Day 96 - Meeting with our SS

Today we met with our Site Supervisor at the house.

We spent just over 2 hours going over all our questions and queries.  Our Site Supervisor was great.  He managed to answer most of our questions and also showed us some of the work that still needs to be done in the house. 

We still have a few things that need to be fixed but all in all the meeting went well.  It does make a difference when you can talk one on one with the builder and find out why things are taking longer than they should.

I may have already mentioned this but I will say it again.  It is really important you have everything in writing...and that you are specific with your builder as to how you want things to be.  As there are so many different people working on your house at any one time if you keep on top of the builders you are more likely to find mistakes early so that they can be fixed.

The good thing is that we are all on the same page with our Site Supervisor.  We want things done right the first time. 

As it has been some time since I last posted a photo of the house I thought I would add one in.  Unfortunately you can't see much because of all the scaffolding.



Day 92 - Where is the Love?

Day 92 and we are still no closer to lock up. The bricklayers have done as much as they can (so I am told), but they still haven't finished off the garage.

Our Site Supervisor has told us that they need to finish off the piping/drainage on the side of the garage and until they do this the garage can't be finished.  This is holding up everything else. Without the garage up they can't start putting the blue board up and so the list goes on. Fingers crossed this gets sorted this week.

Communication at Metricon headquarters has also ceased...We should be getting weekly updates from our Site Supervisor but that doesn't seem to be happening - unless we contact him.  This is getting a little frustrating considering we have heaps of questions and queries that we want answers on. In saying that our Site Supervisor has been great so far....when we get a chance to chat with him. In fact I was lucky enough to speak to him on Friday so I believe we will be catching up this week. Finally.

Such a huge volume builder like Metricon I guess it is to be expected that our Site Supervisor has more than one home to look after, keeping him very busy.  That being said this one home is our home and therefore I expect a lot from Metricon.  Not only in the final product but also in the service along the way.

I am sure many of you will agree with me that signing a Building Contract is a big step.  For us it was years in the making, so I guess when it comes to expecting a detailed phone call once a week with answers to our questions - it's not a lot to ask or expect.  I also know that there will be some weeks that go by which there is nothing major to update us on, however we have a list of 17+ queries sitting with Metricon at the moment we're waiting to get answers to.

This is not a personal attack on our Site Supervisor at all.  Like I said he is doing the best he can and we appreciate his honesty and help along the way.  This is more of an understanding that I think Metricon need to work at.

If the Site Supervisor is too busy then we need someone else to contact us and let us know where the build is at.  Either way we should be getting this phone call.

It would be great to hear if anyone else has had the same types of issues a long the way.

Day 86 - Brick by Brick

I was hoping to post new photos of the house but the scaffolding is still up for the bricklayers to finish off the bricking. So not much to see really.

It seems like the bricklayers have been bricking up our house forever!  This weather hasn't helped at all. It was encouraging to see the brickies working on the weekend. I guess they want to finish the job too!

In the meantime we have been meeting with some landscapers to get quotes for landscaping the house. 

We put together a brief for the landscapers.  We basically prioritised the important jobs that we wanted done first.  We are hoping to break up the work in stages so that we don't have to compromise on the things we want.

It took us 3 hours to put the brief together.  We added photos and designs that we liked and we also included what colours and themes we had chosen for inside the house.  There are so many things to think about besides what plants you want.

As we are only in the initial stages of planning for the landscaping I will put together a more detailed blog on the landscaping once we choose which direction we will take.

In the meantime I promise to posts some new photos of the house.  We are hoping to have most of the bricking finished this week.  Watch this space!

Day 75 - Slow Progress & My Metricon - How Can it be Improved?

The past two weeks has seen no big changes to the build.  Things have definetly slowed down. Snails pace is the best way to describe it.  We had to wait for scaffolding to be installed for the bricklayers to finish off the bricking...that took a week to arrive.  Then the weather turned ugly.  All in all we are hoping to see some more work done in the coming week so I will update you all with more pictures soon.

In saying that this week I asked Metricon to set us up with the "My Metricon" feature on their website - this is for Victorian customers only.  If you are building with Metricon this feature allows you to look at the progression of your build.  It also provides information on "Your Team Members" (this would be your Site Supervisor and Customer Consultant).

Below is a grab from the Metricon website which outlines the benefits of My Metricon;

Benefits at a glance

• Ability to check the progress of your home at your own time and pace;
• Access detailed information about your new home, at the click of a mouse;
• Keep up-to-date on the progress of your home without having to contact Metricon staff;
• Access to a large information resource; and
• Learn more about the process of building your home, at every step.
• We look forward to welcoming you to my metricon

I must say I was a little disappointed with the site.  Besides the pretty graph on the front page that shows you how far you are into your build, there wasn't much more on this site that was helpful.  There was a Studio M tab which just took you through what Studio M was, but this is not that helpful.  If you are already a Metricon customer then you already know what Studio M is. Not only that, you have already picked your interiors so why would I want to know what's new at Ceaserstone??

I think they should update this tab to allow you to see what you chose at Studio M.  It should highlight what colours you chose and then maybe direct you to the Metricon Look Book to help you choose the right interiors. Not just colours but also what products you chose. 

At this stage of the building process unless you took heaps of photos etc you would have forgotten some things you chose at Studio M.  Of course you can always go through your paperwork but wouldn't it be easier to have it at your fingertips online??  Wouldn't this add to the whole Metricon build experience?

Also I think they should add another tab - Variations!  Yep, it should highlight all the variations you have made and when you made them and who made them.  This would probably be useful for everyone including Metricon. This is probably a huge job for Metricon to undertake - not sure how their IT Programmers would take it.

If you are going to have this website service for your clients then they should make it worthwhile.  According to the Metricon guidelines I should be getting regular updates from my Site Supervisor and Consultant on a weekly basis, so the bar graph on the site is something I should already know....and I do...I have a great Site Manager and Consultant!  What I am trying to get at is there needs to be a more personable approach to the "My Metricon" service.

On another note Metricon's Lookbook is a great addition to their website.  It has so many inspiring design ideas and I am always looking at the site to get ideas.....