We are still in pre-construction and it is taking its sweet
time to get everything signed off. We have had another 3 versions of the ‘final
plans’ and ‘final contract variation’ and if there is one piece of advice I can
give to those of you building and at this stage is that you need to check,
double check and then check again. We have picked up a myriad of mistakes and
changes this week and they have not always been logical, nor highlighted to us
by the builder.
The biggest error was the removal of the provisions for
future evaporative cooling (a powerpoint, capped cold water point and upgraded
roof trusses). This for some reason was on the electrical variations and the
plans but didn’t end up in the final contract, in fact in the last version of
the plans ‘QA’ had it removed altogether from everything without informing us.
Lucky we went over everything with a fine tooth comb!
The other issue that we have been dealing with this week was
post-demolition asbestos residue. All homes built about the time our original
old house was, have asbestos in one form or another. We had asbestos removal
done prior to demolition but some more residue was spotted along the fence
boundaries by out site supervisor last week and we needed that cleaned up
before Metricon will send anyone to site start, and that’s fair enough. Jim the
demolisher was onto it quickly and to cut a long story short, we have had
another site clean and Metricon is now in possession of another independent asbestos
clearance certificate.
The good news in all of this is that by Monday once the
office receives our signed final plans (they are about 99% correct with only 1
small correction remaining, which doesn’t require a plan redraw), the ordering
will commence. Once the ordering has finished (by the end of next week at the
latest), we will be at site start… FINALLY!!!!
As I said above, slow progress is better than no progress.
We are happy to take the time to get things done right. You can never look
through your contracts enough and our toing and froing has all been by email
which has put everything in writing (a great tip!). I have no doubt our pedantic
behaviour will be worth it all in the end!
Hope that the next post will be more exciting!
Kirsten
