Sorry It's been a while.

I'll take you back to the handover.   On Thursday 7th June we had a final walk through and there was still things to do.  We had got to a point though, where we decided we would take the house and have the rest of the work done after hand over.  The next day, Friday before the long weekend, we were still unsure if we could get the keys.  We wanted to move in over the long weekend, but despite having the invoice for a week, the bank still hadn't made the final payment.  To make a long story short, we were on our way to the Builder's, and on the phone to the bank at 4:45pm  to get everything sorted before the office closed at 5pm.


It was hard not to panic, I was trying not to get to excited about getting the keys to our new house, because it could have all fallen through at the last minute.  We arrived at the office at 4.50pm the payment had been made, and the girls stayed back to get all the paperwork done and at last we had the keys to our new house.  We had nothing packed and had not organised anything to move our things from 3 different locations.

On Friday night we had to go to our Niece's birthday party.  So Derrick was on the iPad organising to hire a truck for Sunday.  After the party at about 11pm we opened the door to our new house.

Early on Saturday, I started to pack up the granny flat (one room 9m x 4m). It still amazes me how much we could fit into that small room.  I had the granny flat packed by about 11am and with the help of Derrick's brother Kurt and his wife Julie, we managed to move the stuff from the granny flat to the house in a station wagon and a trailer, (it took 3 trips) by about 6pm.

An early start on Sunday morning,  we picked up the truck and went and picked up the new fridge and some things for the media room.  I went back to the house to start unpacking and Derrick and his Dad went to my Brothers house to pick up the rest of our furniture.  My brother and his new wife have a very big house, so we took over two of the bedrooms and the upstairs lounge room.  Derrick did one trip with his Dad and then we got my Mum, Dad and two of my brother to help with the second load.

We got the second load back to the house by 7.30pm and Derrick left on his own for a long trip to Bathurst where all of our garage stuff was stored.  Derrick got back at around 2.30am with the last tuck load. Next day we got up at 6am to unpack the truck so we could get it back to the rental place by 8am.  At least now all of our belongings were at the house and now we just needed to unpack everything.

Front Garden

Turf

On the weekend of 23rd June we had the front and backyards levelled by a bobcat.  We had to bring in 20 cubic metres of soil to level and have as the underlay for the turf.  The 10 pallets of turf arrived on Saturday afternoon.  At 7am on a very cold Sunday morning we started moving and rolling out 400 square metres of turf.  With help from friends and our great neighbours from across the street ( they have only just moved into their house 7 weeks before us).  We got it all done in one day.  I couldn't move the next day, but it looks great.  It makes such a difference to look outside and not see mud.

Rolling out the first roll of turf.

finished at last

Retaining Wall and Timber slatted screen.

Well the weekend after we moved in,  we started to back fill the retaining wall and putting down the crushed recycled concrete.  We also started the Timber slatted screen for outside the kitchen window.  Just to make it a bit more fun to move huge amounts of soil and rocks it was raining as well.

This is the before picture

Before (looking towards the front of the house)

Putting in the retaining wall

After backfilling and the start or the slat screen

The finished job, with the crushed cement

start of the screen

Hot Water, cooktop, oven and Air Con.

Because we moved in over a long weekend we had no hot water, air con or cooktop over the three days of the long weekend.  We thought we would have it all installed on the Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest.  On the Tuesday we had the oven and the gas cooktop installed, but the gas to the cooktop didn't seem to be very strong.  Had the plumber look at it and he said we must have a blockage in the pipe. The electricians arrived on Thursday to install the hot water system and found that there was no power wired into the house for the hot water.  We were told they would have to come back on Friday to wire the house up.  Three electricians took three hours to install the power from the metre box up the wall of the garage, over the roof of the garage, up the wall of the second story and up to the roof and over the house to the other side, then down between the bricks and the wall to the hot water system. So a week after we got the keys we got hot water.  The air con was even longer.  The air con guy arrived on Monday but none of the trunking had been put into the roof.  This all had to be cut and put in the roof on Tuesday.  The other problem was the slab for the air con unit was half the size of the unit.  This was resolved by using a large cement paver and cemented in at a later date.  So ten days after hand over we were able to heat the house.  Now going back to the gas, they found a blockage in the pipe that just happened to be in the ceiling cavity between the bottom and the second floor, so the only thing they could do was cut two holes in the ceiling to fix it.  They also had to cut a hole in the back of one of the kitchen cupboards.  So after all of that I was not very happy at all.

This is the paver they had to use.  As you can see
the slab was way too small.

The other hole they had to cut.

This is what happened to be brand new ceiling.

NO KEYS (Day 256)

Well we were promised to be in on the 18th May then the 25th May and you guessed it we are not in our new house.  Our Inspection on Thursday was cancelled on Thursday morning.  Painting is still not finished, front door still not the right one and the stair post has not been replaced.  The plasterers have not been back to fix cornice in Brads room or the lopsided cornice in the Alfresco.  We have been told it will all be done by this Friday, but I am so over it.  We will not be taking a house that is not finished or still with unacceptable defects.  Looks like this is going to be a battle to the end.

Beck.

The race to the end (Day 247)

Well the house has been very busy over the last few days.

We have had a new painter come to fix the mess that had been made by the previous painter.  I went and had a quick look this afternoon and the doors and skirting boards that looked matt now look fantastic.

The tilers have come back to fix and finish a few little things.  Widline the window company have been fixing the sliding doors and adjusting the windows.

Carpenters have been installing the last few door handles.  The side fence has been cleaned but still looks bad.

The carpet was also laid today, so now the house feels much more like a home and not a work site.

We still have a lot of little bits to finish and a few big things to be replaced.

Beck.

The light at the end of the tunnel is getting closer (Day 243)

 Well it's been over a month since our last post.
So I will go back to the week ending 6th April.

Week ending 6/04/12

• the insulation put into the roof 
• Electricians dug the power over from the power pole over to the house
• floor tiling started
• shower screens in downstairs and kids bathrooms installed.

Kids bathroom

Kids bath and shower.

Ensuite shower

Week ending 13/4/12

• Floor tiling finished inside the house.
• Outside tiling on the balcony, alfresco and front porch started.
• inside of cupboards installed and most of the door handles put in.
• Bathroom fittings (taps, towel rails and shower heads).
• Timber top put onto the nib wall at the top of the stairs.
• Tiling completed in all bathrooms.
• Man hole put in.
• Front pivot door installed ( but it is still wrong,  they have sent a door that pivots the wrong way and all of the light switches and power for the door strike are on the other side).

Balcony tiling

Week ending 20/04/12

• Drive way dug out.
• holes fixed in the floor.
• Air conditioner ducts installed
• Electricians installed lights and power points.

We had and inspection with our site supervisor on Saturday the 21/04/12.  Picked up a lot of problems with the paint and a list of other things I have mentioned in previous post.

My light "Chloe" that hangs above the stairs

Looking at the front door from the upstairs family room.

Week ending 27/04/2012

• Driveway was poured on Saturday 21/04/2012.
• Mirrors installed in the bathrooms
• Monday - Wednesday painter was back to fix the problems we found.
• Power to the house turned on.

Front lights at light.

Kitchen pendant lights.

Driveway done.

Week ending 04/05/2012

• Fly screens and screen doors installed.
• Drive way sealed.
• Fence and portaloo taken away.
• Kitchen company came to put on the missing handles, but they were the wrong ones
• On Thursday Derrick and his brother Kurt started the back fence.
• Derrick, myself and the kids finished the fence over the weekend.

The frame is up

The kids helping

All done

Week ending 11/05/2012

• Glass in bedroom replaced, had a chip in the window.
• Sink in the scullery installed
• bricklayers back to fix render on side of the garage,  they have to fit some brickwork, but there are no bricks to use on site.  So the brickies have to come back again once we have bricks.

So May has been very slow not much done and a lot left to finish.

On Thursday we had our PCI (Practical Completion Inspection).  One of the owners of Kurmond come out for this inspection.  The painting that was supposed to be fixed has not all been done.  The doors and window frames are supposed to be gloss and they somewhere between matt and semi gloss.  We are getting a new water tank to fit under the window, a new front door has been ordered and the stair post will be replaced.  Lots of other bits and pieces need to be completed or fixed, but we have been given a hand over date of the 25th May.  So thats two weeks to get a lot done.  Let's see how we go!

Beck.