HANDOVER...WHOO HOO!!!

On Friday 1st July we received the keys to the house!!! We are extremely excited and very happy to have access to the house whenever we like....to own it! Our SS went through all the necessary paperwork, gave us keys for windows, bi fold doors, main doors and garage door and gave us remotes to our large garage door, (it will be so nice to be able to walk from the car to the house with the comfort of internal access). Our SS also gave us a lovely gift from Metricon, a box with goodies for the kitchen, a nice gesture that added to the great afternoon. We have been at the house over the weekend doing work in the garden. We have also been looking at tiles and carpet for the rest of the house. We have carpet in the 3 bedrooms already, as it was part of the promotion, but decided to do the other rooms ourselves to try and reduce the cost. We have finalised the tiles down to 2. The photo is a bit poor, but I have moved tiles around so often in the past week, so I took the photo from where they are. The tiles will be laid within the next 2 weeks, and the carpet possibly 1-2 weeks, depending how long it takes us to decide on the carpet and supplier. I will post some more photos once the tiles and carpet are installed.  

It is comforting to know we will be dealing with our SS over the next 3 months to attend to any issues. There are a few outstanding items we decided to wait for as they needed time to book in the tradesmen and we are keen to get the flooring done.

After process of elimination we are down to these 2 tiles

Handover....almost

I have been planning to write this blog for weeks, but there never seems to be enough hours in my day. We have been talking about handover for a few weeks now but there have been a few obstacles in our way. Firstly we had to get a septic system in and approved by council. Unfortunately council requested more irrigation lines than we had installed and an alarm attached to our pump in case the pump stops working. Before that was finalised we took a short holiday. Timing was not the best, but my husband won a holiday to Paris and we had to take it before a certain date (lucky I know). We had the time of our life, a family holiday we will never forget!! Back to the house.....On return from our 2 weeks away we took off from where we left. Waiting to have items in the house fixed and finalising septic system to have it approved by council. The septic is now complete and approved, but items in the house are not finished. I have read through a number of other blogs tonight and it seems to be the same with most houses. The finishing touches are........below average. That is the same in our house. One item I noticed only today at the house is in the powder room. When it was first completed it looked FANTASTIC. Now it looks....disappointing. The basin was the wrong one, so it was removed and a new one was installed. The old basin was placed on the laminate bench. It sat there for weeks. Today we noticed it had been taken away and there is a chip remaining in the laminate. Yes it will be replaced (we believe). The silicone around the new basin installed is also very poor. I did not mention it to our SS because I am learning the pattern with items needing fixing. They don't necessarily look better than the item before it was broken, chipped or out of alignment. Crazy I know. Unfortunately, when at this stage its hard to think of all the good things about the house, because all of the focus goes towards the items that need fixing. After settlement I will fix the silicone myself, it's less stressful that way. My biggest concern I have at the moment is the flute to the range hood. It has lots of finger marks on it at the moment so it's hard to see if there is actually a dent, if it's bowed or if it's OK. It doesn't look anything like the display home at the moment.
 In a positive, we received our certificate of occupancy today and after meeting with our SS and manager today, we are planning to have handover next Tuesday, after all our items (except outdoor render and paint due to weather) have been fixed. I am excited but nervous. Nervous because I don't want to get a set of keys to a house that is not up to standard.

Are we there yet....?

So much has progressed at the house! The photos will show all the updates. We will probably have hand over at the beginning of June. To date, we have been happy with the progress  (ahead of time) and quality. The painter did a fantastic job and all fittings and fixtures look great! Obviously Metricon need to do an inspection and we also do a thourough inspection before handover. We just paid our big bill for our new septic system (ouch), so once the electrician connects it to power, we will be able to use the toilets and water. We are so excited to be moving in....... very soon!!

Ensuite, with feature tiled wall, and other tiling complete. Shower screens to be installed.

Kitchen is almost complete, with splashback to be installed this week.

Front door. We choose charcoal for all staining.....nice.

Laundry, not exciting for many people but it is for me, because we never had one before.

Bath in main bathroom. Tiles are the same throughout all wet areas.

Main bathroom, after mirrow was installed.

I went past the house today, and I was so excited to see the tiler starting, the stone bench tops being installed AND the rendering to the front of the house being done. We are getting render to the front posts and back posts only, as it was part of the promotion. The painter has been in the house for the past couple of weeks, and its looks lovely inside with the whole place painted. I will take some pics next time I am there, of the freshly painted walls.  DMFAN, I spoke with our SS this morning and we have an estimate time when it will be complete.......late April, early May!! In the meantime I am organising the septic tank to be installed. A bit of work needs to be done in the front yard before it can be installed though (in the little spare time we have!)
Thanks Tonia and Kim! I am sure you would agree, it not easy choosing colors. I do know that the dark will date, but I really like it, and unless going all white, most things date. Good luck with your build!!

main bathroom

Powder room

Pantry. One of the main reasons we upgraded the size of the house was so we could have a butlers pantry!

Front door. The timber doors and windows have been stained charcoal. Photos next week with the stain.

Over sized ensuite!

Alfresco area.

I will probably go past the house this afternoon if I have time, to see the bench tops. There is still lots to do, but we are getting so close now!

Kitchen and Bathroom cupboards installed.

We have been down to the house 3 times this week, and have seen many workman attending to skirting boards, architraves, bathroom cabinets and the bricklaying. I was so excited to see the kitchen and bathrooms! It is nice to see it come together, after choosing colors from tiny little samples. After so much planning, you think you cover all bases but there is always something that could be done different. In saying that, we are currently living in a 2 bedroom, one lounge, appartment style place with no storage! So I am grateful for the big upgrade we are about to make!

Kitchen. Cupbaoards Gloss parchment. Island back panel - Burnished wood

Main bathroom. Extra 3 drawers added to each side of cupboards. Color - burnished wood.

Ensuite. Also made larger with added drawers. Color -  Burnished wood.

Well it has been so long since my last blog! Very SLACK I know! Life has been busy with relaxing holidays at home with the kids and then long drives back to school. The good thing about being so busy is that there is little time to watch over the house being built, as that makes the build go so much slower.
A lot has happened at the house. The roof is on, the wiring has been installed, brick work is almost complete, plaster is on, architraves are on, ducts in roof for heating is in, some holes in roof have been made for downlights, and plumbing has been done. See photos for progress.

Front of house with new tin roof, color - Woodland grey

back of house

kitchen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

kitchen with plaster

Living area with plaster. Bi fold doors were part of the promotion. We had them upgraded to a larger size at an extra cost.

Back of house looking onto alfesco area. We choose Selkirk bricks, color musket haze. This was a standard brick as we planned to render the outside after hand over. We actually like the look of the bricks so we may not render afterwards (a saving of thousands!)

lounge, looking onto entrance and front door

Prior to plaster going up we had an inspector go through to determine any building errors. He pointed out a number of small errors. Our site supervisor, spent time and talked us through each item and how they would be fixed, taking photos after they have been fixed. A few items were differences in building practices, but he said if we really wanted to they could make changes as we desired. We went with what our site supervisor recommended. I think all items have been fixed now, just one or two we need to follow up on. The kitchen and bathroom cupboards were meant to go in last week, but there was a delay in the laminate delivery as the kitchen company stated. The doors and skirting boards have been delivered, so they will be in soon.
I plan not be so long until my next blog update!

windows and fascia installed

Yesterday we went to the block and the windows and fascia have been installed. The progress has been consistant and is very exciting to see. The tin roof was also delivered today, so it may also be up before Christmas. That is what our SS was aiming for. The standard windows to house are aluminium awning windows. We upgraded the windows to the kitchen/living area to timber windows, made one window larger and added a window to the living area. The bi folds doors were part of the promotion, but we decided to make them  larger, which was not a large expense because of the promotion. Flyscreens to the windows are also included with the promotion.

The front of the house with alumunium windows and fascia

The back of the house, bathroom window, laundry door and alfresco