26-06-08 Getting ahead of themselves

We haven't been able to get out to the house of late, mainly due to the early darkness and the poor weather. So I decided to log in to PD 24/7 today and noticed that they have updated our progress chart to show that our Plastering will be complete by tomorrow - WOW!

I may sound sceptical but somehow I think not. Considering they had only installed a few pre-fabricated corners up till last weekend, I would be surprised if they complete the entire house in 5 days


BTW, For those of you who are asking “what is PD 24/7” and “why is he logging on to it”, it’s an online webpage set up for each PD customer. You access it via the Porter Davis website. Once logged in you can view all of the documents relating to your house including your tender, contract, post contract variations, interior colour selections etc. It’s also a repository for all of the emails you send to and from your CSC so you can track all the info about your construction and the queries you raise.

As per the image above it also gives you a diagram of a thermometer to see where you are in the building process and a summary of each stage. It would appear that sometimes they nudge it up a little sooner than later.

You can also view the stages of the build and the dates that each one is completed. According to the screen below, our Plastering is finished tomorrow. Hmmm... we’ll have to see about that on Sat…. maybe they'll surprise me ;-)

20-06-08 Not Again?

Dropped in on Sat eagerly awaiting to see how much plaster had been erected since Tuesday when I met with 'F', and boy was I surprised!

Nothing...No plastering had been done since Tuesday :-(

The only noticeable item was that the plumber had been back to position the pipes for the washing machine. You may remember that when 'K' did his inspection he noted that the washing machine pipes had been positioned too closely in the studs and therefore 'F' had got them back in to replace the studs and re-do the pipes but had forgotten to make sure they re-located them so the washing machine taps sit inside the lower cabinet. Well the boys had been back out again and re-positioned them lower. Lower down the wall Yes - But NOT inside the cabinet - DOH!!

Now they are gonna have to come out and do it again.


The other item we noticed was that someone seems to have scuffed the wiring in 2 places.


Hopefully next week brings some joy...

17-06-08 Bulkhead installation

Met up with 'F' finally. He and I went through 'K's list of issues and he explained what had been rectified, what was still outstanding and that he was still waiting for a report from the PD engineers regarding some of 'K's findings to determine if some of the issues actually needed to be rectified based on the design of the house.

Today the plasterers had been out and started on the pre-baricated bulkheads and wall corners. You can see here the 300mm entry bulkhead which we have included.


Here is another angle of the entry/corridor...


This is the fridge and kitchen bench cavity...


And here is the laundry upper floor waste void...


...and finally the Master WIR.

15-6-08 Garage tiles and problem fixes

Dropped in on the house on Sunday while the cherubs attended a ‘Fairy’ party a couple of blocks away. I met up with ‘Alf’ the roof tiler who was finishing off the last of the pointing on the garage. Looks rather big now that we have the entire outside shell complete!

Alf was a nice and talkative bloke, originally from Germany, who said he was doing work for PD all over the place, from Pakenham to Mernda. He said the poor weather of late had been playing havoc with his schedule and hence why he was out here on a Sunday!!

You can see in this picture that they have had to rebate the gutter in line with the wall as we have built right on the fence line.

All the external wiring has been installed across the front and sides

Some of the issues uncovered by ‘K’ have been rectified like moving the exhaust vent in the outside wall so it lines up with the powder room ceiling exhaust fan.

They still need to knock out the timber block to allow the fumes to escape.


The pile of studs laying here is the timber they had to replace as the water pipe holes had been drilled too closely according to the building code and could weaken them as they are load bearing walls.


The problem with the picture below is that Yes they have replaced all of the studs and spaced out all of the hoses appropriately but they have located the Washing machine taps in the ‘old’ location high on the wall rather than within the cupboard space as we had asked ‘F’ a few weeks ago. I spoke to ‘F about this, this morning and the plumbers were coming back out today to move them again!


Plasterers are due out tomorrow to commence installing the pre-fabricated bulk heads. I have also finally organised a time with ‘F’ to catch up tomorrow arvo and go over ‘Ks’ report and what has been done based on the issues. Not much else has been done but I expect a fair bit to start rolling this week with the plastering.

8-06-08 Scaffolding removed and new addition

Well its been a week now since the pre-plaster inspection was carried out and a few things have happened. The scaffolding has been taken down and the bricks have been cleaned and they have a come up a treat.
(Looking at our temporary fencing, we often wonder what purpose it serves if it's constantly OPEN!!).

We are having the balcony rendered so the finish on it was not as tidy as the rest of the house.

The pic below shows the additional beam that has been added (the centre one). This was an item that 'K' picked up as being 'missing'. 'K' had been out to another Cremorne the week before and picked up the same missing beam(this is not just a noggin, its an entire load bearing structural beam!!) . Something that BSS didn't pick up.
The Steel bracket that you see it bolted to was a part of the original 'I' beam but nothing was attached to it. The 'I' beam is purpose-made and no one had picked up that it didn't have anything bolted to it - scary.

The chippy was out on Saturday and on top of rectifying some of the issues 'K' had picked up around the place, he has also erected the garage roof trusses...


... and installed the frame for the balcony deck. We have asked for the level of the deck to be raised a little, as we felt the step down would have been too big for the cherubs (and us after a few drinks). There is now only a 40mm step down to the deck.

The decking timber has also been delivered

I also took the opportunity to take home some of the remaining bricks so they don't get removed. We hope to get Brian the 'brickie' back to build us a matching letter box after handover.

All in all it's been a really great week with the unveiling of the house now that the scaffolding has been removed. Our week became even better than great by weeks-end though, because on a more personal note we were very excited to welcome into the world a new Little addition to the family, our niece, Lola Eve - Born Thursday 5/6/08 at 11.40pm Yippee!!

Just adorable - and here she is, less than 12hrs old.

31-05-08 Pre-plaster inspection and insulation

Went out on Sat and Sun to install some more sound proofing insulation to some of the internal walls and tidy up some of the wiring. I have now added speaker cables to the family room, dining room and Alfresco areas. I have also completed all the wall insulation between the kids bedrooms, the bathroom and toilet, ensuite toilet and upper storey waste wall cavity to cut down on the noise transfer.

On Sat morning 'K' arrived for his inspection (a very nice bloke BTW). He did a thorough check of the place and was 'reasonably' happy with the work to date. He said most of the things he found were common across a lot of homes.
I have included a brief (but not complete) list of items:
- various missing noggings
- double studs on the end of the openings to doorways should be tied together to prevent movement
- Selected walls out of plumb
- The Bathroom window has been installed and trimmed around externally up to 12mm out of level
- The brick vent which has been installed in the side wall for the Powder room exhaust fan has not been placed in the correct location and will need to be relocated
- Some of the articulation joints around this house and garage have been constructed without any foam backing in them and as a result are now full of mortar
- Flashing needs to be finished off where the rumpus rm roof meets the back of the second storey
- the sewerage vent is located too close to the Evaporative Cooler on the roof (2.5m) Needs to be min of 5m.
- excessive mortar build up over the pipework along the side wall which will hinder drainage
- corners on the Garage slab have broken away resulting in the bottom corner bricks being partially unsupported

Overall I don't believe these items to be significant to what I have seen and read about from other new home owners, nor do I believe that it would take long for 'F' to get them rectified. I will be organising a catch up with him later this week hopefully to see how he has addressed these.

Oh... and BTW... we are now at Lock up Stage and the invoice has arrived to prove it! $$$ :-(

No pics this time, but I will make sure I get some next post as the scaffolding should have been dismantled by then - woohoo.