A Quick Update on the Driveway and Things

Not a lot of progress has happened (to our eyes at least) on site. The rain delayed the driveway which delayed other trades. Also, I think the small nature of the jobs makes it hard to coordinate the trades.

According to our builder this is the current (sort of) timeline:

·         Brickwork has been complete (where we had to knock a few bricks out to install the flashing for the windows)

·         Glazing to the windows has been installed

·         The carpenter has to finalize the Media room step. They will complete with the towel rail to main bathroom

·         The painter has half a day of touch ups, and repainting the feature wall, and architraves to the new windows

·         The powder coated screen to the side of the balcony is to be installed tomorrow (which is now today).

·         The Clipsal switches will be installed before handover.

Monday afternoon Mick is meeting the concreters and builder on site to review/approve the driveway formwork for pouring. How long everything takes from there I don't know.

What I do know is that this build is dragging out too long. We just want it done so that we can avoid the next huge round of storage fees and perhaps have something to show our family and friends at our engagement party in a couple of weeks.

EDIT: Mick is now going tomorrow to inspect the formwork. With a bit of luck they'll pour it Saturday and hopefully get the rest of the trades in next week. Wishful thinking? Probably.

So Close, Yet Still So Far

Like so many house builders before us, Mick and I are frustrated to be so close to keys and yet so far.

As usual, a few photos and a few issues:

Our bottom window has (almost) been replaced, it's just missing the solid middle panel. It already looks better. It's great to have this shot as you still have the top window to compare it to. The top window will be changed as well.

Our rangehood is lower than we wanted, but has been installed according to the manufacturer's instructions . It still looks great and is a real talking point. We think it will be something people either love or hate.

Our microwave cupboard. It's a dream to open and close.

Powder Room vanity and toilet. The drawers don't open or close properly. Hopefully that is something easily sorted.

Oh that darn pipe. We had wanted (and ordered) a wall-hung vanity, but alas, our raked ceiling made that impossible (as it did on a few things) and a compromise was this pipe. Problem is it is very visible as it is in line with the hallway, so unfortunately you see it a mile off (can't blame us/Fairmont for trying!). Time now to "bling" it up with a chrome sleeve and make it look purposeful... fingers crossed!

It is a nice vanity. Needs a bigger/better tap...*sigh* add it to the wish list! And the drawers are sticking :-S

The spa bath, another hard-fought battle. How's that tap!

This one sucks. We changed the towel rails in the Main Bathroom from 2 x 900mm doubles to 2 x 700mm doubles, as the space is tight. And despite our builder's best efforts (the 900's are sitting in their office to avoid confusion on site), the sub-contractors have drilled the tiles at the 900mm spacing instead of 700mm, and installed the 900mm that is supposed to be in the Powder Room. So, the tiles need replacing.

Holes  incorrectly drilled for the second 900mm towel rail.

Ensuite vanity. You know, of all the vanities it's copped a battering as ex-display stock, but it's the only one with drawers that work!

Ensuite shower. The hand-rail and rain-head are separately plumbed.

On the plan, the hand-rail is supposed to be on the other side of the rose (i.e. in-line with the edge of the seat). But, it has been installed now and is not worth removing the tiles and possibly disturbing the water-proofing. This way around it is easier to stand under it as a shower, we had just hoped to be able to sit and shower (still a possibility, it's just a little harder).

Ensuite toilet, toilet roll holder and spare toilet roll holder.

Our unsightly alarm system in our showcase (I wish) wardrobe is taking up so much room. Fairmont will ask the alarm company if they can move the wireless router thingy (I'm so technical) in between the box and powerpoint. This way we can more easily hide it in a cupboard (we only have room for overhead cupboards here, and the current configuration will make them sit too low).

Our video intercom/doorbell has been installed. It looks good, but it's installed in the middle of the bricks on the right side of the porch (as you face the house), and is not immediately obvious. I didn't even notice it. Wish we had specified that it be installed next to the door. Anybody about to build who is reading this blog, please take note to specify the location of EVERYTHING!

Entry video doorbell/intercom, alarm and light switches.

I can confirm that we are now having our driveway installed by Fairmont. It's not a fancy driveway, but it's not cheap (makes me wonder about the large/ornate driveways out there!). And because nothing has gone smoothly on this build, we can't have the shape/layout on our plans. The main reason is that there is a council tree right smack bang in the middle of where we'd like to run it. Knowing what a hassle it is to have council remove/move a tree, Mick has re-worked the design and this is our compromise:

The perforated black line is the old design. The yellow star is the tree and the curb can't come within 1m of the tree, so the yellow line is the new design. With our driveway pointing left and our house facing right, our place is going to be a bit wonky...just like us I guess!

 Still to do:

- Finish replacing the windows (front, WIR and laundry) and service the rest
- Finish installing the bathroomware, replace tiles in Main bathroom where incorrect holes drilled, install mirrors and fix drawers in vanities
- Chrome plate waste pipe in Main Bathroom
- Install water tank, HWS, A/C and kitchen appliances
- Replace the HPM powerpoints and lightswitches with the Clipsal we ordered
- Fix the myriad of red dots in the house (lots of the typical chips etc)
- Re-paint the TV Room Feature wall (have I mentioned that we changed the colour..? Stay tuned!) and re-paint the downstairs hallway niche (site supervisor had the wall sanded as it had some rough patches)
- Re-brick under back door
- Stain first stair tread
- Install screen on balcony
- Pendant lights in the kitchen to be installed
- Driveway
- Clean...and probably a whole host of other things we've forgotten!

Painting Update

Our externals are done!

We just need the privacy screen installed on the left of the balcony (will be the same colour as the railing), then we're done...oh yeah, and a driveway, plants, lawn, mailbox...

The Inside:

Study (please excuse the dust on the camera lens!)

Hallway feature wall

Media Room feature wall

Media Room raised platform (will be carpeted)

Formal Living Room feature wall

Formal Living Room feature wall

Front door

Master Bedroom feature wall

The great unknown is how the colours will come together when the floors are finished *fingers crossed*

The upstairs TV room is still the wrong colour, but I am no longer sure I want it to be the same colour as the formal living...perhaps you can have too much of a good thing.

Also, our water tank has arrived and we have delivered our Ensuite vanity:

Water tank

Vanity (How good does our Garage skirting look now!)

Leftover tiles (I just wanted to show off the Garage skirting again)

Internal electrical box

Hole in the wall next to the internal electrical box that we hope gets patched soon

Our A/C duct points have been cutout and the exchange unit installed:

Exchange unit upstairs (photo included for Mick)

Mick and his father also stopped by the block the other day to do some landscaping measurements (yep, clearly no landscaper wants the job as they either never quote us, or give us a ridiculous number, so it looks like it's going to be down to Mick and his Dad), and peering through the window they noticed that the wrong powerpoints have been installed (we paid a stupidly high amount to have a different type of point, so Mick is not happy there, though I don't think it's a huge fix) and that our kitchen pendant lights are basic bayonet points, though we stressed that we had the lights ready and waiting to go straight in. We had hoped to have other lights ready to be installed directly too, but I'm not sure that will happen now.

Fairmont have also asked us for the heights that our towel rails and toilet roll holders should be installed at. I have no idea how we're going to work that one out. I would love to walk around the house with the installer and the pieces and just move them about until it looks/feels right. But I doubt that will happen, so I guess we just need to roughly work it out and hope for the best!

Kitchen, Paint and Other Things

After my obligatory apology for being so long between posts (sorry guys!), where do I start...

The Good News

Balcony railing has been installed:

The kitchen is (mostly) in:

I cannot wait to see the floor complete. It will make the Kitchen sing!

Photo taken through door before main painting done

Photo taken through door before main painting done

Photo taken through door before main painting done

Photos can't do the bench top and splashback justice (Caesarstone "White Shimmer"). 

Appliances are yet to be installed and the microwave cabinet is missing. The reason the cabinet is missing is because the installer decided the Aventos lift system (click here to see it) we chose intruded too much, and instead installed a door that lifts up and rolls back into the cabinet. This is exactly the cabinet we wanted to avoid. There are already scratch marks on the cabinet from the rollers (and it will only get worse with use) and the door sticks out from the cabinet about the same length as the lift system does. So, we've told them to install the Aventos system. We'll see how we go! 

The front door and stair rails are stained:

The wardrobe walls have been corrected:

Bed 3

Bed 2

Bed 4 is not actually supposed to have had a change. We were happy with the size of the duct and, for the sake of symmetry, didn't mind it being concealed in the wardrobe (which is much larger than the other wardrobes as well). We've asked Fairmont to change it back, as per our original request...yep, they must hate us.

Skirting in the garage has been fixed:

What an improvement!

Garage

Glass has been installed in the bathrooms:

Ensuite

Main Bathroom

Powder Room

Tiling has been completed:

Niche above bath in Main Bathroom

Niche in Ensuite shower

Balcony

Balcony

The window company has agreed to make custom windows for our front facade. Here's a refresher on the window issue-

The windows we signed-off on:

Turns out the windows aren't to code as a child could fall out of the upper level windows (fair enough)

The windows we got (without consultation):

The main reason we dislike these so much, which you can't tell from this image, is that the sash's are all different thicknesses. This is because they are each comprise of two windows - one double-hung with a fixed centre pane and a fixed window with three sections.

Windows we will now get:

We like that they will complement the Ensuite window and that the centre pane is uninterrupted. Because each window is comprised of three vertical windows, there should only be two different sash thicknesses.

We ordered the carpet Thursday. We had a last-minute change on colour (not a significant difference) and are looking at a 12 week delivery date. If we're lucky and get keys before then, then we'll be living without carpet for a few weeks, but it is worth it in the end as it is the colour we originally envisaged. It's Smart Strand Silk Cosy Comfort "Pearl Glaze." It feels so soft and looks beautiful. I just hope we can keep it looking beautiful!

Cozy Comfort "Pearl Glaze"

Painting has started...which brings me to The Bad News (no post is complete without it!)...

The paint listed on our tender is "Wattyl low sheen acrylic." Fairmont now use Dulux. Aside from crossing our fingers that the colour matching works, we have recently come to learn a lot about "low sheen acrylic" - there are many different types with varying levels of quality. Would you like to guess which level of quality is builders standard..? It's a product called "Hadrian Contracter," which the Dulux brochure itself says is, "recommended for affordable housing...and pastels/white colours only," and, "requires frequent re-painting." Hmmmm... For anyone who has ever lived in a "builders standard" home that is more than 18months old, you will likely know the stuff. It's chalky and comes off when you wipe the walls. The person at  Dulux Mick spoke to on the phone even advised against it being used as an undercoat only (a suggested compromise by Fairmont).

Needless to say we have upgraded to Dulux Wash and Wear 101 (with Dulux One Step prep) where we can (it's too late for the trim and ceiling).

And, they painted the wrong feature wall in the Upstairs TV Room. Unbeknownst to Mick who took this photo while it was being painted (he is hopelessly colourblind and not really across the specifics of our colour choices). Doh!

TV Room with the colour intended for the Study

Coat 1 of 5 (maybe even 6) for the Main Bedroom feature wall (this is the reason we did not want to paint this wall ourselves!)...Loving the main wall colour.

Main Wall Colour - Bed 1 Wardrobe (the window is meant to be clear, it will be corrected soon)

Main Wall Colour - Bed 1 Wardrobe

Laundry Door

Next issue: The Spa Bath

This is a two-for-one deal, not only was our chosen spa dis-continued, the size we thought we were getting (which quite frankly was tiny to begin with) is too big for the space we have. This one we pushed back onto Fairmont as it goes against the plan, and they came through! They'll make sure the original sized bath fits and have substituted for a similar model to replace the discontinued one, it's the Decina Carina Dolce Vita 1675:

Next on our list: Order laundry cabinetry, order lights and deliver the vanity that is currently sitting in storage...