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.

Render

So - you thought that you wouldn't see another entry from us until after our PCI (which is tomorrow)? Wrong! Went for a stroll to the house this morning as we knew the render guys were hard at it yesterday.

We were a bit surprised that the house was open (garage door could be lifted, and then the internal access door was unlocked), so took a few inside shots. Not much has changed, so there will be lots to talk about tomorrow with SS.

Render colour is "Maudsland" (because we know you will ask...)

The finish on the render looks fantastic. Bagged and painted would have been cheaper, but the extra cost for the render is worth it.

From the front door - down to the rumpus room

Close up of the heater in the Family Room

Laundry - previous shots have had the basin covered

Render from the balcony. Tiling needs to be completed on the balcony floor

Mirror has been installed in the ensuite

We now have fly screens

This shot shows the drain hole for the balcony. Andy and Simone have one on each side. These houses are all the same - but different!

The big cat has been

The Bobcat has visited the site, and what a difference moving some dirt and rubbish makes!

Yesterday our heater was installed, and the new shed was finished. All in all - a very productive couple of days. Loads of photos. Sorry.

Mr. Robert Feline in action

What a huge difference!

Dunny and bin are next to go.

This is how we knew the heater had been installed.

Photo taken through the (now clean) window.

A lot of dirt has been moved - down the side....

... around the back ....
The big pile of dirt has gone!

... up the other side. We need to build a retaining wall here.

Expansion joints have been sealed.

This shifty looking character is the site security (and Minister of Finance, and Building Inspector, and Colour Coordinator, and....)
Boy, and I going to be in trouble for this one.

Our shed has also been completed. These photos especially for the blokes. For the girls - the colour is "Paperbark". :-)

Dimensions are 7 metres x 9 metres.

Yep - gotta build a retaining wall along here so we can get into the shed.

Here's looking at you!

Yes, we have mirrors - almost. Two out of three mirrors have been installed.

We are thinking that as with everything else regarding the vanity in the ensuite, the height of the vanity has been stuffed up - and the mirror as supplied was the wrong size. That's the theory, anyway.

We must admit that the colour of the render was not quite as dark as we had thought, but it something we can live with. It should look better once the garage door has been installed.

Ok. Pictures: Mirrors, ducted vacuum points, cover on the heater box (externally), render....

Render is well under way

Close up of the colour - bit lighter than we originally thought.

Balcony

Open duct....

... closed duct.

Our tap fills the bath ok - just!
The best part is that it swings out of the way when you don't need it.

Bathroom mirror

Powder room

Heater box with it's cover.

Contract Appointment

Well! Yesterday we had our Contract Appointment with Porter Davis, and it was a looong process!

At the appointment, we went through all the items covered off at the Tender Appointment, went through the additional pricing for upgrades selected at the Colour Appointment, went through the contract drawings, elelectricals, and finally walked through the contract itself.

We also asked our CSR lots of questions, and got answers for everything.

We arrived on time at 9:00, and left at around 1:45 (not quite so bad - there was a one hour lunch break in there!). When we left, we had more paperwork! Shown below is the Victorian New Homes Contract, The Post Contract Variation, Colour Selection details, and the Contract Documentation which includes the drawings and specifications up to this point.



It was nice to see some of the drawings come together with our own little custom touches such as the wider space for the fridge, the capped water point for the fridge and the extra width in the garage.

The heater: Yes, we now have our heater included as a post contract variation. It's a Jetmaster 550 (comes with yet another remote control!). I've added a photo below, which I took in one of the display homes. The heater is setting us back $6,780 fully installed.




Major upgrade items:

• Heater: $6,780
• Category 4 bricks: $2,725
• Off White Mortar: $Category 2 Roof tiles: $1,399
• Render: $1,220
• Tiled balcony and lined eave to portico: $1,492
• Quantum Quartz Benchtop (promotion special): $700
• Evaporative Cooling (promotion special): $1,138
• 1000mm garage width extension: $2,695
• 3 panel aluminium stacker sliding door: $1,351
• Stain Grade Timber staircase: $1,608

Of course there are quite a few lower cost items, which add up to a big number!

A big thank-you to Susan at Porter Davis. Susan was very thorough and patient, and nothing was too much trouble. She provided answers on the spot for all of our questions, and we went away feeling very good about our new home.

We are still set for a January start - which means we need the land title by December.

Variation - the heater!

Hi All - time for another short update. On the land front, things are progressing! Apparently all the approval from all the necessary time wasters are through, and the contracts have been signed. Soon we should see some dirt being moved! We are told that the work should be finished 4 weeks after start of the earthworks. Yay!

On another matter, we have always considered that we would like to build in one of those real flame, gas log fire places into our family room. This would be ideal for heating up the room we are likely to use most, without having the central heating on.


The picture above shows the style we like, installed in the Cremorne 41 at Mernda. Now - being the typical tight-arses we are, we decided that the $6-$7k asking price for Porter Davis to install one of these babies (a JetMaster) was pretty steep - and that we could get one installed after the build, for much less.

Yes. And No. Our visit to the home show Sure, you can get a heater installed afterwards, however the real flame effect heaters we are looking for require a box - and the boxing is usually done on the inside of the home (for ease of construction, and cost):


Of course, we would like our heater flush on the wall, and the box on the outside of the house. Not so easy, and certainly any money we save initially soon disappears!

A call to our CSR at PD reveals that we can possibily still have the heater included as part of the build. Time to look at the JetMaster range! The one we like is shown below, and will cost almost $7k for PD to supply and install.

The good news is that the heater is flush on the inside wall (unlike the picture above, where it's built into the room), and the slab is extended with extra brickwork to handle the heater box on the outside of the house.

Lesson learned!

It seems that for us, things are always backwards - we couldn't make the tile selection appointment earlier in the month, and the next available date is October 16th! The folks at National Tiles are flat out!

Naturally, we wanted to push back out contract appointment - however doing this will delay the start of the house. End result: Contract appointment this week, and tiles to be put through as a post-contract variation.

Just curious - do you prefer to read one large blog entry every couple of weeks, or shorter ones more often? Let us know!