Onsite photos - yay!

From water tank slab looking up the side...towards garage

From backyard to the house

From rumpus room to kitchen/pantry

Rumpus room window (room with a view - NOT!)

Where the front doors and sidelights will be

For AJ - the mudroom area

Family room & alfresco from doorway

Photo fest today. I was fortunate enough to have a site visit for the first time today. I am still buzzing! So excited. Tim, from Hayward Landscapes, and I walked around the site so that he could get a better idea of the lay of the land to put together a quote/concept plan.
I was able to meet Troy, our SS, today as well. Good to put a face to the name. I am confident in his ability to deliver us a quality house. He did pick up a brickie error today.

As you can see from this photo, they have bricked where there is meant to be cladding (roof gable). Troy asked if I wanted it left this way. No, thanks! It will be pulled down in preparation for the cladding to be done.

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

Facade changes and brick progress

Up close of the area above portico

Up close of the brick colour

You will notice the cover page of the blog has the representation of the house with the render added. We made the decision to stick with Mountain Shadow on both the render and the cladding. Pretty sure we did the right thing and if not, it is easy enough (!) to change the cladding colour later on. The brick colour is a fair bit darker than the picture as you can see by the photos and the other thing is that the fascia above the front cladding will be done in Monument.
Thanks to AJ from (redo) my space who spent extra time this weekend mulling over colours for me and visiting the site to peer through the fences.

More facade news

"Whilst checking this all out, I have also discovered that a section of the facade is not listed to be rendered as per the advertised facade either. The area above the stackstone under the cladding on the roof gable is supposed to be rendered. We haven't paid for it to be built like that though we did ask for the Boston facade as per the website. Again, an oversight on the part of the Tender presenter that we also signed off on. This one is much easier to fix - it just involves money. Don't think we will do anything about it."

Word has come back this afternoon that for almost $2K, EBH will allow us to change this back to how it is pictured on their website. Now I say YES, I think we will do it but it then raises a paint change colour for the cladding just above it. Not entirely sure what colour but it needs to be lighter  - either garage door (Dune) or windows (off white) or stackstone colouring. Waiting to hear back from my trusty colour person, AJ from redo my space.

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!