Home For Our Cherubs

Dressing the backyard

2010-04-16T12:39:00.003+10:00

Landscaping the backyard has been the priority of late. With winter fast approaching we wanted to make sure we weren't going to be walking around in mud once again during the wet season. (especially having recently acquired a new puppy).

We wanted to hide the slim line water tank PD had installed using a material that would blend in with the surrounds. We chose to go with the Merbau and the treated pine frame. Here the holes have been dug and posts are ready to be set in place.

Once the posts were in, some rails were added along with a splash of 'Feast Watson' Merbau decking oil.

Next we added the the Merbau planks.

And 'viola' - the tank is gone!

We decided to go with a different landscaper to help us with the remaining works in the backyard. This time we enlisted the services of Ben Proctor from 'Vision Designscape Solutions'. He was really helpful in providing ideas and nothing was too difficult. We had decided earlier that we wanted install instant turf using a buffalo grass called 'Palmetto'. Ben had to re-route some of the house drainage as it sat too high in the ground and would have been damaged during the soil preparation. Additional 'aggie' pipes were also included to assure us that no problems would arise during the wet season. The downpipes from the Shed and additional aggie pipes around the retaining wall were all linked to the storm water drain.

Once the fresh top soil had been laid, Ben went about installing the drip line irrigation. The existing water tank (no, not the one shown earlier, another one, used for irrigation) was tapped into to provide water to the lawn and also to feed the garden beds which will be shown later.

A double solenoid system was installed under the deck which runs back to an automated timer running off the tank and pump. One drip line feeds the lawn while the other feeds the garden beds. The solenoids are shown below.

This is the solenoid timer/controller - a Hunter 6-station outdoor controller.

Here you can see the drip lines being tested.

Once the system was connected the turf was brought in and laid. A sand pit for the cherubs was also included which is nicely tucked away in a corner. Something which can later be removed and more turf added to fill the void once they grow out of it.

Next, we needed to finish off the top level by installing the steppers and garden beds. 500x500mm concrete pavers were used to create a path from the Alfresco area to the shed and side of the house.

Weed mat was laid around the pavers to minimise maintenance.

River pebbles were used this time to fill the areas around the pavers.

The downpipes of the shed were plumbed into the aggie drains.

Then the top soil and mulch were carted in and filled into the garden beds.

Once in, we set about selecting the plants and having them installed.

A feature Agave (or Foxtail Agave) was included close to the deck to prevent little ones stepping off accidentally.

Six 'Silver Sheen' Pittosporums were added to line the wall.

Dotted throughout the garden bed we also incuded smaller agave's, Blue Fescue and Guzmania Bromeliads (below).

Along the fence line we included eight 'Strelitzia Reginae' or 'Birds of paradise' plants with 'Arthropodium cirratum' or White Night. as fillers in between as shown in the pic below.

Along the Shed wall we added some espalier fruit trees; a lemon, an orange and in the middle, an olive tree.

Once all the plants were in we installed 6 low voltage halogen lights running off a dusk timer which can be set to remain on for 2, 4, 6 or 8 hours or till dawn.

Before...

...and after.

So that takes us to where we are now, a low maintenance, purposeful backyard where the Cherubs can finally run around with the dog and kick a ball or two.

A massive thanks to Ben (and Blair) for their efforts in turning this backyard into our little tropical paradise.

The Rear Deck

2010-03-19T08:30:00.002+11:00

***Warning: Seriously Large Post Ahead***

You may want to grab a coffee - this could take a while.... ;-)

The backyard had commenced in our last post with the 'Great Wall' being erected. It was now time to start on the deck!
Due to the sloping block we had decided that we wanted to create a level area to entertain with; something that would provide enough space to dine on and also lounge around near the Spa and something that would capitalise on our views. We had some pre-conceived ideas about the deck style and seating and the fact that it needed to come up around the Spa, so that it was immersed halfway, therefore making the Spa edge a form of seat to ensure it was at a sociable level when you were sitting in it. It also needed to incorporate a Spa fence for safety reasons and something that would not hinder our visibility.

Enter 'Travis' from 'Travis McLean Decks and Pergolas'. Travis had been doing some post handover work as part of our three month inspection for PD. He mentioned that he ran his own decking business and offered to put in a quote. His figures, ideas and knowledge impressed us so much we signed him up straight away.

The Materials
After designing the deck and getting council approval, he provided us with the materials list which I set about fulfilling. Once again another quick call to Craig (Australian Lattice and Timber) to send over a truckload of goodies! The shots below show 'some' of the materials. (The roofing/plumbing materials came later). 680m of merbau was received, some of which will be used in additional structures to be included in later posts.

All the holes were dug and the posts laid. The outside feature posts are 90x 90 Cypress Gold pine, while the unseen stumps 'below deck' are 100x100 Cypress pine.

The upright post seen below were used to support the Spa fencing so they needed to be very straight and square.

Bolt down post supports were used around the spa on the concrete pad.

With all the floor joists down, the merbau planks were spaced to ensure uniformity across the deck. You can see in this shot and the one below it, the sub-frame of the corner seating and planter box. All boards were pre-drilled and hand nailed using S/S twist shank nails.

The structure starting to take shape.

The 'Cherubs' during construction.

The merbau was meticulously recessed around the spa walls.

Flooring nearly there.

Here you can see the lift-up lid frames in place using Stainless Steel hinges.

In the corner we included a planter box. I was able to find a plastic planter tub at Bunnings which fitted exactly in the space - so happy with the end result.

Next the roof structure had to be erected. Not an easy task for one man!

Deck complete.

In this next series of photos, you can see the final product.
Two coats of Feast Watson natural decking oil have been applied to give it some additional colour. For the upright posts we used the same branded product but chose a 'Merbau' colour to blend in with the merbau decking.

The seating completed and planter box filled in the corner.

The tops of the seats lift up to allow for storage of various Spa toys and foldable deck chairs. Stainless Steel finger pull rings have been recessed into the lids.

The roof has been installed. We used a mix of solid and opaque sheets to allow light to come though.

And the Glass Spa fencing attached.

The 10mm toughened glass is held in place using Stainless Steel 'D' clamps at a height of 1200mm to meet pool fencing regs..

The exposed timber of the roofing in the pic below will later stained as per the upright posts in the pic above.

While building the deck we also added some deck lighting. We shopped around a lot, especially online! The most efficient and economical type we could find were these LED lights from a brand called Micromark. Great light and very cheap to run. The main box comes with 2 Stainless Steel lights and also includes the transformer which can handle up to 10 lights. You can buy the additinal lights individually. We used 8 in total. The cable length is huge too - 10m. You simply bore a 55mm hole and drop it in.

The connector unit and transformer have been mounted under the deck below an access hatch for easy access.

Each light is 70mm in diameter and includes 12 bright white LEDs providing ample feature light.

Glass Fencing

The Glass fencing required was relatively easy to install between the pine posts but I needed to get some expert help to install the glass panels between the house and the brick pillar and to also include a self closing gate. After a few calls and emails to various Glass fencing companies, I decided to go through Dean from Krystal Glass Fencing who was able to supply a glass gate and the relevant fittings. He also put me in touch with one of his engineers, Neil, who came out to install the 50x50 SS posts and glass gate.

The Holes were bored through the concrete and then the posts inserted. Once squared up and aligned the holes were filled with grout and left to dry for few days.

And here is the finished gate with the additional post awaiting the glass to be mounted.

A total of 4 access hatches were well crafted into the deck to allow access to the various spa pumps and plumbing.

Well, there you go, I said it was long. I hope I haven't bored you with too much detail, and I hope that by going to this length it may have helped some other person who may be planning their own backyard deck.

We have to mention a special thanks to Travis for the excellent work he has done. We are very pleased with the outcome.

The next post will include additional backyard work involving plantings, instant turf and more garden structures. Till then, happy building :-)

Here comes the backyard

2010-02-02T13:05:00.025+11:00

The back yard is finally coming to life. A little while ago we had a stone wall erected - the great wall of Lilydale (well almost). It was actually built some months ago (as you can tell by all the water on the ground - not much of that around at the moment) but we have only just had some additional work done in the back yard to be able to bring out these pics and then to follow on with some additional posts for more work that has been carried out in recent months.

Adrian and the boys from AllFX concreting did the work and they have done a very nice job, once again. We chose the same Adbri Masonry blocks used in the front yard and also followed the theme using the same Austral Riviera pavers for the steps.

The idea is to have the enclosed area laid with turf with underground irrigation run off the water tank and pump. A sandpit for the girls is to be included (which can years from now be removed and more turf added to fill the void) and also an allocated space for a new trampoline as the old one has seen better days and doesn't quite meet OH&S standards any longer ;-)

The Subsidence.
Along the rear of our property is an easement, carrying both storm water and sewer drainage. A while after our 'Great' wall was erected and we had had a bit of rain, we came out one morning to find that a section along the easement had sunk! A large section had dropped almost a foot, (that's around 30cms for the younger generation..err...not to say that I'm old...umm...anyway, on with the story).. and also created a rather deep hole as can be seen in the photos below.

After contacting the agent who sold us the land and sending him some pics, he advised the land developer who put us in contact with the engineering firm who had developed the estate. They promptly came out and assessed the site and soon sent out a crew to back fill the area with additional soil. They also had to straighten the fence line as it too had shifted during the subsidence. They claim that during the laying of the easement pipes, the ground had not been filled and compacted enough and air pockets may have been left and the recent rain had caused them to collapse. Hopefully there's no more pockets left!

Coming up next...."THE REAR DECK!"

Pebbles and Mulch

2009-10-19T07:32:00.020+11:00

Well the front yard is now Complete!
Phew - Took nearly 12 months but it's all come together.
We sourced some local mulch and rocks from 'Supersoil' including:
20 mm Riviera pebbles and 14-20 mm Tuscany pebbles.

All the step pavers below were laid on a bed of mortar on crushed rock and then surrounded with the Riviera pebbles.

...and from the other angle.

We also decided to tidy up the blind side of the house and also make it very low maintenance using the Tuscany pebbles.

The water tank area received some attention and was sprinkled with some stone too.

The front garden beds also got the treatment.

Note, the Deck in the following photos has been hit with hose to get this nice effect (tank water of course ;-) - an oiling is planned in the next couple of weeks to give it a permanent colour.

The rear yard is a work in progress and some parts are on hold, although we have recently had an awesome deck built - so once that is all completed we will post some more pics.
Enjoy the summer.

The Front Garden

2009-06-02T12:57:00.027+10:00

A lot has happened recently with regard to the front yard and I have finally had time to put together a post.

We had a truck load of rocks delivered and strategically placed in the slope to create some pockets for effect.

We had a fair idea as to what sort of look we were hoping to achieve in the front yard - something that was low maintenance, no roses, no lawn and a variety of plants. So we took a trip down the plant wholesalers with our landscaper who was able to provide some good advice as to what would suit our landscape with the ideas we had in mind. This place is called 'Plantmark - wholesale nursery' located in Lyndhurst - it was massive!! The only downside is that you need to be in the trade to get in.

Here's Lou helping load the truck with all of our plants. We had three trolleys!

Then they were laid out across the yard...

...and planted with fresh top soil.

with the final effect being...

During this development we also had a letterbox constructed and a planter box incorporated to house a Cycad (or Sago Palm).

Next was to start on the front deck. The plan was to create a multi-level Merbau deck which would meet with the exiting path and also with the paved courtyard.

Along the way I had a lot of helpers who were 'eager' to help Dad.

And here is the finished product. This was just after I washed it down. I am still yet to oil it.

To finalise the front yard we now just need to add the mulch and pebbles. The next post will be dedicated to some of the work being carried out in the back yard - stay tuned.

At this point we must say a big thank you to Adriaan and the boys from 'AllFX Concrete' who have done a fantastic job with all the the concrete work and landscaping, and also a thankyou to Craig from 'Australian Lattice and Timber' for the supply of the timber for the deck.

Courtyard paving

2009-05-12T08:11:00.009+10:00

As an update to the landscaping efforts to date, the front courtyard paving has been completed and we are very happy with the results. Adbri Masonary Stone was used for the walls and Austral Riviera 'Imperia' 400mm pavers where used for the base and seat. Links included below for those who wish to know more.

Austral Riviera Imperia
Adbri Masonary

The colours work well with each other and also pick up well with the colour of the house and paperbark windows/gutters/garage door etc.

A merbau deck is now under construction which will lead out from the front door with a step down to paver level to connect the two. Once that is complete we will be organising plants and mulch and stones to complete the front landscape - hanging out to have this completed.

Landscaping journey begins

2009-04-27T11:55:00.018+10:00

Time for a landscaping update.

We've had the boys from All FX Concrete out again to do some more 'hard landscaping' work for us (you'll remember they also did our driveway for us) And no, I don't mean hard as in difficult. I mean hard as opposed to 'Soft Landscaping' - ie. planting and laying mulch etc :-)

Out the front we are creating a courtyard with a seat and a paved area - something to break up the garden.

Here is a pic with the section excavated ready for the slab frame to go down.

And here it is all laid out.

We are also getting the alfresco paved with the same pavers as the front.

Down the blind side of the house we are getting standard concrete without pavers to minimise maintenance.

We are also getting a slab laid for a freestanding spa.

...and of course every mans basic need - a garden shed.

The access these days is getting a little harder so they enlisted the use of a concrete pumper to get to all the locations.

Here we can see the guys hard at it......on all the slabs.

And what slab wouldn't be complete without signing it. The cherubs thought it was great - a little bit like Hollywood!

While the diggers were there we also got them to level the backyard ready for a retaining wall. This area will eventually be lawn for the cherubs to play on. They took out 3 truckloads of soil.

Tank, Drain and Conduit

2009-04-22T13:07:00.024+10:00

Finally some time to catch up on what been happening at the Cherubs place (and its been a lot!) So grab a coffee and a Tim Tam and have a read.

Rain water tank
In an attempt to save some valuable water, I have installed a water tank, a 4,500 litre version to be exact. This was the largest size I could install in the available space we had. It was a great spot too as I was able to plumb two downpipes into it which has now enabled us to completely fill the tank with what little rain we have had.

Firstly the area was cleared of all the crap the builders leave embedded in the ground.

Then I bolted in a frame to contain the packing sand base.

The two pipes shown below are the reticulated termite protection pipe (purple) and my water pipe (black) for extending tank water to other areas of the front and back garden. I took out a piece of the treated pine sleeper to allow them to pass through.

And finally here you can see the finished product.

From the tank I have connected a pump (capable of managing 4 outlets) and connected a tap at the front (so I can wash my car at home again :-) ) and one for the rear.

Power Conduit
In the backyard we have organised to have a slab laid and a Shed constructed. The shed will have 2 skylights for light during the day but at night will have mains powered lighting. In order to provide power, a PVC conduit had to be laid from the house to the shed location prior to the slab being poured. Here are some of the pics showing the trench and the conduit.

Balcony Drainage
As many Cremorne owners will know, the balcony facade provides an option where you can have the base tiled for a couple of thousand dollars and a letterbox drain fitted to one side. This is an excellent option as the standard is to have decking boards above and below as part of the balcony structure letting what ever rain hits the deck to come through on unsuspecting visitors - which is what we chose.

After throwing around some ideas with mates and other tradies, we have decided to do a similar option. The twist is that we will incorporate a drain through one of the balcony piers so the water escapes out of sight. A tiling mate will come over and water proof the balcony floor, tile it and include a stainless steel drain in one corner - a bit like a shower base.

Here is the balcony pier I have plumbed the pipe through.

When you lift the deck boards and look down the pier, the only obstruction is the wiring for the lights, which is minimal.

I then hammer drilled a hole at the base of the pier to allow the pipe to exit.

Then inserted the pipe.

And connected it to the existing silt pit as provided by PD.

As more work is completed on the balcony, I will post more photos.

Cherub safety and front lights

2009-01-12T20:38:00.021+11:00

Thought I would show a few pics of some the features recently added to the Cherub's house.

We found that the stairs can be a lot of fun for the little ones but can also be rather daunting for the smallest cherub. They are pretty big steps after all! So we decided to add a 'cherub rail' to help with the stairs - and it is doing just the trick to help them with their mission either up or down the stairs. It's one of the rails normally used in wardrobes. It has a much smaller diameter - and is just perfect for small hands.

We also added some lights to the stairway to provide some soft light when you get up and down the stairs during the night. We have put in a total 3. One on each flight of steps and one for the middle landing. They run a 5w Compact Flourescent globe, and the lights are double switched at the top and bottom stairs for convenience sake. Here is a few pics of the lights close up and at night.

We've had our sparky install the lights across the front of the house too. It took us ages to find something we liked and suited, but we did in the end. They needed to suit the style of house and also light up the front of the house - more so than just a 'spot' light as such.

We currently have the landscapers over at the moment doing some slabs 'n' stuff so we should be able to bring some before and during photos to you all soonish...stay tuned.

Driveway and fence

2008-12-22T23:43:00.010+11:00

Well you certainly don't get much time to blog once you get the keys. So much to do and so little time!

We have now had our driveway and fences installed and they came up up great.
Driveway
The boys from 'AllFX Concreting' did the driveway. First up, they got the Dingo in and dug out the area and laid the formwork and some crushed rock as a base with some reinforcing mesh.

Then came the concrete pour.

After the concrete is laid and smoothed over, they spray the surface with a retardant which prevents the top surface from hardening.

Once dry, they bring out the concrete saw and make the required cuts in the concrete.They then pressure wash the top layer off with a gerni.

Once the top layer has been cleaned off and the aggregate exposed and allowed to dry, they apply 2 coats of sealer. These take a few days to fully cure.

The end result is a nice shiny pebble mix effect.

"Late edit".....

Here is a clear shot of the entire driveway completed.

Fence
Our Fence has also been installed.
The fence is colourbond steel in the 'Merino' colour purchased from Stratco.

To all our friends and fellow bloggers - Merry Christmas, and here's wishing you all a safe and happy 2009!

Thursday 13th Nov - Handover day

2008-11-26T07:23:00.025+11:00

Yes, WE HAVE THE KEYS!!
Sorry everyone for taking so long to get back on the blog; it has been a VERY hectic last couple of weeks and little access to the internet.

Tile Cleaning
As you would recall in our the last post, 'D' had issues with trying to get the floor tile grout clean which postponed our handover and has had to call in a professional. Here is a pic of him scrubbing the floor with a solution called 'Lift off' which is supposed to draw out the grime from the grout.

Well it seems to have done the trick as the tiles have come up pretty good.

Termite Protection
As most new home owners would know it is standard for the builder to spray the building perimeter for termites. During our inspection it was explained to us that the protection is only effective as long as you don't disturb the soil. WHAT THE?? This is a brand new house, of course we are gonna disturb the soil and plant stuff and lay pavers and concrete etc. So, while we were waiting for handover we organised for a reticulated termite protection system to be installed. As once we have the keys, the driveway would be installed soon after, and the system had to be installed before hand.

We got the guys from 'Fumapest' to install a reticulated system as they provide a 50 year warranty (provided you ensure the regular maintenance scheme is adhered to). First up they spray the perimeter with a solution called 'Biflex'. They then dig a shallow trench around the house and lay the flat pipe which sits on a sheet of plastic. The system is then capped at a single point and enclosed in a box which allows easy access for regular maintenance top ups. They then cover up the pipe with soil and pump it full of Biflex to soak the area.

Handover
On the morning of Handover we had suspicions that the house may not be ready (as it had been delayed now so often) and when we arrived the cleaner was still running around doing a final mop of the floors.

When the builder provides a clean of the house, they provide what is known as a 'Builders' Clean'. This is a not a full service as you would normally get from a cleaner. So when you get the keys don't expect the place to be picture perfect by any means.

There were still minor quality issues which we expected to be of a better standard, but to minimise any further inconvenience to us, we accepted the keys. As other new owners would know, when you insert the new 'owners' keys, the tumbler in the lock barrel changes to no longer accept the builders' set of keys. This worked for all the locks except the garage entrance, therefore requiring a call out from the locksmith the following day. Fortunately he arrived that day too, as the door handle mechanism for the study had become defective after closing the day before and would not allow us to open the study doors.

As part of handover the tiler was asked to come back one more time within 5 days and re-do the powder room grout as it was no an acceptable standard. For all those DIY'ers out there, it was rougher than 80 grit sandpaper!

Carpet laying
We accepted the keys at around 9:30 am and had the carpet layers in that afternoon at 4:30 pm. Boy they work fast! By the time they left that night, they had laid the rumpus, study and lounge and had prepped the upstairs with the carpet edging.

We are VERY happy with the colour of the carpet, in fact we are very happy with all of the colours we chose, as we can now see them all come together beautifully.

Water tank

In the afternoon of handover I ventured out the back and realised we didn't have a water tank or pump! A quick call to 'D' to ask where it was got a response to the effect of ....It must have walked?. It was later determined that it never actually arrived! Handover was becoming more eventful. Another tank was sourced and in place the next day and the plumbers were onsite in the afternoon to hook it up. Sadly the quality issues don't stop there. The design of the slab for the tank had not allowed for the pump to be situated alongside, and therefore the plumber had to locate the pump on some leftover bricks imposing on our side access as shown below.

Another visit from 'D' later and a more acceptable solution has been devised by adding a pair of 600mm square concrete pads to the left side of the tank to locate the pump and re-route the plumbing accordingly behind the tank to the other side. At this stage we are still waiting for the sparky to turn up and extend the weatherproof GPO to the left side to connect the pump switch.

While the Plumber was erecting the initial pump set up, he severed the reticulated termite pipe, which required a call out from the 'Fumapest' boys again to mend and refill the system.

Driveway
On Friday morning we had Adriaan from 'AllFx Concreting' out to work his magic on the driveway. The guys battled the poor weather to get the drive scraped and formed ready for the pour which will be on Dec 3rd - sadly they can't get it any earlier :-(

Thanks for waiting. You've nearly caught up now - hopefully our Internet is connected soon and we can contribute a little more often with some photos of the inside completed ;-)

8-11-08 Our Second PCI

2008-11-08T16:33:00.022+11:00

Yes, we have been a little quiet with blogging, and some may have believed it to be because we were busy moving into our new home; but in this case "no news means, no bloody house".

The shortish version of events goes a little like this. 'D' (our new SS) has been cracking the whip to get the place back into shape ready for our second PCI which had been scheduled for Fri the 31st of Oct. Sadly the more he looked the more issues he found. Subsequently, the date was then moved out to Monday the 3rd to allow the new painter, 'L', to work right through the weekend to eventually re-paint the entire house. Then on Monday morning we got a phone call to say that they would need to move the date further out to Wed the 5th as they didn't realise how big a job it was.

Finally, on Wed, the inspection took place, starting at 2pm with both 'D' and the 'L' onsite. First impressions were that the finish was much, much better than the original; 'L' was a providing an excellent finish to the gloss woodwork with a mirror result. We were alsolucky enough to score a bonus of 'Wattyl ID' paint on all the feature walls and skirts/Arcs as part of thr re-paint. 'L' advised that some have taken 5 coats to get it right and said in some ways we are lucky that this has happened because the finished product is looking just 'shmicko'. Anyway, as we wandered through the rooms and pointed out paint defects, 'L' was straight on to them, scraping and filling as we went - how's that for service! 'L' was a very friendly & lovely guy who was only too happy to fill & paint anything missed and just apologetic and explained that it was a huge job and that sometimes he could miss some dents. The number of defects found was around 5% of what we had found in the first PCI and a much welcomed surprise. Several items were still to be rectified from the original PCI list which annoyed me a little as this should have been completed for this inspection, but we had confidence that they were in hand and know that these things can happen. During our external inspection we were happy to see that all of the brickwork had been cleaned up nicely from the re-bricking for the inclusion of the weep holes. (Ohh, and just on the cleaning, the cleaner had not turned up that morning, so the house was not in a totally clean state to be able to determine the finish on certain surfaces). A lot of the guttering had been replaced due to dents and scratches and was looking very nice till we rounded the back corner of the house and Lou noticed several scratches across a 1 foot section of guttering. 'D' wasn't happy - "It wasn't there on Monday" he said. The PCI concluded in a couple of hours, which is what the first one should have been.

In the end 'D' said they would be able to rectify the remaining issues and would more than likely be able to provide us with the keys on Friday afternoon, the 7th Nov - Woohoo!! (note this is the same day as settlement on our existing home). Late afternoon on Thursday the 6th I received a call from 'D' saying that the cleaner had been in and that they had been unable to get the grout clean in the main walkways throughout the lower level. He went on to explain that because the tradies had been tracking mud through the inside constantly they would need to get the tiler back in to scrape out the old grout and re-grout most of the flooring. Handover has now been set for Wed afternoon :-(

On handover day, as most PD owners would know, you normally inspect the house, confirm acceptance and then drive out to the relevant head office to hand over the cheque and accept the keys. In our case 'D' has offered to bring the keys along with him to the handover inspection and save us a 90min round trip to the Berwick head office. He said it was the least they could do, after the process and experience we have had prior to our letter to PD management. I must also say, he has bent over backwards trying to make it all right again and we have confidence he means what he says. He cant stop apologising enough!

Our existing home has now been handed over to the new owners and we have had to shift our household belongings into storage and then move in with Lou's Mum and step dad. As annoying as it is to have to move our stuff into storage, we would rather have the house completely finished and feel it is wholly ours, then to have tradesman entering weeks on end to finish off minor issues. We have explained this to 'D' and he agrees that this is what you should always do too, so that is comforting :-)

While we are on the subject of storage, we found a company that provides what look like medium sized containers, which they call PODS (Portable On Demand Storage). They drop off a POD and you fill it. You can then either get them to pick it up and deliver it to your new address, or they can take it away and store it for a while and drop it off later. We have had to use 2 PODS as well as a couple of trailer loads to friends and relatives.

At this point we must say a BIG thankyou to a few people who have helped us thus far with making the move as effortless as possible; Leam & Shez, Ails & Scotty, my Mum and Dad, Lou's Mum and step Dad, Sean and Gary and Hayley. Thanks also to all our friends and family and fellow bloggers for their well wishes and support.

28-10-08 Nearly there...

2008-10-28T07:10:00.024+11:00

Two weeks ago we decided that enough is enough. Enough of the poor workmanship, enough of the slow response time to get things done, and enough of our house looking almost the same, week after week after week from our first PCI. We wrote to PD informing them in no uncertain terms, our issues and concerns with our new home, suggesting to them that maybe they should get someone out there to see for themselves what was going on. We also advised that we didn’t believe that our house would be ready for our second inspection by Oct 26th which had been suggested by ‘F’, because our house was so far off being completed, and it was so plain to see. We pointed out that we just basically expected a lot more progress on our house, 4 weeks out since the first PCI.

Within half an hour of sending the email, I received a call from the Construction Manager 'M', two up from 'F'. He was very apologetic and explained that they would have someone out there that afternoon. Two hours later, I received a call from 'T', 'F's boss, who had gone onsite. He too was also very apologetic and advised us that he would be taking over to manage the remaining issues and finalise construction. 'T' was basically shocked to find what condition our home was still in and agreed that there was no way the house would be ready for at least a few more weeks!

Since then, ‘T’ (who I might add has been fantastic) has come back to us with a schedule to rectify the remaining issues and is trying his best to have the house ready for our second PCI on Monday the 3rd Nov. Then, based on no major defects appearing, we should have handover on Friday 7th Nov. This date will mark 232 days (or 33 wks) since site scrape. Not an anniversary we want to celebrate.

On top of the existing list of issues and defects found by ‘K’ and us, ‘T’ has determined that several other areas around the house were not up to PD standard and has requested that additional works be carried out to bring them up to scratch. We are glad we are now much closer and on our way to a beautiful house and feel confident that the house will be at a much higher standard then what it would have been had we not escalated the issues. Having said that, we still can’t help feeling disappointed with most of the process pre-escalation and still feel a little ‘bitter’.

As a consequence of the situation, our moving plans have been thrown into disarray by the constant delays. We had allowed ourselves a 7 week buffer from the original (supposed) handover date to move out, but it appears that this wasn’t enough and PD will use up every single day of those 7 weeks. Work has been really good about the situation and understanding of the delays and my need to keep postponing my leave. We must also thank Andy and Tony, our carpet layer and sparky for constantly adjusting their schedule to accommodate our delays week after week. We have had to tackle some interesting logistics with the move process we have been forced into which has been documented so we can track who, when, how, where etc…. But we won’t bore you with that stuff. We can see a light at the end of the tunnel; it just may need some more batteries.

As part of the additional works being carried out, they have ripped up and replaced the balcony deck as the boards were laid to close together, resulting in little or no gap for drainage.

Extensive guttering has been replaced around the house (more than what we had suggested) mainly due to scratches/dents during the build.

The 'z' flashing along the outside garage wall (which sits in between the top of the brickwork and the Gutter) has also been replaced. The flashing has to be sitting either vertically or leaning away from the building to deflect any water - ours was leaning into the wall creating a water trap.

The Plasterer has now finished patching up all the walls - this one three times.

This section of cornice has been re-done 3 times.

The tiles around the nib walls have been ripped out and replaced.

The tiles near the Rumpus entry have been ripped up and replaced to float them higher and decrease the gap below the door, as there was a slight valley near the entry.

As part of our inspection we realised that they had forgotten to install the front door 'reed switch' as part of the Alarm install. They have now included the switch along with a few more holes.

The brickie has now finished off all of the weep holes and flashing above the upper storey windows.

The cleaners have done a once over and the painters are due to start today. A second clean will then be carried out before our 2nd PCI on Monday.

Sorry for the long post, but a lot has transpired in recent weeks.

7-10-08 More delays....

2008-10-02T14:52:00.021+10:00

Just to provide some detail as to where we are at the moment, we are now into the 28th week since we started building our new home and still more to go; a far cry from the 22 or so weeks it took to build M&Ms, Andy's and P&B's Cremorne 41. It is also 18 weeks since 'K' carried out his Pre-plaster inspection, and 3 weeks since we had our Practical Completion Inspection.

During our Pre-plaster inspection, 'K' made note that there needed to be weep holes and flashing in the brickwork to allow drainage. Refer to the quote from the report:

"There have not been any head flashing, or their accompanying weep holes, installed into the brickwork across the tops of all the first floor window and door frames around this house; nor across the top of the electrical meterbox...These flashing's and the weep holes must be correctly installed to properly water-proof all of these openings"

Fifteen weeks later, when 'K' carried out his pre-handover inspection, the same issue was noted in his 'second' report. Last Thursday, (three weeks after the report), I received a call from 'F' telling me that his building manager has agreed with 'K' and that they will now need to organise to have this issue rectified to be in accordance with the building code. He also advised me that this would add an additional one to two weeks on to our ever increasing schedule!!

To keep coming back with delay after delay based on poor workmanship is so just f'ing FRUSTRATING!
__________________________________________________

I have included some pics below taken over the weekend to show what work has been carried out recently. They have re-aligned the wall near the garage entry door...

...and also re-aligned the wall in the kitchen.

You can see in the picture below how much the base has had to be brought in to make it square again with the tile lines.

The rumpus room ceiling has been adjusted...

..as has the ceiling in the family room.

The wall in one of the cherub's rooms has been straightened.

The games room ceiling has been rectified - previously sagging.

Quading has also been installed across the front door and the garage entry door to neaten up the joints.

One item which we noticed during our inspection was that when the mirror was installed in the Ensuite, and as the basins had already been fitted, they were not able to get the silicone to seal the full distance behind each of the vanity basins. Of all the places to not prevent water getting through, this would have to be one of the worst! This was also included on our inspection report.

And as a final note, we had a quick visit late yesterday afternoon to visually try out the look of some external lights and it looks like 'F' has since checked the work from the plasterers shown in some of the photos above. He has subsequently marked some of them up using the words 'wrong' & 're-do', which leaves you asking the question...How many plasterers does it take to repair a wall?

23-9-08 Bows and Dots

2008-09-23T11:47:00.010+10:00

Hi All, sorry for the long breaks between posts and the lack of replies to the comments (which are very much appreciated), but not much has happened to the place in the last week. Work is currently underway to rectify the defects found during our PCI inspection on the 12th. 'F' has been busy scheduling tradies to fix up the defects and has the chippy and plasterer scheduled for this week and the Plumber and Sparky visited last week to do some minor fix-ups.
We are not exactly sure when the place will be ready for the next inspection and are just playing it by ear at the moment.
In response to some of the comments received, I have have included some photos to show what some of the walls looked like after we had checked them for defects. Each red dot represents either a scratch, dent or dag (technical term for raised crap on the wall/surface which was not sanded off before painting). Some defects, actually a lot of them were nails that had not been filled and sanded appropriately.
It amazes me that the tradies take no pride in their work and the even sadder part is that all of this disappointment and frustration falls back onto PD as they are the Face of the tradies. No doubt the tradies get hauled back in again to rectify their work, but you would think that if they get it right the first time they wouldn't need to come back, we would be satisfied with the result, they would be paid sooner and we would get our keys sooner - see, everyone's happy then!!

Here is a shot of the Rumpus room... 'K' picked up that the right hand corner of the bulkead needs to be lifted as it's sagging.

...and the master bedroom...

...the staircase - this area needed a LOT of work.

Once again, common sense played no part in the original location of the light switch for the stairwell. Similar to B&Ps place they had located the light switch behind the hand rail. As shown below, this has now been moved up the wall to a more practical location.

As part of the inspection you are required to sign that you agree that there are no scratches in the cabinets, bench tops windows etc. In the powder room we found several scratches in the bench top. We have been told by 'F' that there is a special team who come out and rectify these scratches and once finished will not be visible. Can't wait to examine the finished surface.

As mentioned in the previous post there are a couple of bowed walls which were picked up not only by 'K', but some of them also by us. This is in one of the cherub's bedrooms.

These next 2 photos show the non-squared walls in the kitchen - it doesn't quite follow the grout line does it?

17-9-08 Dots, Dissapointment and Defects

2008-09-10T20:40:00.017+10:00

Wednesday
Last Wednesday Lou and I met with ‘K’ onsite to carry out his pre-handover inspection. When we arrived, the place was yet to be cleaned, the floor tiles and showers had just been caulked and the windows were dirty and still covered in plastic. Not the best environment to inspect in, considering we are meant to sign off that there are no scratches in the glass or bench tops. During our walk, ‘K’ picked up that some of the items on his previous inspection (Pre-plaster) had still not been rectified, items which he has again included in his new report. (Suffice to say we will be inviting 'K' to come back with us for the following inspection) Some of the more serious items he found included sagging ceiling lines/cornices, and out of plumb walls and insulation that didn’t cover full roof perimeter of the ceiling.
The more minor items included, the need for quading around the alfresco beams and garage timber where it meets the brickwork, as the finish was rough and needed to be tidied up, and uneven floor tiles which need to be replaced. While we were there a ‘chippy’ turned up to screw down the floor boards upstairs where the ‘sparky’ had cut holes for the electrical wiring. He’s going to have to come back as it appears not all of the boards have been fixed.

Friday
On Friday, we met up with ‘F’ to do our Practical Completion Inspection. When we arrived, the cleaners were just finishing and gathering their stuff, so we commenced with the outside first. The inspection process is basically where we point out defects and 'F' marks the spot with a red sticker dot and /or writes up notes. We started at 9am and then at 11.15 were told by ‘F’ that we had 15 mins left as we were only allocated until 11.30 in his diary, as this was standard. He figured that because ‘K’ had been out there already, that we could do it in that time. Wow, to anyone who has inspected inside and out of a 2 storey in the supposed ‘normal’ time frame, all I can say is ‘go Buzz Light Year’ (Yes, I've watched Toy Story too much I think). Let me just also add, that we hadn’t even come near the top level by this time. So anyway, after we went a little berko and said that this was a ridiculous time allowed to inspect our ‘new’ house, we calmed down and all agreed to meet back Monday morning, where ‘if needed’, he would dedicate the whole day to us.

Monday
So Monday morning was take two. More days off work and more arrangements for baby sitters! Red dot, red dot, red dot, red dot, red dot, Lou falls on her ar$e, red dot, red dot, red dot & more bl@@dy red dots until finally half way through the morning ‘F’ had to duck out to the local newsagent and get some more red dots. Once he returned (along with some much needed coffee's) we continued, red dot, red dot, red dot ....well you get the picture. I don’t think he counted on the place being this rough. Hold on! Did I just say something about Lou’s ar$e. Ummm, yes that’s right. Remember the wiring and the floors being ripped up? Well the "####"(many a word could be added here) guy who was meant to fix the floor boards & screw them down, forgot to ‘screw’ some of them down and Lou fell through one backwards, and as a result has woken up the next morning with a sore neck/shoulder. Wasn’t this meant to be a quality inspection?? Anyway...by the time we finished, the house looked like it had contracted the measles with red dots on every wall and ceiling.

At the end of the inspection we had used up a few hundred dots and 'F' had written 5 pages of notes. At this stage we are looking at maybe another 3 weeks before we can have another inspection of the house. The larger defects being the alignment of the walls and ceilings, will take most of the time.

Now for some photos.
I have included a couple of shots below of the now tiled alcove bench next to the fridge cavity...

and also of the bloke removing our port-a-loo and bin.

So at present this is how our place looks all cleaned up with out any fencing, sand bags, port-a-loo, rubbish bin and the landscaping cleaned up. Since taking this photo, the moulding between the floors on the front has also been painted to match the windows.

30-08-08 Lights, render and bobcat

2008-08-30T22:12:00.012+10:00

Another week has passed and they have been getting a lot done. Our plumbing has been connected with all the toilets installed.

The 'bobcat man' has been out and tidied up the yard and removed all the plaster and other building materials, which has made a vast improvment across the site.

The moulding has been installed across the front facade...

...and the Render has also been applied to the balcony and looks Fantastic. We LOVE the colour. They have done a very neat job too.

Looking at the house from the outside now, it looks almost complete!

We have however run into a few more issues with the sparky. Things like the installation of downlights as mentioned last week and the one shown below. They seem to have made the hole too large and patched around it and the light fitting itself has sunk into the bog/ceiling. They have now fitted the downlights in the kitchen cabinets (previously in the ceiling) and also fitted the ranghood.

It appears they had some major problems with the wiring of the house too. Speaking with 'F', he said it would appear that someone has messed with the wiring and helped themsevles to some of it. As you'll see below, the Sparky has had to cut multiple sections out of the upstairs flooring to access the wiring to make repairs. Not happy Jan :-(
Here you can see that they have had to cut a hole in the plaster to access a junction box near the front door.

This is the section they had to remove in the Games room.

This is looking into the cut away section.

Here you can see the sections removed in the Master bedroom...

...and more in the same.

This is the area near the stairs.

And this is in one of the cherubs' bedrooms.

Yet again we have come across issues which exist beacuse of poor communications between the builder and the tradesmen. We spcified in the contract that we wanted 3 light fittings in the stairwell, each 300mm of the stair treads for us to install low voltage lights to illuminate the stairs at night. It seems that the tradesmen just get a plan diagram to work off and that's it. It merely shows a location from a plan view with no description of height and subsequently they mounted the light around 6 foot off the floor. After bringing this to 'Fs' attention, they have relocated the 3 fittings. I have indicated in the photo where the original holes were placed.

The rumpus room has finaly been finshed off, after they ripped down the wall and bulkhead, and the paint looks pretty good.

Our gas meter has also been installed and when we arrived today there were three blokes installing our ceiling insulation (2.5 batts). Chatting to one of them he was saying how tight it was in the ceiling due to all of the heating and cooling ducts. I don't think I'm gonna have much storage space up there. The tiling has not progressed at all this week but I assume they will be back next week to finish it off. I can't wait till the cleaner comes and gives the place a once over. As everything is covered an a layer of dust, nothing looks new.

23-08-08 Splashback, vents and wires

2008-08-24T21:06:00.008+10:00

We went up to the house over the weekend and met up with the concreter, 'A', to plan the driveway. We have decided on exposed aggregate for the drive, path & will also have this at the front entrance which will include a step up. While 'A' was there, we also talked landscaping ideas with him. Haven't discussed prices yet, but just thought we'd suss it all out. Where possible we would like to have someone do the landscaping for us this time. Yeah I know there is the whole thing of feeling satisfied & a sense of accomplishment if you are doing it yourself, yarda, yarda, yarda, but we really have achieved that with the house that we are currently in & I basically have busted my kahoonas always building this & fixing that & quite frankly, I need a bl@@dy rest! We figure that if we can get someone to do it for us ‘where our bank account allows us of course’, then why not? We have 2 beautiful little cherubs & we really want to enjoy this precious time as a family while we can.

Upon inspecting the house we found that the Sparky had returned and the electrical fit-off has commenced. Shown below are the 'Chinaman Hats' that come standard with PD light fittings (unless otherwise specified). These have been fitted on the lights upstairs and in the rumpus as these are the areas where we will be getting our own sparky to install the downlights post handover.

Our heating and cooling vents have also been installed across all the rooms. In the photo below you can see the larger vent used for the cooling and the smaller one for the heating. The square heating vents are used in the larger areas and the small round vents (not shown) are used in the smaller rooms like the bedrooms.

And here is couple of photos of the infamous bronze mirror splashback, now installed to every one's surprise, even PDs!! Mummy will be able to see all now!!

You'll notice there are a couple of wires hanging down in front of the overhead cupboards in the kitchen. We had asked for downlights to be fitted in the overhead cabinets to shine down onto the benches. Seems like the sparky has misread the plans and thought they were to go in the ceiling - whoops. More patching to be done for the plasterer. They're gonna have a devil of a time wiring the lights into the cabinets from there....

Here is shot of the ensuite vanity at the correct height AND with the correct basins - YEA!!

They have also installed all the exhaust fans above the showers and in the powder room. These include a self closing system with retractable blades to stop warm air escaping or smells/cold air coming back in.

Some of the wall switches have been installed as well, including the powerpoint and aerial outlets.

PCI has been set for the 12th of September with H/over on the 19th - one week later. Hmmm, things that make you go hmmmmmmmm....... Happy to take any bets?? Offering good odds ;-) Finger's crossed!!

Last but not least...
We were very happy, excited & intrigued to have contact from our neighbours on lot 716. Wow - how strange, (like you said) to have found us through our blog & not at the front of the house. J & S, thanks for making contact with us & we look forward to meeting you ‘& the assorted hangers on’ sometime soon ;-) Must mention that we were also contacted by another nearby neighbour Kirsty, who had found our blog & we will be introducing ourselves to her also, (thanks)! J & S - Good luck with your new building ventures too. :-)

20-08-08 Shower screens, roller doors and knobs

2008-08-20T13:13:00.023+10:00

Sorry for the late post (Petal ;-)), we've had lots on with our current place on the market.
The work seems to be going pretty slow of late and we have now almost reached the 22 week mark, which btw was the time that M&M and Andy had handover of their Cremorne41. We have been told that we should have handover in around four weeks which means that PCI (Practical Completion Inspection) will be in three weeks. Need to get onto 'K' to book him for the inspection too!

They have now added the door knobs to all the doors and cupboards. All std fittings but none the less all very nice looking. Here is a pic of the cupboard knobs.

And here is a pic of the door handles.

They had also installed the roller door to the rear of the garage and the sectional overhead door to the front, but due to the crappy Melbourne weather I hadn't been able to get any photos, so here they are. Both are in 'paperbark' colour.

Here is a current shot of the house as it stands. We're still waiting for the coloured render to be applied to the balcony. I also can't wait for the Bobcat to come in and clean up all the mess! It should be interesting to see what the ground levels will be left like too, in terms of the landscaping. We were told they would create flat areas alongside the house, as part of the site costs, due to the slope of the land. May need to remind 'F' of this ;-)

Our shower screens have also been installed along with the mirrors for both the ensuite and bathroom. At the time of publishing this post they had also the day before, replaced the vanity basins in the ensuite (finally) to the correct ones. They had to install 'another' new bench top as the hole sizes were different. The old one now taking pride and place on top of the scrap heap out the front.

All the heating and cooling ducts have been added and once again no pics as yet as they were only installed yesterday. The tilers still need to come back and finish off the grouting and a few tiles in both the kitchen and bathrooms, and the painters need to do a fair bit off touching up and finish repainting the rumpus room where they pulled down the adjoining family room wall and bulkhead.

***LATE BREAKING NEWS***

Got a phone call from 'F' two days ago advising us that the tinted mirror splashback which we had been told could no longer be provided, had been INSTALLED!! What the (insert expletive - sounds like duck)!

He said it was news to him, as he had been advised that they would not be producing that version anymore due to maintenance issues and hence why we had to source our own (see previous posts). 'F' asked us to go round and check it out and make sure we were happy with it so that they could continue with the tiling of the originally selected tiles for the alcove bench. We popped over and checked it out and it looks great. Originally, when we decided to source our own mirrored splashback, we told 'H' to advise 'F' (who was away sick) to proceed with the original tiles for the alcove as they would match anyway. Seems that once again the the PD communication train failed to meet its destination. Come on people, communication in a business like this is so vital and we have had so many issues as a result which has really marred the experience.

As yet we don't have any photos of the splashback but rest assured they will be in the next post.

10-08-08 More tiles laid

2008-08-11T16:41:00.018+10:00

On the weekend we decided to go out for a picnic with Lou's Mum, Step Dad and Grandma from Port Macquarie, and of course the cherubs.
When we arrived we found that the tiling was about 95% complete.

The Laundry wall tiles have been done,

and so has the WIP,

the toilet floor,

and most of the bathroom.

Here is a pic of the floor tiles. As other bloggers have noticed, photos never do the colour any justice - we noted the same.

Here is a shot of the Ensuite shower with the border tiles we chose.

And here is a close-up of the border tile.

Below is the powder room with the wall tiles laid. You'll note that there are no pipes poking out of the wall. That's because we are having an extended flick mixer tap located next to the basin.

Here is the Bathroom shower almost complete.

We were contacted on Thursday by 'H' and told that the tiling would be finished by the end of the week (not) and that by the end of this week, that we would have a handover date - woohoo!! Lou and I are taking bets on how long it will be till we get the keys. Lou seems to think it will be a few more weeks after my proposed date - we'll have to wait and see ;-)

Ohhh, and they've painted our front doors as well (the colour is actually a little darker than this in real life)

And finally, as Britney says, "Oops... I did it again" - yep, you guessed it, the Cabinet maker has stuffed up AGAIN! They rectified the height issue of the ensuite vanity unit, but inserted the wrong basins!!

5-8-08 Tiles arrived and walls repaired

2008-08-05T12:54:00.029+10:00

Caution: Long post and lots of pics - enjoy!

Not a great deal has happened in the last week - we were told the Tiler had been lined up for last Tuesday, but it appears he may have had a better offer (?) The tiles have arrived as you can see from the images below. Lots and lots of tiles....

The shot below is of the floor tiles. These will cover all of the lower level (bar the study, lounge and rumpus) The tile is exactly what we hoped for and we are very happy!

Here's a peak at the tiles for the alcove bench splashback. We think these will match the glass splashback and kitchen perfectly as they have flecks of silver, brown and white throughout.

Just on the Splashback, we have decided to source our own splashback after handover through Lou’s step Dad (who is in the glazing industry). He has been able to get the price down to less than half of what PD wanted to charge us - Thanks VERY much. We will receive a rebate from PD for the additional cost of the mirrored version we originally requested, so it may work out well after all :-)

It would appear that 'SS' has been busy checking the walls for accuracy and 'plumbness' as there has been an awful lot of repairs going on. When your 'Chippy' tells you that "this has been the fastest house he has built!", don't be happy that the build schedule will be shortened and that you will be in sooner; be concerned as the time it takes to rectify his errors may far outweigh the time he saved. It seems like almost every room has to be repaired in some way. All the built in robe doors along with the Master, study and rumpus double doors don't close, so they are going to have to skim some off the edges, which will mean that they will need to be re-painted again.

As can be seen below in the family room, they have had to re-screw the plaster to the wall in an attempt to bring them in a little.

Along with the skirting being removed.

In the rumpus, they have ripped down the entire bulkhead and wall, reframed one of the bulkhead corners and then replastered it.

The nib wall in the kitchen has also been attacked and new edging and plaster added.

This shot shows the side view.

The hole in the laundry wall has now been patched up (this is where the taps used to live for the washing machine - these are now in the cupboard out of view)

The entry to the foyer has also had some additional work done..

...as has the entry to mater WIR.

The games room didn't escape unscathed either. Here they have had to chop out and patch a section which was bulging over the skirting boards - possibly due to the plumbing for the ensuite vanity.

A section of the games room cornice as also been removed - no idea on this one?!

On the bright side, Lou went out last week and paid for our Carpet - all 62.8 meters!! Here are some pics of the cherubs with the 2 rolls. One they are laying on... ("yeah this is cool mum")

and the other they are standing on each side of...

And here is a shot of the colour. The colour looks a little lighter here, because the loops have all been squashed, it gives a different representation here.

We are rapt with it though!

Here's a thought...
"it's not what you get that makes you valuable, it's what you become along the way"

27-07-08 Paint and Feature walls

2008-07-27T20:17:00.014+10:00

The painting is almost complete. We are SO happy with the wall colour that we have chosen (Chalk Beige 1/2 strength), and glad that we renegged on our original choice of 'Bone'. A few more coats of paint on the stairway handrail and other bits and pieces, and it should be done.

When we rocked up, we were surprised to see that they had cement bagged the balcony in preparation for the render to go on!

The feature walls have been done in the study as shown below. The colour is 'Donkey' in case you were wondering.

The two walls of the master bedroom have also been painted. This time we chose 'Ranch Mink'. A little dark at first glance but once you fill the room with furniture and and add some carpet, it will blend beautifully. We saw this colour at another two storey PD display (not a Cremorne 41) and loved it!

The rear facing wall of the house has also been painted, in 'Sandbank', a little darker than the paperbark gutters/windows for contrast.

Here is the Balcony from the side...

...and here it is from underneath. Not sure what they intend to do with the boards - whether they will stain/treat them with anything?

In the garage we have noticed some crappy timber work and will expect that they will fill and re-paint this section.

In the rumpus we discovered a gapping hole in the ceiling where the frame seems to have given way. I think the chippy may need to return.

Lou discovered something about our ensuite as well. Our ensuite cabinet is 700mm high as seen below...

...our plans say that it should be 865mm!! That's 160mm shorter than what the plans say. Maybe Ok if you're a midget....

It seems they haven't learnt from B&Ps experiences?

http://www.perryr.com/homeblog/2008_05_01_archive.html

24-07-08 Splashback woes

2008-07-24T07:04:00.004+10:00

From reading the other blogs it appears a few PD customers are having to make new choices again as items become 'No Longer Available'. Got an email from 'H' our CSC yesterday, to advise us that the splashback we had chosen for the kitchen is no longer available and that we would need to select a different one. Isn't that just dandy!
We were going with a bronzed mirror splashback and had chosen tiles for the alcove bench area between the WIP and fridge to compliment them. After speaking with 'H', we have confirmed that we are allowed to source the same splashback elsewhere ourselves if we wish, but would not be able to install it until after handover, and PD would be installing cement sheets on the splashback in the meantime to achieve the Certificate of Occupancy.

We are now talking with a few contacts to see if we can source the same materials elsewhere. If we can't, then off to H/toun we go for more decisions. Not sure how this will affect our tile selection for the alcove area.....I wonder if they will allow us to alter them accordingly?

22-07-08 Painting & Cabinets

2008-07-21T12:54:00.013+10:00

It appears to have been a busy week last week!

Both of our new doors have finally been installed...

and with the Tri-lock.

The garage ceiling has been painted...

...and so has the window surround.

The painters have also laid some coats of paint on all the internal walls, ceiling and doors too! The paint colour for the walls is half strength Chalk Beige and the architraves and skirting will be the same colour but in gloss.

Here is the Family room...

and here are the doors all lined up like dominoes all painted.

This is a shot of the Master Bedroom.

It would appear also that after the PD quality inspection they have had to rectify a few items. The entry to the WIR has been ripped off and replaced with new edging.

The holes in the corridor walls have been patched.

The Master bedroom cornice has also been ripped off one of the walls too.

Our replacement cabinets have also been installed as well...here is the ensuite unit.

And here is the bathroom unit.

Hang on, Did he say 'Replacement' cabinets?

Yes, ALL of our cabinets have been replaced.

Late last year when we were looking at what options we wanted to include, we had budgeted to get the 2mm ABS edging applied to all of the cabinets as this is a more durable surface than the standard laminate edge. As we have this in our current kitchen, we can appreciate its value and appearance, and wanted to make sure we had it in our new home as well. When we went out to Hopetoun we were told that it was standard and would be included on all cabinets - we thought 'Yippee' - a small saving our way!

When the cabinets were installed two weeks ago, we noticed that they did not have the ABS edging as expected. Several disgruntled phone calls and emails later, PD have come to the party and honoured their word and replaced ALL of the cabinets with the ABS edging including all the doors, drawers and end panels.

I have included some pictures below of the before and after cabinets showing the difference. Suffice to say we are much happier now :-)

This is without the ABS edging.

And these are the new cabinets with the ABS edging.

If you want more info on ABS edging you may like to check out this link:

http://www.thelaminexgroup.com.au/pdf/AustProductFactsheets/LaminexABSEdging.pdf

15-7-08 Shower hobs and Heaters

2008-07-16T07:26:00.005+10:00

Well the last week has been a pretty slow one.
The only visible difference was that the shower hobs had been started....

...and the downpipes have been connected to the storm water drains.

A couple of holes have appeared in the corridor walls - the plasterers or maintenance folk are gonna have to fix this one up. (maybe someone spat the dummy?)

The piles of rubbish are mounting up slowly too. I can’t believe how much plaster they throw out!

As mentioned in previous posts we have not opted for additional heating vents in the Ensuite and bathrooms, so I recently went out and purchased a pair of wall mountable heaters. They are 'IXL Tempo’s' and here are the specs:
• Instant, fan-boosted heat
• 2 heat settings: 1000W and 2400W
• 2 over-temperature safety devices
• "A" rated energy saving economical operation
• Colorbond steel construction
• Portable or optional wall-mount
• Recessed carry handles
• Thermostat heat control
• Suits rooms up to 50m3
• 2 year warranty
• Australian made

For the room size they will be heating, these will be ideal, and this way when getting up at the crack of dawn to go to work I won’t need to heat the entire house to have a shower ;-). Oh, and the little feet on the base of the units screw off too when you wall mount them.

I also picked up an IXL Turbo model off eBay for a great price for the garage/workshop too!

8-07-08 Selecting Carpets

2008-07-08T12:55:00.009+10:00

Over the past couple of months, in between sick cherubs and day-to-day activities, Louie has been trying her best to arrange to get laid. Well you'll be please to know she has now found the man to do the job (we’re talking getting 'carpet' laid of course - now get you mind out of the gutter ;-)

We have decided the man that we trust to do it, will be a lovely young guy who goes by the name - Andy.

He was recommended to us by Lou’s future B.I.L for both price and workmanship and to top it off he’s a good bloke – so, we were sold. He has also offered some great information and certainly knew his stuff, so we feel very confident he will do a great job. On the price matter, he quoted us more than a $2k saving on one carpet that we were looking at, so after we nearly fell backwards with our possible savings, we promptly booked him in for a ‘tentative’ date.

We had a bit of a chat to Andy at what we were looking at and after gaining insight and knowing what feel and quality we were now looking at, Andy offered for us to visit his Mum's house & look at her carpet, one that he believed we would really like. Of course we jumped at the chance as it’s a great advantage in seeing it in a bigger format and not something you really ever get the chance to do. Anyway, so a couple of weekends ago, we made the trip to Seville and met with Andy and his mum at her house - and yes indeed with loved this carpet very much. It's a Godfrey Hirst 100% nylon, heavy duty rated carpet with a 15 year guarantee, called Chocolate Fudge. I don’t have any pictures available, but the one below might give you a bit of an idea. It has a warm, soft chocolate feel to it – just like chocolate fudge does too – so rightly named :-)

We are having the carpet in the study, formal lounge, & rumpus on the lower level & also all areas upstairs (besides the wet areas of course) including the stairs. FYI: We’re also going to get mats made up and over locked for all entrances & a big rug for the family room.

If anyone is needing a carpet layer (Apparently he travels everywhere) – just email me on timde@optusnet.com.au and we can give you his details. I would prefer (& he would to I’m sure) to have only serious contenders calling him.

Whoops wrong picture.....

This is a better representation of the colour (but not the exact carpet). It has a light fleck through it which is a really nice effect.

6-7-08 Doors, Stairs, Shelves and Benchtops

2008-07-07T12:31:00.010+10:00

Well its been a busy week in the house. The 'Fix' carpenter 'Steve' has been flat out installing stairs, fitting shelves, hanging door frames and doors, and installing the skirting and architraves.
The outside of the house hasn't really changed much apart from the front doors. One of the 'final' front doors has been installed, but I think he ran out of time before installing the second one.

On Friday morning I caught up with Steve and dropped off a Gainsborough 'Tri-lock' to replace the existing lock we had chosen for the front door. We were originally swaying to have a Tri-Lock as part of contract but the sales consultant at Hopetoun was not too savvy when it came to explaining the unit and we decided not to include it. Then later when we saw 'B&P's' comments we realised it would have the features we wanted so decided to ask 'F' if he could get it fitted for us which he kindly agreed to.

Shown below is one of the front doors fitted with the frosted glass to match the side lights.

The plasterers have finished the house and also included the Shower niches in both the Bathroom and ensuite.

The Plumber has also been back and rectified the issue with the washing machine taps. They have now been tucked inside the cabinet out of view. A bit of spak-filla over the hole and she'll be right mate! ;-)

Our stairs have now been installed and don't the kids love it! up and down, and up and down....

And here is a shot of the under-stairs storage area (AKA - the kids cubby)

Our balcony deck has been laid as well, and here we can see the cherubs conducting some stress testing. You'll also note how dusty they are? The place is a dust bowl - everything you touch has a layer of plaster dust on it.

As part of our variations we asked for the step height of the balcony deck to be raised up so that the cherubs wouldn't have to step off too deeply. You can see by the height in the picture below that the difference now is around 10mm or so - very happy with that.

All of the shelves have been added as well in all the cupboards, WIR and WIP as shown below.

And to our excitement so had our Quantum Quartz bench tops. The colour looks a little darker in this light but once all the paint is on and the place is cleaned up it should look beautiful. I have lifted off the protective chipboard for this shot.

Our kitchen sink has been dropped in place and the vanity units for the ensuite and B'room were both sitting in the family room waiting to be installed.

And finally here is the entrance to the rumpus room with the two doors added to minimise the sound. I may need to later update these to solid doors ;-)

30-06-08 Plaster and Cabinets

2008-07-01T12:02:00.009+10:00

Well my claim that the the Plastering would not be complete by Fri was not far off the mark. All of the walls were up but they are still to complete all of the cornices and some of the garage panels around the lentils.
We caught up with some neighbours on the weekend who said that they saw plasterers in the house on Friday at 5am!!

There's lots of pics so Enjoy.

The image below shows the entry bulkhead all plastered up.

Here are our stairs already to be assembled on Wed. (I'd hate to see the instructions)

Here is our vanity unit with the additional cupboard doors we asked for. We are getting a flick-mixer, hence why you can't see any pipes sticking out from the wall.

Our Kitchen has now been installed - Yea! This is our walk-in-pantry with the additional cupboards and laminate bench top.

Here are some of the cabinets between the fridge alcove and the WIP. The depth of the overhead cupboard in this photo is too shallow. We asked for the top cupboards in this alcove to be an additional 100mm deeper (420mm instead of 320mm). Already been onto 'F' and he is going to have it rectified.

Here is the island bench minus the bench tops (they go on a lot later).

Here are the other wall cabinets and space for the oven and rangehood.

Our down pipes have also been installed.

Here are our laundry cabinets. You'll note that the washing machine stops have been plastered in and they are still in the wrong location!! Should be interesting to see how the plumbers fix this one.

Here is the additional bench and Overhead cupboards we included.

Oh, and here is the additional 'nib' wall we added to the end of the kitchen for those who are interested.

26-06-08 Getting ahead of themselves

2008-06-26T11:32:00.004+10:00

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?

2008-06-21T19:39:00.005+10:00

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

2008-06-18T07:59:00.005+10:00

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

2008-06-16T08:53:00.007+10:00

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

2008-06-08T20:05:00.000+10:00

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

2008-06-03T12:15:00.000+10:00

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.

29-05-08 Bath hob, external doors and insulation

2008-05-30T07:50:00.000+10:00

Well the inspection has been postponed till Sat as 'K' couldn't make it, which may not go down to well with 'F' as he is wanting to start plastering on Tuesday. Anyway it appears that BSS (PDs own building inspectors) have been through the house and marked up several items that need rectifying with pink spray paint.

Our External doors have been installed in readines for Lock-Up which is due today. (front doors are temporary versions)

They have aslo replaced our door frame to the garage entry from the house. Not sure why, whether the size was wrong or the step had gone rotten from water and mud from the tradies.
Our bath hob has also been installed.
And I went out in the arvo yesterday and installed some sound insulation. I need to go back out there again on Sat to finish it off before and after the inspection.
Our Laundry door has been instaled and I believe it be the final version (not a temp version)
The fibre cement sheeting has been installed across the back wall of the second storey and the timber strapping added. This is going to painted in colourbond 'Sandbank'. From recollection this is slightly darker than our windows which are 'Paperbark'.

27-05-08 A few more bricks to go...

2008-05-28T08:22:00.001+10:00

Well the bricks are almost all done. The only things left to complete are the base of the windows and the top of the balcony. The AC sheeting has also now been delivered so they can start working on the wet areas.

Here you can see how much rain we have been getting! And all of that mud is through the house. We were a bit concerned about the front door threshold (is that what you call it?) being wrecked from all of the the traffic and dirt being tracked in. We noticed that the external laundry door threshold has a galvanised steel plate over it to protect it and asked 'F' if there was a way of doing the same for the front entry - he said no, they normally don't cover the front entry. Well we will certainly be checking it come handover to see what (if any) damage has occurred in the meantime.

Looks very nice now that you can't see the ugly sarking (Alfoil wrap) anymore. Can't wait for the bricks to be cleaned and the scaffolding to be removed.

Here is a quick pic of the HT wiring. Made sure I kept the AV cables away from the power supply.

25-05-08 Pre-wiring

2008-05-26T16:06:00.000+10:00

This weekend I had hoped to get all the pre-wiring done and also fit some Insulco Acousti-therm batts for some of the rooms.
Well you know what they say… “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry”

On Sat I got out to the house nice and early just as the sun was trying to get through the fog.
A good friend had kindly offered to come out and help and we were able to:
- install all the cables for the video intercoms
- install CAT5e data cables to all bedrooms, rumpus, family, study and games room
- install all the Home Theatre cables and speaker wires

The plan for Sun was to go out reasonably early again and knock off any remaining wiring, install the power packs for the Video intercoms and install the wall batts.
Started the car and I had no power steering – Damn! 3 hrs later after I had removed the offending part, sourced a new one and fitted it, I was back on the road to the house.
With the remaining day I was able to finish off the wiring which by the way had grown overnight as Lou had requested a few additional power points throughout the house (Did I say 'a few'?).

At this stage I will probably fit the batts next weekend after the inspection which is due this Thu/Fri.

Many thanks Sean for you help! No doubt we will be calling on you sometime in October :-)

Sorry folks, no photos this time.

21-05-08 Scafolding up

2008-05-22T07:24:00.000+10:00

Had a phone call from ‘F’ on Tuesday. He said that he was really happy with the work & the progress of the brickies, that they do a really nice job & are in fact one of the best crew’s around. All music to our ears. I promptly called wifey on the way home to inform her of the great news (mind you, we were already very impressed with their work so far). Lou then decided that this great news should be rewarded with some kind of homemade treat.

Lou then went to visit ‘the boys’ on Wednesday morning. Made ‘em 4 chocolate truffles each (which is just perfect for hungry boys) but was then confronted with a major dilemma. When she arrived she saw 2 extra trucks belonging to other tradies. She then snuck off around to the back where they were bricking-in the rumpus room & joked about her dilemma. They all came to the unanimous decision that ‘they’ wouldn’t tell if ‘she’ wouldn’t tell!

Lou took lots of photos & we are just wrapped with the brickwork. To top it off they are a great bunch of guys as well. She tells me that the guys are quite chatty & helpful too & whenever Lou asks questions they are only too happy to answer. If anyone has the need for some brick work to be done, we can highly recommend them. Brian Lee Bricklaying Ph: 0417 943 281 ('F' has highly recommended them too)

As you can see, all the scaffolding has been erected so the brickies can finish off the second storey.

I have also planned for this weekend to go out and do some pre-wiring for the Home Theatre and computer (nothing like M&Ms place mind you 'The Telstra Exchange'). Also spoke to 'F' about shifting the power point and washing machine taps under the laundry sink so we can tuck away the hoses and cables. He seems to think there shouldn't be any dramas with the relocation which is great.

17-05-08 Getting there...

2008-05-19T12:52:00.001+10:00

Well the rain has stopped for a while long enough for the brickies to get on with the job. Lou went and visited the boys during the week and brought them some cake to keep em' happy. They mentioned they were under the pump to get the job done as the rain had affected their progress somewhat. They also mentioned they may come back on the weekend to get some more done. I think when they woke on Saturday morning and realised how crap the weather was, they just rolled over and went back to sleep. Here are some pics of the progress to date.

This is the window in the Garage. The Garage is actually lower than the house due to the fall in the land. When they originally drew the plans for this variation they had actually aligned the top of the window to fall in line with the study windows which would have been higher than the garage entry - not an attractive look. We have since had the window aligned to be central in the garage wall.

These next 2 shots are of the side of the alfresco and side of the house showing the Walk in Pantry and Family room windows.

And here you can see the boys hard at work

They have also set themselves up with picnic chairs and other creature comforts.

I have been organising some gear for the pre-wiring this week as well, things like wall plates, and cables. Within the next couple of weeks the sparky should be out and we will be able to go in and pre-wire some the gear to be connected up post-handover.

While we were out on Saturday we were checking the windows and noticed that the ensuite window is not double glazed. We had included this as a PCV (Post Contract Variation), so obviously they have missed this. I have since left a message with 'F' to follow this up. Maybe I should send him a copy of the PCVs and let him check them 'all'....

14-5-08 Brick walls and Plaster

2008-05-14T07:34:00.001+10:00

Lou went up to the block yesterday and the brick work is coming along at a great pace. We love the colour and 'I' can't wait till the weekend to see it in person. By then I assume the lower level should be complete at this rate.

When we visited the block last weekend a truck pulled up on the neighbouring block with two guys and they just sat in the truck like they were having a tea break. They had these strange green sacks on the back of the truck. Turns out they are sand bags and they have been placed across the front of our block! I am assuming the rain has been casing a fair bit of soil and water run off and they are hoping to minimise it using the sand bags?

We have also had our plaster delivered. They've had to knock out the Games room window to crane drop the load into the second storey. I assume it will sit here for a while yet as they need to get a lot more brick work done before they start.

We now have access to the upper level via the ladder that has been installed and padlocked in place.

Oh, and by the way, I have added links to our floor plans (for those who are interested) on the top right of the blog underneath the intro blurb.

7-5-08 What happened to the workers?

2008-05-07T11:51:00.000+10:00

Well the inevitable has happened. The rain has set in and the workers have run for cover. The house has come to somewhat of a stand still at the moment - no work has been done since the 29th of April :-(

As it stands as per the pic below, all of the lower level has been wrapped in sislation ready for the brickies.

Got a call from 'F' yesterday to give me an update. He said that the recent spate of rain we have been experiencing has slowed down development everywhere. The Brickie who was meant to be starting this week on our place has not been able to complete his current job and therefore won't be able to start on ours until at least next Monday. I should probably start counting the number of rain days we have as PD have a clause in the contract to allow for 10 rain days on top of the standard schedule - gotta keep the buggers honest.

Also spoke to 'F' about our window locks. As part of our Post Contract variations we included to have window locks to all of the lower windows for security & peace of mind (keeps the Insurance company happy too). When they fitted the windows we noticed that none of them have locks. He said that this can sometimes happen and that he would look into it and rectify.

All the while the building has been progressing, we have been busy bees looking at items to be completed post-handover, things like carpeting. We've had two quotes now, both somewhat higher than we had budgeted for....OK... almost double. Yes, I know, many posts ago I uttered the words '...no more upgrades...' but when you go out and sample the carpet and the underlays that are available (and when I say sample , physically take your shoes off and walk on the carpet) and you consider how much of the house is carpeted and the length of time that we hope to be in the house, well, you start to realise that you do need to spend a bit to have a good ROI (return on investment). We have another quote coming back this week and will then need to crunch some numbers.

I have also been tossing around ideas for the electrical work to be carried out after handover, things like the lights in the Garage, front of the house, security lights around the sides, down lights in the upper storey (all of the lower storey will fitted out with down lights by PD - cheaper that way). Have decided to go with these lights for the front, one each side of the garage door and also one each side of the balcony. They are Compact fluorescent compatible so I can ramp up the wattage if the old 60w is not enough in 'incandescent' terms.

We have also been looking at fences for the perimeter of the property. We like the Stratco 'Good Neighbour' range and have been getting quotes for this as well - 100m right round is a LOT of fence!! We spoke with the agent who sold us our land about the land owner going halves in the cost and then passing that on to the new owners of the surrounding land as it gets sold. Ba-Bow! The vendor has a clause in the land contract which removes him from any involvement in the fencing of properties, therefore we will need to cough up for the entire amount and request the new surrounding owners to chip in when they move in - that should be fun :-) NOT :-(

29-4-08 Sislation and Bricks

2008-04-30T12:25:00.000+10:00

Well the roof tiles are now all done - wow what a difference it makes -
looks like a house almost ;-)

Our bricks have been delivered. We love the colour. From all of the Cremorne's we have seen, both built, display and being built, none of them have been in 'Mocha', so it should be interesting seeing the finished house.

Here is a pic showing the colour.

Our house is also getting the alfoil wrap (sislation) treatment at the moment.

Got in touch with 'K' today and he is going to speak with 'F' to organise the first of two inspections - the Pre-plaster stage. 'Ks' a hard man to get a hold of - must be a fair bit of work coming out of Homeone http://forum.homeone.com.au/

24-4-08 Tiles

2008-04-28T11:59:00.000+10:00

Went out on Anzac day (Friday) to show the folks the house and the guys had started laying the roof tiles. The tile conveyor has been erected and the rumpus/alfresco has been started. We've gone for the std profile tiles in a 'Gunmetal' colour (so as to match the gutters).

23-4-08 Gutters and Fascias

2008-04-24T13:19:00.001+10:00

The Gutters and Fascias have now been
attached and we're very happy with the colours.

The timber for the roof tiles has been delivered...

...and so have the tiles :-)

I assume the bricks and sand should be arriving any minute now....

22-4-08 Plumbing & Scaffolding

2008-04-23T07:33:00.000+10:00

Lou has been able to get out quite often to the site with the cherubs to help keep me and the Blog updated which is fantastic!

The scaffolding has now been erected to allow the guys to install the guttering, fascias and roof tiles. (we just need the tiles)

Our water meter has been installed, but by the looks of it not yet connected. South East Water still need to come out for that.

The plumber has also connected up all the pipes to the required locations.

This is where the kitchen island bench goes with the sink. They feed the hot and cold pipes through the slab using the PVC pipes which lead to the outside wall.

This is how the house looks now.

21-4-08 Frame Complete

2008-04-21T20:21:00.000+10:00

Went passed this afternoon with the family and they were still going - YES, at 5:45! These guys are guns. The roof trusses were complete, door frames in, and they were just fitting the last couple of windows.

We spoke with the chippies briefly and they mentioned that this was the fastest house they had built. All their work is now done and they wont return until they are ready for the garage roof frame to go on. Next step: bricks and roof tiles.

18-4-08 Roof Trusses

2008-04-21T12:37:00.000+10:00

We drove out on Saturday afternoon to see what further progress had been made. The roof trusses were almost complete.

'F' rang this morning. He said that the frame would be completed today (Mon) and they would then start on the roof tiles. The sand and bricks would also be delivered this week and the Brickies were lined up to start next week. Nice to get an update :-)

16-4-08 Second storey frame

2008-04-17T20:25:00.000+10:00

During the week the guys were hard at it again!
The second storey flooring has been laid....

...and our windows and sliding doors have been delivered.

We've chosen Coloubond 'Paperbark' for all the windows and sliding doors (along with the Fascia).

We also decided to get double glazing for all of the windows (not sliding doors) along with wall and ceiling insulation. We thought we'll probably only ever build once, and we wanted to get the most out of our budget. With all of the obvious benefits of double glazing, we hope to be rewarded in our future heating and cooling bills too.

The place looks so big from this angle!

And yet so small from this one?

The speed at which these guys have been going is just fantastic - All smiles here :-)

12-4-08 Framed!

2008-04-13T12:00:00.000+10:00

From what we had heard from others building with PD, we were expecting to see some of the frame go up in say around 6-8 days after the slab went down. On Sat we took a drive up to the block to see the completed slab. We were driving toward the estate and saw a frame in the distance and were saying "is that our block? No surely not....OMG it is!" and low and behold we already have the first storey frame!! woohoo!! We couldn't believe it - I didn't think two grown ups could get so excited over bits of timber.

Here's some of the pics...the Front...

...the rear...

...side.

Here's me planning the garage set-up (as you do). "Mmmm..... - is it big enough?"

Here's the two cherubs just sitting enjoying the views.

We decided we would duck up to the local shops and buy some fish 'n' chips and have an early dinner in the 'new' house. While we were sitting in the 'family room' a couple turned up at our temporary fence calling out to us. Turns out they are our new neighbours, also buiding with PD (Hamilton 34) just around the corner.

Apparently they travel past the area at least once a day and had seen our frame go up on Thursday, 2 days after the slab was poured! How happy are we?

9-4-08 Slab laid

2008-04-09T05:20:00.000+10:00

We have a Slab! Lou went out with the Cherubs yesterday and grabbed a few pics of the guys laying the slab. When she arrived they had already used up seven truck loads and were waiting for some more to arrive.

This pic shows the balcony footings from the last post now filled to the brim.

The boys hanging around waiting.....

....and waiting....

They have to allow for it to set for 48hrs so there probably won't be much action for a couple of days. No doubt we will soon receive payment advice from PD to cough up the first installment of the 5. The framing should start on Thursday 'maybe'.

8-4-08 Formwork complete

2008-04-08T13:22:00.000+10:00

The Formwork is DONE - Yippee.

This shot shows the 'chairs' used to support the reo mesh on top of the waffle pods. It also shows the step that gets formed as part of the slab for which the bricks sit on around the perimeter of the slab.

You can see here how deep the footings go under for the balcony at the front of the house. There is a lot of set up required to get this right.

Here you can see the trench that has been dug for the footings for the Alfresco area at the rear. The footings in this area do not support any structure but prevent the slab from shifting and also link the pier that supports the corner of the roof line.

As daylight savings has now ended, it's going to be increasingly difficult to make it out to the block after work before dusk. I think Lou will need to go instead of me.

I just had to post this last shot, the sunset was awesome.

SO hopefully tomorrow we should be able to show pics of the Slab being poured!!

5-04-08 Waffle pods and reo mesh

2008-04-07T13:10:00.000+10:00

Went out on the weekend and the slab was FAR from complete. The temporary fence has been erected and the Reo Mesh delivered.

… the waffle pods have been dropped off… (FYI – waffle pods are large sections of foam. These are laid as part of the slab and the concrete is poured over and around them. Saves the builder using a heap of unnecessary concrete to achieve the same thickness)… The cherubs loved picking the foam to pieces :-)

….and the footings and piers have been dug. The image below shows the footing for the Balcony.

Our Site Super 'F' rang and introduced himself today. Seems like a nice bloke. He said the slab is being poured on Tuesday - bring it on.

1-4-08 Retaining Wall and Pipes

2008-04-03T07:18:00.000+11:00

Visited the block on Tuesday and they had completed the retaining wall and laid all the plumbing. So much for our nice flattened and sculptured block - it is now been dug up and driven all over!

Our Meter box has been installed too.

This is looking from the rear of the block - looks like giant grey worms coming out of the ground.

They have also installed all the Silt Pits for drainage due to the shape of the block and slope of the land. These will need to be lifted to the ground level once we add the pathways as part of the landscaping.

Also spoke to our CSC yesterday as I realised that our external tap was located near the laundry door on the side of the house -not a great location I thought (apparently South East Water determine the position of our front external tap). I would have preferred it to be closer to the rear of the house. She has agreed to raise a building variation to shift the location which is good news.

Well it seems they are on track to pour the slab on Friday - stay tuned.

25-03-08 Post Holes

2008-03-26T20:50:00.000+11:00

Got up to the block on Tuesday and they had commenced with the retaining wall. All of the holes had been drilled ready for the galvanised ‘H’ beams.

Some holes were deeper than others due to the height of the beams.

Lou went up today and they had dropped the posts in. Not quite sure what the PVC tubes are? Maybe to do with drainage....

What would a building site be without the port-a-loo ;-)

Current street view

20-3-08 Site Scrape

2008-03-23T18:31:00.000+11:00

Well, as promised, on Thursday they commenced construction. The site has been scraped and shaped ready for the plumbing to be installed. We took some close friends down to the block on Good Friday and we were overjoyed at the level of surface shaping they had done to accommodate the slab and retaining wall. I have added pics below which you can 'click on' and open to a larger size. This first pic shows the site and the positioning of the house and garage (along with the cherubs having some fun in the dirt. They thought it was fantastic!)

This one shows how much soil they have had to remove from the upper side of the block and what the retaining wall is going to support. It should make an interesting front garden having the rise in front of the study.

This next one shows the block from the rear. You can see how they have had to build up the alfresco area to be level with the rest of the area.

The picture below is hopefully the main angle we will use to show the gradual construction of the home. (Provided the neighbours across the road don't start building within the next few months)

The girls get really excited when we say that we are going to visit the 'new' house.

Tile Selection

2008-03-15T12:44:00.001+11:00

Finally got some time to show what tiles we have selected. We were waiting for one of the sample tiles to arrive in the mail as when we selected them they didn't have a sample for us to take home. So here goes...

Date just keeps coming forward

2008-03-07T07:12:00.000+11:00

Got an email from 'Holly' yesterday; the final drawings have been issued for our signoff and our start date has been brought forward yet again to Thrusday 20th of March!! 12 more days to go.

Woo -Hoo

New Start date!!

2008-02-26T07:25:00.000+11:00

Got an email yesterday from our PD CSC 'Holly' asking if we would be interested in bringing our start date forward. Apparently they have had some vacancies come up to due some clients not getting titles completed in time. I replied immediately saying YES PLEASE!!

So its official, we now have a site start date of March 28th - 6 weeks earlier than originally scheduled - we are over the moon. Basically it means that we won't be moving in around the busiest time of the year, Christmas! Best case scenario, if it takes them 26 weeks (they allow a max of 30) we could be at handover by the end of September.

Coulour swatches

2008-02-08T21:44:00.000+11:00

Here’s some of our colour choices from our appointment. All very neutral colours that we can add to, or subtract from, using furniture, appliances or cushions etc.

The kitchen overhead & below-bench cupboards are all the same colour, 'Licorice' - and the picture below shows how the light benches with the dark cupboards will look. This was our inspiration.

The colour swatch below shows the aray of different cabinet colours we chose throughout the house along with the external gutter and fascia colours too. The kitchen bench top is made from Quantum Quartz stone - we tried to match the colour for the laminate in the walk in pantry. It was pretty close.

The picture below shows the bricks we chose - Boral 'Mocha'....notice a brownish theme happening....

The Contract Appointment

2008-02-06T12:35:00.000+11:00

Well the day finally arrived. We were going to find out all the costs, finalise our changes and sign on the dotted line. Little did we know we would need to sign our names at least 50 times and still have to go away and make more decisions!

We arrived at 2pm and met 'Holly' our CSC. Firstly we went through the Post Contract variations we had included ie: items dicussed 'after' our Tender Appointment. One of which was to render just the balcony on the front facade (as opposed to the balcony and Garage). At our Tender appointment we had been told that the cost to render the balcony would be $666 - a price we thought was quite cheap). A few days after the tender appt Lou had rung Glen and asked to proceed with that option based on that amount. When we got to the cost for the balcony render, it was a staggering $2933!! What THE...!

NOT... happy... 'JAN'!

Did we miss a meeting? No - apparently 'he' had looked at the wrong item when quoting the figure & the figure he gave us was to render the garage & not the balcony at all. You can imagine our disappointment & how annoyed we were! Was this our problem? Well...apparently so.

When we explained that this mistake was another let down on their behalf & expressed our unhappiness, Holly invited Glen to join us and explain what had happened. He happily admitted fault, but explained that this should have been the price & we could decide if we wanted to proceed or not. After we politely and in no uncertain terms told him what we thought about his blunder. I asked to speak with the manager as this was the second time they had screwed up the figures and expected us to wear it. For us, it was more the disappointment of thinking we were getting it for a lower figure & then being told "no actually it is over $2000 more than origianlly quoted” that ticked us off. While he went off to speak with the manager, Holly tried to sympathise with us as much as she could, as we were obviously quite annoyed & stressed (to put it mildly). (PS I'm still waiting for a response from PD Head Office re the last pricing mix-up on the garage extension costs)

He returned saying that all the managers were in a meeting, but was able to pull one of them aside and brief him on the situation. They had agreed to halve the difference and therefore we would need to only pay $1,466 rather than $2,933.

After a short break to compose ourselves & discuss our frustrations in private, we moved on from this and carried on with the other items that had changed.

At the end of the session there were still a couple of things that we still needed to decide on (after being given the prices). Holly was great, saying we can go home & think about them & just confirm if we wish to proceed with any additional changes or just leave them out & she would just do them as a Post Contract Variation (no.2). We then signed the HIA Contract and initialled all the pages and plans. Oh, and by the way we also picked up some errors on the plans which they had messed up as well. It pays to be listening & looking!

Although a little soured by the 'rendering cost' debacle at the start, the overall experience was great & we had lots of laughs. Holly was fantastic throughout and made us very comfortable. A PD newbie was also sitting in on the meeting, 'Mary', who was also very accommodating and helpful in making decisions. Before we finished up, a Feedback form was provided for us to fill out at our leisure and Holly encouraged us to be honest and detailed. Suffice to say, we took it home to add some additional pages to it ;-)

The Colour Selection Appointment

2008-02-03T21:49:00.000+11:00

On Tuesday (29th Jan) we attended our colour selection appointment. Lou dropped the cherubs off at her sisters (she has been so helpful during this event) and then hopped on a train & tram to my work. We then took a quick 10 minute drive to the Port Melbourne site below, arriving at 12:30. From other fellow bloggers going through PD we had been told it would take round 2-3 hrs. We decided to get there early as we wanted to make some final choices on the render for the balcony along with confirmation on the window colours. After 15 mins our colour consultant 'Shelley' asked if we wanted to get started early - hey, why not?

The selection itself consisted of all the internal wall colours (including feature walls), all the cabinet and bench top colours, skirting and architrave style, tap fittings, door knobs and handles, locks, garage door style and colour (front and rear), bricks & mortar colour, roof tiles, balustrades, basins, render, even the colour of the water tank out the back. All in all we took 2.5 hrs to make all the selections. When we left we felt pretty darn happy with ourselves. We had spent a lot of time visiting display centres to make sure we knew what opitons were available and had chosen what we thought looked nice (and within budget).

The major upgrades were the bricks. We chose Mocha, a category 4 brick and also the 'off white' mortar - not as cheap as you think when you consider this is a double storey – a lot of bricks. In the next blog I'll try to add some pics of the samples we walked away with to show some of the colours.

After the app't we had a little time up our sleeve so we dropped in at the National Tiles display centre again for another quick look. Our tile app't is on Feb 19; still a little time to decide on the colour scheme for those. Next Tuesday we go in to sign the contract. Apparently this should not take as long as the tender and we finally get to meet ‘Holly’ our Customer Service Coordinator who has been very patient as we bombard her with queries and ‘tender’ changes.

One last look

2008-02-03T21:10:00.000+11:00

Lou and I went out one last time (without the cherubs) to view some displays to help finalise our choices before our Colour Appointment. While we were out there we dropped into the Cremorne in Mernda which has the same facade as ours (but were not getting the full render or the abstract art building blocks in the front!).

The image below is a display with the bricks we are getting, Boral 'Mocha'. It also has the same colour scheme with the dark grey roof, gutters and cream fascia, downpipes and windows (the colour is Colourbond 'Paperbark'). The mortar is also the same, flush off-white.

Our garage door will look like this one. Its a remote controlled panel lift door in the 'Caprice' style in the Paperbark colour.

Colour Homework

2008-02-03T20:36:00.000+11:00

A couple of Mondays ago (21st Jan) Lou took the cherubs out for one last look at what was on show in the Mernda & Craigieburn PD display centres before our scheduled colour selection appointment. Visiting during the week was a little quieter in the displays which was handy as the youg ones were somewhat inquisitive and playful with the spec home props! Nothing broke thankfully.

Lou took her pen 'n' pad and listed all of the items worth noting in colours she thought we would like. Items included the wall colours, feature walls and tiles. She listed all the locations and home styles so that we could later call Hopetoun and find out each of the styles and colour names. The idea was to take a bit of the leg work out of it all & make our next intended last visit together (less cherubs) for that coming weekend a much more quicker & efficient one.

It was a sucessful day filled with 'adventure-a-plenty', a bribery of McDonalds & a massive play stop in between locations. Cherubs were zonkered by days end & lets just say that mummy's trip was a very quiet one on the way home. zzzzZZZZZZZZZ

Where it all began

2008-01-23T12:43:00.000+11:00

Been a while since I posted, so there will be a few coming in soon as we have been rather busy both at work and at home. A couple of weekends ago we went and visited the Pakenham display centre, the place where we originally fell in love with the Cremorne. Said hello to 'Gina' and 'Natalie' our friendly PD folk and once again scrutinised the house for any items which we may have missed in the design.

We decided to alter the WIP (walk in pantry) a little more as it needs to be more economical in its space usage. The kids were unleashed and had a ball and also took some time out to do some light reading - books courtesy of PD.

Took a look also at the "Access" range of PD homes across the road as well. Surprisingly if we had decided on one of their designs it would have been no good as they don't build out our way anyway! They have specific localities they operate in, so only where there is a boom of housing will they offer to build within. Lucky we didn't find anything we liked.

The Tender Appointment

2008-01-22T21:05:00.000+11:00

Last Wednesday (Jan 17th) we had our Tender Appointment at the PD offices in Berwick at 1pm. 'Glen' was the man and he was going to explain to us all of the in's and out's of what we were buying and what other variations we had decided to include. The session ran from 1:00pm till 5:20 with a half hour break for a bite to eat and a coffee in the Berwick main street.

Glen went through every single item , front to back, all 10 pages worth and read every single word, including the model numbers for the appliances, 'upside down' - just so we could read along with him right side up. This is what he does, twice a day, every day (well almost anyway).

First up we went through the 'standard' house and inclusions.... yadda yadda yadda. Then came time for the Site Costs. Well..... we had been provided an allowance by the PD consultant which we had hoped was possibly overstated as we think our block is in reasonable shape. Apparently not. It has gone up by $7,000 - that's right, seven big ones, all beacause the land has a slope. (time to start saving!!)

As can be seen from the image below, they (the Builders) are going to have to excavate the block and include retaining walls and drainage pits along with cut and fill sections to ensure the area is usable around the house. Glen explained in great detail what the drawing meant with all the squiggles and figures and it actually sounds quite good what they have decided to do. The garage will actually be lower than the house level by 240mm to allow the driveway gradient not to be too steep and they have included a level plateau before the garage entry so its not a steep rise into the garage itself.

I think with the retaining walls and level areas around the house it should make for an interesting and creative landscape, one I'm looking forward to building :-)

More display centre visits

2008-01-07T10:17:00.000+11:00

Yesterday we went out early and visited Hopetoun again to look at the bricks on display (our 3rd visit). Once again, the staff out there looked after our eldest cherub with fluorescent textas and paper to draw on (Thanks Brianne). I actually think she may have asked for them herself - she's so cheeky. We narrowed the field again on A DIFFERENT range this time to 'Cleveland', a brownish brick, not as dark as Mocha and with a warmer tinge. We also compared it to the roof tiles, gutters, fascia and render, including the Garage to ensure the ensemble worked.

From Hoptoun we drove further out to Caroline Springs, the one PD display village we had not yet been to. This time the weather was fantastic; 24 degrees with a cool breeze. This display had yet another version of the Cremorne 41 and again more different inclusions. When we enquired as to what the costs were for some of the inclusions we were asked if we had land and if we were dealing with any specific consultant. I replied that we had signed up with the Pakenham office and paid our deposit. From this response we were then advised that all of our queries should be directed to the Pakenham office sales consultant as they should be our point of reference. Ahh Sorry....what are you saying? You can't tell us even though you have the price list here? How inconvenient is that.
If we had not told them we had signed up and were merely curious they would probably have openly told us the answers. But it would seem that as soon as they realise that we have signed up they don't have the time for us and would rather spend the time on new clients. There seems to be yet another flaw with the PD process, one which again only inconveniences the customer.

Bricks, bricks and more bricks

2008-01-07T08:04:00.000+11:00

The journey to find the right brick seems endless.

During my two week chrissy break we again went looking for more houses to help decide on which brick colour to choose. The eldest cherub and I went out on a rather warm day to visit the Boral display centre to bring back some samples for Lou to have a look at. When we got there we had a quick chat to the sales person who advised us that we could take a couple of samples of each brick from the yard. I started off by getting out a small umbrella to help shade the cherub. After 5 minutes of this, the heat became too much and I decided it was best to leave her in the car with the air-con running.

I grabbed samples of 5 bricks and went back home. We looked at the bricks and ummed and arred and narrowed it down to 2 - Gypsy Rose (reddish with a black fleck) and Mocha (brown with black fleck). Then I rang Boral and asked for some addresses of each so we could see what they looked like on a large scale. I went out driving the next day to visit each of the addresses and found that the colour Gypsy Rose was very Red - almost too Red. The more local address for the Mocha brick colour was in Fern Tree Gully. When I got there I found a totally new estate which was fantastic as we had been driving for miles to the outer suburbs generally to see examples of new estates. While trying to locate the 'Mocha' house, I found not 1 but 4 versions of the Porter Davis Cremorne 41, the same house we are building all in the same estate! They didn't have the same facade as ours but they all had a similar brick colour; a reddish look, a bit like Gypsy Rose which was great because I realised then that it wasn't the look we were trying to achieve.

Rubbish removal

2007-12-19T08:07:00.000+11:00

Had an opportunity to visit the block on Monday night as we were in the area after watching our niece, Bella, in her school Christmas concert . Pulled into our driveway and some [insert expletive] low-life had decided to use our drive as a dumping ground for their unwanted household rubbish - not impressed. We found new holes in the ground from the PD soil tests right next to the ones we had done by Henley (taken before we put a deposit on the block). We took some more happy snaps with the cherubs and then drove round the corner to view some local homes. We came across some friends who happen to live round the corner in the estate and as it happens they had witnessed the low-life dump the rubbish not 10 minutes prior to our visit! Thankfully they had taken down the rego and make of the vehicle ;-)

Later that night, I made a phone call to local Constabulary and advised them of the event. The next day I received a call from the boys in blue letting me know that they had visited the site and then visited the 'alleged' perpetrator (who had blankly denied the act) and had been issued with a $220 fine. To top it off, they were told that if they didn't remove the rubbish before the days end, that they would be issued another fine! Later that night a relative went past the block and low and behold ALL the rubbish was gone. Your taxes at work - just lovely.

Another Pre-visit to Hopetoun

2007-12-19T07:49:00.000+11:00

On Sunday 16th we made another trip out to Hopetoun to look at more colour and accessory selections. This time we went with only one of the cherubs, the eldest one - a lot easier to occupy in situations like these. She seems to have the gift of the gab and cheeky charm (she only turns 3 in Jan) as halfway through our visit she had befriended one of the colour consultants and was sitting opposite her at her desk and colouring in sheets of A4 paper with fluorescent highlighters supplied courtesy of Hopetoun. This gave us ample opportunity to apply some serious consideration into the colours for the bricks, roof tiles, gutters, fascias, garage door etc.

The staff at Hopetoun as mentioned before were fantastic and we must thank them for their honest and helpful advice. When we left, we had made some firm, agreed, decisions on a number of selections which left me feeling like a weight had been lifted of us. We walked away with even more brochures for upgrades we probably can't afford but we'll let the bank decide that.

Pre-visit to Hopetoun

2007-12-10T07:47:00.000+11:00

Thought we'd drop in for quick visit to Hopetoun on Sunday on our way back from Ballarat and see what colour selection tasks await. The place is laid out well with all (well most) of the options marked for each price category. Managing the two little cherubs whilst trying to take in all the info from the staff made it quite interesting. (Thank god for Portable DVD players). Suffice to say come time to make the final selections we will be visiting childless. We thought the visit was quite beneficial although we did have a couple of issues.

1. The colour consultants were nice and helpful although they were very insistent that they could not advise on pricing of items for upgrades as they are only here to advise on the selections, which we thought was kind of odd (this applies to the weekend 'browsing' visits only). The whole premise for coming to these places is to choose what items you want included as part of the build and obviously you'd like to upgrade if the item is nicer and if the price is reasonable and within budget, right? There must be some underlying ploy here to get you in on the day and entice you to make the upgrade with little time to weigh up the cost in the greater scheme of things.

2. Our Display Centre consultant had advised us that we would need to pay $400 extra to have the additional 2mm PVC edging on the kitchen cabinets which we were prepared to pay as we have it in our current home and appreciate it worth. The Hopetoun consultant showed us the standard cabinet sample and what do you know - the PVC edging is STANDARD! What the! Obviously we will be subtracting the $400 from our tender.

3. In the showroom they have a separate room which showcases all of the lighting options and additional room speakers etc. When asked if we can take a look the consultant advised me that we can only go into that room during our 'Electrical Selections' appointment and that it was separate to the colour selections appointment (what 'the' again). Nobody had advised us that there was a separate Electricals app't.

Overall, the visit was well worth it, walked away with a few selections done and dusted and some selections that we need to.... err... 'discuss' (for want of a better word ;-) ).

Land Settlement

2007-12-07T14:15:00.000+11:00

We've bought some land in Lilydale in a new estate and are still awaiting settlement, which should have been last month - something about the titles still to be finalised due to the subdivision, which is no biggie as we aren't due to start building till May '08. Aparently PD are booked up that far in advance. The property overlooks the Yarra Valley with green rolling hills - quite picturesque really. It is a bit further out from the city than our current home, but the block is 700m2 - try finding a block that size close to the city!

Tender & Contract Appointments

2007-12-07T13:23:00.001+11:00

Got a phone call yesterday from our new Customer Servcie Coordinator 'Holly'. She wanted to introduce herself and lock in a date for our Tender and contract appointments. We settled for the 8th and 30th of Jan respectivlely. This should give us enough time to go to 'Hoptourn', the PD colour selection centre in Port Melbourne and decide on some colours. We have hopefully now made all of the variations we can think of to the house, with only a few items with unknown costs which should be available at the tender app't.

6/12 - Well, we've finally decided on a builder.

2007-12-03T15:49:00.001+11:00

We've finally decided on a builder and on Friday the 30th of November I visited the PD display centre and put down some hard earned cash. After months of driving around Melbourne's outer suburbs and masses of comparison spreadsheets we have chosen the Porter Davis Cremorne 41.
We loved the design (obviously) and think the kids, once they are old enough, will come to appreciate it too.

We checked out a host of different builders and nearly completed a full circle back to PD. Whilst some builders were pretty flexible, we were amazed how some were not so inclined. Our PD Consultant 'G' has been really accomodating, as we have hammered her with questions on different options for this and that, some of them a necessity and others a luxury (which, if we can squeeze it in the budget we will).

I must make a quick mention of the friendly folk on the Homeone website (http://www.homeone.com.au/) who have opened our eyes as to what to expect on our journey and who without them I would never have started this Blog. Countless hours have been spent following the forums and taking in all of the highs and lows associated with building. Some of the crappy builders out ther leave a lot to be desired!