Sorted and Piled Up

Wow, moving house is exhausting. We have unpacked and sorted through our belongings and now have a pile of things to throw away (the skip is coming today!) a pile of things that we are giving away and another pile for items that we will be selling on e-bay. It's a big task but one that is very satisfying once completed. The only problem now is I don't really know where anything is other than the kettle and the tea bags! (not quite but it feels that way).

I have just been watching the sunrise through the bi-fold doors, everyone else is still asleep and its moments like this that make a house a home.
The local wildlife has been making us feel welcome, we have a small flock of ducks who come over to eat the grass for breakfast and dinner and we also had a crazy hare (yes hare) come charging through our garden, only to hit the fence, turn around and charge off the way he had come in. What fun.

So the skip is coming today, the pavers and coping for around the pool should be arriving in a day or two and we are getting a quote to seal the driveway.
The native plant covenant now has lots of little new native plants in and has been mulched, yes we have some greenery. The Metricon board has also been removed along with the erosion barrier so now from the front it looks like a home and not a building site at last, shame we can't say the same about the back gardens! We are getting a quote for some grass and trying to come up with some ideas on landscaping and plants and may be even a deck with pergola off our outdoor room (as if our out door area wasn't already big enough!).

The fly screens in the family room are now in and we spoke to the air con people and apparently it is such a powerful system that it has to have excess air flow in to one big zone otherwise the motor will blow up under its own force. Ok then if that's the case so be it. And she said something about being able to control the system via SMS from our mobile phones - well that's news to me! She is e-mailing us information on how it works. Neat eh? Coming home on a hot day I can phone ahead and put the air con on before I get in. Awesome.
Now I just need to work out how to do it!

Driveway Poured

The driveway is now concrete and needs time to harden before it can be used. Nice team who did the job well and asked us to check the position of the mark out and talked about how we wanted things shaped before finishing off the formwork.

There were a few tradies on site fixing things up so now we have a white infill at the end of the white kitchen cabinets, completed carpets and a few other odds and ends sorted out. Sadly we got a "no way are we changing the diamond laid tiles in the showers". Hmm I guess we have to just suck that one up but I will be writing to Metricon to point out how disappointed we are with that and that we feel the displays etc are misleading and there should be a discussion at tile studio about not always being able to straight lay tiles in the shower areas. I feel it is best just to move on rather than keep pressing my point and possibly delay progress. I don't even do showers so I don't know why I'm so bothered as I won't even see the tiles when I'm relaxing in the bath! (Ha ha).

Here's some photos of our driveway in concrete (it will be nice when I can show pictures of grass and plants and soft landscaping too)

Front Path

Portico Area

Drive - The Team In Action

Portico - Again

The Left Side of Portico and House

Path From Drive To Front Door - Either Plants or Water Feature To Go In Garden Bed Area

The Drive Being Poured

Entrance Way and Side Path

Here's some shots of inside for you:

Air Con Control Panel

Study Carpet

Master Bedroom Carpet

Bedroom One Carpet and Inspection Hatch

Leisure Room With Our Son Running Around In Circles (He Did This In Every Room With Carpet!)

The Kitchen Infill (Very End at Right) Is Now White

 And now some shots of the finished driveway:

Ta Da! It Looks Beautifull

Ready For Your Close Up Miss Bushfire Exposed Aggregate?

Oh by the way we got the refund amount for the temporary fencing....$1950.00 well worth chasing that one up as now we can probably stretch to a new sofa for the family room!

Driveway

The form work for the driveway, paths and portico area have been completed ready for concrete today. We have gone for an exposed aggregate in a colour called bushfire which has blacks browns and greys through it so hopefully it will look good against the brickwork.

The fly screens have been fitted, the carpet layers have finished and now the end is so close I think there are only the kitchen appliances left to do.

Formwork and Steels For Drive

The drive has worked out really well and has ended up wider than it was drawn on the plans so we are really happy with the shape of it and it should make it nice and easy for getting the cars in and out of the garage. Eventually there will be a gate next to the front of the garage with a side fence to close the back garden off.

 





Drive Front Path and Portico Area



Fly Screens Fitted

Sliding Fly Screen Door on Laundry

Powder Room Window Fly Screened

Portico Area - We Have Left A Garden Bed Either Side

Side Path For Gas Bottles and Bins

I am yet to hear back about whether they will reconsider about how the tiles are laid in the shower areas so will chasing that up again today. I sound like a stuck record but it has become a matter of principle as if we want to make amendments a variation has to be drawn up, signed and paid for but if the builders want to change something they just do it without even asking you. The problem: builders love building houses but they don't like building them for people! On another note though we have had a result not only did we get the refund on the pot drawers that couldn't be accommodated we also got after much pushing and asking several times are refund on the temporary site fencing which was never supplied. Score! So for all of you who are building if it says in your site fees provide X amount of lineal meters of temporary fencing which you never got you can ask for a refund. (San and Revi I would be straight on to that if I were you, every dollar counts!).

Concrete today and then I'm not sure what happens next.

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?

Photo Journal Part 5

Pool Concrete Starts

Yay, Concrete Trucks and Pumps

Steel Work and Rio For Outdoor Room

Outdoor Room Pre Concrete

Pool - A Work In Progress

Pool Poured

Pool and Paver Area

Outside Light On Portico - We Also Have These On Garage and Balcony

That Flashing Is Really Ugly - Another One To Speak to The SS About!

Connection For Gas Bottles

Outside Light On Rear of Garage - We Have The Same Out The Laundry Also

Wrong! There Should Be No Lock/Pull This Is Supposed to Have Back To Back Handles Like The Front Door

Fans and Lights Outdoors

Dining Area Light

Couldn't Resist Another One of the Pool

You Can't See It From This View But There Is A Strip of Wood That Needs To Be Removed From This Door

We Have Concrete Floors

One Grand Outdoor Room - This Will Be Paved In light Grey Granite

Photo Journal Part 4

Power Points Et Al

Light Switches - Clipsal Slim

Down Lights

Outdoor Room Ceiling Fan and Lights

Family Room Celing Fan and Air Con Outlet

Photo Journal Part 3

Sill Tiled

Neat Job

Please can You Move This Pipe To The Right Our Pool Fencing Is Meant to Go Here

Pool Layout Commences

Dig Dig Dig Dig Digging A Hole

Its Getting Bigger

Pool Excavation

Pool Ready For Steels and Concrete

Outdoor Room Prep For Concrete

Outdoor Room Levelled