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.....

Day 1

Today marked day 1 of the building process.

As planned the excavators started working on the block to make way for the slab. I was fortunate enough to be able to meet with our Manager for stage 1 of the building process. He was great. I drove to the site today and started to take a few photos. John (the Stage 1 Site Manager) came to greet me and take me through what was happening.

John is not going to be our Builder however he will be overseeing Stage 1 which includes the slab.

He advised us that they expect the slab to be laid by April 5 (which is 2 weeks away). We requested that the slab sit for 5 days before they commence work on the house. We have heard that it is worthwhile letting the slab sit for a few weeks (preferably) as this lets the slab settle on the site. Many have questioned this due to the advancements in concrete technology, but we thought there was no harm in letting it sit for a few days.

The only draw back we had today was when the excavators found a septic tank in the ground on site. Obviously they removed it however they have to charge us to take it away!!

John estimated the cost to be around $600. Seems that we may need to start shaking that money tree we planted a few months back!

Final Construction Drawings: Signed

Today was a very big day for us.

We finally signed off our Final Construction Drawings.

We received the final construction drawings about 2 weeks ago and since then we have been emailing Metricon with queries ranging from a missing window in the main bathroom to the height of Powerpoints and TV cables.

My advice to anyone at this stage of the building process is to allow a good week to read through the drawings. Even showing a few friends can help (sometimes), to help find things that may not be obvious.

I have to say that our joinery consultant Leo was amazing during this process. He found his own discrepancies and alerted us to a few issues. He also took the time to call us after hours to make sure we were happy with where he had allocated Powerpoints and cabling (where we have cabinets).

Leo definitely made us feel better about our choices.

It's amazing how you can look over a plan heaps of times and still find problems. We even found one small thing this morning! The Metricon team were very patient with us and I have to say we really did push them to the limit with changes!

I did want to add this piece of advice, when looking through the plans have a good think about how you are going to use the rooms and where the best place for Powerpoints etc will be. Above the bench tops, inside cabinetry? Are the Powerpoints ok to be poistioned at 1500mm off the ground or do you need them higher/lower? These were the little things that drove us mental.

So now we have been advised that our file has been handed over and we should have a start date very soon. I will be in touch with an update soon...

Checking it Twice...

It has been a little over a week now since we received our final construction drawings.  In that week we have been back to Metricon four times to correct the drawings.

The 1st time we noticed they forgot to include a window to the main bathroom. The 2nd, 3rd & 4th times we had to make sure that power points/gas and water outlets were placed in the correct positions.

Keeping all of our correspondence on file helped at this part of the process as some things we discussed a few months ago were not actioned in our plans and only because we had it in writing did Metricon agree to fix the issues. So make sure you keep all discussions etc on file.

Now you may or may not know this but when you get to this stage of the building process with Metricon anything new you want to change/upgrade or move will cost $2,500.

The only changes that can be made are discrepancies that were in the initial plans that are omitted out of the final drawings.

All our changes have been errors or discrepancies on Metricon's part - which gets us a little worried at this stage of the game.  Hence the importance of checking every little detail twice before signing the drawings.

Also once you sign off the plans - that's it!  These are the plans that the builder will use to construct your home. Which is a little scary!

We did sign off on our plans today, which was a relief to say the least.  Metricon called earlier to advise us that they have found a few things that were omitted from our plans and that will be updated - we need to sign them again!

As we are upgrading the kitchen/butler's pantry and also including some additional cabinetry there were some power points and ducted vacuum points that were omitted - which we never would have picked up on. So thanks Metricon for being on top of this!

We are still hoping to start building by the end of the month so fingers crossed we don't get any more delays.

Demolition Day 2

So the demolition team are nearly finished....

Here are some more pics...

Demolition Day

Almost 10 years to the day we received the keys to our home, today we began the next phase of our lives - demolishing the house to make way for our new Metricon home.

I didn't know how I would feel today but when my husband sent the first photos of the knockdown I just felt relief and shock...this was actually happening. No turning back now!

That's enough from me today....I'll let the photos speak for themselves....

BEFORE PHOTO;

AFTER PHOTOS:

The whole process usually take a few days so I will post some more photos at the end of the week!

Saying goodbye

Well just thought I would post some pics of our house....that will soon be no more. The kitchen is gone, as too are the wardrobes. Although it won't be knocked down until after Christmas and new Year, we are all ready to go...