Nearly 2 Years On...

It has been nearly 2 years since I started this blog.  So that would mean just under 2 years ago we signed our lives away and began the journey of building a new home.

We have definitely come a long way since then.

The most reoccurring questions I keep getting from everyone is "Would you build again with Metricon?" & "Were they (Metricon) any good?"

Since we have moved in (just over 6 months ago) we have had a few dramas (to say the least). A leaking water pipe and reoccurring cabinetry issues.

Let's face it Metricon is a high volume builder and as they claim No.1 as well. So even if they promise that everything is of good/high quality they can't promise that the tradesmen that they use will be too.

Once you have your 3 month inspection all your concerns are lodged and the appropriate tradespeople return to fix everything.

I lost a lot of personal time waiting around for tradesmen to come and fix things around the house.  Some were great and quick.  All arrived on time and if they didn't our Service and Warranty Manager @ Metricon would follow it up and make it happen at a convenient time for us.  That was great service.  Although I probably wouldn't have needed this service if a little more attention to detail was made before handover by the Builder (our Site Manager and the tradesmen who contract for Metricon.

So back to the questions....yes I would probably build with them again.  Yes their service was great...but they really need to work more closely with the contractors they use. Hopefully the complaints that we have made to Metricon about some of the contractors used at our build have been heard and noted.  

So where to now?  We are still working through our landscaping.  With the colder weather settling in it has been a little hard to get anything done.  Thought I would add some pics for inspiration.

Backyard decking...I think we may need a pool?

Decking and concrete - ready for paving

Aggregate Concreting...so glad we did this...

Our shed

Finally we have a drive-way and cross-over - no more dust in the house

Day 200 - Inspiration

As we hit day 200 since the start date of the build I found this bit of inspiration which I thought was fitting for where we are at the moment.

We are fast approaching our end date (not that we know when that is yet), and we can't wait!!

I hope this gives some clarity to others who are looking at building or are in the process of building!

Day 112 - Picking up the Pace

It has been a couple of weeks since my last post. Not much has changed, however this week we saw the insulation being put into the house and the brickies finally came back to finish off the garage. Not sure when the brickies will be back but it doesn't seem like they did much to the garage on Thursday!

Preparations are also being made to install the blue board. We have been told by numerous people including our SS that the blue board needs to be installed evenly and in one direction otherwise the final outcome can look awful. So with that in mind we hope our SS looks over this job carefully to ensure it's done right the first time.

Below are some pics of the house.

Tomorrow we are meeting up with a landscaper to go through our ideas and cover off our priority list. As you may have noted in my previous blogs we wanted to prioritise the landscaping in sections from most important to least. As our money tree is not growing at the moment we just want to make sure the front and alfresco areas are done first.

On another note I saw the new Metricon ad today.  The ad plays on the emotive side...I do like the ad...just a little over the top though.

See if you like it;

http://youtu.be/j-QjnENT9Bg

 

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.

Design Inspirations and Where to Look...

I thought I would take a time out in showing off our new home and start to look at interior design. 

For me this is the most exciting part of the home build. 

I get to work with a clean slate...I get to completely design the whole house and most importantly buy new things!!

I have been putting together a design board of all my favourite colours and design features.  In fact my "Inspiration" tab on the left of this blog is where I am housing most of my ideas for the interior of the house.  The new addition to this is http://www.moooi.com/collection.

I found this site when looking through the Exhibitors at the Salone del Mobile 2013 exhibition http://www.cosmit.it/en/milano held in Milan.  No I did not attend (unfortunately), however I jumped online to check out what was new in furntiure and interior design.

Mooi are not based here in Australia however Space Furniture in Richmond are their distributors.  Not sure about the rest of the capital cities but I am sure there should be Distributors across Australia...just check out the mooi site for more information.

These sites are great for design ideas...as I have mentioned in my previous blogs our "money tree" is pretty low at the moment so I am not expecting to buy the "real thing" however looking at these sites gives me a greater understanding of what I can look out for.  I intend on buying a lot of my furniture online...that is including light features. 

As I investigate further I am finding that what is available instore is often much cheaper (even with delivery) online.  Big Brown Box is a perfect example - http://www.bigbrownbox.com.au/ as too is Appliances online - http://www.appliancesonline.com.au/.

Ebay is also worthwhile as I often see great deals on pendant lights.

Enough writing from me...below are some pics from the Salone del Mobile 2013...

Euroluce - photo by Annalisa Cimmino

Euroluce - photo by Annalisa Cimmino


Below are some designs from Mooi...

 

Day 25 - The Report

Today we heard back from our Site Manager Clive. He told us that the frame should be ready to go up in the next couple of days....he also got us excited as he is hoping to have the roof on by the end of this month! We'll believe it when we see it.

We also got our slab report back from our private inspector - Houspect.

It was was quite thorough...and more importantly easy to understand and read. They also supplied a library of photos which was great....in summary there wasn't too much to fret over. In fact Clive had picked up on many of the same faults when he conducted an inspection of the slab with Metricon's inspectors.

Below is a summary report from Houspect;

IDENTIFIED DEFECTS REQUIRING ATTENTION

1. There is a hump in the slab ranging from approximately 10 to 15 millimetres in the dining room near the study wall area, and midway along the east side.

2. There is a low point midway along the study on the garage side ranging from approximately 5 to 10 millimetres deep.

The slab surface levels need attention. The Building Commission’s Guide to Standards and Tolerances, Section 2.08 Levelness of timber and concrete floors states; Except where documented otherwise, new floors are defective if within the first 24 months they differ in level by more than 10 mm in any room or area, or more than 4 mm in any 2 metre length. The overall deviation of floor level to entire building footprint shall not exceed 20 millimetres.

3. The side fence on the western boundary is falling down.

So all in all we are hoping to move on to the next stage of our build this week...more pics to follow.