appliances

I spent the day at the house today while the appliances were being installed. We also got a quote for the concrete. Carpet layers returned and put on the trims. The window technician came around to have a look at the windows that aren't right. He'll have to come back again when our supervisor is there with Mark so they can explain the problem better than I could.

plastic container letterbox - the latest in new build fashion!

Now to remove all those grubby plumber finger prints

First meal cooked in our new house! bahaha

We now have hot water! I think we need to make a screen to cover it up though...

Loving it! Just needs a good vacuum and mop now!

We've ordered roller blinds for the boys' bedrooms (the darker solid colour sample) and transition blinds (the stripy samples) for the living, dining, bathrooms and laundry. Transition blinds are a fairly new concept in window coverings (I sound like a sales person - LOL!), these ones are not block out, but will be great for privacy and filtering light. The darker brown will go in the theatre room with curtains. I bought the curtains for our bedroom, theatre, rumpus sliding door and family sliding door at Harris Scarfe. Rods are coming from Blinds Online (where we are getting the rollers and transitions from). Can't wait for the rods to arrive so we can get the curtains up.

We were originally planning on putting plantation shutters in, but decided that we'd do the cheaper option at the moment, we can upgrade later to the shutters when the budget allows. I'd rather have our patio concreted than have plantation shutters through the house.

Loving the vinyl. The plumbers all thought the floor was timber till I told them it was vinyl. I think they were impressed.

Almost finished

Our splashback is in - Wahoo!

Looks like all that needs to be done is the spa put in and the paint and plaster touch ups need to be done. Then we are all ready. PCI on Tuesday!

Splash back is in - love it!

Pantry

more holes to patch up - silly duffer electricians being too rough when putting things in

One problem that we have noticed is that our wind out windows are not quite right...

The window is about 1/2cm wider across the middle than the top and the bottom. They still open and shut ok, but it can't be right for them to be out this much! In the photos you can see that the gap around the awning part of the window is much tighter across the centre than it is at the top and the bottom of the awning.

bottom of the window

middle of the window

Top of the window

So we've sent a message to our site supervisor and hopefully they'll be able to replace the windows - thankfully the frames are ok, its just the windows. There must have been some sort of glitch when they were being manufactured.

Better and Better

Things keep getting better and better! I went past the house this morning to kill time while the buyers of our current home and the agent came through to do some measuring up. The render has been painted, fly screens have been installed, shower screens are in, heating duct has finally been put in in the laundry (and the ensuite and bathroom too I assume - since the house is all locked up I can't see into those rooms). The replacement spa had been sitting in the study last time we went past, (they had ordered the wrong one) but it wasn't there today, and it wasn't installed so I wonder what happened to it this time...

In love with our kitchen!

Shower screen is now installed

Other bits and pieces that we had made note of and mentioned to our new site supervisor have been fixed. Just waiting on the glass splashback to be installed then its finished - apart from the touch ups that need to be done to plaster and paint.

Rubbish cage and porta loo are now gone. Hope our builder's don't eat any of these gummy bears... (I haven't laughed as much as I did when reading those reviews of the 5lbs of gummy bears - read it if you need a laugh! OH MY!)


All the other tradesmen working in our house have taken great care with their work, but I can't quite say the same for the electricians. They haven't seemed to have taken too much pride in their work or taken care when installing the downlights and switches. There are several holes around switches and lights that the plasterers and painters will need to return to fix up the electricians shoddy job. If these electricians had come in to an existing house to put in downlights or switches, you certainly wouldn't recommend them to your friends when you'd have to call in plasterers to fix things up!

All in all, we've had a fabulous build thanks to a very talented and diligent site supervisor. Can't wait for PCI next week and hopefully moving in the following week! So excited!

Light at the end of the tunnel

We have a Practical Completion Inspection (PCI) date! Wahoo!!!!

(source)

Unfortunately there was a bit of a hold up with the shower screens so they won't be installed until the 28th of Feb. So the following Friday (the 7th of March) is our PCI and handover should be the following Friday (the 14th of March). We were hoping that it could have all been one week earlier so we could move in over the long weekend, but it's not to be. Never mind, we always find that when the timing is out of our hands things always end up better off anyway.

So we'll get the floors done during the following week, along with the driveway and hopefully the shed and then we can move in properly!

(source)

Garaged

Our garage door has been installed. Can't wait to see what it looks like when it's down.

Garage door opener! This is one of the best bits of our new house ;-)

Grouting is done. 

We went to Western Distributors today to choose our carpet and vinyl. We've chosen Gerflor's Primetex in Cajou Grey for the vinyl.  The carpet is a nice thick twist pile by Redbook - Matilda Bay in Pepperwood. We can't wait to see it in our house.

Tiles, Lights, Switches and Bench Tops

We met with our site supervisor yesterday morning. The tiler wanted to meet with us too. He wanted to check that the tiles were correct and double check the way we wanted the tiles to be placed.  He was only a young guy with a thick accent (eastern European) and we were really impressed, we could tell he takes great pride in his work.  Really happy with how the build is progressing.

The house was a hive of activity, there were a couple of electricians, wardrobe fitters, tilers and our site supervisor and a second site supervisor who will be taking over and seeing out our build.

Feature tiles for ensuite and bathroom

Squeeee! It's gonna look soooo good!

Bathroom

Our Caesar Stone bench has been installed. It's beautiful.