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??

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.

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.

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.

Facade Update

Well the decision has been made to leave it as is and hopefully once it is all completed and with time, I will get used to it. Without final costings, the rough estimation to change it was going to be about 4 weeks delay (ouch!), $4000 and all to get a gap of 200mm. The cost in both time and money was not going to get an outcome I was happy with either so it has been decided to move forward. Relief from everyone at Eden Brae, I am sure, though they were happy to do whatever they could to ensure I am pleased with the final outcome.

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.

Both of these oversights highlight the importance of good communication every step of the way and the need to take time to discuss the build with your client. We asked for the Boston facade as per the photo on the website and trusted our builder to either put that into the tender document or explain why it could not be done like that. Saves great disappointment later on. Having said that, if these are the worst headaches we have during the build, we will be doing well. Such first world problems...

A further update

Well....I emailed my Manager (Bev), CCing in my CSA (Rania) and my Site Supervisor (Troy) to let them know how disappointed I was with the facade as it stands.
"I just wanted to let you know of my gripe with our facade. Firstly, it seems to be an Eden Brae error and secondly, one that we didn't pick up on or think to check when going over the plans.
Excuse my non-technical speak but on the advertised Boston facade, each stackstone pillar has a passageway between the house & said pillar. This obviously isn't the case with our house. Going back to the signed plans, indeed our construction has been done according to these plans. I am wondering why there was a change and if there is a valid reason, why this was not pointed out to us, the clients? I honestly do not like the way these pillars look and worry that it will be too much stackstone when it gets added.
I understand that there is probably little that can be done about it now but I am really just looking for an explanantion."

Ever-efficient Bev came straight back...
"Its good to hear from you, but I am sorry for this reason!!
 I have just asked our designer to look at your plans and advise why the piers were been drawn this way. I am guessing that it could be that this wall carries the walls and brickwork for Bedroom 1 above.  Without the full piers, the bedroom above could not be supported. When I have further clarification, I will get back to you immediately. "

I am not sure this is the reason as we have not changed anything upstairs. No extra support needed. Possibly the photo was not the correct design in the first place??

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....

And now with a change to the Front door colour

Lucinda, my gorgeous friend, photoshopped the front door colour as I was not loving the Nutbush colour. This is what we came up with.....

Much better...and I think we may even go a tad darker & greyer.

Facade colours

Found this mob on the web yesterday who will put your colours together for you...for a small fee. A great idea for visual people, like myself!

What do you think?