Week ending 29/04/2012

This week the cladding finally went on, and I don't mind it at all which is a relief. The eaves are all on, and the down pipes are in and that is about the progress for this week. The eave vents were supposed to have been installed on Friday but I haven't had a chance to go to the block and check them out. Neither the eaves, downpipes or cladding have been painted yet, but the cladding is similar to the colour of what it will be anyway.

 I spoke to the CM on Thursday afternoon and he gave me a run down of all of the things that are booked in for the next couple of weeks, I didn't have a pen and paper with me to write them down which I keep forgetting to get before I ring! But I have organised to meet the CM on-site on Tuesday morning, so I will ask him again then and be armed with my pen and paper. Basically it all entails, painting, acid washing, and a few other bits and pieces that did not sound overly exciting.

I think I am going to have to prepare myself for more pull down and re-work of the frame :-( The CM said he has put through 3 lots of paperwork to overturn the current chippies and have another company come and inspect the work that the chippies have done as he is still not happy with it - ugh!!! So no doubt the new chippies will find something to fix, which to me means more delay :'''-(

Almost forgot to mention, the result of the email to the CSC regarding build time guarantee is the Metricon standard is 20 weeks for non  modified floor plans and 30 weeks for modified which is ours and is why it is in the contract for 30.

Here's hoping the rain is only here for the weekend and clears up on Monday and all next week!

I am hoping that white line in the brick work washes up ok! Time will tell.

Move along...nothing to see here 21/04/2012

No one likes a depressing blog, so I will do my best to sound excited about the little things.

Most of the eaves are up! When I say most, the section above where the cladding is supposed to go hasn't been done due to what appears like someone has grabbed onto the guttering to stop them selves falling back which makes no sense as the scaffolding is there anyway, but there is a nice big 1 metre in length pull/dent in the roof gutter. I rang the CM who advised he had already seen it and the replacement gutter has been ordered and arriving Monday. Which I am guessing is why the eaves haven't been put up in that section. No paint on the eaves yet. 

The brickie has finished the back pillars, yay!, but he still can't finish the front pillars to the top of the balcony because the chippies have been back again to fix the balcony again again :-( 

Absolutely nothing internal, this is due to the scaffolding being in the way, they just can't get anything in, the CM is talking about getting a crane in to get things moving inside. 

The council has been on their backs apparently and we now have ugly temporary fencing up :'-( I asked why next door didn't have to have it, apparently when you build quick enough the council don't have time to pick up on it. To make matters worse the temporary fencing guys have started the fence about 1-2  metres on our next door neighbours land (who are moving in next week) and will be attempting to get their driveway down, which at the moment our fence is in the way. Rick and I have tried to move it a bit but I will have to ring the CM again and get them to move it onto our land. Apparently the scaffolding is booked to come down May 5th, so by then acid wash upstairs will be done, cladding and presumably paint on the eaves. 

The CM said he is embarrassed about how long it is taking, we are just really bummed not to mention annoyed about the extra money we are wasting due to the months we wont have rental income on the place we are in now and payments on both mortgages etc. I have emailed our CSC to see how they have come up with their guarantee build date of July 19th as it is supposed to be 20 weeks since site cut which even with their rain delay extension letters and taking into account public holidays I get early June, our CM said we wont be in until late July :''-( So will see what they come up with, the money they provide for late build isn't  as much as the rent we would get on this place but it is better than nothing which is what we have at the moment, and at least we don't have to worry about extending a lease etc. Our poor neighbours have had to put their belongings in storage for 2 weeks because they couldn't extend their lease, so are effectively having to move twice. 

Hopefully next week I will have a few more positive things to talk about :-)

Back pillars: 

Me trying to look happy about the eaves being done

The first two photos are from my phone, as are most in the blog, the bottom two are from the SLR so the colour is a lot more true to what they are in real life. 

Slow and steady wins the race?? 13/04/2012

Slow and steady wins the race??

Another slllloooowwww week at the block, the brickies still haven't finished and going by the dates on my photos we are 4 weeks now :-( Nothing happening interior wise this week at all - full stop. Apparently the construction  manager was there during the week and made the brickie re-do around the front door as the mortar spacing wasn't perfect, we hadn't noticed at all!! even looking at the photo's I still can't pick it. The rain is back again too grrr, it is just the front and back pillars to go brick wise, which had it not rained all day Friday they probably would have finished. So hopefully next week the cladding and acid wash will be done! and something internal....anything internal really will make me happy, just not more pulling things apart and re-doing the same thing!

It is sooo great to see the facade bricks almost complete!! We can finally get an idea of what the house will look like, and I am very happy! A little bit nervous about the cladding, it was part of the original design and we didn't change it because we thought the brick might be a bit too dark and the cladding would break it up, but I love the bricks so much, I'm not so sure now.....

The brickie acid washed the windows to get the mortar off them, some of the acid wash went onto the bricks so now we can see at least a little bit of how they will look. The brickie is not doing the acid wash, apparently our fussy CM has some expert acid wash people who will come and do it.

Fingers crossed for a flurry of action next week!

This weeks pics:

 The little hole is a man hole out to the roof of the verandah (it looks smaller in the pic than what it is).

Sunset on the windows - my favourite pic so far :-)

Now that's dedication! 08/04/2012

On Easter Saturday I met my mum and sister at "the block" to show them through (first time mum had seen it) and to our surprise (and delight) our brickie was there! wooo hoo!! He was re-doing the areas that they had knocked down to fix parts of the frame that were incorrect. Apart from the back bi-fold door there was also a section outside the laundry that they had knocked the bricks out to add in another beam/ support joist. It seems our CM is quite particular, which is nice, but it means more plumbing pipes cut, our poor vacuum guy is going to have to come back and re-do the joins and pipes for a third time! so fingers crossed they have it right this time! They have also replaced the wall lining in the garage that had been taken down so the brickies could do their thing without taking down the neighbours fence. So although we have had more delays I am somewhat a happy camper at the moment.



And now you see them again (this time evenly spaced!)

Movement at the station 04/04/2012

Well after what seemed like a long delay at the platform, things are moving again! In a nutshell here is what has been happening:

·         The Bi-fold door has been removed (along with a few rows of bricks) and re-fitted so that it is now the same width on both sides and the space between it and the windows match. We picked this up the other week but never got the chance to say anything and M have sorted it out themselves which is good.

·         We have insulation both upstairs and downstairs, however they have put insulation over the spot in the garage where the wrapping hasn't been replaced. (I briefly spoke to SS this arvo who said he will sort it out).

·         We  Rick realised the ensuite bathroom window is clear glass when it is meant to be obscure glass Duh! Not sure why we didn’t pick that up a month or two ago!!

·         The top storey bricks are being done and may even be finished tomorrow before Easter, yipeee!  Update: No brickies today 05/04/2012 :-( 

·         Our SS has been out of action for 10 or so days, I didn’t ask, but I think his medical issues may be a bit more serious as apparently now our new SS is going to be our CM, so our CM will be our first point of call from now on, not sure how I feel about that yet?..

·         They have been cutting pipes (plumbing & ducted vac etc) all over the place so I have no idea what is going on there! Will hopefully meet the CM at some point and find out.

·         We met our new neighbours for the second time yesterday, they are so lovely! Can’t wait to have new neighbours! They should be in their place in 4 weeks! Half their luck!

and now for some pics :-)

Now you see them:

Now you don't:

Outside the main bedroom balcony:

This bit will have cladding in "evening haze" (cream colour) the same as the garage doors

Bricks, bricks and more bricks

 

Looking forward to having a fence in and some trees, so our view won't be of next doors rainwater tank!

Pics of bits and pieces, letter box etc. 01/04/2012

New purchases

                                                      Letter box to be bricked in

                                           
                                                       Eco friendly ensuite bathroom vanity mirror lights

          Lots of door stops! These little buggers add up!                   New office desk