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

PCI

We had PCI last Thursday and I am delighted to say that we are very happy with the house and the Fact that we couldn’t even find 20 places to put red dots is a real testament to the great work done building our house. A special thanks to the General running the show, our SS "V" who has being a pleasure to deal with during the whole process. V can be hard to get a hold of sometimes but he did give regular updates and was always true to his word.

Of the red dots most were paint touch-ups which is a be expected and the painter was on site to fix them up straight away. Our painter "C" work is impeccable and you can tell he takes much pride in his work.

Other minor issues identified were:
* Broken storm water pipe out the front of the block
* A loose floorboard
* Section of kitchen where the dishwasher goes was not plumb
* Laundry Door to be replaced

AND THATS IT !!!!! :)

All I can say is that my build has being probably one of the smoothest you could ask for in this game and anyone who says negative comments about PD will only have it fall on deaf ears with me.


All set for handover this Thursday just waiting on the Bank and then the move on Sat.

Cheers for now

Cozmo


PS As we move who knows how long before we get internet back so if I don’t post for a while this will be the reason.

The Great Whiteout! - Painting photofest

We had a meeting with out SS V on Monday. He talked us through all the next steps to be undertaken and answered any questions we had( which there were many). We left the house feeling that our house is in very capable hands and that all our issues will be addressed.( Most of these are very minor).
The front render has had its first coat of surfmist applied and moldings put onto the front windows. Gutters and fascia have also had one cost of ironstone put onto them, with another to go.

All internal doors painted in Gloss Flokati... nice and shiny!

Kitchen and Dining, SS said the replacement pot draws have been ordered and the exposed end will be covered in vinyl wrap.

Bedroom 2

Laundry. Tiles will cover where it is not painted.

The abyss

Bedroom 3

Bedroom 4 or study.

Bedroom hallway looking down towards bedroom 4.

Looking through void in rumpus.

Rumpus looking down to front door..... it seems so far away

Opposite view... from front door to rumpus..... there is light at the end of the tunnel!

Master bedroom.

More Master bedroom!

Up close and personal with the front door. Now with vanish.

Looking from dining to bedroom hallway.

Family room.

From down the street .

Closer look at the gutters and half painted beam.

Just love the front door!

Actually love the house full stop!

Now there will be no work at the house for the next few days as we are waiting for the tilers to begin, he has another house to finish and is expected at our house by Friday.

Tiling should take a week at most and then the final fit off can start... shower screens, tap ware and sparkies.

SS says barring any disasters we should have PCI in 4-5 weeks. So time to get some driveway/fencing quotes.

I know allot of people stop blogging about there build in the final weeks as it all gets very busy with packing/moving getting quotes etc. but I will try to keep the updates coming so you can get the complete picture of the build.

Cheers for now

Cozmo

Ready Set...... Paint

An early morning Saturday visit and lucky for me a tradie was working, in fact the tradie was C our painter. C was a good bloke and gave me lots of info, like how long before I will need to repaint exterior woodwork and gutters etc. He also said that all the scribble I saw last time was put there by V our SS and he was surprised that the plasterers actually did came back and fixed everything up. He said overall the plaster work in our house is pretty good and we are lucky as he has been seeing lots of shoddy work of late.

Anyway enough gas bagging and on with the photos:

Our front door has been stained but it is still waiting on the Tri-Loc door handle and C to put on the vanish.

Not so clear but you can make out the name Flokati which will be all over the place. All walls and interior woodwork will be in Flokati so I hope we like it.


C would have had to get all the internal doors off that were hung so he can paint them. Here they have had the under coat done and will be finished in Flokati Gloss.



The House is looking better with every drop of paint. C was spraying the roof when I was in.


Good thing I got in while C was there 'cos I wouldn't have been able to see much as all the windows are covered in plastic.


I could have stayed at the house all day but I was probably holding C up a little as we were chatting.


More work has been done on the showers awaiting the tiler to begin.


Now that I am looking at this photo it seems to me that these taps are not centered. Dose not leave much room for the vertical feature tile which is meant to be on the right of the taps.


All covered up!


And our tiles have been delivered.

C said with any luck he should be finished on Wednesday. Tiling should being straight afterwards on the Thursday. So as we are only getting the bathrooms and Laundry Tiled maybe it could be all done by my next visit. (knock on wood)

Talking about next visit, I have requested a walk through with V since we got our fixing invoice and now we are on the hoe run I need him to put my mind at ease. I need to know that every issue we have raised is being taken care of and that all the smaller ones are in his radar well before we have PCI.

On that note I might have to start thinking about packing........Oh its getting close I can almost smell the finish line.

Cheers for now

Cozmo

Colour Selection

A sample of the colors chosen for the house, I could not get samples for everything so have included a list at the bottom of this post.
BathroomsVanities : Laminex Natural Milkwood with kickboards in Laminex Flint charcoal.
Floor tiles and wall tiles in showers : Agra Charcoal with silver white mortar.
The showers will have a Pebble Tan 10 cm vertical feature running down one wall.

External

The bricks are Boral Jarrah with an offwhite mortar that has an ironed finish.
Windows are white.
Gutters, downpipes and garage door are colourbond Ironstone.
The front rendering on portico and projection will be colorbond Surf Mist.
The roof tiles are Boral Gunmetal.

Landry
Agra Charcoal tiles to the floor. Minima Avor (light beige) tiles for the splashback.
Sink and benchtop are Formica Silver Strata, again with charcoal kickers.

Kitchen

Floor is Truloc Spotted Gum which will also feature in the entrance, living/dining and the rumpus room. The glass splashback will be Dulux Sapphire Stone. The kick boards are Laminex Natural Zinc Works (looks like stainless steel).

One of our major upgrades was to put Vinyl Wrap for the kitchen cupboards including the wrap around the front. This enabled us to have a gloss finish. We decided to go with a new colour to the Laminex range called Pearl Frost which has subtle silver sparkles through it. This should match the stainless steel oven, rangehood and dishwasher(and the fridge one day when we can afford to upgrade it). The benchtop will be Quantum Quartz New Diamond White. This has the least amount of fleck.


A closeup of the Pearl Frost Vinyl Wrap. Photo still doesn't do it justice, but trust me it looks really nice :)

Others not listed

Carpet - Godfrey Hirst Forget me not (Dark Grey)
Internal Paint - Wattle Flokati (Off white) - Used throughout the house as it is neutral and we can paint feature walls once we are finished. PD charge way to much to change a color of a room or for a feature wall.
Timber front door and sidelights - Wattyl Dark Oak Stain
Laundry door - Wattyl Dark Oak Stain with clear glass
French doors to Lounge/Courtyard - Wattyl Dark Oak Stain
Bi-Fold door to Rumpus/Alfresco - Wattyl Dark Oak Stain