NELSON NO MORE!

It has come to our attention that in Victoria you can no longer build the Nelson design. The displays have closed down and it isn't listed as an option on the App or main website. After a bit of detective work I found out that you can still build it in QLD and NSW. 

Its such a shame, as in our opinion it was the perfect design to fit on a narrowish inner city Melbourne block. 4 Bedrooms, Study, Sitting, Lounge, Leisure and Rumpus all on a 15m wide block!

Here is a refresher of the floor plan for our Nelson 43 (which by the time we added a few things is more like a Nelson 46 square!)

The Nelson in Nuvo Facade

This is our Ground Floor with Grand Outdoor Room

This is our First Floor

*** Sigh *** its such a shame it is no longer available :(

There is lots going on this week including a meeting with our SS on site. We will update throughout the week :)

Kirst

xxx

Centurion…

Yes folks, it has been 100 days since construction of our dream home began and today our new home was treated to a little R & R to celebrate this milestone. There was not a single person to be found working there!

We do know that the brickies have come back at some point in the week between Christmas and New Years as they have built more of the garage walls; which is great. 

Some kind of structure to prop up the front portico has also been delivered, presumably so the footing issue can be resolved.

Our wonderful BSC is back in the office but the SS (plural) are not and she has informed us that there is nothing actually scheduled to take place this week anyway…

Kirsten

'Super' Issues....

Just a quick update re progress and the latest with our SS.


Progress...
Well there has been quite a bit of progress with the framers being back to finish off a few things, the roof tilers have been back to finish off the rear ground level roof as well as the electrician, plumber and the duct guys have been in to rough in the electric's, plumbing and duct work.  Sounds all great but there are problems with all of their work, except the roof tilers.

The framers have finished off the front portico which is great.  Problem is one of the vertical posts, which sits on steel stippups are to be bolted into a concrete slab - ensures no movement to the front portico and provides solid support for the front upstairs balcony.  Well one side is, while the other is sitting unbolted on dirt....

The electrician has missed two lights.

The plumber has rigged the bath(s) tap ware as conventional two tap system - should be mixers.

The duct guys forgot to run duct work into an entire room.

Apparently the bricks are now available and were to be on site today with the bricklayers to commence tomorrow.  Lets just wait and see.


Latest with our SS...
As you all know, our SS resigned.  No love lost between our former SS and the CM.  So much so, that these two guys would not pass each other in the street... only one would continue to walk on by...  A little ugly and I feel I'm in the middle...  Leave me out of it, you guys are old enough and ugly enough to sort it out yourselves.

Anyway, we were told our file was to handed over to another SS, who we know of and has a very good reputation.  Well it turns out the Construction Manager (CM) has decided to 'act' as SS for our home until another SS from the Southern division transfers across.  I have a problem with this.  Not only is it M's building practice that all jobs have a SS, a CM, a Building Manager (BM) all reporting to the GM - which I do not have - the CM is still in his role as CM so in practice how can he be across everything that is happening on my job when he is looking after other SS x all their jobs.  Hence the above issues I suspect.
The reassuring 'I'll be there as much as I can' doesn't cut it.  So, I voiced my concern with the BM, once we finally returned my call a few days later. Oh yeah, the return call only came after I call the GM.

Satisfaction levels are not high and my reasonable expectations are not being met.

I have a 8am meeting on site with the 'acting SS' tomorrow to discuss the above issues together with other items I've noticed. Oh, did I mention, I found out why I had not been supplied with a copy of the building inspectors report - it wasn't passed, four items not quite right.  Nothing significant but still not correct.

Going to be a very interesting meeting tomorrow.

Cam

We have a HAT .....

Well the great brick debacle, as its been called, has been sorted.   After a few bit of mucking around we are sticking to our original plan.  The wait is only a few weeks and as many have pointed out a few weeks isn't long considering we will be living in our new home for many years to come.

Well I met with our SS this morning at 8am to discuss progress etc and the roof tilers were hard at it.  Stopped by very quickly on the way home tonight and we have a HAT on it.  Its a two storey so you don't really see a great deal of the roof so no pic's this blog.  The roof is probably 85% done.   There was at least three of them climbing around up there.  No mucking around with these guys.

We are heading off on a 10 day break up north so it was important for us to get an update and an understanding of what is scheduled while we are away.  So this is the plan (subject to weather as they say in the building game),
Monday - upstairs roof finished,
Tuesday - frame inspection ahead of building surveyors visit and scaffold down,
Wednesday - building surveyors visit and chippie' back to finish rear ground floor roof trusses (couldn't be done because of the scaffolding),
Thursday - potentially plumbing roughed in,
Friday - roof tilers back to finish off the rear ground level roof.
Next Monday to Wednesday - duct work, the house to be wrapped and site cleaned,
Next Thursday onwards - brickwork to commence (assuming delivered on time).

I'm happy to say the whole reverse build process wont happen.  I wasn't happy about it and told them very clearly I wasn't.  We are in Melbourne not Queensland - didn't they see the down pour the other night... Anyway apparently they were listening...  It appears the SS wasn't a fan of it but the office was pushing for it - implied this was the case anyway.  No doubt the office view is - quicker its done the quicker they can invoice...

Til next time
Cam

Chip Chip Chipping Away....

Just a quick update...


So, we now have power...  Apparently the paperwork had been submitted to United but it had been 'misplaced' by United.  From talking to a few people in the industry this is a bit of a regular occurrence.  Two upsides to this is the chippies can run their gear from mains power from now on avoiding using a generator (happy chippies) and no more noisy generator (happy neighbours)...

The rain has held off, so far this week anyway, and it has been a massive effort from the chippies. The same three carpenters have been on-site all week and achieved quite a bit.


So by Tuesday, all the floor joists were in place and the flooring down.  The timber to make up the second storey walls etc was craned onto the second storey floor for ease of use first thing Wednesday morning.  Must have helped out the guys because when I dropped by on my way home from work below is what I found.

Front view with gargage to right

Rear view with 'grand' outdoor room under roof line to right

Kirst dropped by tonight (Thursday) and pretty much the balance of the upstairs frame had been done.



Front view with gargage to right





Left hand front corner - large opening upstairs is for access to balcony upstairs area (yet to be built) 


Tomorrow morning, if all runs to the SS's schedule, the roof trusses will be craned up and fixed into place.  Expected to commence at 7am - sorry new neighbours.... 


I need to be in the office early tomorrow and its on my way to work, so may head off early and see if I can catch them in the act, so to speak. Hopefully the tiger tailing will be on the powerlines as there is $1500 in the contract to allow for this. If not, then another nice little refund is in order!


No trades are working this Monday given Tuesday is Melbourne Cup day except our SS.  Actually our SS has asked us to meet him on site Monday afternoon to check out what has been done (because we don't have access to site) and discuss the next few stages.  That works in well with us cause I'm not working either...


He also discussed the prospect of a reverse build with us when we met with him on Tuesday. We understand this to mean that the house will be wrapped and then bricking outside and plastering inside will happen simultaneously. We would be interested to hear of others experiences with this/thoughts on this. He estimated that completing the house in this way should knock 6 weeks off the build time.


Until next time...

Rain, rain... go away!

Some floor joists were installed over the dining room and kitchen last Friday but given the rain the chippies didn't get too far with it. They were scheduled to continue with the floor joists and have the second storey floor completed by today. Given the rain today so far, I'm tipping that hasn't happened.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) the timber to build the second storey frame is to be delivered and loaded upstairs by a crane (but given there is still no floor, not sure how this will happen?) The upstairs walls should be built by this coming Friday hopefully.

Also supposedly happening this coming Friday... another crane is scheduled to lift the roof trusses up and they will be fixed into place. The following week, Monday through Friday the gutters and roof tiles should be put on/up. 

I hope that the rain holds off this week to enable the work to get done. Throw Melb Cup day in there too, i think the time frame needs some tweaking by our SS :( We are off to Sunshine Coast in few weeks and it would be lovely for the brickies to be doing their thing when we are sunning ourselves up north!

Looking at the lounge area from the dining room.

The joists above the kitchen and dining room.

Having a ball in the playroom!

Until next time

Kirsten xoxo

Slab poured!

The guys started at the ungodly hour of 6:30am this morning to get our slab poured before any rain came. I went by at about 1pm and they just had the garage to finish off.


Here are the piccies...

Study in the foreground

Garage

Front door step

I guess after a clean up and check by our SS, they will be asking for another progress payment?!


Onwards and upwards...
Kirst

FINALLY – passed to the construction team

It’s taken awhile but we have been advised that our job has been handed from pre-construction to construction….   

So after weeks of reviewing largely the same plans (small variations made by M – mostly by their hand without any discussion) we have signed off on final plans as pre our requirements and requests….

QA, Drafties and to a lesser extent Studio M have a lot to answer for.  Illogical and unrequested changes without any discussion as to why or communication as to what had changed is unacceptable – there... I'm feeling better already.  DOUBLE CHECK EVERYTHING!!!!

Well, we also took advantage of their multiple versions and requested a number of small changes ourselves.  I look at it this way – it’s not final til it’s final.  M can change items around without any fuss, so why can’t we….  So while reviewing the plans, for the god knows how many times, we decided to move this, change that, etc etc.   “Just make this change to the next version if you wouldn’t mind”   

On a more positive note, our CSC has been great and followed up all our queries and ensured any illogical / unrequested changes were reinstated.  Felt a little sorry for her a few times, as she was the ‘middle man’ the majority of the time – but that’s what her role is I guess.

So, the next step is to wait for our construction service consultation (made that title up) and / or our site manager to contact us.  We have been told its usually 2 weeks b/w pre-construction and construction til you see anything actually happen.  The construction team has already made a start on our job so work on the slab could be as early as this time next week. 

Now that's progress….