No more ladder!!! week ending 27/05/2012

We have stairs we have stairs we have stairs, did I mention there are stairs?

Early in the week the outdoor room guttering and roof were put on but nothing internal, then on Thursday the stairs went in as scheduled, and Friday the architraves and doors were started, finally some solid progress :-D

One of the main things that we reeeally wanted in our new home was a glass balustrade for the stairs as we had seen in the Burleigh display at Northlakes, but when the price came back from Metricon in the contract at $5660 we baulked and tried and tried but could not get them to budge on the cost. So after our delayed build I spoke with our CM a few weeks ago and explained that the number of weeks that we are over where we could be will cost us X amount of dollars in lost rental income and how we could have used that to pay for our glass balustrade hint hint. So he kindly agreed to let us either a) use Metricon and do a no fee variation but he couldn't change their price we would still pay $5660 or b) he would allow us to use our own contractor, so 7 Google pages and 15 quotes later we are getting our glass balustrade!!! The only downside is they had already made the stairs, our CM was able to convince the stair company to use the timber balustrade somewhere else (and give us a credit), but they would not budge on the newel posts, so we figured oh well removing 2 posts is a lot easier than a whole balustrade! Anyway so the stairs have arrived and we have asked again about the 2 timber posts because they are really not going to go with a glass balustrade and stainless hand rail. I spoke to the stair company and they are claiming that the posts are part of the structural integrity and wont remove them blah blah blah, so we have reached an agreement of cutting them at the base and just leaving their bases in tact. Neither the glass balustrade guy or our carpenter come SS can see why, they are just added on it is crazy, but anyway this is where it has stopped, which will be fine at least there wont be timber posts, and hopefully people will be looking up at our feature light and not down at the little bit of timber that isn't perfectly shaped at the bottom of the stairs.

Next week should bring wet area's being sealed, upstairs doors and architraves being put on, and maybe some cabinets, possibly even a delivery of tiles, but I certainly wont be holding my breath on that one!

Bigger architrave due to wall tiles

Week ending 20/05/2012

We met our new SS on Thursday, he is very nice and an ex carpenter and knows his carpentry but is new to the SS role and seems a bit nervous about it all. The good news was we ran into our original CM on Tuesday night, and are much more at ease knowing he is still around even if not in an official capacity. The new SS couldn't tell us which pipes are going to be yard gullies or whether they were going to be fixed to the downpipes, didn't seem to know about the requirements for waterproofing, (getting the questions in early based  on Cam & Kirsten's experience) and a couple of other little things, but the up side of that is, he is flexible and we explained we reeeallyy want to get the driveway done before handover, as there isn't a lot of room for parking 3 cars on the street, and he said we could work something out closer to the date, so that is a relief! And we have gone full circle with the Metricon CSC's and are back to our first CSC who is lovely (they all have been so far).

I have been getting quotes for our deck for the outdoor room, but after today will also be getting them to quote for a gazebo to be built as part of the deck for our new SPAAAA, we got a fantastic deal at the Spa expo, now I know often the deals at expo's are not really deals at all, but we have wanted a spa since we bought our current house 9 years ago and have been keeping our eye on the market off and on, and research etc etc and it really is an awesome deal. The colours will be exactly the same as in the photo to keep in theme with the house.

In other good news our CM was able to get us a credit on my other little side project (even though they had already made them) so very pleased about that! Promise I'll update about it later in the week.


Next week:
Thursday is STAIRS!!!!! no more ladder!!!!!!!!
More cornices and "fix out" whatever that is, I asked but I can't remember what it is now.
Maybe some garage doors.

I am looking for a small white rectangular  leather ottoman/bench seat to go in front of the window to be able to sit on to take shoes on and off before entering the house, I've spent about 8 hours scouring the net and either I'm too fussy or just can't find what I want, If you see something, please let me know!!!

Ladder be gone!!!!

Main Bathroom It has occurred to me that my blog contains a lot of the same photos so with this one, you have to pretend you are in the one room but turning around. (it is tricky to take photos of small rooms, so I seem to just be taking the easy shots!)

Entry hallway and niche

Study - there will be a mirrored wardrobe to store all the messy office stuff, the mirror is to make the room feel larger, and also handy for a last minute hair check before heading out the door ;-). There is no door on the study, another house we went to had put one in but we found it really closed up the hallway and entry so decided to see how we go without one and then add it later if need be.

Gyprocked in a day 15/05/2012

Rockin around the Gyp today, gonna gyp gyp til there's no daylight

Ok so maybe I have gone a little mad.....don't be surprised if I come back and edit that later lol

I couldn't wait til next weeked, we have walls!! The whole house has been done in one day.

Panorama Lounge/dining/kitchen

Kitchen/pantry

Entry niche

Ensuite 

Top of the stairs niche - no idea what to do with this space, suggestions welcome

upstairs hallway

kitchen/dining/lounge

Looking all spick and span 13/05/2012

This week consisted of scaffolding down Yippee! Bottom storey bricks cleaned, site clean, bin clean, gyprock delivered and a few bits and pieces of carpentry done (external bedroom door now locks).

A few outstanding items, the patio pillar bricks haven't been cleaned, a brick above the garage needs replacing, there are a few spots that really need some extra acid washing.

Very excited of what next week will bring, gyprock on the walls!! 5 months since site start and we are finally starting on the internals. Haven't met our new SS yet, but he has fixed the bedroom door issue and called with an update on Friday and has suggested to meet us when we can, and seems nice enough, so fingers crossed things keep moving.  Also very happy that the pile of left over rubbish from the site scrape and some of next doors rubbish they couldn't get out because our scaffolding was in the way, and just random tree rubbish has all been removed, I thought we were going to get stuck with the cost of removing it.  I have also received quotes back for our next big purchase and have been able to find someone that will supply & install for what I wanted/expect to pay, $2k under what M wanted. Can't wait!!

That's about it, here are a few photos of our naked house :-)

Bi-fold stained

Top storey has clear glaze bottom storey not yet....that will be on next weekends agenda

A step in the right direction 05/05/2012

We have had a step in the right direction this week. On Tuesday when we met the CM we went through what is happening/booked up until the 24th May.  It is really nice to know what to expect when we go to the block. Our CM also advised that our previous SS is no longer employed by M, and that he (CM) would be with us pretty much til the end which we were quite happy about, but we received a letter on Friday advising we have a new CM & SS (and a new CSC, just don't have the letter yet). So fingers crossed the new ones are efficient!!!

This weeks progress included; eaves, downpipes & cladding painted,  new chippies who fixed a lot of things and took the back door out again for the millionth* time, finished the insulation (properly), they also put a number of noggins in for us. The Front door and Bi-fold timber doors glazed, windows "cleaned" aka mortar off, & top floor bricks cleaned. 

After expressing our bitter disappointment with our incredibly slow build time I was able to convince our CM (& have signed a variation) to have something included Rick & I both really wanted, we are going to do it external to M (due to cost) and were going to have it done after hand over but they are now going to let us do it during construction, which is awesome!!!! I won't go into detail just yet...as I am still getting quotes...but to say I am excited is an understatement!!!!! (just not so excited by the $'s though) (and it's not the driveway). 

The weather has been so kind to us this week, especially when the forecast was rain, so this weekend we are putting a clear glaze over the top storey bricks that have been acid washed (unofficially Ok'd) Here are the pics, what do you think? We are going back tomorrow to do a second coat on the front. 

Next week:

Scaffolding comes down!! yay!! Our brickie called us on Friday to say he has found some really nice granite type pavers to do the very top of the front balcony pillars with, so looking forward to seeing what they look like, he is very excited about them lol. Balcony fall guard will go up, and bin cleaned/removed (4 day week in Brisbane due to public holiday Monday).

And then wait for it........wait.......wait.....the following week (12th) they will start inside!!!!

Glaze on - in the sun

This was when I had done an extra coat on the bricks to the left but not yet on the right

This sunset keeps teasing me!! How I just want to sit  (on a chair) and watch it go down.