Wood stain

All very quiet on the building front. It looks like someone was there for a few hours on Monday but nothing since. Both supervisors are on leave. Hopefully that means that the job scheduled for Monday/Tuesday has been completed already.

I have been discussing with AJ from re-do my space the colour we selected for our staircase stain. As this occurred 12 months ago, I had no recollection or record of it. All I knew was that it was Taubmans Walnut. Research online and at my local Bunnings proved fruitless. We were desperately hoping that it wasn't too red in tone as the furniture we have bought is more of the chocolate variety. It would be too late to change it as well. Rather than emailing and waiting for a response from Home Options Gallery, I decided to pay them a visit this morning. Phew! Walnut (right hand side) is a nice brown colour and Jarrah (left hand side is the redder one)

Basin mixers swapped over

Matt sent me a photo tonight of the new mixers that have been placed in all vanities today in lieu of the long (bath) ones - much more practical and pleasing on the eye. Thanks Troy and Matt.

Upcoming schedule

Received an email from Matt last night informing me of the items he has booked in to occur at the house.

"Please note the below update of progress and what is booked leading up to Troy's return.
-    Friday 6th, Tilers to complete main floor areas
-    Sat / Mon - Fixing carpenter to return to install Bed room smart robe door units, and a few other items per my inspection list
-    Bed 3 Ceiling, requires repair over the internal door, as there is a slight undulation, Frame carpenter booked to return Mon / Tues to rectify
-    Plastering contractor booked for Thurs 12th to meet with myself / to complete defects as marked, Cornices to garage, Bed 3 ceiling repair.
-    House cleaner Initial clean - Friday 13th.
As discussed, I will also be on annual leave Monday 9th to Wed 11th, however the above items have been booked / confirmed to be carried out."

I think the tilers might have finished already if everything went according to plan yesterday. The site was cleaned (sort of) today - there still seems to be a lot of junk lying around?? My latest screenshot has the site fencing being removed tomorrow. I hope the house is locked up a little more securely than it has been from now on.

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!

Uneven to your eyes too??

Hmmmmm, a little uneven, I think. Can't wait to meet Matt on site next week to check out all the other hardware items that have been installed since my last visit.

Update on laundry shelving error

Half of the laundry cupboard shelving

Well, it has been an 'exciting' few days in my neck of the woods. I received a Building Variation from EBH to delete 1/4 of the shelving that was erroneously installed. (You may remember, we had it deleted from the contract so we could do a custom fitout to suit our needs) Imagine my surprise when we were charged nearly $700 for the privilege of taking some of it out and adding an end panel in. Surprise was the nice word for it. No explanation via phone call, just an email with a $700 price tag. I asked for clarification  - if I delete the entire amount of shelving, would I be charged anything? NO was the answer! So essentially, I was either being charged $700 for ONE panel of melamine or EBH were trying to recoup the costs of their mistake by charging me for the shelving. A very sour taste has been left in my mouth on this one even though yes, I am getting free shelving (not quite what I want though). After asking a few questions, the Estimating Department has flipped their decision and there will be no charges to cut out 1/4 of the shelving. Yet another mistake, this time not handled well.

On a brighter note, the Temporary Supervisor rang for a chat today - lovely guy. Matt gave me a rundown on what is being done currently and about to happen with the house. The main floor tiles have been delayed further and will now commence early next week. The bath wall mixers will be changed over to the basin wall mixers a little later when the plumbers need to return for something else. Matt reassured me that work will continue smoothly in Troy's absence and will be scheduled ahead for Troy's return. I will try to meet up with him at the house on Monday morning sometime to have another look/see. Before then, I want to go through the contract to see if there is anything we added or deleted, check door handles, towel rails/rings etc, outside taps etc.