Day 152 - February 26th (Day 8)

Well we've been living in our new home for a week now. Our site supervisor came by yesterday to finish fixing the last of the items we had noted. About the only issue we haven't had fixed just yet is the water tank.

This isn't Metricon's fault however, as we arranged the install of the unit ourselves. Not sure what is taking them so long long however? I haven't even heard from them and it's been over a week. Might be time to give their head office a ring I think?

The problem is that when you switch the pump on, it builds up the pressure and then starts leaking! So much so, that we can't have it switched on at the moment as all the water would leak out of the tank...it's not a drip..but a constant flow of water. Not sure how they missed this?

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We started by marking the border...

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The first three. 

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The neighbours have now had their land cut. 

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This was at the end of  Friday. We have stepped up the level as the property rises and this level makes it all the way to the front of the property. I haven't got any photos from today. We almost finished it... Will take some pics of the final product tomorrow.

Day 150 - February 24th (Day 6)

Well we picked up the letterbox yesterday, and got it installed the same day. Funny thing was as I was about to add it into the hole I dug for the concrete, the postie arrive with our first letter!  At least it wasn't a bill! :->.

We went out yesterday and picked up all the items for the fence we are adding down the side of the home. We chose a Stratco fence, as I have had one of these before and they were simple to put it, look good and held up well against the weather.

We spent this morning going to the hardware store to buy some sleepers to add under the fence. Got some infor from one of the fencers from Stratco as well today. Got some info from one of the pros at Stratco about how to add the sleepers under the fence. He suggests leaving a gap between the fence and the sleeper, so there is no where for it to rust. I haven't got any pics of the fence just yet. Will do that tomorrow.

Also the neighbours on our right started their build today. They have dug the area for the foundation. They are going to add some sleepers into the ground and we are going to add the fence above this. Will add some images tomorrow.

The Painter came around this afternoon to paint the walls that needed fixing. We didn't see him again this afternoon however as promised? We did try to phone him, but there was no answer.

The site supervisor came around as well. He replaced the door handle as the screw on part ? was faulty. All looks good now. Only things they have left to fix are some painting, a door stop and a door hinge that is loose.

I haven't heard from Bluescope yet about our rainwater tank. When they switched it on the other day, it started leaking profusely so we had to switch the pump off....  It's been a week now, and no phone call from them.... ?

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Lines cut into the concrete for expansion

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Our Letterbox

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The fence posts

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Concrete and fence sheets.

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Day 147 - February 21th (Day 3)

Well the concretors tuned up nice and early today. They started the driveway and were finished it by 1:30pm. I am very pleased with the job they have done. It looks really good.

Tomorrow they are coming back to cut the concrete into five sections, so it doesn't crack over time. We aren't allowed to drive onto it for a week at the moment as you need to let it dry out. The concretor is going to provide us with some solution to add to the surface after it has been cut. It is designed to protect the surface, and also give it that "Wet" look.

We had the electrician come out as well today to check the range hood..it was making a rattling noise. It ended up that the inside pipe was loose. Fixed it up and it works without any problems now.

Went out to Underwood and had a look at Empire furniture... Thanks Jay...again.... Bought a new desk, but they won't have it at the store until Friday, so we will have to get it then.

Here are today's pics of the concrete driveway going in.....

The concretors were very thorough and gave the street a good cleaning as well. If anyone else is interested in getting their driveway done, I recommend Terry Achillies from Achilles Concrete Services. http://www.achillesconcreting.com.au/

Day 145 - February 19th (Day 1)

Well handover was yesterday! And what a busy day it was. I got home around 12:30 and we started to pack the car to get ready for the move. We left at 2pm as we were wanting to pick up some items from Bunnings (We needed some multigrips...the one handed bandit seems to have taken our other set...or so I thought....),

Left Bunnings at 2:45, and got to the house around 3pm. Handover wasn't to be until 3:30pm, so we were a little early, but very excited!

We we arrived, there was a contractor sitting outside the house. He explained that he was here to install the dishwasher, but had left his keys behind... Thought it might be wise to wait for the supervisor this time.

While we were waiting he showed us how the water tank worked....well...sort of. You see the pump was switched off and when we turned it on, the pressure built up, and water started dripping out from the pump ;->...just what he wanted!

Anyway, our Site supervisor is aware and he wil be getting onto Bluescope Steel to get them out to fix it. We spent a good hour going through all the items, signing paperwork, having the termite warranty explained to us etc... After this we got all the keys and garage remotes. He did his best to explain to us how to use the Microwave (which by the way works fine for us...he said the upgraded model can have a sticky door :-> ), then showing us the dishwasher, cooktop and oven. Apparently the lady who normally does this was away sick.

After he left we went outside and attached the Gas so we could have a hot shower and the cooktop would work. Looks like I bought the right adapter as it works without any issue.

We then bought in all the beds etc from our trailer and went back to collect more items. My Father in law has a large 1.6T van which we made good use of and threw in all the neccessities such as the fridge, washing machine, dryer, sofa etc...

Grabbed four pizzas on the way home, had dinner, unpacked and then hit the hay...  Well the bed frame wasn't up..so we slept on a mattress on the floor.

It's times like these where you LOVE air conditioning... We just need to be careful as we don't really want a $1000 bill at the end of 3 months!

Got up around 7:30 am this morning and had a knock on the door. I wasn't expecting anyone? Found out that the concretor we have arranged, has organised the driveway to be dug out today. We were expecting it on Monday, but the guy said he had another job on Monday so he thought he'd come out today and do it... Let him get the job underway, and by 9 am he'd finished.

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The trench is for the concretor to cut the gutter and bury it... They then fill the hole and concrete over...!

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All hands on deck!

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Well after another two loads today, we stopped. Still have a small amount of stuff to move, but the vast majority has been done.  Thanks a million John for your help!

Still need to fax (or probably email) the gas certificate in order to get it connected correctly. Then need to start working out the exact details for the fence.....

A pic I took tonight....

Well there are a stack of other things to complete. Really need to focus on the inside of the house at the moment though.....

Day 143 - February 17th

Everything comes to those who wait....  Well thats the way it seems to be coming along anyway. Got a phone call today that our new sofa is ready for delivery!  Horraaaaay!

Next call was letting us know that our fence was ready to be picked up... excellent!

Then I went around to the property today. The bins have arrived!

I then checked inside the house and we have had some deliveries there too... I'll show you pics of this tomorrow - after we've moved in!

Then I went around to BCF to see if I could get an adapter to allow me to connect the gas cylinder to the gas inlet on the house and found that too!

All in all a good day. Now just need to find out if we will have the driveway installed on Monday....  Handover tomorrow afternoon...

Day 142 - February 16th (Day 63 of 65)

Well Handover is getting closer. I hope I can get the internet sorted out asap after we move in..I sort of live on it! Lucky I have a Netcomm 3G Card..Just need to find the charger!! Thought some of you might be interested in our current abode... ;->

No one at the property again today....ah well...

Day 141 - February 15th (Day 62 of 65)

Tuesday has come and gone and we can't wait until Friday for handover! Went past the house today. There hasn't been anyone onsite again. I suspect that our site supervisor will have all hands on deck on Friday. Took some photos of the back area of the house...I slashed the grass here on the weekend...

One of the things I was going to do was install the fence myself. I am wondering if I should build a small retaining wall or just add some sleepers to the bottom of the fence like I had planned? It's not much of a drop, and a little bit a of a slope is probably a good thing for run off....

Day 140 - February 14th (Day 61 of 65)

I didn't actually get to have a look today. Busy day at work and the children had some after school activities to attend to.

Got a phone call from the bank today at 9.30am. That's funny...I was going them at 10am? Anyway, I didn't get to answer it. The voicemail said that they had received the valuers report and were happy to make the final payment. This was going to be processed later in the day.

Well checked the bank balance.. Looks like we now own the home!

Day 139 - February 13th (Day 60 of 65)

Today wen went around the the house and slashed the grass. It was getting on my nerves, and I wasn't sure if the site supervisor was going to get it cut, or if he was expecting us to do it anyway? It's (mostly) all done now.

I'm not certain as to whether we can remove the "Vail" around the outside edge of the property just yet. I think we need to ensure we have grass laid first before we do this.

Just as I had finished as was getting ready to leave, our new neighbours stopped by. They were both very pleasant. We had a chat about the fence, as I was wanting to get it installed as soon as possible after handover. I mentioned that we would like a steel frame fence. They agreed. They also thought we should raise the fence height by adding a row of two high of timber sleepers. 

As I am putting up the fence (I've done a steel framed fence before) I mentioned that I have never added sleepers that high before and asked if perhaps he could arrange that part, and I would do the fence. He agreed. So essentially, he is going pay for and install the sleepers, and I am going to pay for and install the fence! I'm happy as I know how to do that part. and he's happy as he has some workers that can install the sleepers.

We then went looking for some desks to suit the large study we have. Found some at Office Works which weren't to bad.Super A-Mart was hopeless....  Also found some at Ikea, which seemed to me to be a little bit dearer, but did seem to be of reasonable quality. .. I was going to buy it, but in then end decided to hold off until we get into the house. 

Does anyone else know where we might find some good study tables for a reasonable price?  Essentially I want two desks. A mobile draw would be great as well.

Day 138 - February 12th (Day 60 of 65)

Busy morning. I have organised our shutters from ShutterKits. The manufacturer only got back to me yesterday, and I now know why! They have two factories. They were in the process of moving into the new one when the other got flooded out.

Had a chat with the owner. A very friendly guy. He showed me the various options and designs. In the end I chose the standard 68 mm blinds in Cedar. We will need to stain they upon arrival. They also need to be assembled, but this looked rather simple. Essentially we ordered a blind for every window with the exception of the bathrooms, sliding doors and rumpus room. The total was around $500 more than I thought, but I hadn't allowed for GST or for the fittings. Still @ $4k, it is a pretty good price for the large number of shutters we ordered.

Met up with Adrian Decarli from Infinity Solar at the property as well. He was very professional and knew what he was talking about. Found out that a lot of Solar installers do their training through these guys.

Essentially he recommended two panels. One is made by a company called Schott whilst the other is made by Solarworld. The warranties and guarantees were very similar to each other

A Solar Panel apparently degrades over time, and so the manufacturers have different guarantees on their products.

Schott -> Year 1 - Output at 97% of the rated output.
               Year 2 - 30 - Degrades at no more than 0.7% per year. (82.5% at end of 30 years)

Sunmodule -> Year 1 - Output at 97% of the rated output.

                      Year 2 - 25 - Degrades at no more than 0.7% per year.

The yield measurements seemed to be a lot higher on the Sunmodule however?  Probably go this way....

As for the inverters, We have a choice of a 3.2Kw, 4.2Kw or a 5.3Kw unit...It will ultimately depend upon the amount of power we may want in the future....

The last thing I did was organise the fence. Went to Stratco and purchased a Ebony border and Merino coloured panels. 28 panels instead of the 26 I had thought as the ones I decided upon were a little shorter. 

I chose the Good neighbour Smartspan @ 1800 high. I didn't mind the Wavlelok, but the sample looks like it has lifted away from the other panel inserts, so I decided not to go for it in the end....

Good Neighbour SmartSpan

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Good Neighbour Superdek

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Good Neighbour CGI

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Good Neighbour Wavelok

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Day 137 - February 11th (Day 59 of 65)

No one was onsite today. Got a message from the site supervisor checking up that we were still on track for Friday... Apart from that it was a quiet day. Need to organise the electricity. Might go and use the whipper snipper around the property..Some of the grass is getting a little high....

Day 136 - February 10th (Day 58 of 65)

The property inspector came out today, but it looks like the site supervisor missed him as I had a message on my phone that he couldn't wait any longer and had to leave. I phoned him this afternoon when I was at the property again, and he now reports that he has everything he needs to send through to the bank. He told me he was able to take some photos through the windows as well.

Sent a message to the site supervisor telling him not to worry as it had been sorted out.

I also phoned Elgas today. We have now organised all that we can until we have the gas certificate, which we won't get until handover... :-<.

Day 135 - February 9th (Day 57 of 65)

No one at the house today. Not surprising really. They only have a couple of items left to go. I had a couple of phone calls throughout the day however.

I phoned the bank around lunchtime to check that they had received all the requirements to get everything underway from their end. They checked and told me they have all the information requested, and that the final checks to be done by the bank have been organised.

I then noted on my phone in the afternoon, that I had a call from the property valuer. I have now organised with him and the Site Supervisor for the inspection to occur tomorrow! He said that once this is done the details would then be forwarded onto the bank for the final payment.

I also got a call from Elgas today. Missed their call, so I will have to sort this out tomorrow.

Now for today's "Dotty" photos.....

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They missed this one altogether..

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Missing a screw in the door frame.

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