No More Ponds?

The drains are in, all 4 have been positioned exactly as requested and they have done a neat job. All we need now is a heavy downpour so we can see if they have made a difference and whether we will get big ponds of water despite our efforts to prevent them. The land levels will need adjusting so that they fall towards the drains and perhaps a couple of ag pipes wouldn't go a miss either. The hard landscaping can commence now but we are after another quote first as the one we have does seem very expensive and I'd like to have something to compare it to. Pavers and concrete don't come cheap I know but even so I'd just like to double check first before committing another $15k of our hard earned cash.

Next door the build on the left as we look at our house looks ready for handover, their driveway is done and the temporary fencing is down and they have had their pool shell poured so we will be getting new neighbours very soon. The house on the right has been blue wrapped and their air con is being installed, wonder when the bricks will be delivered?
On the estate several houses have been completed in the last few weeks and now have families living in them plus 2 new builds have commenced. We still love watching the builds and seeing peoples homes take shape. The 2 most popular builders here are Metricon and Plantation Homes so its a nice mix of modern homes, mainly 2 storey houses that sit on the entire block leaving just enough room for a small garden and a titchy pool. Glad we opted for a larger block of land as I love that our garden has lots of run for the boy and his dog to play and go wild.

Drained

The plumber hopefully came yesterday (Friday) and installed the 4 additional land drains as recommended by Metricons building manager. We won't know for definite if its been done until we get home as we are away in Vietnam for our annual pilgrimage/family hoilday to one of our favorite places ever the beautiful town of Hoi An.

Metricon also supplied us with some spare roof tiles but they only had 6 so we have ordered 30 from a local tile supplier along with some ridge capping tiles so if any tiles need replacing over the lifespan of the house we will have some in stock. Boral are reducing their production in Qld hence why they have discontinued the linea tiles perfect timing Boral seeing as we only completed our house 4 months ago! Better we found out now while we could still get hold of some rather than in a few years time when stocks had been exhausted.

As for the solar we are waiting for Energex to do their bit now that all the paperwork has been completed which could take up to 40 days. My mom has had her 1.5Kw system for a year now and has accrued a nice amount of credit and it looks like her system will take around 2 years to pay for itself. Lets hope ours will have the same productivity.

Our next project will be to get the hard landscaping finished, get a shed and commence our vegetable garden - assuming the drainage issues have been sorted that is.....

Metricon Listens!

When I arrived home Friday afternoon there were two guys installing a sediment barrier between next door's build site and our fence. How is that for service? I contacted Metricon via email the previous morning about the drainage issues and the silt/mud run off from the lot and viola they put the sediment barrier up the very next day. I spoke with the guys and they told me they were only putting along the left side (which is ours) as they had been told to come and do it urgently. So its not all bad news and lack of service out of Ms head office in Qld. I can't help but wonder though if they'd have been as quick getting on to it had I not just completed building with them?
Lets see what happens once the plumber has been out and given them his report regarding the drains!

Great weekend, we've just bought a new car (a Peugeot 3008) and it looks like I have found a new staff member to join my team. Awesome

Drainage Dramas

We had a 30 minute heavy downpour Wednesday afternoon which lead to us being flooded again. To add to this we now have silt and mud washing off the metricon block next door which blocked one of our piddly surface drains so we had almost knee deep water around the side of the garage, Why they have not put up an erosion barrier along the side of the fence I don't know as our other neighbour at the rear had mud all over their outdoor room from the wash of as well.
I have raised the issue with M to be emailed that a plumber will come and have a look. I replied asking what's a plumber going to do? as the issue here is a lack of drainage and not a blocked pipe. We need someone to explain why we only have 3 surface drains and why they have been placed around the garage and no where else on the block so I have asked for someone higher up. If I get no joy I will have to call the CM we had for the build or see if I can actually speak to someone with more authority.
We're a bit peed off now with having to pump water, clean up mud, replace washed away mulch and empty mud from next door from the drain.
Come on M lets sort this out please before the integrity of our new house gets compromised.