Day 336 - 3 weeks to go, yeah right?
(Wed 28/09)
I really don't think that any builder should even mention a times until they are absolutely sure of when handover is going to be. 10 days ago he told us 3 weeks. I reckon there's at least another 2 weeks left, given the excruciatingly slow pace of late. I am sure he has been let down by his trades in this case.
From what I can see, all that has been done in 10 days is to repaint under eaves (brick cleaning left a brown mould like residue on them) and do a little electrical work, cut out ready for the glass splashback and rangehood install and do a bit of tiling. Maybe there's more done but I am not allowed onsite anymore, so I can't see.
Builder has asked me to meet him on Fri afternoon and install and move some lights and do a walk around. Will I be getting a credit back for the work i perform, as I have paid sparky for this, over $2000 in variations! I also pickup the replacement downllights they broke today and I will be getting back a credit for these as well.
Meter box looks very unprofessional. Instead of all MCBs clearly labelled, they have all been scribbled above/below in felt tip pen! What happened to labels which came with meter box and MCBs?
You can see how pissed off I am. So close, yet so far. Maybe we will be in for Cup Long Weekend!
Some good news. Council have pre-approved the widening/relocation of the street crossover. So far have 1 quote to concrete this, another on the way. $2895 for first quote.
Day 328 - 2 out of 3 aint bad, is it?
(Tue 20/09)
I said after I sustained my injury and endured the post-op complications that I wanted 3 things before my birthday (today)
1. to walk unaided
2. to drive a car
3. to have a house finished and be in
No need to guess which one hasn't been fulfilled.
Anyway, last Fri the Termiguard barrier was installed.
The sparkys have fitted off most of the points/switches and there is many problems which I have found with their install. Double GPOs have been fitted as singles, lights in the wrong position, dimmer switches missing. This makes me a little nervous, as the place is not live yet. Wonder what will happen when they connect up the power live to these locations.
They even moved the location of the wall lights from a spot which had been clearly marked, without even discussing it with me!
So far, the only trade which hasn't stuffed up is the plumbers. They were there yesterday just before 8am. I delivered our fittings and put them where they were to be installed.
I will check that out this morning.
Also finally got onto the council engineer regarding the relocation of the crossover by 2-3mt. I have to mark that up today and he will drive by to give me pre-approval. (I hope)
I think at this rate, if we get handover this month, we won't have a driveway or crossover either.
Items remaining to finish off (apart from my defect list)
- shower screens
- carpet
- oven/rangehood/dishwasher
- glass splashback
- remaining tiling in kitchen/understair cupboard/toilet skirts
- 1x wardrobe fitout
- Hot water service
- remaining electrical
I said after I sustained my injury and endured the post-op complications that I wanted 3 things before my birthday (today)
1. to walk unaided
2. to drive a car
3. to have a house finished and be in
No need to guess which one hasn't been fulfilled.
Anyway, last Fri the Termiguard barrier was installed.
The sparkys have fitted off most of the points/switches and there is many problems which I have found with their install. Double GPOs have been fitted as singles, lights in the wrong position, dimmer switches missing. This makes me a little nervous, as the place is not live yet. Wonder what will happen when they connect up the power live to these locations.
They even moved the location of the wall lights from a spot which had been clearly marked, without even discussing it with me!
So far, the only trade which hasn't stuffed up is the plumbers. They were there yesterday just before 8am. I delivered our fittings and put them where they were to be installed.
I will check that out this morning.
Also finally got onto the council engineer regarding the relocation of the crossover by 2-3mt. I have to mark that up today and he will drive by to give me pre-approval. (I hope)
I think at this rate, if we get handover this month, we won't have a driveway or crossover either.
Items remaining to finish off (apart from my defect list)
- shower screens
- carpet
- oven/rangehood/dishwasher
- glass splashback
- remaining tiling in kitchen/understair cupboard/toilet skirts
- 1x wardrobe fitout
- Hot water service
- remaining electrical
Day 323 - It's all too much now.....
(Thu 15/09)
Another week almost passes and a lot has happened. Getting closer (I hope!)
Builder and painters were there first thing Monday morning. Builder has now secured the site properly, after a request from me. strangely enough but the painters also told me only today that over the weekend that all their paint had been stolen from the living room floor!
- All stone benchtops are now in place
- Re-painting has almost been completed
- Electrical fit off has begun and will be finished early next week
- Termiguard barrier booked to be installed tomorrow
- Rangehood has been marked up for the glass splashback fitting
I spent the day there on yesterday with the sparky going through all our supplied fittings and trying to find a missing cable in the garage cavity (floor joist side of course!). I spent about 1.5hrs looking for it and in the end we decided to run another cable. Lucky I have got a manhole on the other side of the garage roof.
Today a different tiler came to complete the wall tiles. He has mistakenly tiled in the area outside the kids bathroom! Not happy.
Sparky broke 2 of my supplied light fittings and asked me if I would replace them. I said that I didn't have time and as they were just a standard item from any electrical wholesaler that he could order replacements himself.
I spoke to builder this afternoon regarding a few of these matters and his response was not a happy one. Basically he told me he is over this build and my involvement and wants me to butt out from now on. He thinks I am hindering progress and that I don't trust him. I thought that I was helping him by informing him of these issues as he would have to call trades back to fix them later, ultimately costing him more time/money.
In any case, I accepted his new terms without regress and will not be entering the site unless he is present or a prior arrangement has been made by him.
It is unfortunate that it has gone down this path but I feel I may have overstepped the mark a little. I do however believe that this house is pretty low on his priority list and has been for some time now, which I find disappointing.
Monday I have been asked to meet onsite with the Plumber with all our plumbing fittings. I guess I will see how things lie then.
Another week almost passes and a lot has happened. Getting closer (I hope!)
Builder and painters were there first thing Monday morning. Builder has now secured the site properly, after a request from me. strangely enough but the painters also told me only today that over the weekend that all their paint had been stolen from the living room floor!
- All stone benchtops are now in place
- Re-painting has almost been completed
- Electrical fit off has begun and will be finished early next week
- Termiguard barrier booked to be installed tomorrow
- Rangehood has been marked up for the glass splashback fitting
I spent the day there on yesterday with the sparky going through all our supplied fittings and trying to find a missing cable in the garage cavity (floor joist side of course!). I spent about 1.5hrs looking for it and in the end we decided to run another cable. Lucky I have got a manhole on the other side of the garage roof.
Today a different tiler came to complete the wall tiles. He has mistakenly tiled in the area outside the kids bathroom! Not happy.
Sparky broke 2 of my supplied light fittings and asked me if I would replace them. I said that I didn't have time and as they were just a standard item from any electrical wholesaler that he could order replacements himself.
I spoke to builder this afternoon regarding a few of these matters and his response was not a happy one. Basically he told me he is over this build and my involvement and wants me to butt out from now on. He thinks I am hindering progress and that I don't trust him. I thought that I was helping him by informing him of these issues as he would have to call trades back to fix them later, ultimately costing him more time/money.
In any case, I accepted his new terms without regress and will not be entering the site unless he is present or a prior arrangement has been made by him.
It is unfortunate that it has gone down this path but I feel I may have overstepped the mark a little. I do however believe that this house is pretty low on his priority list and has been for some time now, which I find disappointing.
Monday I have been asked to meet onsite with the Plumber with all our plumbing fittings. I guess I will see how things lie then.
Day 317 - Weekly wrap
(Fri 09-09)
Decided not to go onsite until this weekend. Every time I drive past I get anxious as the build seems to be going nowhere. What was supposed to happen this week was:
- All stone benchtops installed on Monday, they weren't - Kitchen & only one bathroom went in Thurs
- Shelving/wardrobes to be rectified - they weren't
- Vacusweep model & colour - it was done but it's still the wrong model!!!!
- Painters to repaint everything except walls in the right colour, they started on Thurs
- Splashback measure to be done. Was supposed to be done last week but was still not done this week
There is still a bit to do before completion:
Electrical fitout, plumbing fitout, shower screens, termite protection, HWS install, commissioning of heating & evap cooling unit, commissioning of garage doors and all of the things on our defect list.
Ralph from NBG called me. This was a total surprise and came out of the blue. He asked how we were enjoying our new home. That question gives you some idea of the total lack of communication which exists at NBG. Unbelievable. I then proceeded to tell him of the 6 major faults with our build and that it was my intention to act on them once we were in the house. I am not sure he was too happy about this.
Builder has also indicated that Electrical fitout will happen next week and I am to provide all my fittings to him by Wednesday. I will kindly remind him that he will not be getting them or fitting them until the house can be locked up securely, as anything I provide is not covered under his insurance.
Anyway, I will get some photos this weekend. Have got to scoot as I am meeting a 3rd concreter to quote on the driveway.
Decided not to go onsite until this weekend. Every time I drive past I get anxious as the build seems to be going nowhere. What was supposed to happen this week was:
- All stone benchtops installed on Monday, they weren't - Kitchen & only one bathroom went in Thurs
- Shelving/wardrobes to be rectified - they weren't
- Vacusweep model & colour - it was done but it's still the wrong model!!!!
- Painters to repaint everything except walls in the right colour, they started on Thurs
- Splashback measure to be done. Was supposed to be done last week but was still not done this week
There is still a bit to do before completion:
Electrical fitout, plumbing fitout, shower screens, termite protection, HWS install, commissioning of heating & evap cooling unit, commissioning of garage doors and all of the things on our defect list.
Ralph from NBG called me. This was a total surprise and came out of the blue. He asked how we were enjoying our new home. That question gives you some idea of the total lack of communication which exists at NBG. Unbelievable. I then proceeded to tell him of the 6 major faults with our build and that it was my intention to act on them once we were in the house. I am not sure he was too happy about this.
Builder has also indicated that Electrical fitout will happen next week and I am to provide all my fittings to him by Wednesday. I will kindly remind him that he will not be getting them or fitting them until the house can be locked up securely, as anything I provide is not covered under his insurance.
Anyway, I will get some photos this weekend. Have got to scoot as I am meeting a 3rd concreter to quote on the driveway.
Day 310 - MAJOR STUFF UP DISCOVERED!
(Fri 03-09)
Only a few little things have been done around the place since last post.
WIRs, and some cupboards have been fitted out with shelving etc. Still some to do. Tiling has nearly been completed, just waiting on the install of showerscreens/toilets/waterfall benchtops so he can finish up tiles.
After telling us the Pantry wouldn't be fitted out with the 450mm melamine shelving, we organised to have the Elfa system installed, at great expense, only to find that the Pantry was fitted out! He said they were to install shelves after all!
Both my wife and I met with builder onsite this afternoon and hashed out all of our defects, including the painting and relocation of a few lights the sparky has marked in the incorrect location.
We have had a couple of quotes for the driveway and path/brick pillars etc. One was $12700 + GST! See what the other on comes back at. One concreter suggested we move our crossover, which I will look into next week as it makes sense to move it. There has been significant damage to the crossover and it will need to be replaced/repaired anyway. Whilst the concreter was measuring up, he showed us that the Garage setback measured 10mt! It Plans say 9mt! A huge stuff up and I have no idea how the supposed surveyor didn't pick this up, I am planning to launch legal action against the surveying company for this stuff up. Will wait for handover to do this, as this is no fault of the builder.
A couple of other defects etc. that we discussed with builder were:
- Hole in weatherboards and nails protruding in one location
- Wrong Vacusweep model/colour and installed incorrectly. Should have been black!
- For some reason he has put on a taupe melamine cabinetry door on the understair storage cupboard! I have never seen this before. Not only was it totally wrong colour but it weighed a ton. He will be chaging it to a normal hollowfill door now with a dummy leverset handle, as per Tarneit display.
- No tiling in the understair cupboard (there was at Tarneit display, no upgrade either)
- My sliding door robe upstairs is missing 5 drawer and 5 shelf stack, as per Feb 2010 Bonus offer
- Staining on the underside of the eaves from brick cleaning chemicals? He will repaint eaves.
I reckon we are 3-4 weeks away from handover, my guess.
Photos below, but I have forgotten to take one of the Garage doors still! Sorry.
Only a few little things have been done around the place since last post.
WIRs, and some cupboards have been fitted out with shelving etc. Still some to do. Tiling has nearly been completed, just waiting on the install of showerscreens/toilets/waterfall benchtops so he can finish up tiles.
After telling us the Pantry wouldn't be fitted out with the 450mm melamine shelving, we organised to have the Elfa system installed, at great expense, only to find that the Pantry was fitted out! He said they were to install shelves after all!
Both my wife and I met with builder onsite this afternoon and hashed out all of our defects, including the painting and relocation of a few lights the sparky has marked in the incorrect location.
We have had a couple of quotes for the driveway and path/brick pillars etc. One was $12700 + GST! See what the other on comes back at. One concreter suggested we move our crossover, which I will look into next week as it makes sense to move it. There has been significant damage to the crossover and it will need to be replaced/repaired anyway. Whilst the concreter was measuring up, he showed us that the Garage setback measured 10mt! It Plans say 9mt! A huge stuff up and I have no idea how the supposed surveyor didn't pick this up, I am planning to launch legal action against the surveying company for this stuff up. Will wait for handover to do this, as this is no fault of the builder.
A couple of other defects etc. that we discussed with builder were:
- Hole in weatherboards and nails protruding in one location
- Wrong Vacusweep model/colour and installed incorrectly. Should have been black!
- For some reason he has put on a taupe melamine cabinetry door on the understair storage cupboard! I have never seen this before. Not only was it totally wrong colour but it weighed a ton. He will be chaging it to a normal hollowfill door now with a dummy leverset handle, as per Tarneit display.
- No tiling in the understair cupboard (there was at Tarneit display, no upgrade either)
- My sliding door robe upstairs is missing 5 drawer and 5 shelf stack, as per Feb 2010 Bonus offer
- Staining on the underside of the eaves from brick cleaning chemicals? He will repaint eaves.
I reckon we are 3-4 weeks away from handover, my guess.
Photos below, but I have forgotten to take one of the Garage doors still! Sorry.
Kitchen Cabinetry now centered between windows
Wron model and colour Vacusweep!
Meals
Kitchen Cabinetry now centered between windows
Understair door wrong type/colour and no tiles on floor
Master WIR Fitout
Master WIR Fitout. Alarm system up top.
Ensuite tiling
Ensuite shower
Master Robe missing drawer/shelves
Family room cupboard fitout still to do
Kids rooms' WIR fitout
Outside kids bathroom, cabinetry
Kids Shower
Kids Bath
Kids Bathroom tiling
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