Building our dream home.. walls no longer bare!

Finally, we were able to get some clear photos that would show the visible cladding joins on the front of our house (photos taken yesterday at 7pm):

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close-up shots:
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I'm sure now you can all see the joins!

It was hard to substantiate our claim that the joins were visible... because whenever we meet our SS the joins disappear!

Also, when we went yesterday, we were shocked to see that the brushed temporary fencing were already removed!
We were not even informed!
Our concern is security of the house. There were some tiles inside our family area, which is very visible from the side boundary street! And, we complained (just today) about the area that was covered by the fencing... eating up too much precious space from our side boundary...

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You would notice that there's a drain outside of the fence. It should be inside the fence.. therefore, they should move that part that abuts the pergola post a bit farther (this will give us more space inside).
Now I regret buying a corner block...

SS rang today... our walk through is scheduled next Friday!!!!!!!
Woohoo!!!!!!!!

Need to get some advice from the Building Commission re: our electrical complaints that M might not fix...

So it's definite, our walk through is going to be this Friday at 10am!!!

Hopefully Kev is available on this day.

We have also contacted Stockland to request that the return fencing be around 800mm only in have the drain inside the perimeter of the house and give us bigger area inside.
That's what we saw from our neighbour too.

It's now time to take a list of things to check during the walk through...

Wow your so close - dont forget the camera!!

yes the joins are very visable now.

Very excited for you VJ. Print out the picture in colour in good quality so it is very clear!

A shame Kev couldn't make it at the same time I am really hoping he can make our final inspection too ... I wonder how hard your SS tried to change the time Surely they would prefer Kev not to be there??

We had the walk through at 10 AM today that lasted for 3 hours...

and yes, we finally saw our kitchen benchtop!!!!!

will post photos soon....

VJ looking forward to seeing the internal pics and completed house.

I really like the facade .. it looks great.

Yes please hurry VJ I'm dying to know what they said about the joins ... and see your benchtops....

ohhhh lucky you!! Not long now until you get to move.
Congratulations, hope it went well. I also hope there were no big issues that need to be rectified.

I concur with everyone...photos photos photos

Ok, time for photos now...

Oh wait, let me tell you first about what happened during the walk through ... before posting the photos (what a tease... right, joles?)

We found out that before our schedule of 10am, M's independent inspector had already checked the house at 9am. Therefore, when went in, we saw some black stickers all around the house.

We arrived before 10am and saw this:
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the plumber's van with the appliances inside.
We thought that it was for us... but he left after discussing some stuff with our SS. Don't know if he went back later today or if those appliances are for a different house (SS have 2 settlements to do today).

The fencer was also there to move the fence a bit outward (as per our request, so as to put the drain inside the fence).... but forgot to take photos!

So we started the walk through with our issues.
Our SS justified the reason why they moved the HT light switch outside of the HT room. He said that according to the building/res code, a light switch should be within a meter from the door. Since our HT has 2 sliding doors, they can't put the light switch within a meter from the door.
Yes, that makes sense, but they should have at least told us before revising the plans. But because we also didn't notice that they moved the switch outside of the HT room, we were not able to question it prior to construction. Had we known about such code, then we would have requested for another light switch inside the HT room . It's was lack of communication. When he saw that we were really upset and that we won't give up (as we were both arguing with him.. ), he suggested that we put our complain and request (to put in a switch inside the room) in writing and address it to the management, as he was only doing what was on the plans. I'm definitely going to prepare a letter for the management, as he was saying it would be hard to put in another light switch in the HT room. Therefore, they should be the one to put it in (and not us after handover).

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Our next issue was the 1750mm wall lights to both bathroom and ensuite. He looked at the plans and saw that we were right. So he will move the battens from the top of the mirror to the sides of the mirror at 1750mm height:

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 Like  ⋅  Add a comment  ⋅  Pin to Ideaboard  ⋅  Share (ooopppss... you can't see from the photo the two battens on top of the mirror)

Re: the 2 downlights that were not aligned, he said that as per plan, they were aligned between two walls. If they put the 1st downlight aligned to the 2nd downlight, it would be a bit dark nearer to the stairs area:

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Then the biggest issue was the cladding. We showed the photo that we posted here and told him that the joins were very visible in the afternoon, when we have the afternoon sun (imagine, my friends even thought that they were designs! that's how awful they look! ). So he said they are going to fill/sand/paint 'em. In other words.. fix 'em.

Other than those issues, most are minor such as paint touch ups and replacement of door handles (you can see some black/red stickers on it).

Wall behind stairs need to be painted:
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Master bedroom entrance (from inside):
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Window and doors leading to the balcony:
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From master bed going to ensuite:
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Ensuite:
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Master bed wall and behind is the WIR:
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WIR (nothing on the left side - cabinets to be done later):
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right side:
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Bedroom 2 sliding doors:
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Bedroom 3 sliding doors:
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No need to post bedroom 4 sliding doors... they all look the same anyway.

Bathroom:

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Mud room:
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Study then dining on the other side (separated by an open wall (to be covered by plantation shutters):
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and finally...

our kitchen!!!!!!!

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the joins:
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but wait...
when DH looked underneath the benchtop, he saw this:
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We were expecting that it would be covered... same as in display homes.
he said we could take photos of the ones in display homes, forward it to management and dispute it.

Overall, we're pretty happy with the walk through.
If they can fix the visible joins on the cladding, we would be very happy.

Our SS was pretty good... yes, he was honest (though at times he has some excuses.. but when he sees that it was on plan, he agrees) and I'm pleased with the quality of work... just fix the joins to the cladding!!!!!!!!

By the way, unfortunately, Kev is not available today.
He has a separate inspection on the 5th, Wednesday, but DH was of the opinion that we shoudn't do it anymore, as it won't have bearing anyway, unless the issues he find were major. Because we already signed the list of issues that we found today, even if he finds more minor ones, they won't fix it anymore (again, unless they are major). I wish he was there to the inspection with us... I would still like him to do the 2nd inspection, for our peace of mind (as suggested too by our SS), but he said they would only fix the major issues during the 3-month inspection. Yes, I was confident that we were able to see all major issues... but what if he finds more major issues that we were not able to raise because we are not aware that those are actually issues? For me, we still need to have our own independent inspector.


What do you reckon?