Appliances - and pictures!

Thanks to everyone for their kind messages for our handover yesterday (especially to Mum who has mastered SMS)!

The handover was all over very quickly: fill in some forms (including feedback forms), grab the keys, hand over the large bank cheque and that's it! There are loads of keys - normal door locks (keyed alike), Trilock, sliding door locks (keyed alike), sliding windows and awning windows.

Regarding the locks - Gainsborough have a very neat system where the locks are keyed for a set of builders keys, allowing the tradies to have access into the house. Once you get your own "Owners" keys, they are inserted into the lock and a pin drops inside meaning that the Builder's key will no longer work. Very neat (although I did hear from another Cremorne owner that the builder key did still work in one of his locks). We were told to turn the key back an forth a few times to ensure the pin drops.

Before releasing the final cheque, the bank wanted a copy of the certificate of occupancy, and a copy of our insurance certificate for home insurance.

One of the other major days which can happen after the handover is the day the appliances get installed. This can be a day nominated by the owners at some time after handover, depending on when the house will be occupied.

We decided to ask for the appliances to be installed on the day of handover, hoping to move in over this weekend (which won't happen).

We already have the phone line installed with the same number form our old place (yes, that's why we are not answering!).

Thought you might be interested in the finished items!

Just had a call from the guy installing the ducted vac (as I write this) - he's doing the install today and can't get into the house. The Builders key no longer works... :-)

Oven, hotplates and rangehood.
No side cupboards here - we decided the look was cleaner without them.

Blanco hotplates

Blanco dishwasher

Tank and pump. Not particularly happy with the way the overflow has been installed, and we will look at changing it later.

Pump housing

Davey Rainbank pump

Hot water service - sitting on it's concrete block, on a mound of pushed up dirt. We will put some bricks underneath the edges for more support.

This was an upgrade

5 star energy rating for the Aquamax

Over the past two weeks the retaining wall has been finished, and lots of other work has been going on. More info on the other work soon ;-)

Completed retaining wall

Picture tells the story

Ok, the picture doesn't tell the whole story. We have keys, and some nice key-rings and a PD travel (overnight) bag. Cool! More photos and a full update tomorrow.

Lots to tell!

Quick update - handover soon!

This update is specifically for Andrea!

We have a handover booked in for tomorrow (Thursday), and everything has been a bit up and down. Our SS has headed overseas for two weeks away - he needed a holiday after dealing with us for the past 6 months. Coincidentally, our CSC is also on holidays.... there's a pattern here somewhere.

A couple of the smallest items will be rectified when the SS returns, however we decided not to wait until he comes back to get the keys - we need to make the move soon for various reasons!

No photos today - but lots of photos coming soon... lots has been happening around the house.

PCI - ed

Hi all! Well, we had our Practical Completion Inspection (PCI) last Friday (18th July).

We were there for about two hours and ended up with a three page list and many dots! For those of you who don't know, the PCI involves a walk through with the Site Supervisor to compile a definitive list of items which need attention, when are then signed off.

As you go through, paint items are identified with a dot (in our case red)

Red spot special!

Minor paint items were marked, and the major things to be done include: Some cornice to be replaced, a couple of downlights to be moved (and holes patched), sticking (stuck!) back door, various paint and fill items, some tiling to be completed, infills above windows and doors, roof tiles to be replaced, and various odd and ends.

The aim is have handover on the 25th, but depending on how long it takes to get the various trades on site handover may be the following week.


This is the first time we have had a chance to get up close and personal with the new heater in the family room. Part of the protective film has been peeled back in the shot below to show the polished stainless steel finish (although it looks black in the picture).

Looking forward to cranking this up on a cold day!

Haven't had a chance to update the blog since Friday as we have been hard at work putting a retaining wall in along one entire length of the block. Thanks heaps to Dad for coming down from up north and helping with the posts.

Holes marked for the posts

Bobcat hard at work with the borer. The handsome fellow in the picture is Dad!

At of writing (Sunday night) all the post are in. We will take more photos when we get a chance.

Some dates

Had a phone call today from our CSC, and we were given a couple of very important dates!

The PCI is set for Friday 18th July at 9:00am. That's the "Practical Completion Inspection" where we the get the opportunity to pick everything we are not happy with.

The handover is set for one week later (25th July), however I suspect that the handover will be delayed once they have our list. A couple of the items on the list won't be fixed in one week.

A couple more pictures for you.

Wardrobe rails have been put in.

Junction boxes in the stair walls - our stair wall lights will be fitted here. This is the set of stairs above the landing. Photo taken from upstairs.

Junction boxes in the wall for the set of stairs below the landing.