The 'C' word

Yes, it's well overdue that we talk about the 'C' word - COMMUNICATION!


Quite a long word really, so it's possible not everyone can comprehend (another classic 'C' word) exactly what it means.


Just to help out, the Oxford Dictionary online meaning of communication is as follows "the imparting or exchanging of information by speaking, writing, or some other medium"


Doesn't sound that hard now does it?


Oh and for those interested in what's happening on our build, the update is not quite that straight forward. With next to no communication with our SS (one phone call that was returning my call) it's hard to say. We did drop by ourselves last weekend and as the house was not locked (again), we did inspect and it appeared to be exactly the same as it was 3 weeks ago. QA scheduled nearly two weeks ago was even cancelled. Why? I hear you ask...
We are just the owners and more importantly the CLIENTS (another important 'C' word) so why would that be communicated to us. One exception to none existing work is the 'new' floor boards were installed a few weeks back but are yet to be finished off.


Hopefully I can communicate more to you next time.


Cam

Just when you thought it was safe to go in the water...

The water ruins your beautiful bamboo flooring!


I drove past the house on my way home last night and it was open. I took the opportunity to go and see if any of the work planned has been completed.


I'm glad I went in, the cleaners had been and I must have just missed them judging from the still wet tiled floors. Well, that and the water damaged, squelchy bamboo floors in the hallway.


How absolutely devastating! They boards are lifting in a few places. See the photos below.

So Cam rang our SS only to be told that "it was very unlikely that it was the case". aka your wife is a liar! Hows that for good customer service?!? So Cam himself stopped into take these photos and we sent a rather curt email to our SS, CM and CSC last night informing them of the issue and supplying the above photos.

Very early this morning we go an email from the SS saying he was on his way to investigate. A phone call from him later this morning confirmed that what was "very unlikely the case" what actually well and truly the case. 

Cut a long story short, the cleaners deny culpability, there was no other trades in the house since our SS visited a few days ago and a substantial part of the floor will have to be replaced. This will add a week or so to our build which is really disappointing.

a very tired and over it Kirst xxx

Sanity has prevailed!

Today was a good day! A really good day! Not only is it Cam and my 5th Wedding Anniversary but we have had two (major - in my opinion) wins with Metricon this week. Go us!


We finally have a resolution on the position of our gas meter (see previous rants posts HERE & HERE). We marked in where we would like to have the gas meter, which was directly to the left of the house along the fence line and the neighbours garage wall. Well SURPRISE SURPRISE... it was actually moved to that very location and no longer impacts the façade of our house! Well Done SS... its nice to know you listened to us :)


So this week's 'item of discussion'  has been about a expansion/control joint typically within the plaster board around the stairwell. We THOUGHT that we had requested it to be included in the contract. But this week it became apparent this was not the case as the fixing carpenters nailed an ugly piece of MDF to the join between the plaster sheets (which is a standard inclusion!!!??#) instead of the nicer expansion joint.


After a bit of toing and froing with our new CSC (yes... nice to meet you too!), our SS and CM... SANITY HAS PREVAILED!


Thinking back to middle of last year, I know we spoke about this item in detail with our sale consultant when we obtained the advice.  Did we follow it up in writing via email ??  Well with a little bit of digging - you betcha.  An email from us to our Studio M consultant on the 23 June clearly states we want this finish/joint around the stairwell and we actually requested that it was to be stated within subsequent version of the contract to avoid any confusion.  Our Studio M consultant responded in writing on the 29 June and I quote "Yes, I will raise a variation to include this as a clarification."  Nice clear and active reply from our consultant.  


To cut a long story short, for whatever reason, the Studio M consultant didn't action the request, we overlooked its omission from the contract and here we are.


A copy of the email trail was provided to Metricon for their records and as a result Metricon have allowed us to include the control joint for its cost without incurring the $1000 mid-construction variation fee...


Key for this blog - have EVERYTHING in writing - including any conversations.....See our Top 10 Pre-construction tips from October last year.


Kirst

No... No... No...

Metricon Customer Service

I received a very interesting – if not odd – phone call from an M customer service representative today. She was enquiring about a number of things ranging from my experience with our SS to recommending M to others.

I did explain he had only been on our job for 3 weeks so it is probably too early to answer her questions with any real accuracy at this stage. None the less she continued.

Three question which were particularly interesting included

‘Am I happy with the level of customer service from our SS’.. reply – well over the three weeks it been ok but this week he cancelled a site meeting via text message 2 hours prior to the meeting time. These things happen. So given the rating scale is a yes or no – I can’t say yes… He has been ok overall but given limited options to answer, it has to be no.

‘Are you happy with the build to date’.. reply – well there has been and continue to be a number of things to be rectified. If they are resolved to our satisfaction then yes but at present they aren’t so I can’t say yes… It’s been ok overall but given limited options to answer, it has to be no.

‘Would you recommend M to someone else’.. reply – well we haven’t reached lock up as yet and again depends on a number of things to be rectified. If they are resolved to our satisfaction then yes but at present they aren’t so I can’t say yes… I wouldn’t say yes but I would say no either but given limited options to answer, it has to be no.

Keen to give customer feedback at any point in time but this time it was really pointless. Let’s talk again in a month or two….