It has been around 4 weeks since the last update. For the first 2 weeks not a lot happened. However since then there have been a few changes and all of a sudden the waterproofing was done, the first part of the painting has been completed and the front facade has been rendered.
It all started back on Feb 2nd. Waterproofing had been completed and the plaster prepared for painting. We arranged for our independent inspector to complete a visit to check the build before the next steps.
Unfortunately when I received the inspection report back it was very disheartening to see many issues which had already been listed on previous reports. I couldn't understand why these wouldn't have been fixed yet so I typed up an angry email to our client liaison.
The 4 main points I had issues with were as follows.
- Vapor barrier to protect the slab from the weather had not been rectified. This had now been picked up on 3 different independent inspections over a 3 month period.
- The roof, bricks and gutters had all be completed the gutters had been left very full of rubbish and mortar. Had been picked up on previous inspections.
- Temp down pipes to stop water splashing everywhere when it rained had never been installed even though it had been mentioned in two different inspection reports.
- Walls were checked during the pre-plaster inspection and found to be bowed and not straight. It was mentioned that the frame would be fixed prior to plaster however apparently it wasn't, meaning that we now have multiple walls which have visible bends.
Within an hour I received a phone call back from the Regional Construction Manager basically saying that there had been a few issues and he would be taking over our build supervision personally.
Since that day the painting began (without fixing the walls no not sure what they are going to do about that) and the front facade was rendered.
I had also had another good phone call with the Regional Manager who managed to put my mind at ease about a few things and we have arranged to catch up on site next week so he can personally go through the inspection report to explain them. I'll provide an update to this walk through next week.
In between all of the above happening we also had to arrange appointments on site with Into Blinds, Melbourne Fencing Specialists and A Better Driveway. It was a bit of a juggling act however we have managed to finalise our blind quote and arrange quotes for the fence and driveway.
Fencing
For our fencing needs we have a total of 89 linear meters. This includes a 3.5m fence and gate from the garage to the boundary.
For a double paling fence at that distance and a gate the total project comes to $11,150 with our share being $6,038.
The fence quote was always going to be more expensive than normal as we require double sided palings which means there will be no rails to climb on either side of the fence. As we have a swimming pool we really want to make sure that kids can't climb over the fence from our neighbors property or use the railings to climb over the pool fence on our side.
It looks like we will go with this quote as we were very happy with their service during the quote. They will also assist with sending out Notices to Fence to our 5 neighbouring blocks so we won't have to worry about chasing them up ourselves.
Driveway
For our driveway needs we have a total of 154m2. This includes around 25m2 for our sideway. Because our garage is set back 10m on the long side and we have a 3 car garage we always knew this would be expensive. We have also extended the width to cover down the side of the home beside the garage to so we have some extra parking for guests. This effectively means we will have a driveway that is 4 car widths wide.
We will be choosing a charcoal colour exposed aggregate which means the expected price is $13,777. Pretty expensive however considering the amount we need it is acceptable. It works out to be around $89 per square meter which is pretty average for exposed aggregate.
Blinds
In a previous blog post I went through our blind details.
http://tropezienadventure.blogspot.com.au/2016/12/blind-quote.html
During our meeting with the installer they just came out to take some final measurements and help us choose colours so they could start production and have the blinds ready for hand over.
It was lucky that they did come out as it turns out when the salesman did our initial quote off the plans he wrote the numbers backwards so all the blinds would have been wrong.
We have also chosen to add a small blind to the glass window beside the front door. Initially we were going to leave this clear so we could see out however seeing how wide it is in person and how visible it makes the inside of the house we will add a blind for privacy. We can still see who is at our door by opening the blind first.
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| You can see the window to the right of the door. Wider than we thought. |
Finally, as it turns out we are not allowed to excavate the pool until the house is finished and handed over. This was a real bummer as we had our hopes high after the discussion with our previous supervisor.
Being allowed to have the pool excavated before hand over would mean that soon as it is handed over and we are able to move in we can get the driveway and fence installed. At the moment we can't get the fence installed before the pool as they need the access and we can't have the driveway installed as the pool excavation trucks will damage it.
It is a bit of a catch 22 however we will keep working on Boutique and see if they can came around! Hopefully our neighbours on the North side of us don't start building soon so we can use their land to gain access to the pool area!
