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.

Bricks cleaned on upper storey

Cladding on front facade installed too

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Chocolatto bricks

I would think that there will be a lull in building over the next few days with the forecasted HEAVY rain. A real pity as we aren't far from lockup now - just a few weeks.

Working on a Saturday

Huge amount of water pooled at side of house

The bricks were removed to make way for the cladding

Drove past this morning on the way home from netball to see some guys working on site. Went by again this afternoon and actually stopped to try and find out what they were doing. The response received by the guy listening to the races on the radio was a vague 'just fixing up a lot of stuff'. Whilst that gives me an uneasy feeling, I also feel reassured that Troy is carefully checking the work being done by the subbies. I know they demolished the part of the facade that was overbricked now allowing for the cladding to be installed.

Guttering installed

Our beautiful Monument gutters installed

Today saw a new invoice arrive in my inbox heralded the end of the brickwork stage. Not sure what comes next? Roof? Eaves? Render? Cladding?

Sad news

You will notice that the picture above has returned to the original one with facebrick above the portico. I have just received a phone call from my CS Manager, Bev, who was the bearer of bad news. The bricks used cannot take the render according to the brick manufacturer, PGH. I suppose we could try to go ahead with it but to be dealing to render falling off constantly - no, thanks! I'll keep it as it was and pocket the $2.5K for something else. Disappointed in the outcome. To those thinking about building, I reiterate....check your plans carefully to save future headaches/heartaches.

Today's progress

The area to be stackstoned appears to have been completed today

Di Lorenzo

What? A post about Di Lorenzo at this stage of the build? Funny how things happen, eh? Last night at my daughters netball training, I was talking to another Mum who has recently started working for Di Lorenzo tiles in the Accounts Department. I thought I was fairy safe having a little whinge about the customer service & processes as this was not her area ;-) I suggested that Di Lorenzo have a look at the HOMEONE forums for informal feedback on how their customers view their products and service.
I received a call on my mobile phone from the General Manager, Raph, today. (waving HI to him!!)  I am still flabbergasted that he took my concerns seriously enough to take the time to call. In fact, it seems he has already taken my concerns seriously from reading my blog last year (directed to my blog by the CS Manager) Changes have been made to Di Lorenzo since my issues - a new estimator and a new admin person in the carpet area. Sort of offered me a job too LOL. With a wink & a nudge which of course he couldn't see via the phone, I asked him to note on my file that I need the VERY best tilers that Di Lorenzo have to offer sent to tile our house.


I am also writing this as it is very quiet on our site for some reason. No brickies yesterday or today. Not sure what is happening. Bricks are there in supply, the sun is shining, we have paid our bills.... Come back to work please!

Getting to final stage of brickwork

I think only that top section to brick now

Actually some at the back too as I can see loads of sunlight

The pillars of concern! Already more used to them ;-)

Brick update and some graffiti

Graffiti tag

Other side of the portaloo

Graffiti on sign

And another

More brick photos

Facade issue

I discovered our first hiccup yesterday when I saw the brick-to-be-stackstone pillars at the front door. On the advertised facade, each pillar has a passageway between the house & said pillar. I was shocked to see that ours didn't and to be honest, I don't like the look of it. I checked the EBH website to ensure I hadn't pictured it incorrectly in my head. No, as imagined. When I looked at our plans, it was drawn as per the photo below and of course, we have signed off on them so we have nowhere to go with this :-( I am really disappointed in Eden Brae for deviating from the advertised facade and in myself for not thinking to check that.

PS Just worked out how to get the advertised facade off the web into my blog. Nothing like a bit of PDFing and cropping! Can you now see what I am talking about? That peep of light behind the righthand pillar....

Photo update

Interestingly I thought the stackstone pillars were MADE OF stackstone not covered by it.

Brickwork progress

I went to take photos of the brickwork only to discover that the suitcase I had lugged from the front of the block (with the brickies permission) to the kerbside for collection...has been thrown back over the fence :-( I am glad I didn't take the time to drag the colorbond fencing too. Little do they know that I can play this game!! I am up for the challenge.

I was stopped tonight by 2 ladies walking past. One built 10 years ago with Eden Brae and was delighted with the outcome. They were one of the very first EBH homes in Hornsby Council. She is going to walk past every day now she has seen our build happening.

3 days of bricking

Side view with alfresco pillars

Offending suitcase

A view from the rear

As I stopped by at lunchtime today my lovely neighbour offered us a sneak peak from his backyard. I clambered onto some rocks and managed to unsteadily take these photos.
I was also told that the brickies were working on Saturday whilst we were away in Melbourne - happy days!
I will post more photos this afternoon from the front.
I found a fair bit of rubbsih that has obviously been dumped over the fence eg. a large old suitcase full of rubbish, some colorbond fencing etc. You would think that with council cleanup about to happen in the next week or so, they could wait to dump it then!

Brickwork started

I am leaving in 10minutes to catch a flight to Melbourne. Brad is down there already working today and will join him for drinks after work via Chapel Street. For those who know me, this is the highlight of my social calendar each year. Brad, as the client of another company, is well looked after. It will be nice to have a fun weekend together with some other fabulous people after the stresses of the last few months, in particular Brad's Dad passing away.

So there won't be any photos this afternoon but I can report that the brickwork has started and the site is being cleaned up somewhat. Looking forward to seeing what has been done today when I get home on Sunday. If anyone wants to send me a photo this afternoon, you are MORE THAN welcome!!

Brick delivery

Some of the bricks have arrived - loving the colour

Bricks for the rendering I assume

The streetscape as I drove along - 6 vehicles for our build

Today also saw the plumbing rough in started. Not sure if it was completed or not. I assume the bricking will commence tomorrow.

A little brick hiccup!

Upon checking out brick colours on the PGH website (in all my spare time!), I discovered that my chosen brick colour CHOCOLATTO has changed Basix classification from medium to dark. THe documentation that EBH gave me at tender said it was medium; my visit to PGH had it at medium and Home Options Gallery didn't pick this up. Given our Basix certificate has been issued already based on our colour selections etc, I was a little worried to say the least. No other colours in our allocated brick range remotely excited me and I had already spent much time getting the colour scheme how I wanted it.
I had a decision to make....Do I call EBH and discuss with the potential of having to re-do colours and select a brick I don't like? Do I stick my head in the sand and let them discover the change? I then had visions of the BASIX inspector (is there one?) coming at the completion of the house & asking us to demolish as it doesn't comply. I know, a little catastrophising! I decided to ring my upline Manager to have a quiet chat. Bev made my day! She checked the file & discovered that on the Basix certificate the external wall colours have not actually been specified. This basically means we are free to choose whatever colour we wish. Interesting as the Basix documentation we signed stated that our external colours were medium grade.
Phew! I can sleep well tonight & not have nightmares about the house being pulled down at the 11th hour!

External Colours

Two days later and my head is still swimming with colours, designs and choices. It was a long and exhausting day, made that little bit easier by having Anastasia by my side. Here are the external colours we are using

BRICKS - Chocolatto

ROOF, GUTTERS, FASCIA, WATERTANK ETC - Colorbond Monument

RENDER, CLADDING & BARGE - Taubmans Mountain Shadow (no image)

FRONT DOOR - Taubmans Viking Grey (no image)

GARAGE DOOR - Colorbond Dune

EAVES & ALFRESCO CEILINGS - Bristol Greylocks

LAUNDRY DOOR - Taubmans Surfmist

WINDOWS & REAR STACKER DOORS - Airlite Bond Off White (no image)

Let's see how it actually turns out when on large areas, with shadowing, full sun etc. You can get the basic idea though...

Brick selection

I managed to convince the children that they needed to help me pick the bricks for our new house this afternoon (a McDonald's lunch helped the cause). I had an idea of colour (brown) and that I didn't want to pay for upgrading bricks. This made my selection very easy as of course the standard range has very few choices. At this stage, our choice is 'Chocolatto'. Next decision is roof, gutter, fascia & window colour.

Any thoughts? Monument (dark grey) or Loft (maroony brown)?