Bubbling along

Everything is happening as per schedule which is nice. I was amazed to see the tilers on site ALL weekend, yes even Sunday. He assured me he was making no noise - just grouting.
Today, we have the floor sanders making a huge mess upstairs. Dust is flying out the windows.
The painters are due to start tomorrow and should be working on the house for the next 2 weeks or so.

Site visit = photo fest

Alfresco tiles

Rangehood, cupboards with THE handles, stonetops

Undermount sink & stonetop

Sink 'run'

Whopping watertank

Powder room vanity

Front door from inside

Main bathroom vanity - part of 3 way bathroom

Ensuite vanity

Ensuite - floor to ceiling tiling

Stackstone is nearly finished

It was rather difficult to talk, measure and take photos at the same time so there aren't too many for you but you get the idea.
Kitchen handles - I think we will leave them for the moment and readdress later down the track if we wish to.
Everything else is looking great. There is a slab issue in the kitchen/family area that is being addressed before tiles are laid (apparently an easy fix)
I am particularly loving the laundry but I was too busy ooh-ing and aah-ing to take a photo. The LONG bench on one side and the double cupboard on the other are amazing!

A teaser....

Tomorrow's post will contain loads of photos. I am meeting Troy on site tomorrow to check out the progress and the kitchen handles. I am hoping that I will have time to wander around and shoot away. Maybe I can give AJ (re-do my space) those honours whilst I talk to Troy.
The stackstone on the front portico has been started and whilst it looks good, it is darker or 'dirtier' than I thought it would be. Photo to come tomorrow.
I also sent a message to the Wardrobe World installer today as directed by their head office. I am keen to find out the cost to add some more drawers to the wardrobes - 2 is not enough and it seems our wardrobes are too shallow to accommodate any stand alone shelving.

Kitchen handle update

 The news has come back from EBH that nothing can be done at this time with the handles.

"Unfortunately I don’t have good news for you. All cabinets, doors and drawers have been installed with the square handles (0115154). As you have found, this is as per the colour selection. The handle that you wish to change to (9112637), will not suit the holes that have been drilled. To change the handle, new doors would need to be made. You may consider changing this after settlement."

Whilst I understand that it was partially my mistake and we signed off on it, there is a part of me that is a little disappointed at the mistake that was made in the first place by the HOG consultant who confesses that she is 'not very good with numbers & letters' or in the words of another blogger 'a self-diagnosed dyslexic'.

One of my fellow Home One members who has both types of handles in his kitchen feels that we can definately do something in the future to rectify the situation even if it means contacting the kitchen supplier to assist. He also had errors in his HOG colour selection sheet.

WARNING to those about to embark on the journey - take photos of everything you select WITH codes visible to assist with crosschecking later down the track. Part of our problem was that we selected our products in July 2012 and didn't receive the final paperwork until January 2013.

Kitchen handle potential disaster

 

 

Photo courtesy of fellow EBH bloggers Anne & Alok

It has come to my attention over the weekend that we are going to have an issue with our kitchen cupboard handles. I went back to our paperwork and discovered that I had overcorrected a mistake made by Home Options Gallery in the final paperwork. When we received our colour selection sheet, we realised that the incorrect bathroom vanity handles were recorded and alerted our consultant. She changed this manually on our sheet and assured us that it would make it's way onto our final documents. Of course when our final documents came through, they were still incorrect. I changed them to what we had selected (the square ones pictured second from the bottom) but also accidentally overcorrected and changed the kitchen ones to these as well. I am sure they are going to look 'wrong' in the kitchen. At this stage, I am not sure whether they have been added to the cabinets or not. I have Eden Brae looking into the situation for me and i have requested a site visit to check it all out. If they have already been attached, we may have problems with screw holes :-( If only an error had not been made in the first place......

Next screenshot for viewing pleasure

A few exterior photos

I need to keep the interest level up. Without inside access, I can only provide outside photos at the moment. It seems that there is no work happening onsite at the moment unless it all happens before 8:30amish (my first driveby)
Waterproofing was supposed to occur yesterday with certification today. Only action on site was watching Troy carry some things to his ute LOL. The kitchen cabinets are scheduled to arrive today but that has obviously been delayed.
Photos for you.....

Garage door is down for viewing

Front on view

Part of the new decorative corbel installed - more to come above stackstone

Another angle - unfortunately the portaloo has been moved to be in the way

Front door is in

And a beautiful aqua colour they are...for now. It will be painted a deep grey colour soon.

A quick spontaneous inspection....

....but sorry, no photos! I made a visit to the house this afternoon to see if I could take photos from outside. The carpenters were still there and so was Troy. After a chat, Troy offered a quick run through the house before he had to leave to go elsewhere. Happy to!
It was great to see the gyprock on, cornices, some doors on, stairs installed etc. Gives a better idea of the size of rooms. Other things noted include
* The garage door is on but hidden out of view
* The laundry cupboards are amazing - LOVE!
* The lowered ceiling in the powder/mud area doesn't look too bad really
* I really don't like the airconditioning box in Bed 3 :-(
* The decorative corbel has been taken off and half of it replaced.
* The wardrobes for the children do not seem very deep at all (450mm)
* The manhole has had to be moved to Brad's WIR due to a roof truss being in the way.
* Bricks can be left for us to use for landscaping
* The noisebatts and soundcheck gyprock has been installed between BED 1 and BED 2.
Troy confirmed that all is still on track for work to progress as per the latest screenshot.

Resolution!

I know you have all had sleepless nights like myself over the issue so I thought I would put you out of your misery. EBH have provided a favourable outcome for me. It will be replaced within a few weeks. The contractor has installed the incorrect mould and the 'squarer' one will be now put on the house facade.
I still think that an issue has been raised that this particular selection was not discussed with us (and others hanging in HomeOne forums) at our Home Options Gallery appointment. We were asked to select paint colour for the corbel/mould only. If we ARE allowed to select a profile, it needs to be included at this appointment.
Our internal staircase is being installed today. I stood on the footpath watching them for a while which provided the contractors with some entertainment. It will take a while to be completely finished (staining and glass balustrading) but looks good so far!

Decorative corbel

Today saw decorative corbel being installed as well as delivery of many products for installation. I now know what corbel is after some serious googling! Now this corbel is different to the one pictured on the Boston facade on the Eden Brae website with me again assuming that when I select the facade as per the photo that indeed is what I will be getting. Not once have I been asked to select my corbel profile nor does there seem to be a record of it in my paperwork.
For our house, I don't like this profile. I would prefer a much flatter one. An email has been forwarded to Eden Brae to ascertain what can be done.

You may be able to see the broken window up the top. It looks like it is from a rock or an airgun. Possibly a present from the vacating tenants a few doors down??

Screenshot for next week....

Complete Care Cleaning Service

I have discovered a gem of a company! CCCS was a contact given to me by one of our local real estate agents. Tony's company covers many aspects of cleaning - high pressure cleaning, housewashing, window cleaning, domestic and commercial cleaning and wait for it, post build cleaning!! Tony worked hard today cleaning our driveway and the surrounds of our pool area. The difference is remarkable for the money paid out.

Tony Johnson - Complete Care Cleaning Service   0429 407503

An exciting screenshot

I love this one! It shows us what is going to occur in the next 2 weeks if everything goes according to EBH plans. Doors, stairs, waterproofing and even the start of the kitchen installation.

For those interested to know (Niall), I heard back from Troy about the frame inspection report from H&K Ryan. He emailed it back to me and had signed/dated each of the items fixed.

I had also asked Troy if anything could be done with the drainage issue on the north side of the house. The frame report from H&KRyan seemed to indicate that it could be an issue...

Surface Water Drainage: The retention of water from surface run off could have an effect on this dwellings foundation material which in turn could affect the slab to this house inspected.
Best practice is to monitor the flow of surface water and stormwater run off and have the water directed away from the house and then into storm water pipes by a qualified and licensed Plumber & Drainer.
Subject to this Builder’s contract specifications as to what is being allowed for by the way of surface water drainage, (Reference: AS: 2870 Appendix B, B2.3 (a) for site drainage requirements.) 

Troy seems to think that there is not an issue with the water...

"Re drainage, unfortunately we can't have any one go in to do any work as you know. Given the recent weather, there is some water sitting around. The house is on piers of uniform bearing, so the water won't affect the structure"

Walls in

It seems that most of the walls are gyrocked already. I can only stand at the gate and peer in so I am not sure. At 3:30pm, a merry band of men are still working hard upstairs. Unsure about whether the ceilings have been installed. I didn't think lying on the ground to get a birdseye view was becoming especially as the gyprockers were looking at what I was doing.

A hive of activity today

The sun is shining bright and is expected to all week. GREAT, on account of the house being built and also the school holidays. There were a few tradies at the house today. I noticed that the sparkies had been to change the wiring in the entry way. We changed from wall points to light points at great cost. AJ from re-do my space has plans to install 2 of something like this on the wall just in the entry foyer with a console.

We also agreed to have 2 light points on either side of the house in lieu of the 2 downlights that we cannot have (see previous post)

I noticed today that the insulation has been installed at some stage recently. The photo here is not very clear from my boundary position.

Many guys were delivering copious amounts of gyprock today. The electrical company told me last week that it was due for the start of installation on Tuesday. Actually, you can probably see the insulation better in this photo.

The recent downpours of rain have again highlighted our drainage issue on one side of the house. Given our landscapers don't have access until after settlement, I don't think there is much we can do. I am sure that it doesn't make it easy for the builders nor is it possibly doing good things to the slab.