Browse Forums Building A New House Re: House of horrors - Kek's Bridgeport 35 - ALL MOVED IN! 9Nov 19, 2008 8:45 am Hey kek, just read through your blog. Regarding the 10-15mm gap you mentioned under the timber windows when the caulking guy came round, I'm under the impression that there's meant to be a gap (of sorts) under timber windows to allow them to settle as the timber shrinks.
I'm not positive, but it might be worth investigating. Good luck with the remainder of your build! <b>ETA: </b>If you're now 18 weeks behind your original build timetable, are you receiving liquidated damages from PD? --Mike Everything I know, I learned from SBS. LATEST: Frame Complete http://metricon-mercer.livejournal.com Re: House of horrors - Kek's Bridgeport 35 - ALL MOVED IN! 10Nov 19, 2008 5:44 pm Thanks for the welcome everyone.
Cynarion, I'm sure you're right about a small gap, but this is a BIG gap, with cut/broken edges of bricks clearly visible. The solution offered: some nice hardwood quad strips have been nailed in place and the painter is staining them to match our windows. We're happy with that - it looks pretty good and won't be at all noticeable. They do seem to be pushing to get a lot done this week, but our PCI is tomorrow arvo and we expect there to be a lot of things still to be rectified. Bam, I still love the house. I looked at so many display homes, and found quite a few I liked, but the second I walked in the front door of the Bridgeport, it just felt right. When I discovered it had exactly the right number of bedrooms, study, rumpus and the nicest al fresco area ever (OK, apart from the Brookvale....), I knew it was the one. My husband barely got a say in it. If he'd hated it, we really might be divorced. And yes, PD will be coughing up rent compo - unfortunately it's too little, too late. Not getting the cash till after handover sucks, and seriously - WHERE in Melbourne can you rent a home for $250 a week? We've been bleeding cash for months. I suppose I can't really complain about the amount set in the contract - after all, we accepted the terms. But the 20 week guarantee was a big factor in choosing our builder, and we honestly never believed that construction would run longer than that. Are we suckers, or what? Moving on..... I'm making an effort to look for the positves now; I know there are some. Re: House of horrors - Kek's Bridgeport 35 - ALL MOVED IN! 11Nov 19, 2008 7:28 pm Just posted some more pics and colour scheme info for anyone who cares over on my blog.
http://keksmovingonup.blogspot.com/ Re: House of horrors - Kek's Bridgeport 35 - ALL MOVED IN! 12Nov 19, 2008 7:31 pm Hi, kek...im sorry to hear about what has happened to your new house...hey guess what? we're also building the bridgeport but the smaller one 30sqrs and i think you said you're building in stockland..same here...in mernda im not sure where you're building..you dont have to answer if you dont wanna. Fortunately so far there has been no major problems like your house....and our house is nearing handover in 2 weeks but its hard to believe why all this happened to your house. Well it doesn't mean our house is 100% ok! our timber bi-fold doors for the alfresco is badly damaged that you cannot close it properlyl...not sure what my mother is going do about that....and there's so many damages(dents and other craps) on the wall but i guess that'll be fixed...and the most annoying thing is they keep calling us to ask 'oh we don't have this item at the moment would you like to choose one very similar instead?' and many more issues that my mum knows better. But I still love the house! and PD needs to be careful...they have a good reputation I hope they won't ruine it!
I will follow your blog...and I saw one of ur picture..it looked just like ours...well this is ours below and for a sec I thought yours was our house : Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ And I started my blog this week only and the house is almost done... http://bridgeport30-merndavillages.blogspot.com/ Re: House of horrors - Kek's Bridgeport 35 - ALL MOVED IN! 13Nov 19, 2008 7:37 pm Just had a look at your blog.
Love the laundry spout Kek. I'm also having mine mounted on the wall like that. No build up of gunge! And great to see real individuality in colours!!!! Jo I leave you to fend for yourself, figure things out yourself. Terrence Malick Re: House of horrors - Kek's Bridgeport 35 - ALL MOVED IN! 14Nov 19, 2008 7:48 pm Jo, I'm definitely individual when it comes to colours! I had a lot of help though - I have a friend who's a colour consultant/interior design guru, and she steered me a loooong way from the bland side.
Sacha, our houses are very similar - the bifold doors are one of our favourite features. They ought to be, at the amount they cost! I'm building not far from you.... going to check out your blog in a tick. Re: House of horrors - Kek's Bridgeport 35 - ALL MOVED IN! 15Nov 20, 2008 6:31 am PCI this afternoon..... I'm crossing my fingers.
I called by on my way home yesterday, to find 3 doors unlocked and the garage door wide open, with our water tank sitting there in full view. Great security. The electrician had been back to fix a couple of things he got wrong. The main one was the dining room lights - 2 downlights, with a batten in the centre for a future feature pendant, to be centred over the table. He'd placed them so far to one side, there'd be no room to walk around the dining table, let alone sit on that side. So they had been moved to the correct position, but had somehow been transformed into 3 downlights. Where did my batten go? A late call to the construction manager and a voicemail message, and let's hope that's fixed today. Looks like that ceiling is getting painted AGAIN - it was just done yesterday for the 5th time.... Not much work likely to get done today, I'll be busy making lists in preparation for our inspection. Re: House of horrors - Kek's Bridgeport 35 - ALL MOVED IN! 18Nov 20, 2008 9:59 am kek Looks like that ceiling is getting painted AGAIN - it was just done yesterday for the 5th time.... Good luck with the inspection! --Mike Everything I know, I learned from SBS. LATEST: Frame Complete http://metricon-mercer.livejournal.com Re: House of horrors - Kek's Bridgeport 35 - ALL MOVED IN! 20Nov 20, 2008 4:29 pm Our PCI went well. There are still a lot of outstanding items, but most are minor - small paint/plaster damage, a couple of crooked door handles, door seals damaged on our bifolds, stuff like that. And of the not-so-minor stuff, there's nothing new - it's all been previously raised and undertakings have been given to fix everything. Materials have been ordered and trades booked, so we're hopeful of completing handover next Friday.
Our major issues are: 1. A thorough roof service needs to be carried out. There are cracked tiles, tiles not seated right and some mis-matched cement. Oh, and two missing tiles at the front, where tiles meet steel deck behind a parapet wall. The gaps were "temporarily" covered by lead flashing around 7 or 8 months ago..... 2. Site clean. We were promised that large amounts of broken brick, small rocks and other rubble would be removed from the narrow side of the house. We were also promised that spilled concrete would be removed (not keen to start landscaping if we have to dig out big chunks of concrete that shouldn't be there). The guy came this morning, took away some rubbish and spread soil around the house - OVER the concrete and rubble. I don't think so.... 3. Some of the mortar is a bit crumbly (we think the brick cleaner got a bit over-enthusiastic) and in places our flush mortar isn't at all flush. Tradies are booked to tidy this up. 4. A couple of sections of fascia need replacing - long story, but this is the 4th or 5th go they've had at this. The supervisor from the company that supplies the fascia turned up while we were there and they've agreed to fix it. Again. I think that's it, apart from the other 40 or 50 minor bits and pieces. The house is covered in red dots now... The fence should be going up over the next week (developer does that), I have power and gas organised, floorboard and carpet layers are booked in, the concreter should be coming to give us a quote on our driveway tomorrow, and I just need to do something FAST about our blinds now. That's tomorrow's job. We've asked PD to hold off on installing our appliances till the floorboards are in - that'll save moving the free-standing stove and dishwasher around. I'm beginning to believe we might actually be moved in before Christmas. ETA is the 12th of December. All I want now is the keys and a big fat cheque for the rent compo. Joe, it depends on your certifier but we are noticing the ones we deal with are really cracking down. So i would recommend you follow your approved landscaping plans to… 4 11001 Hi Simeon, Thank you for laying it down for us. Makes sense. Appreciate it very much. Have a nice day. Cheers 2 9050 A question. Im in Queensland and building a new home. We managed to reach practical completion 6 weeks ago but we haven't heard any date for handover yet. Who should we… 0 5846 |