Glad Wrap

The painters were on site yesterday getting everything prepped to start painting which means they have wrapped and taped the windows, bathrooms, kitchen and stairs in plastic prior to spray painting which starts today.
They reckon it will take them a week to complete all the painting , no way!!!! it would take me a week just to the laundry.
It will then be approximately 7 weeks until all is finished...I know I can't believe it either.

Plastic Sheets On Windows

Not The Sort Of Window Dressing I Had In Mind

Stairs Wearing A Very Fetching Drop Sheet and Plastic Bag Ensemble

Laundry Protected

Finished Shelving In Butler's Pantry

The scaffolding has been removed from site, concreting is actually next week and the works for the pool is penciled in for the 29th Sept (it may be sooner if they can move us forward). We have handed in the necessary paperwork to the bank so they can pay for fixed stage, the guys at St George have been brilliant thanks Paul and Brian for being so efficient and explaining things in terms we understand. That means the next payment will be for PCI/handover da da dah. I know we will need buildings insurance etc in place prior to the bank handing over the cash and they will also need to do an inspection/valuation of their own before its all official. Sandy is super organised when it comes to that sort of thing so I know she will have evrything in place when the time comes.
Here's looking forward to a move date in November.

Ready for Paint

Late afternoon yesterday we had a quick drive by of the house to survey what has been done. For us it's no longer the block as so much has been completed and it's beginning to feel like our home. We were locked out so had to make do with looking through the windows, try it it gives you a whole new perspective of your build...... like isn't our family room/kitchen/dining area enormous! And wow those doors look incredible etc etc.

Anyway.....The cladding is finished and the painter has only the front section on the balcony left to paint. The paint colour is dune to match the garage door and goes beautifully (or so we think) against the bricks and the roof tiles. But when are the bricks getting cleaned and the scaffolding coming down? [We want to get construction on the pool commenced and can't until the scaffolding has been moved].
Inside more doors have been stained and hung and the wet area tiles have been grouted. Which means that is must be time to start painting the interior. My understanding is that painting will take approximately 6 weeks to complete. I  think I may have that totally wrong and it may mean that there or around 6 weeks or so until the house is complete hmm I think the SS said that once painting starts its only 6 or 7 weeks until the finish date. Do I sound confused? Moving along....
So it's painting next and afterwards comes the floor tiles, carpets, lights etc etc. Followed by practical completion inspection (PCI) and then handover. We are psychologically preparing ourselves to be moving house in November.

Will have to delay posting photos as they weren't very good through the dust and dirty glass.

Enclosed Stage

The build has officially reached enclosed stage (even though the cladding isn't completed) and now it's time to pay a significant amount of money to Metricon. The enclosed stage works out at around one third of build cost from memory and a quick calculation with my grasp of basic maths. That's 35% of build cost for those of you who don't like fractions.
This is the first time we have to get the bank involved as they need to pay a small contribution to cover this bill. Luckily the guys at St George have been awesome so we feel very confident that all will go to plan. Sadly it means out personal funds are now gone and our bank balance no longer looks very healthy - time to try and start saving again as there will be so much to buy and pay for post build.

The next stage to be completed is fixing stage which will be another 20% of build price and somehow that doesn't seem far off.

Tile-rrific

The tilers are continuing with the floor to ceiling tiles today in the wet areas which includes the showers and sides and edges around the bath. I'm really liking are tile choices, I think the bathrooms look smart and cozy all at the same time and I can't wait to be in there having a long soak in my bath with my essential oils and candles. We only have a shower at our apartment and it really doesn't do it for me. The tilers have also done the floor on the balcony area of the master bedroom, they are a similar colour to the wall tiles in the bathrooms. As I was checking things over I noticed a couple of tiles had slipped so I was teasing them about the joins not been straight in the bathroom so one of them came and pushed them back into line for us. They were only a couple of millimeters out but he agreed they needed to be perfect - nice guys, very professional and good fun.

The plasterer was in Saturday morning (and boy was he grumpy!!) finishing under the stairs and taking the cornices in the bathrooms off. Unfortunately he did the ones in the toilets too and the tiles are only a skirting in those so he'll have to come back and put up some new ones! I couldn't see any sign of a door for under the stairs will have to check that with the SS again.

The timber doors and bi folds are being stained mahogany and the painter will start painting for real tomorrow. The timber looks quite striking now it is more of a contrast against the white walls.

We asked the SS if we could have another row or two of tiles for the butler's pantry and he said if there are enough  tiles on site he will get the boys to do it. There was an extra pack of tiles in the garage and a few more had been stacked on the bench in the pantry so I think they will have enough to do that for us. Excellent.

So what is left to do?
Exterior cladding to complete
Downpipes
Water tank
Hot water system
Air con
Painting
Electrics
Baths and showers plus screens and taps
Toilets
Tiling and carpets
Appliances
Concrete for drive and paths 
and I think that is it...... oh my goodness it's going to be finished before we know it.!!!

Doors Stained

Under Stairs Boarded - Where's The Door?

Tiles in Bathroom Shower - Recess Will Be In The Dark Tile Too

Smart Tile Drain In Shower

Bath Surround Tiled

Balcony Tiles

In Close Up

Ensuite Tiles - Are You Sure They Are Straight? Teasing!

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

11 Weeks Since Build Started

Its 11 weeks since we started the actual build process and from site scrape until now so much has happened.

Slab
Frame
First Fix Electrics and Plumbing
Roof Tiled
Windows
Front Door
Bi Fold Doors
Wrap
Bricks
Gyprock
Plastering
Cornices
Stairs
First Floor Bricks
Wet Areas Waterproofed 
Doors  and ...................
Cabinets

Now you can pause for breath! What is there left to do:

Finish Cabinets
Caeserstone Bench Tops
Sinks
Baths
Showers
Appliances
Architraves
More Doors
Tiling of Floors and Bathrooms
Carpets
Electrics
Air Conditioner
Plumbing
Painting
Concrete

Oh and we have to do the pool, fencing and landscaping.
Feels like we are about a third to almost halfway through now. Initial guesstimate from the SS is that the build would take around 25 weeks, I though he was mad at first now I'm actually thinking he may have been right.
Bets that we move in November anyone?

One More Sleep

Can't believe the build starts tomorrow 208 days or almost 7 months after buying the land at auction. I will need to change my widget to start counting how long from build start to handover and make a build label for future posts.
Optimistically would like to be in by the end of this year but realistically think it will be more likely early next year. We haven't received an estimated time frame yet, perhaps when we meet with the SS tomorrow he will give us some indication of how long the build is expected to take.
Building has started on the block one over from ours (not next door), they have had site scrape, pipes and electrical box installed. Not sure who they are building with or if it is single or double storey. It will be interesting keeping an eye on progress and watching all the other builds start and take shape. I hope to be able to pop by at lunch time tomorrow and then again after work to see what has happened and of course take loads of photographs.

Due Date Count Down

Like expectant parents we are counting down the days to our due date of 2nd June, the date of our build start. Apparently we will get a call from the site supervisor (SS) before then so we can have a site meeting and introduce ourselves. Only 10 days to go - oh and we still don't have a Metricon board yet.

Start Delayed?

Got a call from the bank yesterday explaining that our application is still with the credit department as they only received our land and property valuations last Friday (over a week after the valuer had actually been out!). Fortunately it looks like all the numbers stack up but after the last fiasco we had with the bank when we remortgaged the investment property to buy the block of land I am not holding my breath until the official papers are ready to sign. Our mortgage manager said he can organise a letter for the CSC at Metricon giving authority to commence construction which is great. Spoke with our CSC about start date of this Friday 13th to be told oh nothing will happen for at least a couple of weeks after that as we have to book your job in, place orders and organise trades. Oh so apparently they don't put the wheels in motion until they know for definite you are able to pay. Fair enough but it's slightly disappointing - nobody on our land release has started their builds yet and we were sort of hoping to be the first. I guess seeing as we haven't even paid the balance of the deposit yet we have done well to get this far as to date we have only paid $5k out of the $20+k they required.
So it's time to stop rushing, no more worrying about the clock ticking, go back to waiting and accept that we will be squashed into the apartment for at least a month longer than we thought.

The Clock is Ticking

From waiting to rushing

It is 2 weeks until our tentative start date and the time seems to be getting away from us. We are waiting for the bank to finalise our construction loan, the valuer came out on Thursday to value the land and our investment property so fingers crossed that all went well. Once the loan is agreed just need to sign the papers and send the information to Metricon.

Also trying to get everything organised with our pool builder. Apparently unlike when we had a pool done before it is up to us to organise temporary fencing and removal of soil. Not sure when the pool excavation will start so its a bit hard to book anything at this date. Tiny bit frustrated that this has ended up being our responsibilty.

And to top it all off the solar hot water at our apartment is stuffed. Its ok if the sun is out as the panels still work but we have had rain rain and more rain with heavy cloud cover so all we have is cold water as the electrical booster is broken. Have beed advised to replace the whole system as the tank is so old it has rusted out and is leaking. Had a guy out to give us a quote but he was so pushy it completely turned me off! Now I have to get someone else out and continue taking a sponge bath/shower with hot water from the kettle. Funny (not)

Pre-Build Timeline & Progress Payments

Here's a rough idea of how long the overall build process for a double storey is likely to take and when Metricon will want some of your hard earned cash.

• So you've decided to go ahead with your build pay $1500 deposit then wait around 10 weeks while they do soil and site tests
• Prelim Contract pay another $1000
• 4 weeks to Final Contract (FC)
• Minimum 10-12 weeks until Site Start
• At this stage you should get a commitment from M as to how long they expect build to take - anywhere between 20-26 weeks or more

Progress Payments

• FC 5%
• Base Stage 10%
• Frame Stage 15%
• Enclosed Stage 35%
• Fixing Stage 20%
• Practical Completion 15%