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.

Sparkies and Spaghetti

Phew it's mad down on site can't turn your back for a second. The sparkies are back. There are electrical wires being run everywhere, it looks like we have a spaghetti house. Sandy managed to persuade the electrician to lower the power points in the garage even though he had already run and trimmed the wires, so this meant he had to re do them. Apparently they put them up high (1200mm) because they think you are going to have a work bench or hose the garage floor, at first he said he'd only lower them to 500mm so we could hose. Now I have had a garage for the last 10 years and have never had the urge to hose it once (we have also had water restrictions remember). Sandy explained she sweeps the floor and wants the sockets at standard 300mm - after all it is our house so in the end the electrician agreed. Good job!

The ducting and tubing for the air conditioning is also being installed at the same time so its all go at our place today.

The SS called to give me a progress report and introduce himself as we hadn't spoken with each other yet. After a little chat I mentioned about the the bi folds and he agreed they were installed backwards but indicated that no they would not be flush to the tiles like we had been told at our colour selections. I explained to him that is what we wanted, what we had paid for and how they appear in the display homes. He informed me that the ones in the display homes have several more coats of lacquer on to protect them and he wasn't sure if he dropped them down that they would meet quality assurance. I explained we want what we have paid for and if these means we need to have more coats to protect the wood then so be it. As we have the QA on Monday he is going to check then and get back to me. I also asked if he'd seen the mismatched glass in the bathroom window which he reassured me was no problem, the manufacturers sometimes run out and put in what they have so the windows can be on site in time. It will be changed later.

Some detective work is in order to see if the frames for bi-folds do actually sit flush to the tiles or not so Sandy has driven over to Underwood to take photos, measurements and ask questions with our CSC Greg (a top bloke by the way) who helped us through contract and prebuild. And yes you've guessed it they are totally flush! So if they can do it there we want it on our house - no silly toe stubbing raised bits please.
Does anyone out there have know if it can be done or have bi folds where the tiling or carpet is flush to the frame?

San and Revi - I see you have had your site scrape done. Fantastic.

The other Metricon houses on site will be a soho, a trentham, 2 newhavens and possibly a lindrum next door to us but we don't think it will fit as it is too long. Thanks to Greg for letting us know.

Next: The bricks and gyprock will be delivered tomorrow and the Quality Assessment inspection (QA) will be happening on Monday.

Air Con or Alien

Extractor Vent?

Surprise Surprise

The bi-fold doors have arrived and been installed along with the windows. No mentioned that  so how exciting to see them in all their glory it makes the kitchen/family rooms look amazing. Oh Oh hang on a minute..they have put them on opening inwards when we specifically want them opening to the outside walls so as to look neat and not cover the picture window that we paid mega bucks to have installed. That'll be a call to the new SS for certain. I am also concerned that they have set the bi fold frames too high from floor level. We have paid extra to have them recessed into the slab so that there is no lip or step up from the tiles to the frame which you can stub your toes on and the way they have been hung looks like we will end up with a lip unless our tiles have suddenly doubled in thickness!
The other windows look great .....erm except one. Now can you tell me what kind of person assembles a sliding window with satin lite glass in one half and stippled glass in the fixed half? Err what? That will need altering. But who lets it go from the manufacturers when it is obviously wrong.
We have a couple of minor issues with first fix electrics, looks like one power point is missing and another is too high. The sparkies have been missing in action for sometime so we are hoping this was just an over site but seeing as we need to speak to the SS will be make sure to mention it to him.

Now I have my issues off my chest I can stand back and admire how lovely the windows look and how they frame the views from each room. Enjoy the pictures.

Bi Folds

Kitchen and Dining Room

Looking At Kitchen Laundry and Upstairs Bedrooms

Bi Folds From Outside

Looking In To Family Room and Study

Front - Balcony Doors Yet To Go In

Windows In

I'm at work so haven't actually seen it for myself (no photos for you yet) but the windows have been installed and the back door for the garage is in. Wow they really don't hang around do they, once something is on site it gets installed. That's good though as it means things don't get damaged or stolen. Sandy tells me the house looks excellent so hopefully I'll have chance for a quick look see tomorrow lunchtime so I can check it out for myself and take some photos.

News flash: we have been allocated a new Site Supervisor! From reading other Metricon build blogs this appears to be quite a growing trend and we're hoping that we don't have a whole series of different SS's for our build. Apparently it is because Metricon are now building so many homes here they have endeavoured to give their SS's build close together so they don't have to rush from one side of Brisbane to another to keep an eye on things, which makes sense. Let's hope the new guy is as nice and as organised as the previous one.

The house is progressing beautifully and the whole family is very excited ...... the bricks arrive next week. Yippeeee.

Doors Plus No Fuss

No action on site today but we have had an unexpected delivery ....... the windows, sliding doors, master suite balcony doors and some cavity slider door frames have arrived. Initially we had thought to pick black frames as the colour choice here in Qld was quite limited, no fancy colorbond range for us oh no just black, silver/aluminium, white, a creamy colour and a golden brown which is neither gold nor brown (confused?). Any way when choosing the window frames we had only considered what it would look like from the outside of the house next to the bricks and not what it would look like from inside next to off white walls. Once we had stopped to think about this for a nano second we came to the conclusion that the black would be too much of a contrast inside and could end up looking very heavy so instead went for the silver aluminium. If we had the colorbond range our first choice would have been dune to match with the rest of the external colour scheme.
Now that we have seen the windows made up the silver colour looks alright but it's hard to tell exactly what they will look like until they are installed and the build is further along. Fingers crossed that we made the right choice. The windows including the master suite balcony doors on the front elevation of the house have grey tinted glass as this aspect of the house looks like it will catch the hot afternoon summer sun as it is almost west facing. The other windows are just clear and for the bathrooms and powder room we have a contemporary obscured, translucent privacy glass called satin lite with a pattern made up of very fine lines (an upgrade) rather than the standard dots pattern.

Cavity Sliding Doors (To Be Stained) and Rear Garage Door

Downstairs Windows and Laundry Sliding Door

Upstairs Windows and Balcony French Doors

Kitchen Splash Back Window

The ground floor roof sections on the garage and outdoor room have been tiled and first fix continues slowly.

First Fix Powder Room

Dishwasher and Sink This Will Be In The Island Bench

Bathroom Double Vanity Area

Garage Tiled

Grand Outdoor Room With Tiles