Hardscaping has commenced

Its been a little while since our last post and its safe to say the exterior has been the focus.

All the hardscape works has commenced with all in varying stages.

Well the landscapers arrived driving an excavator and with jackhammer in hand. It doesn't take long for them to get into it, moving a huge amount of dirt so the concrete footings could be poured.

View of the Bob Cat in our front yard digging the footings from our balcony.

The first stage is the building of two retaining walls with appropriate drainage. One of the walls will be rendered brick running along the side of the driveway then across the front of our house continuing down one side to where our side gate will be. On the other side of the gate will be a sleeper retaining wall. They have just about finished, so more informative photo's to follow this weekend.

Stage 2 is the concreting which is progressing very well. The first pour being the pathway from the rear door to our garage down to the rear of our house to the deck area, also down the other side of our house. The driveway will be cut, filled with crushed rock etc etc and poured this weekend (weather dependent). These guys know their stuff and have been very helpful through the process. Photo's to follow shortly.

Stage 3 is the decking at the front entry and a huge rear deck area as shown below. These decks are being build by a mate of mine and will be finished off in lovely Spotted Gum. The photo doesn't do it justice but the rear area is massive and will look awesome when finished.

The rear deck area is extending to the fence line to give it the 'larger' feel.

During the process we have discovered (& discovered is an appropriate expression here) a number of very questionable to illegal plumbing pipes and joins. Just glad our landscapers and concretor made us aware of the problems. More on that in another blog.

Lots of machines, lots of noise and lots of dirt.... It always gets messy before it can be clean and tidy - so they say.

Hopefully all finshed within this month.

Cam

QA vs Independent Inspector

Interesting issue this one, everyone has an opinion and one I have been wanting to ask for awhile.

The builders say they aren't required and not worth the money while the inspectors say its worth it if only as an insurance policy for your investment.

Each are paid by opposing parties, so have vested interests in opposite directions and it appears each has varying degree of attention to detail.

So the M employed QA guy went through our place weeks ago and obviously prior to handover and rated it a 98.3%. How the hell that is worked out is beyond me, but a pretty good score none the less.

Our engaged Independent Inspector found quite a few obvious issues that was over looked by the QA guys including,

• A window lintel was not painted at all,
• The fire box was still not to code - frustrating given he raised it in April at his early inspection,
• The heating duct was not connected to the outlet - ok if you intend to heat and live in the roof space,
• Insulation wasn't correctly installed in all places,
• The carpet still had visible lines through it which needed replacing, and
• Two of the 5 ceiling mounted vents / fans didn't have dampeners which are required for the star rating.

Excluding paint imperfections and other tidy ups, the above are a couple of really obvious, easy gets if your inspector is on his game and / or has a quick look through the manhole into the roof.  Our independent inspector did. Not so sure about whoever did the QA.

With a mark of 98.3% - which is a great score - I can't help feel like I was copying the paper of the student next to me and really deserve a score less than awarded....

I must say M fixed all remaining items without fuss (although at their leisure), so we are really happy overall with our house but the question remains - QA vs Independent Inspector ?

Cam

Pergatory ? ?

All of you in bloggyland are probably wondering what's going with us and our new home at the moment.

WE ARE IN PURGATORY/LIMBO/HALFWAY BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HELL!

4 days after PCI we were informed by our SS that there was no way we would have handover last Friday, despite the discussions we had with him at our inspection. Apparently a replacement door for the garage access was unavailable until Tuesday (tomorrow)! And in the last week not much has really happened as far as we can see.

We were told in no uncertain terms that we should not even expect to hear from our SS for another week and that his previous comments about definitely being given the keys by the end of the month no longer stood.  Unbelievable,  especially given we enquired about a realistic chance of handover within the month of August as we had to give notice on our rental - this was also made known to him.

At least SS has been true to one of his words and we have not heard hide nor hair from him for a whole week. This close to handover, to say we are devastated and frustrated is an understatement. 

It also appears our SS is dragging his feet purposely, having told Cam in a previous conversation that "he could make the process go as slow or as fast as he wants". We have flagged this unprofessional comment with our CSC who suggested that the best course of action was to speak with our CM. We have left him both email and voice messages and heard nothing. Another example of the poor communication that seems to be rife in this company (see previous post HERE). 

It has been 336 days since we first turned dirt. That's over 11 months and a far cry from the 8 months we were told by numerous SALES staff from Metricon.  

Tip to the new players: Don't believe the sales pitch or get the unrealistic build time written into your contract.

So we have given notice on our rental and need to be out by the first week of September. On top of this, Lachie (our 4 year old) is going to have his tonsils out in a weeks time. STRESSFUL... you betcha.

Watch this space. I hope to have some good news soon.

Kirsten
xxx

fiddy tousand!

No, I haven't gone bonkers waiting for handover and started making gangsta moodboards to furnish the lounge room...

Instead dear readers, we've reached another milestone... 

50,000 clicks (50,776 actually)

In reality I'd be happy with a set of keys. Good things come to those who wait I'm told.

Kirst

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

Hitting the Shops

Last week was my final week of school holidays and during the past few weeks I have made a lot of purchases for the new house. I purchased the following

Beacon Lighting -" Yvette" 500mm Drum Pendant with gold diffuser and chrome ceiling plate. There will be two of these above the dining table

We are having a custom made recycled timber table, 2.4m x 1.2m with flush edges in English Oak Stain. The wood is salvaged from homes over 100 years old in Melbourne that are being demolished. The tables are absolutely stunning and come directly from the manufacturer - Glory Days Furniture in Epping. Because they are not retail, the prices are about 1/3 of what they are in the shops and the finish is comparable to the beautiful tables I looked at in Mark Tuckey and other designer furniture joints.

These glossy beauties will accompany the table. We are getting these from Milan Direct as per the deal I told you about last post. There is only ONE day to go on this amazing deal. Make sure you follow our specific link below to find out more.

http://www.livingsocial.com/deals/401712?rpi=69636212&ref=personalized-link-box-69636212&rui=27087097

These are replica Xavier Pauchard Tolix Stools are going to sit at the island bench. The colours looks sensational together and are perfect for our young, fun family.

I think it is safe to say with the curtain quote and landscaping quote both arriving last Thursday, Cam has put a moratorium on all spending for the time being...so there wont be anything until closer to handover.

Speaking of handover. Nothing was really done over the past few weeks and QA may happen next Monday if our SS gets his lazy butt into gear...we shall see. So much to do still and it appears that Metricon aren't that fussed about finishing our house and getting us the keys...

Hopefully, when Cam sees our SS on site on Wed morning, we will have more positive news to share, but I'm not holding my breath!

Kirst

Bacon....

An empty Piggy Bank?… or is it smashed and simply bacon now…

The last week has been quite a big one financially.  We received the Lockup Invoice and made a Kings Furniture purchase.  Hopes of a quiet week this week didn’t last long.  The Fixing Invoice has also arrived.  Two invoices within a week.  Nice work M. 

All is not lost, we are getting some really good progress on the building side of things.

Sorry no further time for an update, need to find the cheque book...

Obviously this post was written by Cam 

(lol from Kirst)

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

Action Stations...

Well after quite a few weeks of little activity, we have some quality action on-site.

A quick recap of this week included,

• the sparkys cutting out the holes for the downlights, switches and power points. [ for Jon & Ron’s (check out their blog here) amusement they missed the bracket in a number of places …],
• the renders started and finished the base/undercoat in white,
• the bathroom areas have been waterproofed [ thanks to B (B is building a house), J&R and Nat (Paul and Nat's House Build) for their comments re: the waterproofing requirements – watch this space regarding this one ]
• the fixing chippies have fitted all but a few doors, the architraves have been cut to size and mostly fitted, and
• lastly and most importantly for Kirst all the cabinet were delivered and installed.

Only one updated pic of the front façade with white render - poor iphone quality. Sorry no pic’s of our new Kitchen as yet but will be in to inspect over the weekend, so expect to see an excited post by Kirst shortly.


Cam

Front facade with white base / undercoat render

Cabinet Fever!

Thursday was perhaps the most exciting day of the build so far… I called in on my way home from work and to my absolute delight the cabinetry has all been installed (bar the overhead cupboards in the laundry). Alas, I was without my trusty iPhone and so I couldn't get any photos. So today we all paid a visit to the house and I had a good look at all of the beautiful joinery that has been installed.

If you want a little reminder of our choices see this post - "Studio M at last"

Here’s the pic fest you’ve all been waiting for…

The Powder Room cabinetry, looking forward to a lovely pendant light in here. Waiting for the caesarstone in "Ice Snow"

Laundry... but without the overhead cabinets or plaster bulkhead above. Waiting for the caesarstone in "Ice Snow"

Ta-Da... our lovely kitchen! It looks a little brown in the pics but it actually a textured grey colour called "New Graphite". I think that the Waterfall caesarstone in "White Shimmer" for the island bench and oven bench is going to be divine!!!

Our lovely oven wall...loving the under oven drawer and concealed rangehood, not to mention the star of the show... OUR HUGE WINDOW SPLASHBACK!!!

Kitchen wall in Laminex "Polar White Gloss" (vinyl wrap), space for fridge, microwave tower, pull-out pantry and corner pantry

The pull out pantry!

The corner pantry.

The family bathroom. I'm so glad we added the extra basin! Waiting for the caesarstone in "Ice Snow"

Our beautiful wall hung white gloss ensuite vanity. It will look awesome with the thick apron caesarstone on top in "Urban".

There's plenty more that has gone on this week at the house but as Cam mentioned last post (Action Stations) i wont go on about them.

REAL PROGRESS = A VERY HAPPY GIRL :)

(& I guess Cam would say a happy wife is a happy life...lol)

Kirst

xx

BlogThis!

Plastered

As I hadn't heard anything from the SS this week re progress, we popped down to our house (quickly looking and feeling like a house rather than a construction site) this afternoon. The plasterer I spoke to on site Friday morning mentioned it would be all done by Saturday afternoon. I was a little skeptical, but you never know your luck. It has been a case of over commit and under deliver thus far. We are impressed with the speed of the plasters none the less.

Thankfully nothing was closed up so we were able to have a quick look through out. The team of plasterers had a red hot go at it over the past three days hanging plaster to all walls and ceilings. They had also plastered all the corners using the metal 90 degree things (whatever they are called) and smoothed out the joins between sheets etc. They have also plastered the portico and the outdoor room. A huge pile of cornice is sitting in the kitchen/dining area presumably ready to be hung Monday. Looks pretty good from the quick walk through we did.

The scaffold guys must have been back on Saturday to pick up all their stuff so itwas our first real chance to have a look at our colour choices and we like what we are seeing….

Afew pic’s of the plaster work and the view from the street as itstands today.

Study

Formal sitting room with stair well to right

Lounge

Kitchen with window splashback

View down hall way from kitchen to front door

Master bedroom upstairs

Upstairs sitting area

Upstairs sitting area looking at stairwell

Front from left hand corner

Front from right hand corner

Til next time.

Cam

Slow going......

Progress on our build has slow dramatically over the past few weeks.  A small number of jobs here and there and that's about all.  What is getting done is as our SS has said – it’s just minor work.  Is it better than setting our expectations at an unrealistic level?? Probably...

I get the feeling our SS is doing his best.  Does that reflect the fact he has transferred in from the southern region to central in January and he hasn't built up the required rapport with the trades yet, issues with his scheduling or is it just M in general??

Our site meeting last week didn't resolve the three key issues - the insulation query, the gas meter location and the powder room sewer point.  All these items had been raised over two months ago now.  Very frustrating. We have now been told that plastering has been pushed back another week whilst the insulation issue is fixed. Its not like they haven't had enough time to get this fixed before now! I hope they dont try and pin this hold up on us...

Anyway, when you want something done, best to do it yourself.  Well, we are now aware of why the gas meter issue hasn't been resolved.  The excuse for the past month from M is the need to clarify the requirements for the location with Jemena.  By absolute fluke last Saturday night we found out that Kirst's friend's husband works at Jemena in the exact division which looks after new gas installations.... we found out that our site is not even within the Jemena system as a new install.  Not really surprising M is still waiting for a solution from Jemena.  M - you need to contact someone at Jemena, record the gas install requirement, tell them your query and they will probably action something for you..

Anyway, via our contact at Jemena – who signs off on the installs – we have our answers.  After mentioning this briefly to our SS I was basically told to 'stay out of it' and that he will resolve the issue once scaffold is down. Which really means it will happen in a another month, probably more…

Good to finish on a positive note – our tapware has now been fixed (3rd try) and the plaster can now commence this week.

Til next time

Plan to be Plastered......

Well most of the work our SS said would be done last week was actually done.  I think he is a little bit of an optimistic or maybe i'm a little pessimistic about what will get done when.  Either way, he appears to be getting things done and so far so good re communication ( excluding the text message to cancel a site meeting but its been less than 4 weeks that he has been on the job so you would hope so...)


Last week the painter were in painting the upstairs externals while the scaffold is still in place.  Very happy with our choice of colours.  We'll save the pic's til when the scaffolding is down so you all can get a better feel for how it will look.
What wasn't done was our site visit with our SS due to him being ill, a complete brick clean and the plaster being delivered.


Well as its only a 2 minute detour from my usual drive home, I drove pass to see if there was any visible change.  Nothing from the street but I did notice the front gate was again open.  Thought I'd close it up (again), but as I was out of the car lets have a look through the window.  Then I notice the front door wasn't secure (again) so I popped in to see what had been delivered during the day.
Plaster , Plaster and more Plaster......  Massive sheets.  Not sure how such massive sheets can be handled without them breaking in half - but that's probably why I'm not a plasterer.  Two of the five huge piles of them below.

Plaster sheets in downstairs dining area...

Plaster sheets in upstairs sitting area....

Very happy to see the plaster on-site.  Must mean its not far away from the plasterers starting but first a few things need to be finalised namely,

• the insulation - that's an ongoing discussion with M as the wrap was poor quality and our independent building inspector has recommended the insulation needs to be upgraded to conpensate its poor quality,
• the gas meter has to be moved from the front of the house to the side next to the switch board - this has also been an ongoing discussion point which M has put off and off.  This needs to be moved prior to plastering can start as the brick work has been finished and access it only internally, and 
• the powder room sewer points needs to be aligned.  Current quite some distance off alignment.  Not sure if that impacts plastering but best to get it sorted first one would have thought.

We have a site visit this Wednesday - all being well (pun intended) so lets see what happens.

Cam

Poor Form....

Our scheduled site meeting didn't go to plan.

Just prior to 1pm yesterday, I received a text message from our new SS - he hadn't been well the day before and was still unwell so we would have to reschedule our planned site visit intended for 3pm that afternoon.

Fine, if you're not well, you're not well - can't be helped. But a phone call the day earlier or early in the morning or even a text with a heads up would have been nice but a text message 2 hours before hand... I'd re-arranged my work schedule and we had arranged for the kids to be looked after so we could both attend rather than just me having to relay the message on that evening....

Poor Form  !!!!

His text said that he would call today to reschedule - that didn't happen either....

Anyway rather than waste our time completely, we thought we would pop in and see what has been happening while the kids were being cared for, even if we are locked out we were keen to have a good look at the finished brick and clad work. No need to worry about just checking out the externals - front and back doors were open as was the upstairs balcony. So much for being secure... Unfortunately this seems to be quite common based on other blogs we have read.

So we had time to look around inside and out and make a few further notes re items for the SS to follow up on including,

• the plumber had been back to correct the bath tap settings. That's great news - would have been better if he had actually corrected it to the specifications of the tap fittings we have selected. Would not have thought it would have been that hard. The mixer and spout is on the same large backing place. So, why would you have the spout at the foot of the bath and the mixer in the middle...
• nothing further has been done re the gas meter location...
• the down stairs powder room toilet waste outlet has not been corrected either - raised with M mid December.

Lets see if he rings tomorrow for the Friday update.

Cam

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

Work schedule & further 'requested' variations

Progress since scaffolding in place.

Front entry with battens ready for cladding 

Front view with some eaves and battens in place

Rear view with battens along back second storey wall ready for cladding.

Work Schedule
Per our new SS, the following is the work schedule for this week,

• Brickies only have a few hours work left,
• Chippie only a few days to complete all externals works including construction of the balcony, install eaves and cladding,
• Solar panel to be fixed on second storey roof,
• Chippie will double check the internal walls to ensure all plum etc, 
• M’s ‘independent’ inspection done for compliance prior to plastering to commence, 
• Once mortar had some time to go off the brick's will be cleaned, and 
• A general clean inside - which is desperately needed.

Next weeks schedule includes (assuming all of this weeks work is completed),

• Painters in to paint externals while scaffolding in place,
• Window film to be removed and windows cleaned,
• Full site clean,
• Our inspection re insulation quality given our concern as reported within our independent building expert report, 
• Plaster delivered and maybe started later in this week (plastering to take 12 to 13 days which sounds a long time but I'm no expert and it's a 46 square house, so maybe right. Rather they take an extra day or so and get it right that rush it).     

M's Variations

M has requested further 'no cost' variation to be signed off.   The latest came to us from M's CM (JP - our 'acting SS' for those regular followers) requesting us late last Friday afternoon via email 'would we acknowledge the need to adjust the size of the central Kitchen island bench so the office could raise a no cost variation'. WHAT THE....   All news to us....  Acknowledge your email maybe, accept a change very doubtful.  

Notification by email, with the assumption we would just say 'yeah why not, do what you want, whatever is best for you as long as it doesn't inconvenience you at all...'   A touch arrogant for my liking - whether intended that way or not, that is the perception.   And we all know perception is generally reality.  

My initial reply was for further information as to why the need and what is the change.   Five days later and no reply from the CM.   No doubt this will drag on similar to the other items this CM has been involved with.  Extremely poor customers service.

We did some investigating ourselves and it appears all island benches are now slightly smaller than previous. Our bench is modeled off an old display home now closed.  Hence the issue.  The dimensions are within our contract so we don't have to change a thing.  Time will tell if we elect to.

Next time (hopefully next week) I catch up with our new SS, I will be asking the direct question as to why this request has come from the CM, not himself and why without any prior discussion.

Til next time...

Back in full swing.....

Well we are back in full swing post the Christmas break.

True to our new SS (AT) word, last week saw scaffolding set up and the wrap in place on the second storey.  Hope they come back and pick up the parts not used that are all over the nature strip.  The neighbours have been quite accommodating to date but don't want to push our luck.

This week the brickies were back bricking up the second storey.  They have been waiting for the scaffolding for a few weeks and were starting to get a bit snakey regarding the delays.  Dropped by yesterday (Australia Day) to have a quick look around etc - as you do - and they were hard at it on a public holiday...  That slab of crownies at Christmas was a great investment.  Anyway a quick chat with the guys and they have 2 days of work left. 



From what I understanding we have the scaffolding for up to 3 weeks where all upstairs cladding will be done together with eaves by the chippies.  The roofing guys and plumbers will be back to finish the last few things re the roof, gutters etc.  I imagine while the scaffolding is up, the solar panel will also be installed and the upstairs painting will be done. - safe assumption...???  Keen to get those things done and the scaffolding back down for a really good look at our new home in lock up stage and then we can get a true feel for what it will look like in our colour selections etc.

Just a quick update re our blog on 28 December last year titled 'sitting on our blogging hands' where we detailed a few items M needed to address.  Well the update is quite a quick one.... In essence our "acting SS" (who is also our CM) didn't do a damn thing.  I suspect he has hand balled it to our new and true SS to resolve.  He has taken them in hand and where required is checking things against the building regulations - wow... our 'acting SS' never mentioned building regulations - I wont assume he knows they exist.  So much for if you don't have anything nice to say approach.

Anyway, this is to be carried forward and resolved shortly with any luck.  At my catch up with our new SS, I mentioned I'd email him the answers to a few Q's he had for me regarding position of external lights etc.  Email is great for these type of things, get it in writing.  While I was at it, I included the key outstanding points he needs to address, politely worded, and attached a copy of our independent building inspectors report for his reference. Just in case it wasn't passed on to him, of course.  Watch this space.

Cam

Things get moving!!!

This week heralded a new beginning for our new home construction. We got our new SS and things have started moving again post Christmas.

The brickies were back on site early in the week to do a little bit but given the scaffolding wasn't there, they couldn't really do all that much. The garage has been bricked and is awaiting its flat line roof and all the other pillars and nib walls that form part of our angular facade have also been completed.

The house is looking really good and I am sooo happy we waited for our bricks and the brickies have done a sensational job in making sure the colour blending is spot on!

The proposed gas meter will be smack bang in the bottom middle of the left hand wall! BOOOOOO!

Cam met our new SS Adrian on site yesterday and we are really pleased at how proactive he seems. He pointed out a number of things that he was getting fixed which we has not picked up on. He will address all of the issues from the independent inspection report and there was no issue in doing so. This is a vast improvement to the lip service/no action we had from our "acting SS/CM" prior to Christmas. He followed up on absolutely nothing that he said he would. He didn't even write his own site meeting notes, instead just forwarded on our notes. What gall!!!

Anyway, I digress...

They only outstanding issue that is yet to be resolved and had me a bit hot under the collar today was the placement of the gas meter. Apparently the only place that it can be located is smack bang in the middle of our front facade on the left hand wall. So much for paying an extra $25,000 to have the 'Nuvo' facade because it looks better and another $7,000 in rendering to achieve a certain look on our house only to have it all ruined by an ugly gas meter!!! You can probably tell I'm not impressed... I understand that there are only certain locations that these meters can go with regards to proximity to windows, electrical meters, taps and heaters but SERIOUSLY in the middle of the facade???

I mentioned this to our CSC this afternoon only to be told that there was nothing that could be done. I asked where on our contract is the location stipulated (it isn't!) and also asked where the meter is put when other people build the Nelson in Nuvo facade (apparently it goes next to the garage?). Surely this is a design flaw if there is nowhere to put an essential utility meter?

Is anyone else having/Did anyone else have this problem when they built and what are the possible solutions? Cam will be contacting our SS again tomorrow to see what other options he has come up with...

Okay, now that's off my chest... I drove by today and it was lovely to see something has actually changed as the SS said it would. We have scaffolding! Hooray. That means that the brickies finish the job finally!

The schedule for the next few weeks to get to lock up is....

Friday

Scaffolding finished

Upstairs to be wrapped (hopefully in something of a decent quality this time!)

Monday-Friday (not incl. Aust Day)

Brickies to finish the sides, 

Chippies to come back and fix internals, externals including balcony and the dodgy portico framing, and start the cladding upstairs.

Plaster delivery

We are looking forward to seeing some action :)

Kirsten

Belated Happy New Year!

Belated Happy New Year to all.


For those of you currently building, hope all continues well and those who have had an issue here and there, hope the new year brings a fresh focused team your way.


As mentioned in our last blog, I dropped off a slab of Crownie's for the brickie's on the 23rd Dec.  Given the issues we have had with sourcing the bricks and the fact they have been working flat out and done a great job - thought it was only right.  Everytime I have dropped by they have been only to happy to show and explain to me what they had achieved and what is next - and mostly initiated by them not by me.  I actually got a text message from owner of the bricking company on Christmas morning (unbelieveable, but true) thanking me on behalf of his crew for the beers and wishing us a Merry Christmas.  Well and truly over and above what I expected given I don't employ him.


We also dropped off a bottle of champagne for our Building Support Co-ordinator (Alana) and our Pre-Construction CSC (Cassie).  Both have provided us with excellent service to date, so its the least we could do.


Cam

Brick work - Day 5

Well after a solid week of work, the brickie's have done a huge amount of work.  They have had up to 6 guys in the 'gang' so probably about right - but I had no idea what amount of work to expect.  Mike, the guy who owns the business sub-contracted to M - comes across as a very straight shooter.  He gave me his business card and I've spoken with him on the phone a few things during the week.  Didn't ask for this to happen nor did I expect it but none the less great to be informed of their progress.  He has 4 'gangs' working at any one time and does a heap of work for M.

Still a heap of brickwork to be done including the portico, garage, around windows etc to finish up the ground floor.  Hope this is the focus this week heading into Xmas.  Second storey next year I guess.  Would have been nice to have been at lock up this year but the delays we have had with the bricks didn't help much..

A couple of pic at the end of week 1 - bricklaying.

From left front corner

From left rear to street

Outdoor room

Rear right corner

Right from to rear