Cabinetry

Only a quick update today.....We visited the house on Sunday and to our surprise all the cabinets were in, ( we did get an email saying they would start ont he 23rd, but didnt expect them too as the painter still hasn't been). Our hole for the stove top has been cutout, and the sink was sitting on top of the bench, but no hole was cut, so that should hopefully be done on Tuesday. I can really see how low the microwave will sit now, but at least I will be able to reach in it, unlike before when it was just too high for me. We have a bath sitting in the family room, a trough and wood for shelves in the study, so they should hopefully be started sometime this week.
We were a little disappointed to see that the front door was left open though, and when we left we closed it behind us.
So heres the photos.....
Kitchen


ensuite and bathroom cabinets...the ensuite is the double :)


Close up of benchtop colour...white valencia

Floor tile for bathroom/ensuite. We will possibly get one the same or similar for the toilet and laundry. We have to do that ourselves.

Wood for teh shelves in the pantry and 3 robes. We have decided to get something spiffy for the walk in robe. :)

Locked out!

NOOOOOOOOO!!
I mean...
YEEESSS!!!
We have been locked out, our front and garage entry doors are up. Got an email last night from 'S' letting us know that the painter will be here this week and the cabinetry will start roughly on 23rd. We went out today, just in case the painter was there to ask if he would be able to seal all our walls (cash of course), but no-one was there. :( So we may have to try tomorrow.
Anyhoo since my last update, which was before christmas, not much has been done. (I will not forget that they did have holidays, and have really only been back 2 weeks. So putting it in proper perspective means that they are still going full steam ahead!) Since last update, we have had our internal completely 'white plastered' and boy does it make the house look so much bigger and light. We have found a couple of little things with the plaster, some scratches, a chunk of plaster out of the door corner, and a bit of a "wobbly" feel near the bottom of the door (found this while inspecting the missing chunk in the corner!) But all in all it looks pretty decent. We have been told, from a person who has built, that the plaster doesnt really show up how awful a job it is, until the paint goes on. I hope it isn't the case with ours!
Our ceiling has had all the joining fixed and smoothed, and the vents in the bathrooms/laundry been fixed in properly and our cornices installed. Our windows were installed, but left open (we had no doors at that stage) to air out the plaster smell. And our front was cleaned up, we didnt get enough of the bricks that they threw out, we were planning on bricking up the post for the alfresco as well as making a letter box. We may get the letter box made with what we have, but will have to purchase more for the alfresco post.
Today we found that all the doors are up internally, and there are shelves awaiting to be fixed in the pantry and wardrobes. And of course the entry doors are on, and windows shut and locked. All that is except one, it is for Mr G's study (activity room on the plans), it looks like it (or the frame) was not installed properly, as there is a gap at the top when the window is closed and it takes a fair bit of slamming for it to lock properly. We will need to get this fixed up, but not yet! At least we will be able to access the house on the weekends instead of being locked out completely. ;) Especially since they will be starting cabinetry very soon!
Picture time! (please excuse the date on the latest ones, my camera has a date issue!)
Entrance

Kitchen

main bedroom

theatre..tv recess (pre cornice)

bedroom

Laundry

Entrance with doors, not yet painted!

Bedroom...with doors

main bedroom with doors

The dodgy window..you can see the top sliding part is 'gappy'

Another update!

Well it has been some weeks since I have updated… not because of a lack of progress. No, on the contrary, the building is going full steam ahead! My lack of update is because I went away for a holiday… back to Victoria to visit my family (in Bendigo) and friends. I spent 2 weeks away (well nearly 2 weeks, it was really 12 days!) and these past 2 weeks back at the old routine, with kids, cleaning, cooking and grocery shopping, add Christmas shopping into the mix too. Anyways Mr G keeps saying this update needs to be done, so here it is.... :)
During this time, a lot of things were done on the house, I will start with what was done first. Before I left, all the wood roof timber had shown up on site, and that was started on the 24th and it took 2-3 days to complete. A bill arrived while I was gone for “plate-height” progress payment. I had to sign it, but had no internet for email or knew anyone with a fax! After a bit of discussion, I decided to wait for a couple of days until I visited my best friend in another town; I used her email and faxed it off at the local PO. All done!! Just as I was leaving (after spending only 3days there :( ) I received a phone call from our CLO. Apparently the kitchen laminex is unavailable and I need to choose a new one. I explained I was out of state, she sent an email with 3 colour choices, which Mr G passed onto me. After arriving back with my family I then had to find a laminex showroom to check out these 3 colours, I was hoping that they weren’t too blah! Choices were: *white Valencia, *cotton craft and *pietra snow after getting small samples the salesman asked if I wanted to see them on a larger sheet. Cotton craft wasn’t available, which was a pity as that looked okay on the small sample, pietra snow was available, and on the sample it looked too busy with too much colour, but on the large sheet, the colours didn’t seem as brightnoticable, it looked quite nice. White Valencia had a light marble grain going through it, I chose the White Valencia it didn’t have as much pattern as the other and looked nice on the large sheet too. Just hope it goes with the licorice linea cabinets. Messaged Mr G back with colour, another problem was solved. Hopefully I won’t get a phone call later saying that the tiles are unavailable!
After the roof frame was finished, the guttering fascia and downpipes were installed; we do still have two in our WIR. The eaves, alfresco and garage ceiling have been plaster-boarded? The brickies came back and fixed up all those cracked bricks under the windows, the electrical chasing was done and wiring put in. The renderer has been and done his job, and the front is now not looking so shabby! :) The roof tiles were delivered with an email saying they will start on the 8^th just after I arrive back home.

ROOF/LINING/GUTTERING:
along back of house
porchgarage
CHASING/ELECTRICAL:
chasing in walls
electrical wires
RENDER:

render...unpainted at the moment.

*This next part was written on Sunday, but had trouble with the site... so its a couple of days out of date!*

When I arrived home, it was great to see the progress on the house. Since coming back, the roof tilers’ have been and the roof is finished. The plasterers have finished the grey ‘float’ coat on all the walls and the plumbers have been and put in all the pipes and we now have our outside taps. The inside ceilings were fixed to the roof frame but haven't got the cornice in yet. I think the white coat of plaster will be done first. I dont think there will be anymore done on the house before the labourers break for xmas... Unless the joins in the roof plaster are done. *fingers crossed*
We also have our 'smart' electricity meter installed and the gas meter too.
I am not sure when the white ‘set’ coat will be started or when they add the glass in the windows or the doors, but it shouldn’t be too far away. W did say that they were hoping for the grey coat to be on before xmas, and that is well and truly done, he also said lock-up just after xmas, but if the grey coat is on, they may be at lock-up earlier than planned, will have to wait and see. Not sure whether it would be good to be at lock-up before the holidays or after. I guess if vandals are going to ruin the house they will do it regardless. Although I must say that when we drive around the estate, we haven’t come across anything that looks like vandalism at all….but then again, we haven’t been there when its holidays!!

More photos from the last 2 weeks:

roof tiles on
Front entrance
kitchen

main bedroom... mostly grey coated no ceiling

fully grey coated and ceiling on
electrical and gas boxes *first 1 shut, then next 2 open :)
*I wonder why there is a power point in there

Bricks are finished.

On Friday 21 we had a meeting on site with W. He was very informative and friendly. While we were conversing with him, we found out that the bricks will be replaced. We got a bad batch apparently, and are now waiting for more bricks to be sent over. Other interesting things we found out were: *Ultimate are a medium sized company and only build approx 200 odd houses a year, whereas some of the bigger companies are doing 500+ a year. This suits us as it means that they aren't focused so much on quantity, but more on quality. *W also only supervises 20 houses, so not too many and, from what the brickies said, goes out 3 times a week. *The plus series houses..what we are building...take approx 6 months to build. So may be looking at an April/May finishing time. (YAY) *Hopefully the grey coat on internal walls will be done before christmas.

When we pulled up to the house we noticed that the roofing materials had arrived. W said they were booked in for Friday, but were held up on another job, so should be starting on Monday, they will take aprox 4 days to complete, then the roof tilers should come and do their bit. It looks like the roof will be finished, by the time I come back from my holiday. The brickies were also finished, possibly early that morning, going by some wet mortar, and that means that the inside is now completed too! Everything looks great, and the internal bricks were pretty decent compared to some of the ones I have seen in other houses.

Front panorama

Kitchen...with my lowered wall oven :)

Alfresco, looking into completed meals/kitchen

Main bedroom.Games roomRoofing material......tiles haven't arrived yet.

External finished...

On Sunday we made our bi-weekly trip to the block to check progress and all the external walls are up with windows and doors placed. The inner external brick was done also. All they need to do is finish all the internal 'dividing' walls, and robes/kitchen. And that will be the brickwork finished. Hoping they will finish by the end of this week, or the beginning of next week.
We were disappointed to see that the cracked bricks were not replaced, and now every window has cracked bricks under them. Yes thats right, every brick under every window is cracked! Just the ones the windows are sitting on. Not sure if they were cracked before, or after the window was placed on them. But it looks ugly, and it will be fixed. I dont care whether they think it is 'acceptable' there is not one other house built in the area that has the cracks in the window bricks. We will be seeing W on Friday and discussing it with him and see what can be done. Hoping he is a reasonable man and will fix it.

So now time for some photos...
Front of house

Inside main bedroom.

Looking from the back into alfresco/meals area...games room to the left

Along the back wall...games and 2 bedrooms

More of those ugly cracks.

We went out again today...and part of the inside is done. 'Mr Brickie' said they should be finished by Friday. Hope so, as it is meant to be raining this weekend. Will post more photos and another update on Friday when we meet with W.

Quick update.

Just a brief update today. Went out to the block, to see how much had been done, on Sunday. Most of the garage walls were completed and the 2 row of bricks down the side, behind garage towards the alfresco, and windows were placed. We seen some things that we didn't like. 1: In the garage some of the face bricks are facing the wrong way... not really a big deal, but surely they could tell the difference, and if they do it there who knows where they will do it next. 2: The garage wall was really rough in a couple of places, some bricks had mortar missing, and the back of the electricity box is showing. 3: On the study wall (behind garage) there are a couple of bricks that have been broken and subsequentially, just filled up with mortar. 4: The second course under the windows along the side are all cracked and facing the wrong way! We sent off an email with photos of the above mentioned, and we received an email back that day! Very effecient. The parts in the garage that were rough will be having piers in front of them as well as the electricity box,the bricks that are the wrong way- there is nothing they will do about that, and I dont think you will be able to pick it on the outside anyway. We were also told that the broken mortar filled bricks were common as they are getting covered over with plaster and it helps the grey-coat to stick. I guess I would rather have them filled with mortar, than nothing! As for the cracked bricks under the window, they will be replaced. As they are visible, someone with authority said that they will be redone, they agreed that it doesn't look so nice. All in all I was very happy that our questions were answered in a timely manner, and am happy that the cracked ones will be replaced. She even thanked us for sending the photos with the offending bits circled. What a wonderful lady S is. We were also updated on the progress, brick layer will be there for another 3 weeks, then the roof will be delivered along with piping/gutters etc. I will be sending her a thank-you email tomorrow to let her know that I appreciate the work she has done so far.
Hopefully the brickwork will be completed (or close to) when I go for my holiday, and on my return the roof will be finished.

Bricks..Bricks..Bricks..bricks..

Our bricks have arrived! We were informed by our CLO that they were going to arrive on the 30 Oct, and that they brick layer was booked for the 5th Nov. When we went out on Sunday 2nd we seen that they had indeed arrived on time. The kids still aren't that interested and were too busy playing ball and chasey around the bricks to care. The photos show the bricks, the ones on the slab are the internal and the ones around the outside are the external bricks.
side view, garage closest, looking towards front door and main bedroom
front view

These are our external bricks...not sure about the colour they are different to what I imagined them to be, going by pictures and other houses, but they may look different as they are built and the mortar goes in between. I just thought they would have more of a colour variation to them.

Close up of external bricks

The electricity box, toilet and storage shed were also brought in sometime during the week. The kids seem to always need to 'go' while they are here....don't know why...surely the use of a portable toilet isn't that interesting!!

On Thursday 6th we again went out to the block, as the brickie was meant to be there Wednesday, so we thought that we might check it out to see how much progress he had made. Seeing as it was wet Wednesday afternoon, we didn't know if anyone showed up or kept away because of the rain. We were pleased to see that he had, in fact, been out Wednesday, not sure how long he was there for. The first row of external perimeter bricks had been placed and we have 2 half finished garage walls. Thursday was of course raining, today it's not... so we will see if there is any more progress on Sunday, when we again, venture out there. Looks like we will be making bi-weekly trips at least until the walls are up.
garage walls

bedroom recess looking towards front door
main bedroom looking down the side, towards back of house.

Close up of garage wall.

We also took up 'S' on her offer to meet 'W' our SS, he was meant to get in contact with us to arrange a meeting. So far we haven't heard anything, so may have to give 'S' a call and see whats happening...hope this is not the start of things to come... ie: slow to call etc

We rang up the developers during the week to find out about the back of the land. At the moment there is a ditch and a post and wire fence beyond that. Initially, as the land was getting developed we thought the back of our property would be forward of the ditch. Not so, we measured the length of the property on Sunday to find that it goes back to wire fence, which means the ditch is on our land, and cuts about 1.5-2 metres off our small backyard. I put the question to the forum, and was shown where the ditch is on the 'house-siting' plans, so it was there all along. Anyway after the phone call we have been told that the area will be covered in. The developers were waiting, as they didn't want to put in a retaining wall. The land behind us will get developed and end up level to us, only problem is I have no idea when it will be developed... not for a few years yet at least. They will send an engineer out soon to do whatever he does..there are 3 houses being built on our side so far (6 blocks total... until the rest of the area gets developed), that will need fences up sooner rather than later.