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

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

Sitting on our blogging hands!

The old adage “if you cant say something nice… then don’t say anything at all” has certainly been applied by Cam and I of late, with regards to blogging about our build. We did really want to update you all on what has been going on but the thought of writing it all down and reliving it again was too stressful in the middle of the silly season.

So here we are… it has been 2 weeks since we last blogged about the house and it is still very much a ‘brickwork in progress’. The relationship we have had with the “SS”/CM (inverted commas because he really has been a site supervisor in name only) has deteriorated and we have really been tearing our hair out.  He will revert back to our CM once the new SS starts, so unfortunately will need to deal with him further at some point.

Less than satisfied, we engaged the services of an Independent Inspector to run his eye over the build and here are some of the key things that he found.

• Substandard wrap used underneath the bricks with no reference to Australian Standards (and wafer thin to boot!) Apparently all M builds are now using this cheap wrap with no Metricon branding and the company responsible will provide us with a compliance certificate for sustainability purposes at hand over. Little comfort at that point in time as if there is an issue - what can be done once built.  For all the sections that are ripped, shredded and pieced together by gaffer tape, the “SS” said he would get someone to fix it!??

• Waste plumbing for powder room toilet does not line up and drainage is restricted. Not sure how this will be fixed yet. The 'acting SS' said he didn’t know the plumbing code and would get the plumber to fix it at some stage (what bollocks!).  Doesnt know the plumbing code.... how can he supervise the plumbing side of things of our build then.... further, he is ment to be a CM.  Offers little comfort to the customers of M.

• The framework for one of the front portico piers (holding up the balcony) is sitting about 20cm under the ground, meaning the frame will rot over time. This particular issue the Inspector took photos of to put into his ‘idiots’ book! Our 'acting SS' wasn't to worried about it initially saying its how its done. However our inspectors report quoted Australian Building Standards (with sub-sections etc) so the SS will now fix it.  This will be fixed by propping up the frame and building a brick pier underneath on a timber plate.

These are really just the tip of the iceberg. The wrong bath taps (ie Hot and Cold rather than mixer) were plumbed into the bathroom and Ensuite. There are windows/doors galore that are damaged.  The powder room windows are off centre so to fix the problem extra battens have been placed on one side to centre he windows - results in us losing some space on one side of the room. We are paying for a full room right...

Then there are issues the bricks. The first batch of bricks delivered were mostly good with one pallet of bricks of a questionable lighter colour. No problem there, the brickies were cluey enough to use them on areas to be rendered. However the second batch of bricks warranted a second visit from the Selkirk brick rep who confirmed that because this delivery were of variable colour, height, length and depth, that they would need to be double-handled by the brickies. SOooooo to cut a long story mid-length… the wonderful brickies are still working on our house even though they should have finished it AGES ago because they are sorting out bricks as they lay them. Thank god we’re not footing the bill for that one!

Anyways… we are sooo happy with the work that they have done and the quality of the bricklaying! Cam went up to see them on their last day to leave them a slab of cold beers and judging by how much more has been done they obviously did another 3 hours plus of work (taking them to well over 5pm on Fri 23^rd Dec). How good is that!

The Brickies idea of funny... it says "Nah, we want to keep this one, © owners"

Garage walls

Other garage wall

Rumpus and Outdoor Room (glad we upgraded to the brick infills as it looks soooo much better!)

Outdoor Room loveliness!

Where the Jetmaster will be going... the firebox!

Our actual front door... its over 1m wide... massive!

The beginnings of the front portico piers, i love how the piers run in different directions!

Portico from another angle

They will be back on the mortar on Tues 3^rd Jan to brick the rest of the upstairs part and finish off the portico. Interesting to see what wrap their use for the upstairs.  Then it is over to the cladding guys to do their thing. The plaster is to be delivered on 16^th Jan so Cam is busy getting all the data, speaker wiring organised as we speak! If anyone has any advice on CAT 6 or speaker wiring please leave us a comment…  The general speaker / data wiring had been cleared with our original SS, so nothing untoward there.  If you are doing anything at all on site - you must clear it with your SS. 

And finally….. HURRAY! Our new SS starts in the Central Area on Monday 9^th January. We CANNOT WAIT!!!!

It can only get better from here….

Kirsten

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

Brick work - day 2

A quick drive by on the way home found the guys packing up and the first 10 odd rows of bricks layed.  Good start to the week.  The bricks have been mixed in well and all looks very good.  A couple of quick pic's from each side of our new house.  Can't wait until the weekend.

10,000 clicks WOW!

At precisely 12 noon today someone clicked on our blog to view a page for the 10,000 time! Wow.

Thanks for reading folks!

PS Cam is down the house checking the duct work, electrical rough-in and some other bits and pieces. Single storey roof has been fasciad (is that a word?) and it will be scaffolded and tiled on Tuesday. and Bricks arrive on Thursday, Brickies booked for Friday! We might have bricks done by xmas afterall but not lock up as cladding wont be on upstairs.

Little change vs. Massive change

Well upon return from our short holiday away and the follow few days, we have seen little change to the construction of our new home but massive changes within M.

Construction - lack there of.. 
Lets start with the changes - or lack there of - in the construction of our new home.  Below is a list of action proposed by M prior to our departure and what was actually achieved.

• Upstairs front half - tiling finished.  -  YES
• Frame inspection by M and scaffold down.  -  NO
• Building surveyors inspection, rear ground floor roof trusses done.  -  SORT OF (survey done but as scaffold not down the rear roof was incomplete so survey will need to be done again !!)
• Plumbing roughed in.  -  NO
• Roof tilers back to finish off the rear ground level roof.  -  NO
• Duct work, house to be wrapped and site cleaned.  -  SORT OF (house wrapped)
• Brickwork to commence  -  NO (whole other story - refer below)

One 'YES', four 'NO' and two 'SORT OF' = FAIL........ 

M
Well it came of no surprise to us that our SS has resigned.  He was a nice guy, working hard to achieve the desired result and our open communication was such that he gave me the heads up he was on the way out.  He simply had too many "discussions" with the CM re the process for the construction of our home and others.  Its safe to say there is/was no love lost there.  Time will tell who is right and the better operator....

Thankfully our SS was never interested in a reverse build (previously discussed) largely because its Melbourne.  We're not in northern Queensland.  Melbourne's weather is just too unpredictable.  With his discreet help, the CM intended process was stopped before it could commence.  So must thank him for that.  It was discreet, past tense now I guess.....  He has finished up so no harm done.


He had been planning to commence his own building company for sometime and had recently signed up a number of projects himself so it all works out for him.  The word on the street or construction site.... is that a few other SS from M central Melbourne team are about to call it a day as a result of this CM.  Lets wait and see what happens there but hopefully doesn't impact any of this blogs readers. 

But what about us.......
Its safe to say I've had several phone calls and emails to the CM regarding the next steps, who will be taking over as SS etc etc.  Talk a plenty - action a little..... and no reply to emails.....  Those who know me, know that approach doesn't work well.


Well via other means, we have been unofficially told who our new SS will be.  Interesting enough, its a SS who we requested at day one but was told was unavailable.  If it all works out, it will be the absolute best result possible (other than having him from day one).  He has an excellent reputation within our area of Melbourne as one of the best SS and comes highly recommended by one of my mates (a SS with another residential builder) who has worked with him and still remains in contact with him.  From all reports, he is a guy I can have open communication with and he can be trusted. 

The Great Brick Debacle - part 2

Whilst we were away, we were informed our bricks will not be available on 24 November as previously advised.  The expected date is now 14 December.  WTF - a week and a half pre-Christmas....  So the better part of 6 weeks late.  Looks like lock-up pre-Christmas is out the question.
Still waiting on a satisfactory explanation from the CM as to how this can happen.  Especially given M have a pre-construction ordering step....
Oh yeah - 14 December.... I'll believe it, when I see it...


Construction - since we have been back
The scaffolding has come down and the framers have been back.  The rear of our house is now complete as is the portico.  Our new home is on the way to work so I know they were there around 7am yesterday morning and still there at 7.30 last night when I drove past last night. Good effort from the guys.


The plumbing and duct work has also been roughed in.  A few issue there but I'll save that for another day.

Until then....
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

THE GREAT BRICK DEBACLE!!!

Help needed!


We just received a call from our SS to say that our chosen bricks the Selkirk "Tawny Heritage" (which were our 3rd choice after the first 2 were discontinued) are in short supply and we wont be able to have them delivered until 24 Nov at the earliest!


So our SS wants us to see if there are any other bricks that we like and would be happy to substitute? The only ones from my memory would be the Austral Hawksburn but they will cost us an additional $5k for the whole house! Arghhhhhh. Apparently the Austral Hawthorn that we originally were told were discontinued are also available...


Not sure what to do... should we stay with the bricks at the risk of stalling the build for a minimum of 2 weeks (the brickies are ready to get going next week) OR choose some new bricks which may end up blowing the budget!


Anyone???