Alfresco tiles

Some of you are aware of the issues that I am having with the tiles on our alfresco slab, in fact some of you have had to enjoy a relaxing dinner surrounded by a sea of dirt which then gets trodden into the house. You may even have apologized for the mess you are making even though you have no control over it.
I clean regularly with 30 Seconds, scrubbing brush and a high pressure cleaner and it is STILL dirty.
If you too are struggling to keep your tiles clean, it may be because you have a textured or structured tile surface. When you think of ‘texture’ you tend to think of a very rough surface, but sometimes the texture can be so fine that it doesn’t look ‘textured’. In this case, you might not even realise that the texture of your tiles are causing the problem! The main giveaway for these tiles is that they mark very easily, and are very hard to clean. Textured tiles provide grip as you walk on them, but as a result the surface will rapidly accumulate dirt and become visibly dirty. However, the tile is doing what it was designed for – making sure it’s impossible for you to slip on it. This was not mentioned ONCE by the sales team at Di Lorenzo - grrr. It was suggested to purchase the outdoor version of our selected tile to prevent slipping.
In my recent actions with DiLorenzo to try and address the issue, they ALL seem to know the issues surrounding this type of tile. How frustrating. On my last visit, I purchased a product to help me clean it up for Christmas guests (NanoScrub) and I was given the business card of a company that will be able to help me problem solve (obviously at cost)

www.slique.com.au

I found this on their website.....

“I can’t keep my tiles clean!”

No matter how often you clean them, or what you clean them with, you just can’t keep your tiles clean. They might even pick up dirt from the soles of your shoes when you walk across, or they might just stay generally grimy, even if you’ve scrubbed them on your hands and knees.
There are a number of reasons why you might not be able to keep your tiles clean:

1. There could be a build-up of cleaning chemicals (see "Sticky tiles" problem page)
2. Your tiles could be textured, so they ‘hold on’ to dirt and grime (see "Textured tiles hold dirt" problem page)
3. They could just be showing signs of age (see "Dirty tiles" problem page)
4. The grout might be dirty, which makes the whole floor look dirty (see "Dirty grout" problem page)
5. The colour might be fading from the tiles (see "Fading tiles" problem page)

The mob at Slique will be visiting our home in the new year for a free consultation to see what can be done - resurfacing I think is the answer.

Update on Di Lorenzo

The tiler did show up, shortly after I hit the 'publish' button on yesterday's blog post despite not getting the call to confirm whether he would be making it or not. Fortunately for them, I was at home. The tile was replaced as requested though the tiler did say that the colour would be a little different due to being from a different batch. He wondered if this mattered to me given the tile was right in the middle of the bathroom and therefore very obvious. I felt I didn't really have a choice - a chipped tile or a slightly different shade? It looks fine!
Interestingly, I was able to view his job sheet for the day. Our job was listed for 10am (3rd job of the day) NOT the 7am timeslot. That information was not shared with me yesterday morning when I rang to ask where the tiler was ;-)

Maintenance - where are we up to? PART 2

Di Lorenzo, Di Lorenzo a) why is it so hard to replace a tile? b) provide a level of customer service/communication?
The chipped tile in the ensuite needs replacing as previously noted here on the blog. I am wary of these tiles as there have been no sharp objects in our bathrooms to cause damage yet quite a few chips?

Visit 1 by DiLorenzo - no spare tiles left on site for our ensuite. Will need to return.

Visit 2 by DiLorenzo - they wanted to come in the school holidays. OK by me but requested a call a few days prior to inform me of approximate time of visit so I could plan the day around them. No such call. The MJH contractors asked them to call first thing that day to let me know whenabouts they would be there. I went off to the gym at 6am and received a phone call from them at 7:15am to tell me they were 20mins away! Quickly rang my husband to get him to get up & shower before the bathroom was out of action. He arrived 10mins later to children too scared to answer the doorbell and a half naked husband. Guess what? He had been given the incorrect tile to bring. After my coplaint to MJH Contracting about the situation, I receive a baffling call from Di Lorenzo asking me what we selected for our ensuite flooring tile - they do not have the records anymore. Excuse me?! Why send a tiler out with a tile to replace if you have no idea which one needs replacing? Does not make sense to me. I look up my colour sheet, read out the colour and size and I am assured it has been ordered. I book the new appointment for 'the first of the day' on 30/04/14 which is around 7-7:30am, knowing I am always around then.

Visit 3 by DiLorenzo -Waiting today from 7am for a doorbell ring. Nope! I ring DiLorenzo at 8:15am who manages to ring the tiler to see where he is. He needed to collect some materials from Pitt Town before starting his day and he should be there at 9am. Ummmm, no! There was a reason I requested 7am. Blood was boiling. Please reschedule for first thing tomorrow was my curt reply....or I will be home between 11:45am and 2:45pm. The representative said she would recontact the tiler and find out if he could make it today and call me straight back - well, that was 3 hours ago!!

That is just the tiles. I will return to post about the window saga later.....ongoing!

Site inspection

I went to the house to find most of the tiling completed. In fact, the tilers told me that they will have completed it today. They schedule 5-7 days but a large team was assigned our job so they have been able to fly through it.

It was great to meet Matt who seems very thorough and organised. I know our home is in safe hands with him. He is, though, going on leave next week for a few days. He is aiming to get the house ready for our Tyrells inspection as soon as Troy returns from leave.

The new things I discovered today were that the towel rails have been incorrectly installed. Standard for our house is a 600mm double rail in the ensuite and an 800mm single rail in the main bathroom. We requested an extra for the main. Unfortunately the 2 800mm rails have been put in the ensuite and the smaller one in the main. We decided to keep the ensuite as is and order another smaller one to add to the main bathroom. Here's hoping EBH don't slap me with a variation for this mistake too ;-)
The cladding on the front of the house has been painted white as per the eaves rather than Mountain Shadow like the render. This needs to be changed.

A busy day at the house all up with tilers, site cleaners and a carpenter there doing touchups.

PS. Oh and the front door handles?? The door aren't hung correctly so when that gets fixed, the handles should be even.

Main floor tiling

It has FINALLY started about 2 weeks after the scheduled time. There was a delay in sourcing them from China so the tilers had to be redirected elsewhere. DiLorenzo kindly have kept me up to speed on what is happening at their end. When I was taking the door photos on Friday, a supervisor from DiLorenzo showed up to inspect the property. He wasn't sure on the latest but assured me that the tilers would be ready to go as soon as they arrived. The tiles must have been delivered over the weekend as the tilers were there first thing this morning. Yay!

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!

The answer is....DiLorenzo!

An email was sent early this morning to EBH management outlining my concerns with the communication process particularly the 'additional charges' that appear on PCVs. True to form, a phone call came through early this afternoon to try & resolve the issue. The outside companies are supposed to inform the clients of the additional charges which has not been the case for us or others I know of. With DiLorenzo, there is a document that needs signing to say that the charges have been explained. We have not signed that nor is it in the paperwork that has been forwarded to EBH so Management have deleted that amount from our PCV.
Hopefully, it will ensure these little 'additional charges' don't keep popping up in the future. Again, top marks to EBH for striving hard to resolve the issue and for their great customer service.

Who is responsible?!

It has been a while. Nothing much has happened on the house front and school holidays are in full swing here.
I happened to look at Eden Brae Connect tonight (a portal for customers) and I noticed a PCV sitting there that has not yet been forwarded to me - my Di Lorenzo upgrades. We requested (at great cost) floor to ceiling tiling in the ensuite and the main bathroom (wet area portion only) figuring it was a worthwhile investment. Signed off on the quote 2 weeks ago.
This PCV from EB has this line item added in...
"Provide additional installation charges due to full height wall tiling to Ensuite/Bathroom to include: * Return trip by plasterer to install cornice * Additional room clean        - $650"
No-one has mentioned this additional charge EVER. Was DiLorenzo meant to discuss this with us when we requested floor to ceiling tiling? Is this something EBH should have talked about? Common courtesy I would think rather than slapping it on a variation AFTER we have accepted the Di Lorenzo quote and it is too late to change it. The bathrooms had better be sparkling clean on handover!!

Finally ALL good!

.....though I am worried about DiLorenzo supplying the goods when it comes time. I mean, if they can't get a quote right on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th attempt, will they be able to supply the correct tiles & carpet in the correct quantities??
Dealing with DiLorenzo has taken up soooo much time - almost as much as Kitchen Culture did. EBH, in my opinion, really need to look at the outside companies they work with. For mine, they are letting down the process and ultimately EBH.
Cooks Plumbing - by far the best & most efficient.
Abbey Blinds - seem to be better at the moment & depends on your consultant.
Outback Landscaping - offered me an outrageously expensive quote for a driveway. No thanks!
Kitchen Culture - based on my experience lacking customer service & a headache to deal with
Electricals - no complaints here but a tedious appointment
DiLorenzo - dodgy marketing (my opinion), time delays on quotes, incorrect quotes, time delays to amend quotes, lack of customer focus (well they have our custom already, don't they?)

All quotes are now in. Waiting for them all to be converted to PCVs and sent to me for signatures - electricals, staircase, tiles, carpets, extra externals taps.

And they still can't get it right!

1) The carpet quote was finally returned today with the sums correct but the wording was NOT! How hard is it?? Not rocket science. Just careful checking required. Rather than asking for another to be emailed, I sent the acceptance with my handwritten, initialled amendments on it. Let's see if they send another back to me for resigning....

2) DiLorenzo tiles - This is the email I received "I have just spoken to estimating again, There is a tile allowance for the area behind the cabinetry in the laundry, We will need to adjust our Quantity but the quote price will not change as it is a standard tile." He has totally forgotten that he put a half wall of tiles in our quote that I never asked for. This is what I am trying to get taken out of the quote - about $400 worth. His email is telling me that I am allowed tiles all the way around my laundry bench as standard - yes, thankyou, but take the other tiles out! Waiting, waiting for an response.....

A few mistakes......

Just as well I am trying really hard to keep on top of things. There have been a couple more mistakes made in quotes. Mistakes happen & I am OK with that. It is the way it is handled that concerns me & so far so good - 2 of them have been apologetic and quickly fixed without argument.

1) EBH - We upgraded our doors in the tender process without looking at the doors (oops!). When we actually saw them, we didn't really like them so 'downgraded' them to something more suitable. When the PCV came in, firstly we had to pay an extra $911. Now, I was in 'over it mode' and electronically signed the document. When I had to sign the official document, I thought I would question the line 'in lieu of standard' given we didn't have standard doors in the first place. The estimator apologized that he didn't realise (read check the contract) that we had the expensive Eden 3G doors. A nice credit of almost $2200 coming our way.

2) DiLorenzo carpets - I discovered yesterday that they had done our measurements incorrectly. Based our quote on 259m2 of flooring to be carpeted which I didn't question (as I have no idea how to work that out) After about the 4th attempt at a correct quote (grrrr), Tilly told me to wait as she thought it was wrong. Yes, out by 80m2! The carpeted area is only 179m2. New quote to come tomorrow. I told her that whatever that is, we are accepting and if it is incorrect, they need to wear it! I am so over the amount of time spent on the phone & emailing them....all because of their mistakes.

3) DiLorenzo tiles - I am still waiting to hear back from them with an updated quote to our credit. Chris misunderstood what I wanted as far as tiling the laundry splashback. He thought I wanted tiles from the laundry floor all the way up to the top of the laundry bench and put that in my quote. What I actually wanted is tiling from around the tub right around the top of the long bench area. He informs me that that should already be included in my laundry quote from Kitchen Culture. Waiting for a week now to credit me for the other wall tiling that I didn't want......

Time for demolition quotes

I had a call from Rania yesterday to officially let me know that the plans had gone off to council. Checked today on the tracking device online & they have been received and entered by Hornsby Council.
Rania also wanted to know if we had submitted our demolition application yet....ummmm, no! Next job on the list of things to do.
Mentioned to Rania that I still hadn't received our quote from DiLorenzo after 2.5 weeks and some followup emails. R said she would followup too from her end - we then had the quote within an hour! We are still waiting on the carpet component of it though.

Personally, I think the way DiLorenzo operate with the builder is a little sneaky. Even though they are up front about the charges for laying tiles that are larger than 250 x 250mm, the tile displays they show you for standard EBH tiles are all larger than 250x250mm. Basically, you need to specifically ask for smaller tiles to avoid charges. Anyway, our tile quote came to the amount we allowed for in our contract as I decided to ask for floor to ceiling tiling in the main & ensuite.
It will be interesting to see the figure for carpets as I would like to upgrade the carpet and the underlay!