Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Building the Duxton with Metricon in Melbourne 21Nov 16, 2013 10:25 am Hey Back Pocket, PD's great from what I've heard. My sis-in-law built with them and they are real happy with the end result. Quick too, like you said. Their home was all done in less than 6 months As for us, we're 2 months into the start of site-cut, and we just received our invoice for the framing stage. We engaged an independent building inspector to come have a look and he says overall, it's looking good! So thanks M, for doing a good job. Having said that, there are a few things that needs to be rectified (like you said Back Pocket, we are all human and make mistakes) and I have sent the report to my site supervisor and my construction administrator in the office. Not sure as yet if they agree with the findings from the inspector and if M will fix these. The items are real quick and easy fixes but impacts the solidness and sturdiness of the house to withstand turbulent weather. So hopefully, M will take it on board. Fingers cross! I found my independent building inspector real good - professional, helpful and friendly. Gives me a real peace of mind to know that everything is going well cuz I can hardly decipher anything on the Engineering report! So, if anyone is looking for an inspector, please feel free to PM for details. He was the inspector for my sis-in-law's place and she recommended him to us! Thanks everyone for reading this. More to come... Re: Building the Duxton with Metricon in Melbourne 22Nov 16, 2013 7:00 pm zebulun11 Hey Back Pocket, PD's great from what I've heard. My sis-in-law built with them and they are real happy with the end result. Quick too, like you said. Their home was all done in less than 6 months As for us, we're 2 months into the start of site-cut, and we just received our invoice for the framing stage. We engaged an independent building inspector to come have a look and he says overall, it's looking good! So thanks M, for doing a good job. Having said that, there are a few things that needs to be rectified (like you said Back Pocket, we are all human and make mistakes) and I have sent the report to my site supervisor and my construction administrator in the office. Not sure as yet if they agree with the findings from the inspector and if M will fix these. The items are real quick and easy fixes but impacts the solidness and sturdiness of the house to withstand turbulent weather. So hopefully, M will take it on board. Fingers cross! I found my independent building inspector real good - professional, helpful and friendly. Gives me a real peace of mind to know that everything is going well cuz I can hardly decipher anything on the Engineering report! So, if anyone is looking for an inspector, please feel free to PM for details. He was the inspector for my sis-in-law's place and she recommended him to us! Thanks everyone for reading this. More to come... Great to hear things are back on track! We have just past lock up, plaster is all in and scaffolding is down. Won't be long before your house is the same! We also used an independent inspector, Our SS is great, we just forwarded the reports at each stage and he gets them all fixed. Fingers crossed M get them all fixed for you too. Any photos ? Re: Building the Duxton with Metricon in Melbourne 23Nov 23, 2013 1:11 pm Hi Back Pocket, can I please ask how you ensured that your SS rectified all the issues identified in your report? I am facing some issues with this. As mentioned, I engaged an independent inspector and he came up with a list of things to be rectified. Everything on the list, my inspector said he could follow up and make sure that it was done when he came back for the pre-plaster inspection, all except one. I don’t understand it all very well my self, so, if someone out there knows about these things, please, PLEASE feel free to comment. I was told and shown at site by the inspector that the 460 to 900mm wide H type braces have undersized washers fitted to the coach screws to their corners instead of the 30 x 38mm washers. This requirement is specified in the Engineering report. The inspector asked that I follow-up with this item my self as by the pre-plaster stage, it would all be covered up with the brick work. Now, to the experts out there, my question is - is this requirement critical? My inspector says it’s important but my SS thinks it a minor thing. My next issue is non-technical. The day after the frame inspection, I wrote an email to my SS and my building Support Co-ordinator, thanking them for doing a good job cuz like I said before, the overall frame quality is good. I also mentioned to them about this washer issue, requesting that they let me know when it is rectified so that I can have a look. At the end of that week, I received the formal frame report and forwarded it to my SS and to the Co-ordinator. This time, I asked if M would please let me know if they agreed with the items listed in the report and if they would rectify them. The following week on a Monday, I hear back from my co-ordinator to say that my SS will look at these items and get back to me. Note that I have not received any response from my SS thus far, and everything is coming through the Building Support Co-ordinator. She is great by the way (bless her!) – always responds by the end of each day, if not immediately. On Tuesday, I sent a formal letter, informing M of my intention to conduct a pre-plaster inspection because as I understand it, the timing of this is critical. If we go in too late, everything would have been plastered up and my inspector would not be able to check on those things that he had identified at the frame stage. Once again, in my letter, I emphasise about the washer issue, that when rectified, please let me know so that I can go have a look. My Co-ordinator responds to say that my letter was received and that from what she understands, ALL items on the list will be rectified. But lo behold, I drive past on Wednesday, and brick work has started and some of the 460 to 900mm wide H type braces are now covered up. Those that were not covered up (i.e. the upstairs braces), I could see that the washers had not been rectified. I wrote an email straightaway to my SS but received no response. On Friday (yesterday) I went to the M office to make payment for the frame stage, and just so happened, my SS was there. When we spoke, he just brushed the washer issue aside and said it was not important. I asked about the brickwork covering the washers and he said it is all ok and that we were getting a good quality home and not to worry about it. He didn’t clarify whether or not it had been changed or whether it was going to be changed. I am not a very confrontational person and I really don’t know what to think. Should I have insisted at the meeting yesterday that the washer issue be rectified? This is where I need help from the experts out there. Is this a critical thing or a nice-to-have thing? Mind you, it is in the Engineering Report. And now that the brick work is already up, what can we do? More importantly, I am disappointed that after so many emails and reminders, it seems like my request was ignored. I feel like I keep having to chase up and follow up on things. It's such a waste of time and so stressful. Back Pocket, I find it real difficult to maintain a good balance. Should I go higher up to make my situation known? But if I push too hard, my SS might get upset and put our home as his last priority going forward and that would be a bad outcome for us. But if I don’t, we have issues that are not resolved. Any suggestions? Sorry, no photos cuz I don't know how to load them! What do I do to load photos? Re: Building the Duxton with Metricon in Melbourne 24Nov 23, 2013 4:35 pm Hi zebulun11, I haven't had that issue with PD. I emailed the report to the SS and he let me know what would be done to fix the items listed. Albeit we have had minor issues. Some he told us would not be fixed until that trade came back to site, but we have had no problems getting everything fixed. Sometimes the SS will book the trade or tell the trade to fix it and therefore they think it has been done. I can understand your frustration perhaps Team Metricon is not monitoring your thread? Perhaps PM them and ask what you can do to take it further. Talk to your building inspector and ask him if it is a major issue. If he says yes, then you need to decide if you are prepared to push it or not. You need to pick your battles, you can withhold payment for the stage if it is not yet complete. Hope this helpd Re: Building the Duxton with Metricon in Melbourne 25Jan 06, 2014 8:45 pm Hi Back Pocket, Happy New Year and thanks for your advice! Lots has happen since my last update. I had to go all the way because at the pre-plaster inspection, almost 3/4 of the issues identified at the frame stage were not rectified. I confirmed with my SS prior to the inspection that all things had been done and was given an affirmative response but when I got there with my inspector, lots were not done! You can imagine how upset I was!!! It seems my SS thought that he had rectified everything that he needed to rectify from the issues list. Those that he did not agree with, he simply (for a lack of a better word) ignored them! So, I had to pay my inspector to come back again for a meeting with the SS, and even with the SS's manager to go through every single item identified from the frame stage and the pre-plaster stage. I have to say again how glad I am to have the inspector because he really knows his stuff. The three guys went through the house with the inspector quoting from Building Codes, the Tilling's manual (don't ask me what this is - I just heard it!), standard building practices etc etc. In the end, we were able to come to an agreement and many of the items were rectified by M. Too late to fix the washers but at least a majority of the items were addressed. My SS even took photos of all the things that he had fixed up and sent them over so the inspector could check them. What still amazes me is that there is such a big difference in what is considered standard building practices. There were things that my inspector raised, which he explained to me, and when I heard it, sounded reasonable, but when it was brought back to the Engineers, they said that it was not required! At this stage, I am still waiting to get the paperwork from the Engineers for those one or two items that are "not required" just so I can rest easy. Well, that's about it. We paid our Lock-up amount right before New Year and now it's all quiet until the 2nd or 3rd week of January. Still a few outstanding issues from the framing and pre-plaster inspections but at least, we are almost there. Phew! What about you Back Pocket? Is your house finished and have you all moved in??? Re: Building the Duxton with Metricon in Melbourne 26Jan 06, 2014 9:21 pm Hi Thanks for the update. I was wondering how you went. Seems like a lot of hard work to get to the stage that you are happy. Building inspectors are great to have on your side. It is difficult some times to understand what is acceptable and what isn't. Great to hear that it is all progressing though. When is your contract date? Our house is at fixing stage they are getting ready for painting. We have had a few small issues but nothing that could not be fixed by talking to our ss. We are still waiting for our kitchen window to be fixed but we know that it won't happen until all the trades are back after the 13th. Our contract date is April 2 and our old house settles April 4. So I hope it is on time or early !! Good luck with the next phase of your build Re: Building the Duxton with Metricon in Melbourne 27Feb 23, 2014 3:48 pm Hi Back Pocket, not long to go! Yes makes a BIG difference if you have a good SS. What happened with your kitchen window??? Guess what? Our SS resigned! After the Christmas break and a 2-week holiday after that, he comes back and resigns! Now it all makes sense - the not returning calls, not answering emails, not calling for weekly updates. He's also gone ahead and told me some fixes were not required because the engineers have said so and that he's got paperwork to back that up, but he hasn't handover anything of the sort to the new SS. Another tangled-up issue to work through. On a brighter note, our new SS has been really good so far. He responds to my phone calls and emails within a day or two. And he's been very helpful trying to sort out the issues that were left behind. Hopefully, all will go smoothly from this point forward. Will keep everyone up to date! Thanks for reading and all the encouraging words Re: Building the Duxton with Metricon in Melbourne 28Jan 12, 2015 6:02 pm @zebulun11: I would recommend you to send email to big M and tell them to either fix these major issues or provide engineering documentation which is verified by your independent inspector. 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