Creating a home @onourblock - Tumblr Blog

28th July 2015 - It’s finished!

Well, nearly... We went through Practical Completion today, which is a walk-through of the house with the builder to check for anything not completed and that all is as per the contract. We found only minor issues that will be fixed tomorrow and as our last payment has been made, we are allowed the keys on Thursday hopefully!

There are some good tips here on what to look for on the walk-through: http://www.anewhouse.com.au/2012/01/practical-completion-inspection-12-hints/

We are still waiting for a part to install the solar hot water properly, and then we will make an appointment for a council-certified inspector to award us an occupation certificate (that is our understanding anyway, it is not crystal clear!)

23 July 2015

We have been salvaging what we can from around the house. All these bricks would have gone to the tip! We are hoping to build a few walls with them.

Our wet carpet has been dried out, the underlay replaced and we went through with Metricon exactly what had happened. They are re-sealing the section behind the laundry cupboard to ensure it doesn’t happen again, fingers crossed.

The last few fixes are being completed and we are talking about a handover date, hurray!!

13 July 2015

The progress has been all internally for the past week - plugs, toilets, painting and flooring continues.

We have been somewhat dissatisfied with Metricon this week also..

1. We asked for the home network and NBN boxes to be moved to the opposite side of a wall, and lower down the opposite wall if possible. A fairly simple change. We have been following up on our request for the past three weeks, and have been put off or ignored. Then we noticed they had actually just gone ahead and installed the boxes on the wall. On questioning the site manager, his responses were “it’s too late now” and basically just agreeing that it was wrong of them but not offering anything.

2. One of the taps under the laundry sink must have been left on somehow for several days. The water leaked out of the supposedly sealed wet room and throughout bedroom 4 and right through the entire carpet. We asked for the carpet to be replaced and an investigation into how this leak occurred. We received an email saying that the carpet would be pulled up, professionally cleaned and dried. Went to visit the house at the weekend and saw through the window that the carpet had been pulled up and a couple of fans stuck under it, and left alone for the weekend! Not entirely sure this is either safe or effective...

3. Our landscaper confirmed our suspicion that the placement of the house is not as per our plans - the orientation is not as we had asked. So we won’t get as much winter sun in our living room as we had planned sadly.

#metricon #metricon workmanship #bad builders

2nd July 2015

Finally we get approval for our HSTP, and within a week it is installed, yay! They dig up half the garden for SSI beds - sub-surface irrigation beds to disperse the treated waste water. It has ended up quite close to the house as we have the ponds just below us and the council ask for them to be a certain distance away. The water tank has also arrived, and inside the house we have flooring, lights, fans, fly screens and painting goes on. Plus a picture of my favourite tree :)

27th June 2015

Drain pipes and solar hot water installed. Drain pipes are ugly, and what are they doing right on the front wall like that! They ARE in the plans, but hidden away in the electrical plans, so we hadn’t noticed their positions...

19th June 2015

Mainly tiling and painting happening, and some wood recovery :)

Behind the scenes, we are still waiting a council decision on a HSTP (Home Sewage Treatment Plant). We changed to a Taylex concrete ABS from the Fujiclean that we hurriedly put through council in order to get the DA approved. The Taylex doesn’t need to use chlorine for treatment, is concrete so should last longer, and is a bigger system.

We are also in constant talks with the bank about opening a construction loan - opening one half way through building has proved confusing, we have messed up their procedures by being slightly outside the norm...

We are waiting on delivery of a water tank, and have had to pay a plumber extra to make sure the whole house is connected to the tank plus installation.

And we have been meeting landscapers to talk about sculpting the driveway and the front part of the block to act as a giant swale to keep the stormwater from running directly into the front of the house.

Now praying the rain stays away long enough for us to get the grass cut!

13th June 2015

Window update - we forgot to mention, bedroom 2′s window has been fixed and centred internally. Metricon changed it a while back, with little fuss and great speed :)

#metricon

12th June 2015

The tiling in bathroom, shower room, toilet and laundry is finished. No photos as they have locked us out!

Water tank In Australia, all new homes are required to have a 5000 litre rainwater tank to feed the toilets and washing machine. We opted for a 22,000 litre tank, as it wasn’t that much more expense in the grand scheme of things, and decided on a stainless steel version as we want the tank to feed the whole house. Steel reputedly leaches less chemicals than the plastic type, plus it holds its value. We will keep our town water connection also, as a back up/top up measure. Metricon charged us extra installation cost in our contract, including different downpipes, a first flush diverter, to ensure less contamination - roughly $4k. Unfortunately our water plan didn’t filter down to the plumber, so we have been talking to him this week trying to make sure the tank is our primary water source. Tip for dealing with Metricon - keep extra special eyes on anything that is out of their normal box, or outside the basic package at all.

#metricon #water tank

June 6th - Brick work finished, outdoor eaves going in, tiles and shelving start

#barkly 29 #Metricon #bricks #shelves #eaves #tiles

28 May 2015 - Brick work progressing nicely. Kitchen & Bathroom units start to take shape.

#Barkly 29 #brick #metricon #kitchen

22 May 2015 - the amazing good news is: in just a few days the internal walls are getting finished, the external walls have begun being bricked up, solar hot water panels are on the roof, and it is almost ready for the kitchen to be fitted!

However the bad news is: bedroom 2′s windows has been put in the wrong place and is not centred internally.... AND when we checked the adjacent rooms, the mistake seems to have affected their centreing also. Bah! So the question is, what do we do about it, if anything?! Metricon haven’t offered any solutions as yet.

#metricon #mistake #windows #Barkly 29