The painter has been and do the first coat to cover up the touch ups to the damaged plastering as part of the service and maintenance. The plumber is still to come out and hopefully the painter will be back to do the second coat as the walls are quite patchy.
Our electrician has been and put heater lights in both bathrooms which we are really enjoying now that Brisbane is having a mini cold snap. Look in know you guys down south don't think that 1 degree overnight is that cold but for us in is like being in the Antarctic.
Much excitement this week as the cubby house and shed are going to put together and the soil and chook poop is coming for the raised vegetable beds. The garden is almost complete. Scored a great 12v electrical ride on car on EBay for my son so I guess he'll be out driving around or in his cubby from now on - oh the peace and quiet - erm hang on his going to have the coolest play area ever and that means all the kids in the estate are going to want to hang out here too!
The cabinet maker has been out to measure up and quote for some entertainment units and storage and thankfully the price was less than anticipated so there should be just enough left in the budget to get this made up. Oh no that means we have to choose finishes and colours again. It will be worth it and I will most definitely post photos once its all done.
We are getting towards the end of our post build phase so I think this blog will naturally be reaching its conclusion soon, however I must say I have really enjoyed doing my posts and its great to look back at progress. Hard to believe that where there are now houses was bushland and empty fields less than a year ago.
Showing posts with label Service and Maintenance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Service and Maintenance. Show all posts
Monday, May 28, 2012
Friday, May 18, 2012
Touch Ups
The painter will be coming on Monday to do some touch ups and repaint the wall by the stairs which had to be reskimmed due it it having some pretty poor plastering finishes, namely big gouges and dents that looked like someone had hit the wall with their suitcase, then dragged it down the whole flight of stairs and just to top it off went back and randomly hit it the gyprock with a nail over and over. It'll be good to get that done as it looks quite messy at present.
We are still waiting to hear from the plumber to sort out the lack of flush toilet and then all our service and maintenance issue will be complete - oh that's if we ignore the retaining wall between us and next door which wont be done until their build is nearer completion.
More houses are being started on our little 36 lots estate with a couple of new site scrapes and some swimming pool holes being done. As for who is building with who it looks like the score is now Merticon 12 Plantation Homes 8 McCarthy 3 Others 5.
We got our first proper electricity bill this week for approx $550 for the quarter Jan - Apr.thankfully we got $85 credit from our solar so this brought the bill down to $465. Now seeing as we haven't had to pay any bills on a big for almost 12 months we can't remember if this seems average, reasonable or expensive... any comments?
We are still waiting to hear from the plumber to sort out the lack of flush toilet and then all our service and maintenance issue will be complete - oh that's if we ignore the retaining wall between us and next door which wont be done until their build is nearer completion.
More houses are being started on our little 36 lots estate with a couple of new site scrapes and some swimming pool holes being done. As for who is building with who it looks like the score is now Merticon 12 Plantation Homes 8 McCarthy 3 Others 5.
We got our first proper electricity bill this week for approx $550 for the quarter Jan - Apr.thankfully we got $85 credit from our solar so this brought the bill down to $465. Now seeing as we haven't had to pay any bills on a big for almost 12 months we can't remember if this seems average, reasonable or expensive... any comments?
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Service and Maintenance Visit
The nice man from the service and maintenance dept came to pay a visit yesterday with our list of minor issues in hand. We expected he'd just have a look then organise the tradies to come out to do what was needed but much to our surprise he attended to all the jobs himself right there and then! He had everything he needed in his van and was very helpful pointing things out and explaining why we were having issues with things like sliding doors sticking and so on. How's that for service?
The only outstanding work now is that the painters need to come to attend to some touch ups and totally repaint the wall going up the stairs which had such a poor plaster finish that it has almost had to be completely reskimmed as it was full of gouges and dents. Oh and the plumber has to come out to see why the main WC toilet doesn't flush completely. So for a score out of 10 we give service and maintenance a 9 so far. Well done Metricon Qld!
The only outstanding work now is that the painters need to come to attend to some touch ups and totally repaint the wall going up the stairs which had such a poor plaster finish that it has almost had to be completely reskimmed as it was full of gouges and dents. Oh and the plumber has to come out to see why the main WC toilet doesn't flush completely. So for a score out of 10 we give service and maintenance a 9 so far. Well done Metricon Qld!
Monday, May 7, 2012
Finally A Washing Line
Well it's only taken 6 months but finally we have installed a washing line in the yard outside the laundry door. Yippee, no more having to dry clothes in batches on the airer, using the tumble drier or carting loads of laundry up to the business and hanging out on the line there. It feels like we have put our final stamp on the house to say yes we actually have moved in and really live here!
The Service team from Metricon are coming to visit on Friday to have a look at the jobs that need attention. I have no idea if they plan to do them on the day or if they are just inspecting as when they called they did ask whether we had any spare paint. They have followed up fairly swiftly as the deadline for having the paperwork in was the 4th.
We've been having a few cold mornings (well cold for Brisbane) recently and I am loving how due to the aspect of the house that as the morning sun comes up it streams right into the outdoor room and through the bi-folds to warm the kitchen and family rooms. Perfect. It also means that you can sit outdoors and toast yourself in the sun whilst a cup of tea and reading a good book. I love it!
Lovely long weekend in Brisbane with perfect glorious sunny days. We have spent time hanging out together, walking the dog, playing at the local park, having BBQs, relaxing in the outdoor room, basking in the sun and enjoying my new car.
Yes we have broken all the new home owner rules and bought cars, had overseas holidays and spent money that could have gone to paying our mortgage down. BUT... as I pointed out to the accountant we are in our early 40's not 80's and we want to enjoy life and have some FUN. There's time to concentrate on the mortgage now that we have those things out the way.
I will be updating photos in a new post soon
The Service team from Metricon are coming to visit on Friday to have a look at the jobs that need attention. I have no idea if they plan to do them on the day or if they are just inspecting as when they called they did ask whether we had any spare paint. They have followed up fairly swiftly as the deadline for having the paperwork in was the 4th.
We've been having a few cold mornings (well cold for Brisbane) recently and I am loving how due to the aspect of the house that as the morning sun comes up it streams right into the outdoor room and through the bi-folds to warm the kitchen and family rooms. Perfect. It also means that you can sit outdoors and toast yourself in the sun whilst a cup of tea and reading a good book. I love it!
Lovely long weekend in Brisbane with perfect glorious sunny days. We have spent time hanging out together, walking the dog, playing at the local park, having BBQs, relaxing in the outdoor room, basking in the sun and enjoying my new car.
Yes we have broken all the new home owner rules and bought cars, had overseas holidays and spent money that could have gone to paying our mortgage down. BUT... as I pointed out to the accountant we are in our early 40's not 80's and we want to enjoy life and have some FUN. There's time to concentrate on the mortgage now that we have those things out the way.
I will be updating photos in a new post soon
Sunday, April 29, 2012
6 Month Service and Maintenance
The paperwork has come from Metricon for us to note down any problems or issues with the house as it has been almost 6 months since we did handover (I can't believe how quick the time has flashed by and yet it seems like we have always lived here). Fortunately for us any concerns we have are very minor like the flushes on the toilets being the wrong way around i.e the big button gives the half flush, a ceiling fan that makes clicking noises and few other little things. We dutifully filled out the forms faxed and posted them back so now we wait to see what happens next.
Overall score for our new house almost 10/10 the only thing I would change is to make the actual WC spaces slightly larger as they are a tiny bit claustrophobic if you are not feeling well (if you get my drift). Otherwise it is quite perfect and the space and rooms work really well for us as a family. I wonder if that will still be the case as our son gets older and the dog gets bigger (not that she is going to be huge!).
Surprisingly this week I got an email from Metricons social media people asking me to remove the detailed plans we have posted on the blog as we are in breach of their copyright policy as they do not want other builders to be able to copy or duplicate anything from their drawings. Fair point so I am about to remove the pictures form the blog as requested. Shame as they really do help prospective would be customers with M to have some great ideas about altering the space and the electrical plans are a work of art and a lot of effort went in to organising and deciding where we would put switches and sockets etc. Which may I say was well worth it as it seems like we got it 95% right.
Oh well better find those posts with the plans on......
Overall score for our new house almost 10/10 the only thing I would change is to make the actual WC spaces slightly larger as they are a tiny bit claustrophobic if you are not feeling well (if you get my drift). Otherwise it is quite perfect and the space and rooms work really well for us as a family. I wonder if that will still be the case as our son gets older and the dog gets bigger (not that she is going to be huge!).
Surprisingly this week I got an email from Metricons social media people asking me to remove the detailed plans we have posted on the blog as we are in breach of their copyright policy as they do not want other builders to be able to copy or duplicate anything from their drawings. Fair point so I am about to remove the pictures form the blog as requested. Shame as they really do help prospective would be customers with M to have some great ideas about altering the space and the electrical plans are a work of art and a lot of effort went in to organising and deciding where we would put switches and sockets etc. Which may I say was well worth it as it seems like we got it 95% right.
Oh well better find those posts with the plans on......
Saturday, March 10, 2012
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 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.....
Friday, February 24, 2012
Metricon Visits
Finally after a couple of increasingly more urgent and slightly more irate emails to the service and maintenance dept at M the Qld Building Manager paid us a visit this morning to assess the drainage (or lack of) issues.
After listening to our concerns, looking at the photos of a water logged yard and examining the site he agreed that we actually need 4 more gully/land drains and a retaining wall between us and out right handside neighbours (who are at frame stage now with M). The retaining wall was originally included in the building plans but was never constructed so M will install this at no cost after discussing the potential land levels with the site supervisor to assess how high it needs to be. As for the land drains Metricon's plumber will come and do these for us and Metricon have agreed to split the cost 50-50. We felt this to be a fair arrangement as if the engineer had recommended additional drainage in the first place we would have had to pay for it all anyway and if we hadn't got M involved we would have also had to foot the bill. Hopefully the plumber can come and do the drains for us the week after next and then at last we can finish the landscaping.
The moral of this story is always get the builder to come out and look at potential issues, stay calm and be reasonable, state your case clearly and tell them how you would like to see matters resloved and then hopefully you get a win win situation.
After listening to our concerns, looking at the photos of a water logged yard and examining the site he agreed that we actually need 4 more gully/land drains and a retaining wall between us and out right handside neighbours (who are at frame stage now with M). The retaining wall was originally included in the building plans but was never constructed so M will install this at no cost after discussing the potential land levels with the site supervisor to assess how high it needs to be. As for the land drains Metricon's plumber will come and do these for us and Metricon have agreed to split the cost 50-50. We felt this to be a fair arrangement as if the engineer had recommended additional drainage in the first place we would have had to pay for it all anyway and if we hadn't got M involved we would have also had to foot the bill. Hopefully the plumber can come and do the drains for us the week after next and then at last we can finish the landscaping.
The moral of this story is always get the builder to come out and look at potential issues, stay calm and be reasonable, state your case clearly and tell them how you would like to see matters resloved and then hopefully you get a win win situation.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
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
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
Friday, February 10, 2012
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.
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.
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