New home build - Custom Design WA

The cleaners went through this week and the supervisors started doing their checks. It seems that there will be quite a bit of work fixing things up. There will pretty probably be a lot of patching and repainting.

It was great to see the benchtops and matte surfaces with their plastic removed. The pantry was quite badly scratched and will need replacing though.

Our floor tiles had to make the long journey from QLD to WA as they were out of stock locally and the Chinese factory was closed. It was disappointing to find that the colour batch was much darker than the sample tiles we had, which makes them unusable. I since learned that Chinese tiles can vary dramatically between batches. That's a few $K wasted and a lesson learned to never buy tiles online! You can see the tile delivered compared to the small sample tile in the photo.

Nice! Is this the “builders clean”?

Shame about the tiles, can’t believe the difference in colour!

It's just a preliminary clean at this stage, they will go over it again before handover.

Really like how much natural light you have coming into the kitchen. The matt handle less draws looks great too.

Overall very impressive looking house

thanks!

Hi
Just check silicon, grouting, paint for any area not properly done !!!
As I am move and found heaps of area regards above, and we marked and these trademen order to come back to touch up.

The garage doors went in this week, and the silicone around the tiles and benchtops. Still lots of fixups happening. The floor mounted bath taps in particular are giving the plumber some grief.

It's week 62 of our build and still no end in sight. Our black walls have temporarily become white again as the plasterers went back to skim the walls.

The appliances have been partially installed but the oven cabinetry now needs to be adjusted to suit as it didn't fit right. There are so many small things that are frustrating to wait for, but at least the builder is making an effort to get things right.

Interesting mate! You consider the construction work being too long ?

I worked with Gilpip Homes builders they finished in time https://gilpiphomes.com.au/completed-homes/

Hi Mark,

On average, how long does it take for Gilpip Homes to build 2 storey homes (~400sqm) from slab down?

Thanks

They say it's contingent on many variables, 10 to 12 months on average. You can send a message yourself or talk to them in their online chat

More fixups this week. Our feature walls are black again, and the porch posts out the front were finally painted. Bathroom accessories and a few door handles were installed.

Our PCI has been booked for next week so hopefully things won't drag on for too much longer.

We had our PCI this week. There were a few small issues, but the biggest problem was with the paint. Despite being replastered and repainted the paint job is still not up to standard. The paint is excessively stippled and there are roller marks visible everywhere. The builder had the paint rep come out on Friday and we are waiting on the outcome of their assessment.

We were informed that all our matte black cupboards are being replaced by Polytec due to problems with the boards. This will take at least 2 weeks.

To top it all off we had our gas water heaters stolen, so we will be installing our security cameras asap, before handover.

Our door handles finished have finished being installed, so at least the exterior is complete.

amilelka, oh no, will these issues push back handover significantly?

Facade has beautiful lines, it’s looking incredibly sleek and modern !

Technically they have 10 days after PCI to rectify any outstanding issues, but they might be out by a few days. We prefer to wait and get things right rather than rushing to move in - as long as the builder doesn't expect their final installment until it's all done.

Hi, Can you recommend name of Sales Consultant that you used for Danmar Homes? Thanks

We had our PCI over 2 weeks ago now, and nothing much has changed. The black walls in the void were replastered again, and repainted badly again. The bath taps still haven't been fixed, nor has our kitchen cabinetry.

The builder suggested a walk through for our final signature yesterday- with outstanding issues to be done post handover, which we declined. They have been trying to get the paint right for 6 weeks, and the taps for over 6 months. I can't see them ever getting it done if we hand over the final cheque.

The plumbing tap installation is a work of art in itself - can you tell from the photo why the tap is wobbly?

Danmar have allowed us to get our floor tiling and lighting done - but that's about the only work getting done in the house at all. We have had to delay our timber flooring twice now, and now received a late email Friday telling me to postpone them again (they were due to start Monday).

We had our feature light installed in the void, and tiling completed in the kitchen/dining, so at least something's being done.

We had our second PCI this week, and had the same issues with the bath taps and paintwork. We're hoping to have it all sorted by the end of next week.

Our timber flooring was allowed to go ahead, and it looks great so far - very dark just as we intended. We're lucky we have a lot of natural light otherwise the colours could have been overwhelming. The finishing on the installation had been very neat, and the thresholds between tiled and timber areas are seamless. Overall the house has a very masculine vibe, which is a fresh change from the Hamptons style home we are in at the moment.

Handover happened today. There are still a few things that arent up to standard, but with school and post Covid normality returning we reluctantly decided to have them fixed post handover.

The walk in robe fitout is almost finished - we went with basic white to match the ensuite cupboards. The amount of dust in to house is overwhelming, we're going to spend a lot of time cleaning this next week!

Its been 4 weeks since handover, and we are still dealing with outstanding issues with Danmar. Today they sent plasterers to fix bad plastering in the stairwell. This involved them scraping off all the white set and completely replastering. Photo shows the "after and before".

We have quite a few unresolved plumbing issues, including a leaking connection to the mains, sewer odours from floor wastes and drainage issues. I've lost confidence in their plumbers and am thinking we may need to get our own.