Week 25: Handover week

Mon 17 Feb 2014 - Sun 23 Feb 2014

Monday: This is the handover week.. We almost there. It will not be the end, but a start of a new chapter of our life.

We found a tradie working on our home today to patch and paint today with handover still on track this wednesday.

Wednesday: handover day. Meeting with SS on site then have to drive all the way to Narrelan office near Campbeltown. 

Thursday: we brought out from the old home one full lot of stuff to the new house as well as waiting for the delivery of the appliances as part of the build. We were meeting solar panel guy, electrician installing downlights, waiting for FedEx delivery of our DoorBot doorbell, installing our wifi and testing the NBN, outstanding shower screen install, blinds and security door install and wardrobe company final measure. Pheww what a day. 

We contacted Sydney Wardrobe, Impressive Wardrobe and Stylish Wardrobe and we went ahead with Stylish Wardrobe. It's the same company that WH uses for their wardrobe, pantry shelving, shower screen, walking robe for the build. Got the contact from SS.

For anyone wondering what is DoorBot doorbell. You can find out more here http://www.getdoorbot.com it was started as a kickstarter project that try to make a wifi connected doorbell. You can pick up and see and talk to your doorbell from anywhere on your mobile phone. How cool is that. :-) costs US$200. Initial review so far pretty good. Setup was a breeze. Quality and the attention of details are remarkable. I'm happy so far considering a video intercom doorbell was quoted over AU$400 excluding installation cost.  

Friday: all the appliances delivered yesterday were installed on this day. This includes Blanco microwave, Blanco rangehood, dishwasher, hot water system and Air Con installation. Ready for big move tomorrow. 

Week 24: Carpet, PCI, Driveway, NBN

Mon 10 Feb 2014 - Sun 16 Feb 2014

Monday: carpet is being installed today and PCI on tomorrow.

Tuesday: Finally done the PCI today. Finally as well meet our SS for the first time. He is just a nice person. Very patient to go through each room, outside and inside. He explained about the termite guard and few things about the handover. The handover date is .... next Wednesday... :-) YAY!!

PCI wise, We couldn't find any big issues.. pretty much excellent craftmanship build. Few small things like 1 brick chipped to be replaced, a few bricks to be cleaned with tradies hand marks everywhere and several un-sealed lines around the windows and corners. The SS has been very meticulous. He said he will be putting lots of blue dots for the painters to touch up tomorrow too. The painters will not like it but that's their job. :-)

Wednesday: Driveway Framework finalise today

Thursday: Driveway is done

Friday: NBN is done

Thats from a mobile. It's higher from desktop. As high as 90Mbps. 

Week 23: Site Cleaned, fence down, flooring

Mon 3 Feb 2014 - Sun 9 Feb 2014

Monday: Site Cleaned today.

Good news and Bad news.
Bad news is I forgot to put aside some bricks to be used for the mailbox. :-(
The Good news is the site cleaned, :-) and some other bit and pieces like shower screen and wardrobe shelving is done from last week.

UPDATE: Thanks to our friend from the forum, dotgif, sent us a picture that shows the cleaner left one lot of bricks for us. SS actually remember that I asked him many2 months ago to leave some for mailbox.

So there's no bad news after all. :-)

Wednesday:

Termite Control installed around the house

Fence taken down

Flooring with Timbernate Brushbox started

Side retaining wall started

Friday: Driveway framework in place. Now I need to put the conduits before the concrete starts

Week 22: PCI date advised, house nearly finished

Mon 27 Jan 2014 - Sun 2 Feb 2014

Tuesday: Over the weekend we were advised on the date for informal walkthrough. The date is Fri, 14 Feb 2014. SS didn't mention the term PCI, he only mentioned informal walkthrough. Go figure. At least nearly finished.

We also decided to get an independent inspection organised before then as they would know what to inspect that we'd probably missed. We are very happy with the work from Wisdom Homes so far.

Some pics:
Stove exhaust

powerpoint and network point underneath the kitchen island

We were thinking or adding a timber slats divider near our living area. I was researching on this and not many information in this forum. Does anyone know anything about this. This is the picture that we're thinking of.

Week 21: SS is back, PCI date to be advised soon

Mon 20 Jan 2014 - Sun 26 Jan 2014

Monday: Finally spoke with our Site Supervisor to get an update for our build after the Christmas and New Year industry shutdown. Finally SS advises us that he will give us the date of PCI and possible handover date this coming friday.

SS mentioned that this week will be the final coat from the painters, roof rails taken down, down pipes to be connected to main drainage and few internal bits and pieces.

SS also don't mind for us to arrange for the NBN installation prior the handover. We'll just have to advise him the installation date so he will arrange to open the gate.

Thursday:
We found out that it is important to know your landscape design and the position of the house/slab level early during the landscape design planning. We also found out the important of this quite recently when we have to fill in quite a lot to make our backyard in level condition. This requires two sets of retaining wall because ThePonds requirements only allows max 600mm high retaining wall. If the slab/house level was placed lower, we would not need the second retaining wall. One retaining wall costs us close to $10K. So our solution at the moment is to use one single retaining wall but let the backyard a bit of a slope. We're a bit lucky that we can have a bit of a slope but just in case that your situation may be different.

Anyway, you have to have an opportunity to liaise with a landscape designer, either via WH landscape or external contact, to come up with landscape plan to be submitted to the council for a DA approval. It might be useful to check with the landscape designer the best way for the slab to sit in a particular level with your choice of landscape design.

I think you have to worry about this right after you have the first drawing after they survey the land. Then when you gave the drawing to the landscape designer you can worry and ask if you need a retaining wall and probably adjust the proposed slab level to be adjusted with the landscape design so you have a nice and level backyard.

On other note. We've heard from Wisdom Landscape that our driveway can be installed in about 1.5 week from today. So it's great. That means we're very close with our handover. :-)

Friday:

Finally at least we can share some pics from this week. 

Front piers in moroka finally painted. 

Moroka for side window also painted all the way now 

Linen shelf installed

Designer front door handle

Kitchen splash back installed

Week 20: First Week for the year

Mon 13 Jan 2014 - Sun 19 Jan 2014

Monday:
Happy New Year everyone. It seems that the tiler visited to finish the tile in the laundry last week. Today we saw the Painters there to paint the house for the next 2 days. One of them mentioned that SS will be back next week. At the same time we finalised the landscape plan for driveway and right side retaining wall with Wisdom Landscape. We've also engaged with external landscaper for the rest of the landscape to find out our options.

Week 19: Last week for the year

Mon 16 Dec 2013 - Sun 22 Dec 2013

This is the last week for the build for this year. Unfortunately we do not have handover before Christmas as we'd hoped for. Nevertheless the build has been so far has been consistent to what the Site Supervisor had planned.

The progress so far are the electricals and bits and pieces such as sink, tap, etc are all done. What's left to do for next year are the shower screens and flooring. We're going to have Timbernate Brushbox flooring for most of ground floor and Redbook Green Sustainable Carpet for first floor.

Then last but not least the cleaning of the house and PCI. Yes PCI was estimated to be early Feb because SS will be back after the 20 Jan. Not sure if there will be any work between end of this week until end of Jan. Hope so.

For anyone reading this, have a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year 2014. Be safe.