Browse Forums Building A New House Re: The building begins....**updated** 102Mar 14, 2009 8:35 pm 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Re: The building begins....**updated** 105Mar 16, 2009 10:32 am How exciting for you, nearly finished! I love your front door too, it looks excellent. Re: The building begins....**updated** 106Mar 16, 2009 3:59 pm DH got a phone call to say the PCI is tomorrow morning .... thanks for giving us a warning Although we knew it was going to come soon, (like next week) an email would have been nice. We have had to cancel this as we needed to get an independent inspector, who will do his thing hopefully, on Thursday, then the builders will go through with their guy on Friday?
DH is all trusting etc, but I want to make sure that anything that should be fixed will be pointed out to us by an independent person and we can ask about some issues too. There are a couple of things that I am unsure about, if it is "within their tolerance" or if it needs to be fixed. Just having a quick look around the other day, I noticed that the theatre light doesnt seem to be in the right place, according to our plan anyway. If its wrong it will need to be redone, otherwise when we put in the downlights they wont be set out evenly, and it may not be a problem to some but it will irritate me no end! So as we havent been out since last monday, I am guessing that the garage door, flyscreens and batts are now in. HANDOVER is getting close!! Re: The building begins....**updated** 107Mar 19, 2009 5:23 pm We were back at the house today, with our independant inspector. And he said our house was pretty good. On a scale of 'above average, average and below average'..he would put ours in the above average category! very pleased. He did pick up a couple of things, but most are minor in the scheme of things... like scratched window/shower frames, render not applied as plan etc.
We do have a leaky shower rose, 1 exhaust fan doesnt work, a door doesnt close properly, as well as some other minor stuff, but mostly he said its good. I am not so happy with the tiling job, but I dont think too much can be done about that. One thing I dont like is our bench join, its very rough, the only part that is smooth is the bit near the back, DH and I could/did a better job, and we are amateurs But what do you think... should we complain at the PCI? (pic following) Another thing is the theatre light is definately in the wrong spot... on the plan it was in line with the recess, the electrician has installed it in line with the door opening. The bench lights arent installed to our plan either, a bit too far on one side, but I may just get another one put on at the end and have 3 rather than 2. Problem bench http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y89/jericoholicau/RIMG0101.jpg Another question is our hot water isnt working. The gas is turned on, but the water isnt hot, we have a storage hot water system. Are we meant to do anything (push a button, turn a tap) for the water to heat or should it already be doing/done that? Never had gas storage water before, so we are clueless! On double doors is it normal to only have one handle on the inside? On the other door there is just a screw (painted red) to hold the outside handle on. I thought they should have a 'dummy handle'. It looks weird! Didnt get a pic of it though. Our flyscreens are in, but our garage door isnt! Think we are doing PCI with the builder next week, after they get the report from our guy, but will have to confirm that. Re: The building begins....**Independant inspector time** 108Mar 23, 2009 11:48 pm I'm in LOOOOVE with your front door!!!!! It's absolutely FABULOUS!!! Re: The building begins....**Independant inspector time** 109Mar 24, 2009 5:00 am How exciting MUAT!! Sounds like the sparky's been a bit lazy about the lights? Definitely get the HT one fixed as as you said it will any you a lot! And with the kitchen ones, tell them the two lights are placed too far over but you'll be happy with it if THEY install the extra one, not you do it later Yes that join looks a bit ******* to me too. I would be interested to know how the render wasn't applid to plan? ANd your tiling job, why aren't you happy with that? I don't know how they expect you to have final inspection with no garage door? Anyway that's all my input sorry to be so nosey good luck with it all. And even though I am so ra-ra get it fixed if it was my house and I wanted to get in I would be much more of a pushover "Your emotions are the slaves to your thoughts, and you are the slave to your emotions." — Elizabeth Gilbert Living in our new house. Currently scaping the land. Re: The building begins....**Independant inspector time** 110Mar 24, 2009 12:10 pm Thank you for your lovely comments Donuts I think I will have to say something about those lights...well get DH to anyway! I am a pushover, and instead of saying something I would probably just leave it, then complain forever to DH. Its in his best interest to mention it... Hes the assertive one. The render, on the plan says to rain-pipe (on the side of the house), but it stops about a brick length before the pipe. This is really minor, if you didnt look at the plans you wouldn't know the difference. We aren't going to worry about it, esp if it means holding up handover! Tiling job is just a bit of my OCD coming in to play The bases of the shower tiles dont line up with the wall tiles. If the tiler had of started with the full ones from the corner and ended with the cut wall tiles on the end (which is covered by the shower screen), they would have matched. Not such a problem in the kids bathroom as they dont care, but in our shower, I will notice it! Also the grout is messy in places, some tiles are raised with larger grout gaps than others... again nothing major, but I notice it. DH doesn't, unless I point it out, and doesn't care...he just wants to move in! Benchtop will be something that we will def. want to get fixed now, its already starting to annoy me and we havent moved in! I can see grime getting stuck there as it is misaligned by a few mms. Re: The building begins....**Independant inspector time** 111Mar 24, 2009 1:34 pm Ah ok. Yes definitely get DH to mention everything. Get him to mention as much as possible, even more than what annoys you, then you (he ) can appear to 'compromise' on some things... Re: The building begins....**Independant inspector time** 112Mar 24, 2009 2:08 pm donuts Ah ok. Yes definitely get DH to mention everything. Get him to mention as much as possible, even more than what annoys you, then you (he ) can appear to 'compromise' on some things... Good strategy! 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Re: The building begins....**Independant inspector time** 113Mar 24, 2009 10:26 pm I plan on complaining ( can't think of a better word!) about everything that is not right, even little things, at our final inspection. I think that when you are paying so much for your house you expect each job to be done properly. Maybe I am expecting too much Do you know when your PCI is? Sonya Re: The building begins....**Independant inspector time** 114Mar 25, 2009 12:22 am I'm almost the same way monkeyupatree. I might complain to hubby but it takes a bit to get me whining to the builders. HUbby tends to be picky about things that don't even faze me. BUt oh boy if they get us both going.. watch out! DH doesn't want to have to chase anyone about anything though which makes life difficult coz i can't take/make calls during the builders work hours and i can't get any phone signal on my way to and from work. . . So unless he sees the S.S. I have to do the phoning and leave a message or email them after hours. A shame really as he is much tougher than me and won't let go of a concern until it's addressed where as I usually cave in. Re: 115Jun 16, 2009 3:39 pm I'm just curious... what are they doing with the downspouts in front of the door? Re: Re: 116Jun 17, 2009 2:32 am D&SG I'm just curious... what are they doing with the downspouts in front of the door? We had to get soakwells installed after handover. All the downpipes now go into drains which run to one of 4 soakwells, lots of hard work digging to get everything laid in, DH was happy that he wasn't doing it! Anyway a pic of how it is now... http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y89/jericoholicau/Photo0128.jpg While I am here I should update this thread. Painting is done, in 'white pepper', all except the laundry/toilet, theatre feature wall, linen and pantry...but we were so over painting by day 6 that we decided they could wait, at least until we forget about the aches and pains that those 6 days brought us! Our feature wall in the theatre will eventually be painted 'ash brown'. Soakwells were installed after some talk and non-approval from council. Long story short, they ticked off on the plan to have one large soakwell in the front.... smack bang in the middle of the electricity line! Was not meant to have any too close to our house or neighbours house, so wouldn't let us have 4 small ones in each corner. Dont know why they allow blocks so small then they told us that we had to get rain tanks. Pointless really and expensive. The soakwell guy said that the council didnt know what they were talking about and put in 4 corner ones anyway. Oh yeah they also dont take calls on Friday, at least if you want to talk to anyone except the secretary...which was the day we rang! Heating was installed so we can keep toasty warm now that the weather is getting chilly. Still have the evap to install, which had been ordered way back in Sept, but the company is fine with waiting until we can afford to install it, hopefully before summer. *fingers crossed* Flooring is all finished. We had Karndean vinyl strips 'pitch pine' laid everywhere except the theatre, bedrooms and wet areas. The bedrooms and theatre have a chocolate brown carpet...cant remember the colour name though. Still havent done our laundry/toilet, so still concrete in there. And our fence (which came with the land) was finally installed. After a month and a half of having a nice open space to view each day, I feel a little boxed in now. This was my view from the kitchen http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y89/jericoholicau/RIMG0235.jpg and back yard each day http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y89/jericoholicau/Photo0098.jpg normally with cows and birds... but now I look out and see this... http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y89/jericoholicau/Photo0127.jpg and http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y89/jericoholicau/Photo0126.jpg It makes me a little sad. We still have so much to do and buy to get the house to what we (I) wanted. A list of all that is unfinished/ needs to be done: *washing line, *curtains/blinds, *shelving, *wardrobe fitted out, *2 studies fitted out (ideally with stud wall and door to enclose them) *backyard grassed/prettied up *garden shed installed *alfresco concreted and maybe tiled/decked? *laundry/toilet painted *laundry fitted out *kitchen splashback/overhead cabinets/rangehood *light coverings/pendants/downlights (we are going the bare bulb look aat teh moment) *furniture/decorations for rooms *driveway liquid limestoned/front porch area *networking cables installed (DH is going to do this when he gets a round to it) *bathroom/ensuite exhaust fans *mailbox *make room in garage for 2 cars I guess it will s..l..o..w.l..y get done. We haven't heard back from the landscapers yet, either another thing that needs to be done. Front landscaping was included in the land so thats a bonus for us. BUT we have moved in, the kids have settled well and enjoying being here and at their new school (except DS1, but hes never happy ) so alls good. DS2 did comment the other week that it feels like he has always lived here, thats got to be a good thing. We still have boxes everywhere, until we can get some shelves/bookcases, the wardrobe fitted and the studies done we will have to put up with it. But I dont like it Just in case you want to view some pics I will include some for your viewing pleasure.... main bedroom: after paint, and before flooring.. http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y89/jericoholicau/RIMG0164.jpg after http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y89/jericoholicau/Photo0130.jpg Kitchen: before http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y89/jericoholicau/RIMG0155.jpg after: http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y89/jericoholicau/Photo0124.jpg family: http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y89/jericoholicau/Photo0125.jpg and a close up of our vinyl flooring: http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y89/jericoholicau/RIMG0197.jpg Re: The building begins....**updated** 117Jun 17, 2009 12:04 pm Its all looking really good! I really like your vinyl flooring. Good color choices.. very very nice!! It's good to see everyone settled in.. and you will slowly finish everything off.. but I think you'll always have more things you want to do, the joys of owning your own house. Building with PD - Regent 23 Cascades on Clyde Estate HomeOne Building Thread - PCI Completed - 28th August. Handover - 11th September. Re: The building begins....**updated** 118Jul 08, 2009 10:27 pm Hey monkeyupatree, our front doors are simply stunning Well Done! Glad to see all have settled in. Must be wonderful enjoying your new home Re: The building begins....**updated** 119Aug 02, 2009 3:34 pm Hey monkey looking great. Those roof tiles still look more black that brown to me. I love how yours look. I chose the Graphite in the marseilles style. With Leonora (red, black highlights) 1-course face brick. go upvc window frames ensure insulation under colorbond. not just sarking, lighter color roof also not sure if you have seen this viewtopic.php?t=5823 last couple of pages… 4 110592 Even if it's not being sub-divided and you want to keep it as Torrens title, you will still need to talk to a town planner or Council themselves, to see if they will allow… 1 11039 |