Select an option:

Monday, January 31, 2011

Day 126 - January 31st

Not content with the green dots, the site supervisor whipped out his "killer" dots box...yes... THE RED DOTS! So now we have a multicultural home, open to white plaster, green dots, red dots and brown carpet.... :->

The painters were back again today, starting to correct the items that the site supervisor has found.

--
--
I think the light fitting wanted to look outside the window?? 

--

--

--

--
Red dots!

--

--
looks like the measles

--

--

--
What happens of you join the dots?

--
hmm...  Doesn't work....

--

--

--

--

--
--

--

--

--

--

--

--


Sunday, January 30, 2011

Day 125 - January 30th (Day 54 of 65)

No one at the house again today. Took some photos of the outside as promised. They have flattened the ground around the house, added some covers to the drains, but they seem to have misplaced one?

Anyway, without further ado....

--
Sand has been taken away.

--
Driveway has had concrete removed.

--
The rubbish cage has been removed

--

--

--
Soil has been leveled. Still need to remove the orange pipe....

--

--

--

--

--

--
Might need this pipe leveled..it's on a bit of an angle....

--
Need cover for this drain.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Day 124 - January 29th (Day 53 of 65)

Went out and measures the property for the fences and shutters today. I am still not 100% sure how many of these shutter we will use, but I thought I'd measure it room up anyway to work out an estimate of the cost so we can take it from their.

Jay put me onto Shutterkits, and they have an online price estimator. This will get the price approximate for me. I will need to have a chat with them, as some of the windows need two "shutters" in them.

Rooms we have and an estimate of the cost involved:

Rumpus room:
4 x 570 H x 575 W = $72.10 each = $288.40

Living room:
1 x 470 H x 2975 W = $307.62

Study:
1 x 407H x 2975 W = $307.62

Master Bedroom:
2 x 1755H x 815 W = $314.67

Bedroom 2:
3 x 1750 H x 575 W = $221.37 each = $664.11

Bedroom 3:
470 H x 2365 W = $244.54
470 H x 2360 W = $244.02
1755 H x 575 W = $222.01

Children's Study:
1155 H x 1765 W = $448.49

Bedroom 4:
1155 H x 1765 W = $448.49

Total: $3489.97 which is around $2,500 cheaper than we had budgeted for..The down side is we have to install them and also pay for delivery and probably staining/preserving them the way we want. Not much of a negative.  We also need to have a chat with them about the accessories we will need with this. Some of the windows may also be better being made up of two shutters instead of just one long on.

The only windows I left out were the frosted glass ones in the bathrooms (the wife may adjust this ;-> )

We also measured up for the fence. Our property is 35 M long x 20 M wide. I would like the fence top go 30 meters down each side of the home, keeping the front 5 M open... for the time being at least. This will make it pretty much level with the front of the home.

I worked out roughly were will will need to add a gate to, but I might leave this until after we have assembled it, but add a supporting pole for the gates as we go (the gates require this). By doing it this way, I can get an exact measurement for the width we will want.

The one thing I'm not certain about is the neighbours. I was just going to add the fence we wanted. Other people suggest asking the neighbours. I know one side is selling, so they won't care, and I think the other side is a home package, so it might be an idea to ask them?

Anyone have any thoughts about this?

Rough costs are $92 / panel (max) which is 1800 high and 2350 wide. They also have a less expensive one at $89 per panel. The panels include the sheets, posts, tracks, screws and rivets. The posts are around $50 each, and the single gate (820 wide x 1800 high) are $219 and the double gate (3220 W x 1800 high) is $549 ~ you can specify exact measurements which is what I will do for the gate after I have the fence up.

I also need to include some of the hardwood sleepers for the bottom of the fence, as the neighbours property will need to be dug into this.

Rough cost is:

60 / 2.350 ~26 panels @ $92 each = $2392
Poles x 4 = $200
Gates (aprrox) = $219 + 549 = $768
Total: $3360

Our soil is very RED (high iron oxide content) and it goes through ANYTHING!! We were also looking add adding some topsoil to cover it.  Cost of enough topsoil to cover 300 sq m is (15 cubic meters) $985 delivered from Tingalpa Landscape supplies.

I also spoke with Patrick from SOS turf farms. He said it will cost around $5 / sq meter for blue couch and around $1000 for 20 cubic meters of top soil. He also told me of some locations where I can go to see some of the grass they have just laid.

300sq meters @ $5 / sq m = $1500.

They can provide a bobcat, but I am thinking of using a DIY digger from http://www.diydigger.com.au/ for two days. as I could dig the post holes with it as well.... $540

Friday, January 28, 2011

Day 123 - January 28th

Today my wife and I went out to meet the site supervisor onsite, for an inspection of the home. He had been moving his way through the house, marking up corrections that need to be fixed before handover. Interestingly enough, most of the items I had on my list were either already done, or would be fixed shortly.

The excess concrete that had been poured where the driveway would go was removed, the ground was leveled out, the carpets have been installed and the start of the "green dots" (Areas needing fixing) was done.

So when do we expect to have handover by?  The home is due to be completed on the 8th of February, with handover due two weeks after. This brings us to the 22nd of February. Our site supervisor said that we were welcome to take ownership before this time if we wanted, but from his experience, it usually takes 2 weeks for all the paperwork to be done.

We are now awaiting the final invoice.

--
Colours don't look exactly the same through the camera lens...


--
This looks more like it!


--
Extra carpet. They wouldn't swap the carpet for the tiles, so we got the tiles, and asked to keep the carpet.

--

--
Master bedroom

-- 
Entrance to the master bedroom

--
Ensuite and cupboard off the master bedroom

--
Bedroom 3

--
Bedroom 2

--
Bedroom 4

--
Ditto


 

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Day 122 - January 27th

Too busy at work today and tonight to get to the property. I work at a College in the Redlands, and we provided our students with iPads tonight. 314 of them to be precise. Mammoth task, but I "think" it went ok!


Hopefully the carpet went in today?

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Day 121 - January 26th (Day 52 of 65)

Found some other items that need fixing today. I suspect it might be a good idea to have a look at the home using the house lights, as I found these ones easily under this light.


  1. Bracket on the gutter is loose. Needs fixing
  2. Gutter is dripping in a spot near the rear of the garage. Not sure why?
  3. The garage door, when it was delivered, had some dings in it. I think this must happen to every build  have seen.
  4. The light in the front bedrooms walk in robe is not working.
  5. There is a pipe still sticking out of the ground at the front of the property that they removed when they fixed the power coming into the home.
  6. The grills on the pipes n the ground outside the home need attaching.
  7. One of the surface drains has been capped..... Needs to be uncapped and work as shown on the plans...
  8. Need plans showing where the pipes are laid in the ground, so when it comes time to dig the outdoor room patio, we don't hit one!
  9. Man hole needs cleaning as there is red soil surrounding it. Not sure where the cover has gone?
  10. Doors in living room cupboard are stuck together on one side and miles apart on the other....
  11. Need to screw down some of the winding mechanisms on the windows.
  12. Wall in bathroom near light switch has a visible line on the paintwork.
  13. Switch in Laundry needs patching
  14. Near rear garage door, the paint has cracked.
  15. Rear garage door -> the faceplate of the lock is not attached, and has caused the door handle to move, casing the paint to be damaged.
I'll just keep adding to this list as it makes it easier.

Got a quote today for the driveway. This is the second quote, and I think we will accept it. Just need to let him know. Our site supervisor won't let us build the driveway until after handover...was worth while asking anyway...

I need to get him to remove the waste concrete they left when they poured the slab.  The guy who does the driveways will charge us to remove it, and he said that it is actually waste concrete from the house slab, so the builder needs to remove it (which makes perfect sense).
--

--
Cracked paint....