Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Post Handover Update


Oh the Joy of Settlement day!
Well it should have being all joy getting the keys to our new house but alas due to an administration error I got quite upset and muttered very bad words about PD under my breath (and a few out loud).


The problem:
Seems that they forgot about our Driveway & Fencing allowance. It was in the contract but they didn’t have a cheque for us. This was a bigger issue as I had my concreter booked in to lay the driveway the next day and was panicking about how I would pay him. Anyway it took them a full week to organise 2 managers to sign the cheque for us. I just feel they did not go out of their way at all to resolve this and that it was just a hassle for them.... really spoiled what was a wonderful building experience with PD overall. Lucky for me My concreter is a top notch bloke and completely understood the situation I was in and said "No worries, just pay me when the money come though". I will post about the driveway later once I upload the photos.


Anyway back to handover:
There was still a few issues outstanding from PCI that had not being fixed but our SS assured us they will all be done (and they now have) and also a new issue of the dishwasher that was installed had a huge dent in the front of it, this has also now being fixed by the good blokes at Blanco.


As handover was on a Thursday and we were not moving in 'till the Saturday I decided that I would sleep in the new house to guard our newly installed appliances (especially my oven... I love that oven). It was like staying in a ghost town.... so quite as there was NOONE else living in the street and probably only about 20 or so occupied houses in the entire Estate.




Move in day:
OMG what did I get myself into.... I completely underestimated the man power required. It was just my mate M and I........ anyway 3 truck loads and 11 hours later we were done, completely exhausted, in fact the next day I woke up and every muscle in my body was sore.... never never again! A big thanks to M for his help on the day... it was a huge effort (especially considering I’m a few years younger and struggled) Hats off to you my friend.









Other things done around the house after handover:




  • Lots of Box's unpacked.... lots more to go!


  • Driveway completed.


  • Antenna installed in roof.


  • Toilet roll holder/Towel rails installed.


  • Pebble feature strip in showers sealed (May redo this with different product as it is not shinny).


  • Letter box purchased and painted same colour as render (surf mist).


  • Letter box was destroyed by the missus, reversing out of the driveway for the first time.


  • Letter box moved to a safer location, patched up with bog a waiting sanding and repaint.


  • Supports for an inbuilt desk installed and painted, awaiting laminated bench top to be made.


Things that still need to be done:



  • Fencing

  • Bobcat required to level/put crushed rock where we intend to concrete.


  • Concreting for Alfresco/Court yard and blindside of house.


  • Lots of gardening - that will never end.


  • Blinds and curtains(Just redy shades ATM).


  • Probably lots more involving more work than I want to think about right now.


Cheers for now

Cozmo

2 comments:

Lisa said...

Congratulations on getting your keys!!

For the reasons you say, I'm getting removalists - sooooo worth it I reckon!

Oh and thanks for the headsup on the driveway and fencing cheque from PD!

Cozmo said...

Yes a removalist would have been nice! We had 3 quotes for this ranging in the 800-900 mark so decided to save the money and do it ourselves.... just think I should have enlisted the help of a few more mates( slab of beer each= cheap labour)

As my mate who did help on the day put in such a big effort he got a really nice bottle of scotch for his troubles.

With the driveway and fencing cheque from PD... make sure you have signed the building variation at least one week before handover.(this is their normal process)

cheers
Cozmo