Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Provincial Homes 321Jul 20, 2015 9:29 am Hi all, Well it has been a busy two weeks for me, mainly getting quotes for tiling and driveways (we settled on a concreter but have to confirm when he will start), we have ordered shutters for the front and hopefully they will be here in time for when we move in. We have sorted out our carpet, but need to match the colour to the tile. The tiler will be starting on Wednesday and will attempt to continue floor to ceiling for us, will advise on how this turns out, although thankfully all the lines line up for us. The original tiler actually made it harder for themselves with some of the small tiles they cut around the bath, but it works out in our favour. Carpet will go in after the tiler is done. So far there are a few things that still need attending too which I’ll bring up at maintenance, including. • Door seals that have come off, and front door screws are still missing. • Trim around the sink overflow is still missing. The display has them and they were in the house originally but someone has thrown them out. I spent Sunday removing skirting to get it ready for screeding, and found all kinds of cigarette butts and things hidden away under there. Interestingly some skirting is MDF whilst other bits are pine. Re: Provincial Homes 322Jul 23, 2015 11:01 am Hello everyone, I have been waiting for the internals to start, hopefully by end of next week, I will have some activity on that front. I am also getting some hidden cost opening up now. As my block sloping back to front, I have some water logging in the back below alfresco area. The landscaper guy who came during the weekend told that I will be requiring a trench dug and pipe put into it to drain any water. This was not anticipated and no provision was made for capturing backyard ground water. Not sure how much will it be to fix. Apart from that, I am too taking some quotes. At this stage I think it will be end of September / mid October for my completion. Not sure if I will get any good trade person around then as Xmas starts looming .... Good luck and keep posting. Re: Provincial Homes 323Jul 23, 2015 11:35 am ProgD Hello everyone, I have some water logging in the back below alfresco area. The landscaper guy who came during the weekend told that I will be requiring a trench dug and pipe put into it to drain any water. Good luck and keep posting. I think if you are a bit handy potentially you could install an agri pipe yourself, or try and get the guy who is doing you driveway to sort out the site drainage at the same time. I have to run two agri pipes down the sides of my block to get water running away from the house. At one side I can tap into storm water drainage at the curb, but at the back of the house will have to see where the water flows too. Although the concreter thinks once turf goes down drainage shouldn't be a problem. The driveway concrete guy has said he will level my block when the machine comes. The tilers started on my house yesterday, and finished of screeding the place. They also started the job of floor to ceiling tiling for me, i'll post up on my blog later about cost and if it's worth it or not when I am finished. The tile delivery also came spot on time. Primastone I found in Auburn have been great with tiles. Happy to say that the plumber came out first thing yesterday to suck water out of the pipe i was worried about, there Wet/Dry vac had a 20l capacity and filled up twice. I was amazed at how much water they sucked out of there. Can't wait for tiling to be done so I can see the end result. Re: Provincial Homes 324Jul 24, 2015 9:39 pm Hello everyone, I have some updates from my build. Apparently, the roof tiling is complete by the looks of it. I had a look around this evening and in the fading light could see the tiles (first floor + ground floor front & back) completed. This means the next invoice will be heading my way next week and the build moves to next stage. I think electrical and then gyp rocking is next. Not sure how long from here ? I guess another 8 - 10 weeks. Just keeping our fingers cross.... As for the landscaping, I need to get a retaining wall to be done at the back but not before leveling the full block. I think who ever does the leveling, will fix the drainage issue I have currently. I think I have to get the block leveling, drainage, retaining wall, concreting and grass in that order. Again, do not want to jump too far ahead. Just letting the things to happen as their own pace. I am also hired a private inspector and he should be visiting my site next week to check the things just before gyp rocking starts and then will visit again just before final handover. I think it is worth the money I am investing as in my last site inspection few weeks ago I had seen few things marked by my SS. I hope these are fixed and if not gets highlighted by this person next week. Finally I have people started dumping things inside and outside my block. Their are 3 dinging chairs mysteriously sitting outside the block fence I can also see one TV carton inside the fence... Not sure if this is a regular feature of any build but is very annoying.... That's it folks, I hope every one is progressing as well. Till next update, good night. My building TIMELINE =================>>>>>>>>>>>> Provincial Fixed Price contract signed - 30th Aug 2014 Settlement of Land Purchase - 25th Sept 2014 HIA Contract signed - 26th Sept 2014 DA in council - 15th Oct 2014 Internal color selections - 12th Nov 2014 DA approved from council - 14th Nov 2014 Electrical selections - 21st Nov 2014 Final Electrical and Internal variations document signing - 4th Dec 2014 Final contract after variations signing - 8th Dec 2014 Construction certificate issued - 5th Feb 2015 Commencement of work on site - 12th Feb 2015 Piering complete - 18th Feb 2015 Slab complete - 5th March 2015 Frame complete - 5th May 2015 Roof complete - 24th July 2015 Lock up complete - TBA Final completion - TBA Key Handover - TBA Re: Provincial Homes 325Jul 29, 2015 10:04 pm Hello Everyone, Things seems to be moving on my build side. Had a visit today and met my SS. According to him, the lock out should be complete in next 2 weeks. I could figure out the electrical layouts and air conditioning ducts already done. It is looking pretty exiting although would love to see the upstairs area, etc. I guess, will have to wait for some time for that. Another thing that I am trying to do currently is to take quotes for doing landscaping work. I have a lot of soil to be moved and then build retaining wall along the back boundary of the property. I met the council planner and I will require a DA for doing the retaining walls. Does any one know any good architectural company who can do the drawings as per council requirements. I am with Hills Shire Council in Sydney. Any help will be appreciated. I think this is the only sticking point at present and I need to get it moving asap as the DA application itself will take 4 - 6 weeks. Thanks and enjoy your build. Re: Provincial Homes 326Aug 01, 2015 12:14 am Its been a while since I've been able to write anything. I have just been updating myself tonight on all your progress. Congrats to Kavehman - your home & blog looks great. & ProgD you are making good progress now. To be honest, I totally lost interest in our home for a few weeks there! It has been a VERY long build and around the time we reached the 34th week in our 34-week contract, it just became too depressing to think about. Today is 42 calendar weeks (so includes Christmas Break) from the start of our contract period, which is 3+ weeks over the contract period. It is extremely frustrating & disappointing that our build has been so slow. We honestly thought the full 34-week contract period was the worst case scenario, and we would have been back in our home by June/July, but tomorrow is August and I think we are still a while off. However, we have had a new SS for about a month and he has been fantastic! He has been accessible, honest, and on the ball. Such a welcome change to our first SS! He is trying to get it all done asap. So it has taken a bit for me to get back into it all, but I do believe the end is nearing. This entry is Not to put off people looking to build with Provincial because I have always been happy with the quality of the build.... when the workers are actually working!! Unfortunately there have been a couple of hiccups in the last week - pantry shelves in our kitchen being 10cm shallower than on the plans, and one of our bathroom's floor tiles was laid the wrong way. I am very happy to say after meeting with the SS, it was all sorted out within 24 hours with no arguments. Tiles were pulled up, shelving was removed and a new one was ordered. Although there was no reason given from anyone as to how the shelves were wrong in the first place, the cabinet maker was great - very adaptable & quick to fix the issue. The tiles... well they need to be re-layed but apparently we are now waiting on stock from Di Lorenzo, and no idea how long that could be! So where are we at?? This week seems like the painting was finished & the front pillars have had the moroka bagging done. We still need plumber to finish off all the taps & fittings; electrician to complete all the electricals & light fittings; kitchen splashback to be installed; and of course the new pantry & tiles to be replaced. Not sure what else before our walkthrough? Today I also organised quotes for our flooring & window coverings, and ordered some furniture so it was a fun day! Someone at work asked me the other day if it has put me off building, and no, it definitely hasn't. I love the process & watching it all come to life, I'd just love it to HURRY UP ALREADY!!!!! Even some of the contractors have commented on it! lol. Hopefully we will be compensated somewhat by their rental guarantee as quoted on the website...!?!? Sorry, Still don't know how to add any photos... wish I did so I could share pics of our journey with you all! Building Nu Caprice 35 Accepted Tender 3/14 Construction Cert 11/9/14 Slab poured 19/11/14 Frame completed 21/1/15 Bricks completed 26/3/15 Roof completed 29/5/15 Lockup 15/6/15 Walkthough is NEXT! Re: Provincial Homes 327Aug 02, 2015 8:25 pm Goodevening everyone, Jahasabe your latest update is giving me creeps and after I read it last night, I am very concerned. I am not able to understand the delays in your build, especially the inside work after the roof is complete. I know the feeling of frustration with so close to finish and yet have to wait so long. But as I have been writing in most of my blogs, their is light at the end of the tunnel and hopefully it should be soon. I am in the same situation where the roof has been laid, internals have to start with gyp rocking the next stage. Realistically from here it should take about 8 weeks to finish the internals and PCI walkthrough. My SS seems to be confident that the lock up should occur in next 2 weeks. Keeping finger cross over it. Again, how long after the lock up ?. From your experience, Jahasabe looks like it is long time... going past your allocated time frame it really bad and very annoying. I mean you plan for so many things and then the rental keeps on going... pathetic. I really hope it does not takes that long for any one, but you only have to wait for it to complete. Their is LIGHT at the end of TUNNEL.. My building TIMELINE =================>>>>>>>>>>>> Provincial Fixed Price contract signed - 30th Aug 2014 Settlement of Land Purchase - 25th Sept 2014 HIA Contract signed - 26th Sept 2014 DA in council - 15th Oct 2014 Internal color selections - 12th Nov 2014 DA approved from council - 14th Nov 2014 Electrical selections - 21st Nov 2014 Final Electrical and Internal variations document signing - 4th Dec 2014 Final contract after variations signing - 8th Dec 2014 Construction certificate issued - 5th Feb 2015 Commencement of work on site - 12th Feb 2015 Piering complete - 18th Feb 2015 Slab complete - 5th March 2015 Frame complete - 5th May 2015 Roof complete - 24th July 2015 Lock up complete - TBA Final completion - TBA Key Handover - TBA Re: Provincial Homes 328Aug 04, 2015 9:16 am Jahasabe hang in there, we had the same site supervisor initially, and to be honest our house turned out really well in the end. The trades used were top notch. The paint in particular has been done very well. My brother in law is a licensed painter by trade and he has been happy with the work. He wishes they did the front door differently, and the bathroom ceilings. But he said overall it's a very good job, and it looks like they used quality paint. I have had a lot of neighbors complain to me about the paint in there homes, and the quality of plaster work. The last few weeks have been pretty full on and quite exhausting to be honest. My only frustration has been not having a key to the house with all those delays going on so I could get people in to measure for curtains, tiles, carpet. That is my one gripe and it makes me realize how much better customers who have regular access have it (some builders give you a key). I pulled up the skirting boards quite easily, no damage was done to the walls and I will be replacing it with 92mm half splay skirting. Was going to go with 140mm but then it wouldn't go with the door frames we thought. The skirting came up surprisingly easily, and new skirting from Hume doors cost us $195 so if you add in say 500 for installation it's still better than paying to get the skirting tacked on by Provincial... I think they wanted $760 to tack it on. Pulling up the skirting did confirm that there was water in the service pipe between the wall and the kitchen island. Provincial was great and sent a plumber out at a time convenient for me (when the tilers were about to start first thing in the morning), they used a wet dry vac to suck the water out, and a good 10-15liters came out of the pipe !!!! The key thing is that I was impressed at how well Provincial set up the plumber and didn't hold up the tilers. Anyways tiling was completed on Saturday and it has come out looking pretty good, still needs a few final mops to get the residue off the tiles, but our tiler did an amazing job. Tiling is messy though... so be warned. He also continued floor to ceiling in the bathrooms, in order to do this the mirror's and fittings were removed (quite easily I might add, nothing was broken). The cornice was removed (not so easy, but came off in an hour for 2 bathrooms). The tiler did an amazing job continuing the floor to ceiling tiles, everything lines up. He took the WC up to window height (we didn't want to touch cornices in that room) which makes it look a lot nicer as well. A cornice guy came out yesterday and installed the cornice for about $400 including materials which was a pretty good price I thought. All up doing it this way we only saved $1,500 but if i were to do it again I would just do it through the builder, less headache organizing trades. But I am happy that I didn't pay an admin fee of $700 just to organize the cornice installer to come at a later date. I was a bit jealous of the other family who built with Provincial in our street, they did a cash job to get floor to ceiling done on there house with the di lorenzo tiler. Not fair if you ask me. Our driveway should be poured tomorrow, along with a footing for a future brick front fence. He levelled the land around the lot a little bit, but I need to calculate how much soil I need and order it in, and level it with that. Sigh ... so much other stuff going on, but it's getting there. Trying to get inside cleaned up as much as possible before the carpet goes in. Not too far away about 2 weeks I reckon, and then we can finally move in. There are a few things on my maintenance list, nothing major, things I have noticed are bathroom light not working for whatever reason, trim around the door has come off and ruined the stain on the front door for example. Some door handles are still wonky and I'm not sure how to fix them so will leave it to Provincial to sort out during maintenance. Re: Provincial Homes 329Aug 04, 2015 4:08 pm Good to hear from you Kavehman. Welcome back, looks like you are cruising along with the after build processes. Good luck. The gyp rocking is complete as told by my SS yesterday. Had a call from electrician for the hooking up the electricity. Looks like in next couple of weeks it will be on. I can see the things are progressing and if this can be maintained, I can see the end in next 8 - 10 weeks. (finger crossed). Currently taking lot of quotes from landscaping / concreting people as that is going to be ONE BIG job and I would like to get it rolling asap after the handover. Will keep posted on the progress...... Re: Provincial Homes 330Aug 04, 2015 11:15 pm Well done ProgD. Progress is good! Kavehman - can i ask how long it took you between handover (getting keys) & when you got your actual occupation certificate. Also, what you actually had to get done to get the cert. Just trying to be prepared... Thanks Building Nu Caprice 35 Accepted Tender 3/14 Construction Cert 11/9/14 Slab poured 19/11/14 Frame completed 21/1/15 Bricks completed 26/3/15 Roof completed 29/5/15 Lockup 15/6/15 Walkthough is NEXT! Re: Provincial Homes 331Aug 05, 2015 8:43 am It is interesting to read the updates - both good and those with a bit of frustration set in. You want the high quality end result, but not to push too hard and result in lower quality tradesmen or corners being cut. One thing that does concern me is how thinly spread our SS is - he has over 17 jobs that has been now expanded vast distances over Sydney... even out close to where Kavehman is in the south (we are in the Hills District). It will be a miracle if our house is finished even close to the 40 weeks - hopefully rain delays are minimal as most of these days had no trades planning to be on our job anyway. Since our last update things have been ticking along slowly with the Roof frame erected and 2nd progress payment, a site inspection with SS, windows delivered and installed, the Internal water pipes and drainage completed, and the bricks delivered. We now in a two week holding pattern for the brickies to start. I have updated the blog with all pictures including our first of the inside taken on our site inspection. Re: Provincial Homes 332Aug 05, 2015 6:19 pm Hi Jahasabe, hate to tell you this, but we still haven't moved in. We are trying our hardest to get flooring done before we do. Like i said getting quotes from tilers wasn't easy without a key, and quotes ranged from 45 per sqm to well over 100 per sqm just to lay 600x600 tiles. We do need to do landscape and driveway to get our occupancy certificate. I am not sure what the definition of landscape is, but we were told it's grass. You will need to budget $275 for the inspection to take place, Provincial pays for the actual certificate but because our build has gone over a year soon since the certifier signed all the docs, they charge us for the inspection. You also need to budget $350 to fill up the termite reticulation system. Concrete was cancelled today, hopefully we can get the driveway in Saturday and then carpet the week after that. Re: Provincial Homes 333Aug 05, 2015 7:20 pm Oh dear!! That's not what i was looking for!! I paid the deposit on our flooring today - expecting an early Sept install. And we already have quotes on grass & driveways organised - just need to get actual dates set. We have to be out of where we are now by 30 sept. We have already extended it by 3 months & can't extend any further, And i dont believe we should need to seeing as it will be 12 weeks over our contract end date! Good news today was we were told possibly 2 weeks til our walk through, so with fingers, toes & everything else crossed we might just make it ... Good luck with your concrete Kavehman. Our 8 week countdown begins NOW!!!! Re: Provincial Homes 334Aug 05, 2015 10:40 pm Hello all, Good to see people updating the forum frequently. Reading the contents, I am bit confused on occupancy certificate thing, is it required before you start 'living' in the house and on what conditions. As I am in hills district, not sure what it means to the council. Also, I have a retaining wall in the plan, does that mean to have the wall done before I can move in. As for driveway, I think council gives 3 months time period to build it, correct me if I am wrong here. Yes, we all are keeping our fingers crossed with so much to happen, not sure when will it end. I was looking at end of Sept, but from all the forum experiences, I may be extremely optimistic. May be October or dreaded Nov ..... I am just praying and getting chillax.... Re: Provincial Homes 335Aug 11, 2015 12:23 pm ProgD you can apply for an interim occupancy certificate which should allow you to move in. This of course costs a little bit of money. Our driveway was done over the weekend, and looked pretty good when it was poured. Council wouldn't allow us to use anything other than plain concrete for the council strip, so we decided to dothe whole driveway in plain concrete. We tried to make it a little more appealing with some dummy joints. Place mroe than necessary, and used a simple brushed finish. I think it looks quite nice. Will update the blog with photos of tiles and driveway soon. Our carpet color is out of stock till the end of the month, which has delayed us moving in. Once carpet is in we plan on moving in, and then finishing off the house once in. Need to try and get some fences up either this week or next week, am just waiting on one more quote back. Re: Provincial Homes 336Aug 12, 2015 10:29 pm kavehman your pictures are looking great - loads of action! Must be challenging being so close, yet not having moved in! We were out in your neck of the woods the other day looking at the only other Woollahra with our façade built so far which is right near you. I am keen to know what others views on independent inspections being done are?... Do you recommend them, and if so what are good points to get them done? Did you get a lot of value out of yours? I did my first calculation yesterday on how far into our contract period we are... Our documented start date was the 24th April, so we are currently in week 16! Just 4 weeks shy of the middle! Given bricking just started today how do we compare to where others were at 16 weeks? Re: Provincial Homes 337Aug 13, 2015 8:37 am With independent inspections I had one done at frame stage, and not sure how worthwhile it was. I don't think the guy I used was all that good to be honest. From there I did my own research and read the building rules. Provincial in the end corrected the errors I did find, but I still haven't been in the roof to see if there are any problems with insulation or sarking. It's the little thing's that start to irritate you after a while. I just wish trades just cared a little more. I'm not sure who much Provincial will fix up at the maintenance period but we shall see. Re: Provincial Homes 338Aug 13, 2015 10:47 am I agree fully with Kavhman, it is not that worth to spend money at the framing stage inspection. I got it done but practically knew the issues that this inspector raised. Having said that, I think it is good to get one last inspection done before the hand over as it will contain all the issues that might plague you after you move in. I am still trying to find a good person for the final review. So far no luck in that.... I hope to get the lock up happening by end of next week and with that will have the next big task come into focus, wet areas tiling. As we went for floor to ceiling tiles in all the bathrooms (from start) and did not go for very exotic tile types, di-lorenzo should start my job with out too much issues. Finger cross, the tiling is the biggest time consuming task and just praying to get it happen with out too much drama and issues. One more thing, Kavehman, did you applied to council for your driveway ?? NikNandy, it is good to see your progress, looking at it you are not that far from lockup stage... More to follow soon.. Re: Provincial Homes 339Aug 13, 2015 11:23 am ProgD i think each council is diifferent but we did need a $130 inspection to take place before the driveway was poured. Most concrete rs should be across this. My driveway guy went to meet the the council guy on site before the pour, but council had already inspected and approved the formwork. I was actually really impressed with the concrete er. He left the site very clean. One of the better trades I have used. Tiler left his garbage behind but that was something I didn't think to negotiate with him before he started the job. Re: Provincial Homes 340Aug 15, 2015 7:28 pm Hello everyone, Just an quick update, went to the site this morning and was amazed to find the carpenter working on a Saturday morning. Had a quick walk past the house and it is in the locked stage. We have the front and garage doors installed and secured. Could also see the electricity connections and power in the house. Also, have the stairs installed. Finally. Things are moving, I can see and given all these activities, my measure and quote day appointments should be ok at this stage. We have quite a few people turning up for measuring. It should be a good exercise in doing estimating before we get the keys. Will update more at the end of next week... My building TIMELINE =================>>>>>>>>>>>> Provincial Fixed Price contract signed - 30th Aug 2014 Settlement of Land Purchase - 25th Sept 2014 HIA Contract signed - 26th Sept 2014 DA in council - 15th Oct 2014 Internal color selections - 12th Nov 2014 DA approved from council - 14th Nov 2014 Electrical selections - 21st Nov 2014 Final Electrical and Internal variations document signing - 4th Dec 2014 Final contract after variations signing - 8th Dec 2014 Construction certificate issued - 5th Feb 2015 Commencement of work on site - 12th Feb 2015 Piering complete - 18th Feb 2015 Slab complete - 5th March 2015 Frame complete - 5th May 2015 Roof complete - 24th July 2015 Lock up complete - 15th August 2015 Final completion - TBA Key Handover - TBA The Dulux colour consultants are awesome. If you show them the photos they should be able to figure it out for you straight away 1 1986 I would never build with Fowler homes. I built with them in 2021 and till date maintenance issues are pending. All their existing trades and businesses don't work with… 14 109759 Hi there! Putting the feelers out there for those who have (or almost) built with Arli homes! Interested in your experiences who've built from their stock home designs… 0 26694 |