Landscaping...nearly there!

We have had our ups and downs with the landscaping and now we are nearly there.  Yes we are now only a couple of weeks away before finishing off our backyard.  It's only taken us oh say 10 months!  

If you read back on some of my posts I had been looking for landscapers well before we got the keys to our house.  In fact I was hoping that the landscaper we chose would work on the house even before we got the keys, but that was not to happen. That said we are now working with another landscaper who provided us with a great timeline as to when he would start the job and finish the job.  Which is something I suggest you get in writing on your quote.

Good landscapers are hard to come by and from what we learned are always taking on new business - great for them - not so for you when all you want is a front yard and a driveway so that you don't keep bringing dirt into the house. 

Having a timeline in place allows both you and the landscaper to know when things need to be finished and also helps you to budget efficiently.

That said we now have a great front yard and we are just finalising paving in the backyard.  We also recently put up some decorative screens from QAQ Decorative & Privacy Screens (www.qaqscreens).  They are just awesome.  They really to make a great backdrop to my kitchen window and pantry windows.

 Below are some pics of the landscaping so far.  Feel free to post questions if you need more info on plants or landscaping...

The start of our front yard

Getting ready for pavers

All coming together

Plants, Mulch and grass on its way

Pavers in and waiting on the instant grass

1.5 Months In......

Yes it has been a while since my last post.

As you can imagine getting the keys to a new house is pretty daunting.  So much to organise.  Insurance, change of address, moving, and buying new furniture!  Put in Christmas and New Year and here we are!

We are beginning to settle in to our new house.  The kids are loving the space and having their own rooms.  Finally we have an ensuite.  It was worth the 10 year wait!

There have been a few hiccups since we moved in.  Luckily we have our Site Supervisor who still looks after us one month in.  He was great.  Very accommodating and made sure all the tradies who came to the house after we moved in fitted into my schedule not theirs!

With Christmas and New Year so close to our move there have a been a couple of issues with tradies.  Obviously everything closes up for the holidays so we are still waiting on some urgent things to be fixed.  This I can tell you is very frustrating! I am hoping in the coming days we will get some responses back from Metricon and the tradesman in question. 

In saying that any small issues/defects we find in the house we need to note them down and then in 3 months (since receiving the keys), Metricon will do a walk through to note down any issues.  Let me tell you that the list is long! 

That's not to say we are not happy with the end result.  In fact the overall building process with Metricon has been good.  Bar a few small hiccups here and there our Site Supervisor and Service Coordinator were fantastic.  Always there to help.

Now that we are in the house we have started to focus our attention on landscaping.  After much searching we settled on Ben from Daviscapes.  You may have seen his work or heard of his name as there are a few blogs out there that are or have used him.

We found him to be very approachable, honest and helpful.  In saying that he is also very busy so we are waiting patiently for the job to begin.  My fingers are crossed that he starts our decking next week.  We would love to have our daughter's birthday in Feb here at the house so I can only hope that it all comes together by then.

I promise to keep up with my posts.  Especially the landscaping as I have noticed not many build blogs go passed the "Got the Keys" post!  I think it is important to show the full story...so watch this space!

Day 240 - We have Keys!

We are very excited to announce after 235 days since we started building we received the keys to our dream home.

Such an exhausting day filled with lots of emotion. But so worth it.

We walked through the house with our Site Supervisor and most of the imperfections we found during our last walk through had been fixed. There were still a few things that were not finished, such as;

1. No ducted vacuum unit. Apparently the unit is always installed after handover as it is one thing tradies like to steal! 

(I think Metricon need to install security cameras on all their sites!)

2. Some of the walk in robe doors needed to be changed completely. Could have been done before settlement however they needed to wait on materials to be delivered!

I guess they were the two main things. This didn't stop handover though. As exciting as it was to get the keys I really thought we should have waited until all of these things had been completed. Reason being is now I have to organise times to be at home so that these things can be installed and fixed. Very annoying as I just don't have the time to sit around and wait for tradies to come....and we all know how that works!!

Our Site Supervisor has been fantastic. In fact he has helped me coordinate some of these tradies and has forced them to fit into my schedule. 

Not sure how other big volume builders work however our Site Supervisor is still looking after us for another month. So if there are any issues we can still call him to get things fixed which is very reassuring considering we have already noticed a few issues since getting the keys.

After three months Metricon will come and see us and check in on any issues we have had. Hopefully there will be no major issues, but again good to know that they will check the house.

I have a busy week ahead with curtains being installed during the week as well as more tradies coming to fix a few things at the house.  

Looking forward to settling in the house with the kids.  They are really excited to have their on rooms and space. After living on top of each other for the last few years it will be a big change for all of us.

Kids bathroom

Entrance

Dining room - love those windows!

Kid's entertainment/living area

Day 226 - 1 Week Till Handover

Sorry for not updating you earlier, but things have been manic....especially with getting things organised for the house.

We had our final walk through last week. In the lead up to the walk through I read heaps of blogs about running through that all important last walk through before handover. 

So many things to take in. The one thing that seemed to come up a lot was to keep a running list of all the imperfections that you notice. Not just during the walk through but from Day 1. Also make sure you run through your plans and ensure that all those variations you made along the way have been adhered to. Especially any electrical or plumbing issues.

Before our walk through began our SS told us that he had walked through the house with a Metricon Area Manager and they had already picked up some small issues. 

Lucky for us we had our on private building inspector run through the house whilst we were there doing our final inspection. What we didn't pick up he did!! Let's just say that we would have had leaking toilets if our private inspector hadn't double checked the toilets after we did. 

This was not Metricon's fault though. Our SS told us that at the end of many builds there are some "tradies" that think it is ok to steal small parts and screws from the house. So between our SS surveying the house and us doing the walk through someone came through our house with "sticky fingers". 

Our walk through took 3hrs. A lot longer than I had planned. We just wanted it to be thorough. One of the things I liked about our SS taking us through was that he didn't really down play any of the issues we found. He was honest and made sure that everything we queried would be looked into. 

Obviously we will need to wait for handover to ensure that everything is sorted, but I do have faith that he will get the job done right.

With the handover creeping up on us we are yet to finalise all our white goods and I feel a little rushed. I guess the build had been so long in he making that now that we are finally here it just doesn't seem real!!

Like many other Metricon blogs I have read we also have heaps of purple (not red) dots around the house. I took heaps of photos to make sure I remembered where they all were!!

Metricon also provided us with a list of the issues we had. At handover we will walk through them all and make sure everything has been taken care of.

Looking forward to updating you next week after handover.

Day 208 - Getting Close

I have been informed that we are only weeks away from getting our keys. Well hopefully!!

Everything seems to be coming together.  The fireplace is in and final touches are being made to the painting and staining.

You may recall I mentioned in my previous blogs that we would need to stain the stairs after handover. Metricon did not offer the service.  Well we got to meet and chat with the painters who offered thier services to stain the staircase.  This was great news as they were also staining our front door and stacker doors.

At least everything would match!

Not much more to report on. We are yet to settle on purchasing whitegoods. I'm sure we will need to do this soon as time is getting the better of us.

Thought I would post some updated pictures...

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 138 - Kitchen and Cabinetry

For a long time now we have been patiently waiting for the kitchen and cabinets to be delivered. Well the wait is over.  This week has been a busy one.  We now have a roof on our garage and the kitchen, Butler's Pantry, wardrobes have been installed.  Oh yes and the powder room, laundry and the bathrooms all have cabinets now!  I am really excited to see so much happening at the house, however I have been warned that the pace will slow down soon.

Our Site Supervisor has been churning through the house and has been really good with responding to our queries.  In my previous post I mentioned that we had hit "lock up" stage.  Well we checked the contract to see what "lock up" stage was and in actual fact it was a little different to what we had initially thought.  To cut a long story short we had our Private Inspector go through the house late last week. We received the report on Friday and sent it to our Site Supervisor and Consultant. We have now reached "lock up" stage...so bring on the fixing stage!

Below are some pics of the house from late last week....

Installation of the kitchen

 

 

Study nook and Fridge area

 

 

Butler's Pantry - Blum cupboard doors....awesome. 

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!

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 63 - First Look of Upstairs!!

It has been some time since my last post. 

The house is still being bricked up and so I wanted to give it some time before I posted more photos... 

We went passed the house today only to find the "brickies" working!  On a Saturday...we were impressed!  Looks like Metricon are running on a strict timeline and these guys need to meet it!

It is funny though...there are a few houses being built around where we live and most of them started construction when we did.  None of the houses have roofs, most are still having the frames put up.  I have to say Metricon have been very efficient in getting things organised.  That is definetly a big plus.

There has also been some development inside the house. The internal cavity doors were delivered and installed downstairs which was exciting. They still need to be painted though...so everything is still very raw.

We also got a glimpse of the work that is being done upstairs....





Main Bedroom - looking out to the balcony
 

Main Bathroom upstairs



Main Bedroom - looking into Ensuite

 

Brickwork on the house

Day 50 - Let's brick it up!

We had a call from our SS during the week. He advised us that bricking will start on Monday. We went passed the house today. Preparation had begun for bricking. Here are some photos to show the progress so far....

Day 44 - Meet & Greet With our SS

Today we had the opportunity to go through the house with our Site Supervisor Clive.

We were so grateful that Clive arranged a Sunday appointment. As my husband and I both work it is often hard to arrange inspections during the week.

We had so many questions and Clive walked us through the house. He also gave us some interesting things to think about...like; where do we think the TV's will be mounted on the wall etc... Having said that if we give our SS the approximate height then he will make sure the appropriate frames are made so the TV would have sufficient posts to be mounted correctly.

As we walked through the house Our SS also showed us how the sliding doors would work and also told us about the logistics of the water piping inside the house.

We also had concern regarding the network cabling. Our SS told us that we would be able to have another walk through with the electrician and himself to make sure everything would be in place before the plastering commenced.

Below are some more pics of the house...oh yes and we now have a roof!

Day 38 - Council Woes

Our Metricon build so far is going well...as far as I can see.

They have began framing up the roof and the scaffolding is up!

A few weeks ago we had an email come through from the Council. Metricon put some fencing up around the nature strip tree (to keep it safe). The Council did their routine visit and found that the fencing was obstructing people's path! What path? We don't even have a footpath - that is another story all together!

In turn the Council asked us (owners of the Asset Protection Permit) to get rid of the fencing. We notified Metricon immediately. We called our Site Manager and also mentioned it to our Customer Service Co-Ordinator.

It has now been a couple of weeks and the fencing is still there! Not sure why!! Now we have been given a Notice to Comply from the Council.

I am really disappointed in Metricon. Firstly our SS should really have taken it down when we first talked about it and secondly our Customer Service Co-Ordinator should have chased it up! Not us!

The thing that upsets me the most is that when we were first told we had to apply for the Asset Protection I questioned and queried Metricon as I felt it was their duty to take out the Permit...they were working on the property...they should be liable not me. Metricon were so quick to tell me that everything would be ok and that they would comply with everything...now look where we are!

Anyway I have actioned this issue with Metricon and I hope to see this fixed tomorrow as the Council will be visiting the property on Wednesday.

Will keep you all posted.

Day 34 - Reach for the Sky

This morning we took a walk through the house. Metricon have started to frame up the 2nd storey which is really exciting...not much more to report on.  We will have a walk through with the Site Manager, (Clive) next week so we are starting to collate all our questions. Below are some pics of the job so far....

Day 30 - And then there were frames...

I have been meaning to post these pics for the past couple of days....we now have the ground floor frames up...so exciting!

It seems like everything has happened pretty quickly but I am guessing with Anzac Day this week the Metricon team will want to get as much work done as possible....so they can have their 3 day week....(I am guessing tradies will have Friday off as well).

Clive, our Site Manager, has mentioned to us that the 2nd floor frames should go up this week so there will be more photos to come....

Below are a couple of photos we took yesterday in the beautiful Autumn sun.....

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.

Day 24 - Private Inspection

With the slab down the next step for us is the Slab Inspection from our private inspector.

Metricon also have their own inspectors but we have chosen to employ an independent inspector to oversee all the stages of our build.  We figure the extra money we spend will be well worth it in the end. Peace of mind is everything when you are building a home like ours!

We were given a few names of private inspectors but in the end we chose Houspect - http://www.houspect.com.

The company came highly recommended and Philip (whom we have been dealing with) has been so helpful and thorough. 

Philip guided us through the process and also advised us on allowing the slab to settle after it had been laid for 7-10 days. Hence the reason why we are waiting for more to happen at the house.

The slab was laid on Thursday so to my calculations the frames should be going up sometime later this week.

Our private inspector went this morning to inspect the slab and we will receive a report tomorrow.  All things going to plan we hope to hear good news. Keep you posted!

True to their word Metricon sent us a text message the day the slab was laid for the 1st stage (base) payment. The text read - an invoice will be sent to your email and also a hard copy is in the mail. They timed it so well that as soon as I read the text the email came through and today we got the letter...these guys don't skip a beat when it comes to getting paid! All I ask is that the job is done properly the first time!

It is important to note though that Metricon do not wait for the private inspection reports etc...they require payment still within the allocated time frame, so if you are looking at a private inspector make sure they are free to do the job and have the capacity to provide you with a report ASAP.

Will update you on the slab inspection tomorrow.

Day 20 - Presenting....The Slab

We thought it may not happen today because of the rain...but the team came through.

The slab was laid today. I drove passed whilst the tradies were making thier final touches. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.