire 250 sqm with a thick carpet of forest mulch. The fencing contractor is also coming out to do a proper measure up and help us decide on the finished designs. We will need to decide where we are having garden beds and turf then get the grass people out for a quote as well. What else will we need to think about - the gas supply, window treatments, mail box, house number, landscaping etc etc etc. What fun!

We would like an independent inspection before handover, can anyone recommend a certifier in the Brisbane area?

Bench Tops, Tiles and Photos

The cladding work has been at a stand still, don't know where they are or why they aren't on our job they packed up and left lunch time Friday and haven't been seen since. Positive - not at lock up stage until the cladding is done so the money gets to stay in the bank longer. Negative - the scaffolding stays up longer and excavation work for the pool gets delayed again. I know it will get done eventually but I find it difficult to comprehend why they start something and don't finish it when it only looks like there is a days work left to get it completed. I know they get scheduled to do other jobs and can't be in two places at once but still....hang on oh let me do a double take what's that up on the scaffolding......could it be...yes it is it's the cladding team.

And well pardon me for thinking nothing had been happening on site. Inside is a very different story... the chippie has finished all the skirting and architraves and put shelves in the wardrobes, linen cupboard and butler's pantry. The floors have been cleaned (to a degree anyway), the floor and wall tiles have been delivered and are now taking up most of the garage and the team from a marble and granite company were there installing the Cesarstone bench tops. They were in the middle of doing the island bench for the kitchen when we arrived but had already finished the bench tops for the bathroom vanities and the rest of the kitchen.

Yummy they look beautiful and very luxurious. We went for a colour called ice snow which as the name suggests is mainly white, but it has small off white to grey flecks in it which goes really well with the cupboard colours and hopefully the tiles we picked from the standard range. As the bench tops were part of the promo package we only had 5 colours to choose from but luckily we really liked this one.


The tilers have started the wet areas today, the rest of the flooring will not be done until after painting which will be starting in a bout a week. The doors for the study have been delivered and installed, we went for a fixed glass panel and a big slider with translucent glass, really smiko (no photos yet sorry). And our SS said we can keep the bricks, we just need to put a note on them saying "leave for owner" and move them out the way. Hmm that's going to be fun just the two of us and a wheel barrow through the mud.

Update:- yes you wont believe your eyes but our house should be finished in about 9 yes 9 that's nine count them 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 weeks!!!!!! No way 9 weeks plus 13 weeks (already gone) makes 24 weeks wow that is one speedy build. Better start repacking our things... We were given that information straight from the horses mouth the construction manager (CM) was on site and that was what he told us.

By the way we asked him if he knew why the builds in Vic and NSW take so long and he told us that the CMs from up here had gone down to find out why and to try and rectify the situation so that things can be sorted out. I know that doesn't help you guys who have had 40+ week builds but it looks like Metricon realise that there is a huge problem down south and have sent the Queensland boys to show them how its done. Might make a difference to those of you just starting out, it will be interesting to see if things improve.

Photo time:

Cladding In Progress

Gas Lift Cabinet

Miles of Tiles

Butler's Pantry Bench Top and Sink

Shelving in Butler's Pantry

Yummy Kitchen Bench Top

Vanity With Caeserstone

Sinks

Manhole and Architraves

Cladding and Flashing Over Garage

Hollywood Robe Master Bedroom (we don't have this many clothes!!!)

Capping on Balcony

Linen Cupboard Shelves

Island Bench Awaiting Waterfall Edges

Lots Of Activity

While we've been away it has rained a lot but the tradies have been busy on site doing lots of little things and completing tasks that were already underway. There were about 8 blokes working away at the house when we went in on Monday. So what progress did we see?

The kitchen installation continues
The cabinets have handles on
Doors have been hung (some not all)
We have door handles and locks on the exterior doors (our son wants his keys now!)
The floor prep has been done for the bathrooms
Laundry sink is in
Holes for lights, switches and other electrics have been made
Architraves are being cut and fit
The brick work is finished
A new kicker has been made for the ensuite vanity
Ensuite vanity has been moved (amusing photo to follow)

The tiling should start soon however the last we heard the tiles are not in the country yet so no guaranteed timeline can be given on that one.
Its looking good and really starting to come together as a house and not just a build now.

Front Door Handle

Rear Garage Door Hardware

Translucent Glass Door to Powder Room

Butler's Pantry Left Kitchen Right With Cavity Slider Middle (No Doors Yet)

Laundry Sink, Laminex Seal Bench Top

Island Bench With Space For Dishwasher

Close Up of Door Handles

Island Bench From Another Angle Note Silver Kicker

Bathroom Floor Prep

The Balcony

More of the Balcony

Cut Out For Light (This One Is Patch) In Wrong Place

Look They've Repositioned The Vanity!!!!!