Some works done...

We have recently added plantation shutters to the front room which really changes the ambience of the house- we loved it.

Also added some Laura Ashley wallpaper that my very capable parents did as a joint effort. Now, we have to change the lighting - got a pendant crystal light from Bunnings that had to be put up - and with the warm yellow light, things might look much better.

Nightmare hasn't ended

Only been here for 3 months and a bit, and here are more problems from what would not have happened if the house is done properly in the first place.

Leaks at the front door.

Leaks inside the house

Again, the list goes on from cracked skirtings through the house and render to bowed staircase and paint brush hairs stuck in the varnish.

Window frame twisted. Excess concrete in shower drains, and the list goes on and on.... about 40 so far.

Does get draining after a while.  

Bits and Pieces.. making it livable - Stage 1

Here is a glimpse of our first 6 days living here, we havent had the dough for the furniture that I would love, so we are making do with whatever we had in our other home.. Looks a little sparse, but its going to be this way for a while... would love to have a rug, our coffee table ( wished I had a new one) is still in storage somewhere. and also, a plant at the corner with a ornamental ladder shelf. hmm, wishlist 1.

Hubby calls this junk, but am loving the white ceremic.

Study with no bookshelf or table. Wishlist 2. Saw a french provincial one but my accounting books dont agree to it at the moment.  Bookshelf to be around 3 meters along the wall that you can see, and study table to go along window on the right.

This wall panel was ( if you see my eailer posts) was bought Dec last year, but the order came through in Easter.... finally up!

After many attempts, hubby is happy with this clock. Everything looks too distressed to him, but he'll settle for this.

Dining area, overlooking backyard. Cant' wait for clothes line to be up!

Backyard needing a LOT of love!

Media Room with no media! I am glad we are not TV addicts, so its not a bad thing, having more book time with kiddo!

Little bits, at the top of kitchen cabinet ( on the right)

Little bits, at the top of kitchen cabinet ( on the left)

This also has been bought for a while, now under the stairs in the hallway, handy for wearing shoes.

Realised that it was a good thing getting things beforehand, as now there are so many other little things that we need to get, and like the saying goes, too many things, too little cash :)

Am going to blog my wishlist sometime soon!

Nearly There.....

Here is our new home - not quite there but nearly.......

Rangehood and stove not in yet.

Theatre Room - empty for a while, projector systems are not cheap!

Here is our balcony view!

Our ensuite

Common Bathroom

Front entry at night - this is bad because all the tiles are smeared in concrete and cannot be removed despite my scrubbing, hopefully addressed soon.

like I said, its not quite there yet so expect more updates soon.

We have the keys!!

Ladies & Gentlemen, the deal is now done - not completed yet but till we go over the next hurdle, its step 1 for us!  Signed and recieved keys on 12 Aug, 8am.

And yes, got this too, I prefer a spa, need it after dealing with them! haha. :)

Not finished I must say, waiting for appliances to go in, there are a few issues that have not been completed yet, so yes, the journey still continues...

Final Inspection - 8 August

I have not been posting any updates as there are hardly any in the past few months, except that a new Building Manager has taken over my job & the SS has left ( thank goodness, as things were very slow under his care) Manager said to give him a weeks and he'll work through the 80 defects that we have. Indeed, this is now done!

We went through the house for our Final Inspection ( with wet floors) and except for a few small items, that is promisee to be done by the week, we are happy to accept the place! whew....

Kitchen  - pardon the darkness of the photo & my skills.

Theatre Room

Settlement will take place at 8am this friday, 12 Aug, and then I will be frantically cleaning on Sat & Sun! Appliances booked in for next week and we should have a place to call home by that weekend!! Yipee!

What a Quality home.... Not..

Oh joy, here's the start of the great DEFECT LIST:

Problem 1: The bricks along the Right hand side of this house have not been blended properly as it has a different blend from approximately 1500mm up as can be seen in the following photograph.

The brickwork had been installed hard up to the underside of the roof beams around the Alfresco area.


Part 3.3.1.10 Shrinkage Allowance for Timber Framing of the BCA requires that ‘In masonry veneer walls a gap must be left between the timber frame and the top of the masonry wall, including window sills etc, to allow for settlement of the timber framing caused by timber shrinkage. These clearances must be not less than 5mm at sills of lower and single storey windows; and 8mm at roof overhangs of single storey buildings.' The brickwork below these beams will need to be lowered to achieve the required 8mm clearance.

The end of the rear wall to the Ensuite needs to be rectified as it has been finished untidily

The bricks arent even cleaned at this part of the house!

The rendered sill below the Bed 2 door frame has been installed up hard to the underside of its frame and lacks the required clearance down from them.

Enough said.... meterbox not level....

The sections of exposed yellow polyethylene gas pipe protruding out of the walls have not shielded by violet rays. 

Most of the colorbond fascias around this house and garage have had their prefinished painted coating blown off them along their front bottom edges at the tension point where they have been bent in at right angles. The baked painted finish at this point along these fascias would have been fractured when they were bent, which leaves them susceptible to damage.

The beam to the front of the Garage needs to be rectified, as it is 15mm out of plumb.

Tiles are just laid regardless of what shows at the edge!

The front left hand internal corner of the Garage needs to be rectified as there is a large gap between the plaster and the brickwork.

Now, someone tell me if these tradies are qualified in the first place? This is the tip of the ice-berg, and other things include them forgetting one of my downpipes!!

I really am running of patience on this one.  We have not been told about extended times or given any indication of what kind of timeline we will be looking at. As a result, we now have to look for temp accomdation and put our stuff into storage and put our dogs somewhere else.  Talk about time organisation, I have absolutley no words at the moment....

5 weeks later than promised

There it is ... the right baulstrade - which was promised before Easter!!!

This is a really stressful time for the family, we are homeless from this weekend, and Simonds have not responded to our defects list indicating that they will need more than a week to give us a response to the 71 defects that my independent inspector has found..... I dont even want to mention we found more on our end too.

The infamous defect list will be my next post... watch for it. you'll be amazed!

17th May Site Meeting

Met up with the construction manager today and expressed our concern with the mould issue, they promised that the entire mould affected area will be replaced.  We will revisit this again next week and see if any mould grows back.

Today is supposed to be the handover date but SS only mentioned that we may be able to have PCI on 24th May.

More updates soon I guess.

Further Updates - what quality?

Garage door finally done.

Mould is still there.......

Tile Laying Skills, I think these tilers need to go for a course!

Holes in the skirting are just common here now.

Anyway, fingers crossed- quite over it now.

Wall paper among other stuff

Here we are again, revisiting the wall paper option - this one is from Belgium, we knew this took our fancy but when we asked for a cost, my jaw fell to the ground! It will cost me over $1,200 to have this done on one wall including labour........

This is the safe option but we thought that STAND OUT option might be better...

This will be our sheer roller blinds going through various parts of the home such as the rumpus and toilets.. Whats so great abt them besides being affordable from Home Outlet, is that they are telfon free- who needs to breathe in heavy metals at home rite?

When can they can get it right?

 As I pulled up to the house, I saw this thing that bugged me immediately..... I paid extra for my baulstrade as an upgrade and WHAT WAS THAT?  A little disappointed that builder didnt even picked that up!

Showed the builder the mould and all other damages that need to be seen to, its a big job, the whole garage wall, ceiling door frames x 2, inside of the house upstairs & downstairs ceiling parts need to be replaced as well as a long list which I will not be writing out, if not, it will be a book!

Just waiting - was told that all plaster will be done before Easter.*fingers crossed*

yawnn....when is it all happening???

Something is done.... better than sitting there and getting mould.... The driveway is done, but not sprayed in the colour we wanted..yet.

Closer view of driveway.

Broken back window.

Cloak room - water damage - paint has peeled off - who knows what's happening or rotting behind that paintwork?

Hey Look, Mr mould has came out to play in one of the bedrooms!

And below Mr mould is Mr Peeling Paint... sigh. what else do we have to endure?