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 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 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 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.

Day 14 - Just slab it on!!

Metricon started working on our block two weeks ago. Since then we have seen a lot of excavation and piping but no sign of the slab!

Initially we were advised that the slab would be started today, however with Easter this has been delayed.  The weather probably didn't help either.

We are a little dissapointed as we were looking forward to having the slab down today.  I guess we have to wait a little longer.

In saying that I would have expected a phone call from Metricon during the week to tell us what was happening, but instead I had to do the chasing!  I sent an email yesterday afternoon asking if the slab was going to be done today and I got an email back today from our Customer Co-Ordinator advising that the company co-ordinating the slab preparation were "running behind".

So this is where we are at;

 

The drains have now been finished.

There is now some spoil on site which needs to be removed over the next few days.

The base preparation will begin next Wednesday.

The pour inspections will take place on Thursday or Friday.

Slab predicted to be poured on Monday the 15^th, awaiting confirmation

 

I have to say I am happy with the prompt and detailed response from Metricon, just not happy that I have to do the chasing!  But I guess it is something I will need to get used to!

 

We are yet to meet our builder but I am sure that won't be too far away.

 

Yesterday I met with a Landscaper to discuss landscaping ideas for the house (front and back).  I nearly fell off my chair when I heard how much it could potentially cost! In saying that I want to make sure we get it right.  We will have a fairly decent backyard when the house is finished so we are expecting to add decking and a kids area to play.

 

Will keep you posted on what the quote will look like...hopefully it won't be a 6 figure sum!

 

If anyone has any ideas or advice on landscaping I would love to hear about them!

 

 

 

 

 

Day 3 + A Peek at Coburg Hill Display's

Just wanted to share some pictures with you of the excavating job so far on the house.

Being Day 3 there has not been any huge changes however I thought you might be interested in seeing how the job is going.



Excavators hard at work this morning

Retaining wall being constructed

Bricks (Homestead Tan) were delivered on Monday



On the weekend we went to visit the new Metricon display centre at Coburg Hill (in Melbourne).  I wanted to go and see what new decor and designs Metricon had.  Now that we have started the building process I wanted to get some interior design ideas.

Also I wanted to take a "sticky beak" at the new designs!

The Coburg Hill project is huge...however the blocks are tiny! 

Below is a link to the Metricon homes currently on display at Coburg Hill;

http://www.metricon.com.au/melbourne/homes/metro

The display that I liked the most was the Metro 32. Got to be honest there are only 2 Metricon homes on display! 

Even though the blocks are small (I did mention that didn't I?), I really loved the open plan - especially the stacking doors leading to the outdoor area.

Below are some pics of the display....

We also went to see a Simonds Home display - their Masterpiece range. I have to say it was pretty dissapointing.  There was no living area and the BBQ area didn't even have room for a table!

It felt so cramped compared to the Metricon displays.

Above is an image of the Simonds Masterpiece home. 

http://www.masterpiecehomes.com.au/coburghill/#coburg_hill

Will post another update towards the end of the week with more pics!





"So you don't want the standard range?"

Today we had our tile selection at Beaumont Tiles.

Let's just say we had to shake that money tree again...really hard!

I was really disappointed with Metricon's range of standard tiles. All of the standard range were ceramic tiles..which were ok, but if you wanted tiles bigger than 400x400 then there was nothing to choose from.

I knew we were going to have to upgrade even before I walked in the store, because I wanted porcelain tiles. But I never thought it was going to be so expensive.

I have to say the service at Beaumont Tiles was fantastic. We got the right advice and the team was very helpful in choosing the tiles for our bathroom, Ensuite, laundry and portico.

Our appointment went for just over an hour and I think our choices were spot on.

We kept it very simple and decided to go without any feature look within the tiling. Not sure why, but the Beaumont staff were pretty adamant that most people don't do feature tiling anymore because once it goes in it's really hard & costly to change it. We decided to go with the 600x600 floor tiles and rectangle tiles (same colour) on the walls.

See pics below for our tile selection.