Being assured of the quality...

I'm happy to report that the house got a great report card last Friday when QA took place. There were mainly painting defects to be corrected, a new microwave as the old one had dents and a dodgy button and a few other bits and bobs. Its interesting how much stuff they don't pick up so don't rely on them only to be comprehensive!

A new front door is being installed early next week and then it will be painted. What happened to the old one? Wellllll... remember about 7-8 weeks ago I mentioned that the wrong door handle had been installed. A new door handle was ordered and was on site in the kitchen cupboard by June 20. It has taken our SS 7 weeks to check to see if it fits (it doesn't and we told him all along the screw holes wouldn't match up!) and now a new door needs to be used and repainted. Begs the question why they a). couldnt get it right the first time? and b). took so long to get it fixed?

Anyway enough about that.

Earlier today we sent our SS a list of things that we know need to be fixed. We did this so to negate the need to get tradies out again after QA and hopefully try to get to handover quicker.

Here is the list...

Items previously discussed over the past few months,

·      Rear garage door locks required incl flush bolt,

·        Garage expansion joints are messy and look poor. 

·        Gas meter needs to be lowered,

·        Flashing on top of brick work of fire box needs to be completed – inspection report dated 5 April.

·         Portico, LH and RH sides (cladding areas) needs to be painted,

·         Portico, a hole exists behind downpipe,

·         Front door and handles,

·         Dining room window has a drill hole through the aluminium?,

·         Both baths need pop-up wastes,

·         Upstairs bathroom door needs replacement,

·         Upstairs bathroom door frame paint needs to be redone,

·         Ensuite (LHS) basin leaks,

·         Carpet lines and joins to be explored,

A few items We’ve noticed recently that we have not discussed,

·       Exterior needs to be cleaned – especially down LHS, windows around fire box,

·         Laundry cabinets to be checked for damage, post plumbing issue leading to damage to flooring,

·         Plaster join in stairwell needs to be cleaned up.

I 

I am sure that we will see more things when we have PCI. But fingers crossed we wont! Here's the schedule going forward...

Our follow up QA to be next Thursday 9^th or Friday 10^th.

Our PCI is booked in for Monday 13^th. We have booked in our Independent Inspector to assist us.

He say he is confident we can have keys by month end. I bloody hope so!!!!

Kirst

xx

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

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

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

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???