(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
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
Day 299 - Painting error?
(Mon 22/08)
Dropped in on Fri afternoon last week for a look at tilers efforts. Very happy. He has completed all wall/floor tiles in the Bathrooms, Ensuite, and grouted them also. Looks great. Photos to come.
At the time I noticed that the ceiling was not 'true' white. I noticed this as the ceiling registers for the heating/cooling are white as I requested but were contrasted by the ceiling colour.
Basically, I discovered that the only room where the paint has been done as per Colour Schedule is the Garage!
We only get 2 colours with NBG, so we chose Builders White (Pure White) to the Internal Doors, Architraves, Skirting Boards, Ceiling and cornice. The Walls were to be in Luscious White (Wattyl A17W) Somehow the have managed to paint everything in Luscious White, including the ceiling!
I wrote an email to builder expressing my concern, he called me back immediately and sent me a scan of a note he had scribbled on the Colour Document, dated before my accident, stating that I had agreed to Luscious White to the ceiling and walls and Semi-Gloss to other areas. My dispute is that even if I had agreed to Semi-gloss to other areas, did that mean semi-gloss Luscious White. He had even made a note highlighting Wattyl Builders White. IMO, it should be crossed out all together if it wasn't to be used. Therefore we have a little problem on our hands. I pointed out to him that all the changes I had made, that I had made him a copy of and asked why I didn't have a copy of this change he had marked up.
Anyway, I have offered to cough up some of the money, as blame cannot be placed on either of us totally. He has been more than reasonable to date and I don't want to stuff things up with him this close to handover. Let's see where we go from here.
Any suggestions? Please comment with yours, as I am at a loss what to do!
Dropped in on Fri afternoon last week for a look at tilers efforts. Very happy. He has completed all wall/floor tiles in the Bathrooms, Ensuite, and grouted them also. Looks great. Photos to come.
At the time I noticed that the ceiling was not 'true' white. I noticed this as the ceiling registers for the heating/cooling are white as I requested but were contrasted by the ceiling colour.
Basically, I discovered that the only room where the paint has been done as per Colour Schedule is the Garage!
We only get 2 colours with NBG, so we chose Builders White (Pure White) to the Internal Doors, Architraves, Skirting Boards, Ceiling and cornice. The Walls were to be in Luscious White (Wattyl A17W) Somehow the have managed to paint everything in Luscious White, including the ceiling!
I wrote an email to builder expressing my concern, he called me back immediately and sent me a scan of a note he had scribbled on the Colour Document, dated before my accident, stating that I had agreed to Luscious White to the ceiling and walls and Semi-Gloss to other areas. My dispute is that even if I had agreed to Semi-gloss to other areas, did that mean semi-gloss Luscious White. He had even made a note highlighting Wattyl Builders White. IMO, it should be crossed out all together if it wasn't to be used. Therefore we have a little problem on our hands. I pointed out to him that all the changes I had made, that I had made him a copy of and asked why I didn't have a copy of this change he had marked up.
Anyway, I have offered to cough up some of the money, as blame cannot be placed on either of us totally. He has been more than reasonable to date and I don't want to stuff things up with him this close to handover. Let's see where we go from here.
Any suggestions? Please comment with yours, as I am at a loss what to do!
Day 295 - Busiest day onsite ever!
(Thu 18/08)
Things are getting close now. Met up with a local Landscaper at 7am this morning to discuss driveway/path/portico paving options.
I (or should I say we!) want an exposed aggregate driveway with bluestone edging and a path running from Portico to footpath to match and the Portico paving to be in bluestone. We thought about having timber decking done on the Portico, but once again, everyone has done this look to death. (no offence to anyone that has got that) 2x Brick pillars will flank the path at the footpath end, one for letterbox and other for street number. Landscaper will also do a planting plan for us later which will incorporate some large granite rocks salvaged from our demolition.
As we were leaving, the tiler turned up and showed us through. We are very happy with his work. He uses a laser level to get things near perfect. Unfortunately, my wife does not like the choice of floor tile for the entire downstairs! Tiler has only tiled the guest bathroom in this tile so far but she seems to thinks it's too dark and has gone back to Beaumonts to look. I hate last minute changes, it will only hold us up further and cost us more money in variations. Tiling photos below :)
Roller blind and drape man met us at 11am in his mobile showroom (great idea)
We went through lots of choices. We will mainly have Roller Blinds everywhere and a couple of rooms with Roller Blinds (privacy screen) and Drapes. Was pretty easy to choose.
Garage roller doors were being installed whilst we were there for the blinds. They forgot that we had 2x front roller doors and only brought 1 motor. They also have installed the rear manual roller door and it is evident that NBG drafting/design have made another monumental stuff up! The clearance of the door is supposed to be 2100mm but they couldn't install it with that clearance because a structural beam was in the way, so clearance is only 1850-1900mm at the most! My 4WD won't be able to drive through to the backyard now! This is the last straw, I will be seeking compensation from NBG for the many stuff ups they've made now.Bloody NBG pricks again!
Also, yesterday we got a parcel from NBG. It contained a letter and 2x Quantam Quartz samples. Basically they reckon that we can no longer have Luna White for the benchtops in the bathrooms (x3) so they sent samples of the 2 nearest, being New Diamond White & Turino. I called the builder and he was unaware of the changes and said he had already ordered them in Luna White. I think we'll be OK.
Things are getting close now. Met up with a local Landscaper at 7am this morning to discuss driveway/path/portico paving options.
I (or should I say we!) want an exposed aggregate driveway with bluestone edging and a path running from Portico to footpath to match and the Portico paving to be in bluestone. We thought about having timber decking done on the Portico, but once again, everyone has done this look to death. (no offence to anyone that has got that) 2x Brick pillars will flank the path at the footpath end, one for letterbox and other for street number. Landscaper will also do a planting plan for us later which will incorporate some large granite rocks salvaged from our demolition.
As we were leaving, the tiler turned up and showed us through. We are very happy with his work. He uses a laser level to get things near perfect. Unfortunately, my wife does not like the choice of floor tile for the entire downstairs! Tiler has only tiled the guest bathroom in this tile so far but she seems to thinks it's too dark and has gone back to Beaumonts to look. I hate last minute changes, it will only hold us up further and cost us more money in variations. Tiling photos below :)
Roller blind and drape man met us at 11am in his mobile showroom (great idea)
We went through lots of choices. We will mainly have Roller Blinds everywhere and a couple of rooms with Roller Blinds (privacy screen) and Drapes. Was pretty easy to choose.
Garage roller doors were being installed whilst we were there for the blinds. They forgot that we had 2x front roller doors and only brought 1 motor. They also have installed the rear manual roller door and it is evident that NBG drafting/design have made another monumental stuff up! The clearance of the door is supposed to be 2100mm but they couldn't install it with that clearance because a structural beam was in the way, so clearance is only 1850-1900mm at the most! My 4WD won't be able to drive through to the backyard now! This is the last straw, I will be seeking compensation from NBG for the many stuff ups they've made now.Bloody NBG pricks again!
Also, yesterday we got a parcel from NBG. It contained a letter and 2x Quantam Quartz samples. Basically they reckon that we can no longer have Luna White for the benchtops in the bathrooms (x3) so they sent samples of the 2 nearest, being New Diamond White & Turino. I called the builder and he was unaware of the changes and said he had already ordered them in Luna White. I think we'll be OK.
Ensuite
Ensuite Shower (bad photo)
Guest Ensuite
Guest Ensuite
Day 291 - Contract date passes
(Sun 14/08)
Contract end, Day 285 came and went without even noticing. I reckon there is at least 4-6 weeks to go still. They say that patience is a virtue - that's for sure!
FINALLY PHOTOS are here. I checked out lots of stuff onsite this afternoon and found a few problems, listed below.
1. Wrong tiles have been delivered for the walls in Powder Room and Guest Ensuite downstairs. I have also queried floor tiles for the downstairs area as they don't look like they are the right colour and tile - BTW, tilers are due to start tomorrow!
2. Two of the holes sparky cut for my 'special' LED wall lights on the staircase are in to wrong location. I marked them out where they should be and the other holes will now have to be patched.
3. The painting of the Front door black seems to be completed but the inside of the door is White! What the....... If I asked for the front door to be painted black, I would expect that the entire door be black, not just the front of it!
4. The painters painted the steel lintels and beams black! they were supposed to be painted in Colorbond Monument. I am tipping they used the left over paint from the front door. There will be a lot of repainting outside to do anyway as I am unhappy with the painting of the weatherboards in general and there is some sort of staining on the white eaves. (from the brick cleaning I think)
Kitchen window, which was installed in the wrong location by 150mm can't be moved, so cabinetry now has to be remade to suit. Otherwise stove would have looked out of square.
Can't have a 600mm overhang on the stone kitchen benchtop now either, even though NBG told us we could, if we upgraded to a waterfall end, as that would hold overhang in place. Now bench width has to be dropped back to 1000mm, from 1200mm and overhang down to 400mm. Not impressed that it took this long to discover this one.
Waterproofing was done last Thurs/Friday
Contract end, Day 285 came and went without even noticing. I reckon there is at least 4-6 weeks to go still. They say that patience is a virtue - that's for sure!
FINALLY PHOTOS are here. I checked out lots of stuff onsite this afternoon and found a few problems, listed below.
1. Wrong tiles have been delivered for the walls in Powder Room and Guest Ensuite downstairs. I have also queried floor tiles for the downstairs area as they don't look like they are the right colour and tile - BTW, tilers are due to start tomorrow!
2. Two of the holes sparky cut for my 'special' LED wall lights on the staircase are in to wrong location. I marked them out where they should be and the other holes will now have to be patched.
3. The painting of the Front door black seems to be completed but the inside of the door is White! What the....... If I asked for the front door to be painted black, I would expect that the entire door be black, not just the front of it!
4. The painters painted the steel lintels and beams black! they were supposed to be painted in Colorbond Monument. I am tipping they used the left over paint from the front door. There will be a lot of repainting outside to do anyway as I am unhappy with the painting of the weatherboards in general and there is some sort of staining on the white eaves. (from the brick cleaning I think)
Kitchen window, which was installed in the wrong location by 150mm can't be moved, so cabinetry now has to be remade to suit. Otherwise stove would have looked out of square.
Can't have a 600mm overhang on the stone kitchen benchtop now either, even though NBG told us we could, if we upgraded to a waterfall end, as that would hold overhang in place. Now bench width has to be dropped back to 1000mm, from 1200mm and overhang down to 400mm. Not impressed that it took this long to discover this one.
Waterproofing was done last Thurs/Friday
Internals of Garage
Internals of Garage
Laundry
Kitchen
Powder Room
Tiles delivered
Tile colour disputed?
Pantry Bentchtop
Waterproofing in Kids Bathroom
Family Room Upstairs
Family Room Upstairs Bulkhead
Ensuite Waterproofing
Front Door interior
Backyard all leveled off now! Awesome.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)