Lovin' the new house

Hey Followers

Well we did it - Yes they did it too.

So here's a run down of what happened:

• 8am 3rd November - met J our SS for final inspection
• 10am 3rd November - trip to Wisdom at Narrellan to hand over final payment and collect settlement pack and their lovely gift
• Afternoon of 3rd November - a couple of trips from QH to KR with boxes etc.
• 4th November - blinds installed, appliances delivered, aircondition install/commissioning, more trips from QH to KR with boxes etc etc
• 5th November - plumber came and installed hws and oven - still waiting on dishwasher to arrive from Germany (hopefully in the next week), more trips from QH to KR with boxes etc etc, used stove for first time, everything for kitchen in place and first night we all slept at KR
  
• 6th November - final day of move - removalists arrived at 8.30am at QH and finished around 2.30pm at KR - all stuff now at KR just needs to be organised, our Interior Decorators (the lovely L and wonderful S) came and assisted with organising R's room, hanging pictures/photos, laying out furniture - what would we do without them, unpacked boxes and crashed into bed
• 7th November - L & L organised L's bedroom, unpacked a few more boxes, cooked a fantastic roast lamb dinner in my awesome oven - best i've cooked in a while, once again crashed into bed
• 8th November - Telstra came - telephone on, Geoff completed study, gallery and laundry benches - look great, T came for lunch, unpacked more boxes and G's parents came for dinner
• 9th November - as we were set a challenge on the weekend, we decided after going back to QH to get the lawns done, we would make a start on the garage - on 6th November - everything which we needed to sort out or weren't sure where it was going was dumped in the garage, so as we had been set a challenge to see when we could get a car in the garage - it was on. It only took about 2 hours but we have managed to organise cupboards, put stuff away and are able to park 1 car in the garage, when landscaping is completed, we will be able to move out the remainder of the stuff in the garage and 2 cars will be inside.

That's enuf for now...will post some photos soon.

Plan of attack

Well there's a lot to be done before the move starts so here's a list of what's scheduled so far:

• this weekend - more packing and sorting out anything which we can throw away and not take to the new house
• Monday 1st or Tuesday 2nd - collect final cheque for builder
• Wednesday 3rd - meet J our SS for final inspection - take cheque to Wisdom Narrellan for hand over of keys etc
• Wednesday 3rd PM - move G & L to new house
• Thursday 4th - delivery of appliances - oven/stove, dishwasher, HWS
  
• Thursday 4th - fitting of blinds
• Thursday 4th - air conditioning install and commissioning
• Thursday 4th - move more stuff over
• Thursday 4th - G & L install TV antenna
  
• Friday 5th - plumber comes to install HWS, oven/stove and dishwasher
• Friday 5th - move more stuff over
• Saturday 6th - BIG MOVE - removalists booked 8.30am start
• Sunday 7th - continue with moving stuff over/unpacking stuff
• Monday 8th - Telstra connect phone
• Monday 8th/Tuesday 9th - unpacking of boxes etc and cleaning of QH house

I'm sure there's other stuff which has been arranged or needs to be done (ie sleep, eat etc) but I can't remember at the moment ..... just stay tuned.

Council bureaucracy at its finest

Unfortunately whilst all steam ahead to move in next week....BCC has rejected our DA for our retaining walls/fences.

Yesterday (in the pouring rain) we met with R our landscaper on site to try and sort out some ideas for him to present to BCC as alternatives. R will personally go and meet with the BCC officer today to show him photos of the cut and fill and the issues we have to contend with and hope to have some answers later today/tomorrow.

The frustrating this is we are spending time and money in trying to comply with BCC's requirements however many other landowners in our local area appear to have constructed retaining walls and fences which would not comply with Council.

ATTENTION all peoples who are looking at building a new home....while your builder may lodge a DA which allows for particular cut and fill levels on your block, when your neighbours commence building on their blocks which adjoing yours, their cut and fill levels may have a detrimental affect on your plans for landscaping and also on the cost of landscaping.

Stay tuned for updates on landscaping issues.

PCI Inspection Today & Hand Over Date Arranged

Hey peoples....this morning G, D & L spent a leisurely couple of hours with J our SS going through every room and blue flagging any little defect/imperfection our combined 8 eyes could find.

The issues we did find are for the most part cosmetic - paint defects, gyprock probs etc....nothing major which is absolutely fantastic.

So the great news is we get our keys on 3 NOVEMBER 2010. 10am on 3rd we will meet with J at the house - another walk thru to see if everything picked up today has been done, we will then show him the cheque for Wisdom, he will hand us a set of keys - we will then take the cheque off to Wisdom at Narellan, complete any paperwork they require and receive the remainder of the keys.

So apart from fixing up defects found today, the following needs to be done:

• further painting in bathroom

• sealing around all tiles and vanities
• staining of handrail to stairs - must say, we are very happy with the handrail - looks great
• installation of door handles and locks
• thorough clean inside (once all works completed)
• thorough clean to outside of home (no thanks to Westminster who are builder next door - their brickie has thrown mortar all over our walls, gutters, roof etc)
• backyard clean up - removal of builder's materials - broken brickes, tiles, general rubbish
• removal of port-a-loo - no we don't wish to have an outside toilet
• removal of construction fence

As for landscaping and fencing, R our Landscaping Contractor is waiting to get DA approval from Council - once he has this, he will be able to make a start on site - hopefully before Wisdom remove all the dirt which has been dug out for the driveway - this dirt will be extremely useful for fill in the back yard - saves us spending money on dirt.

Our lovely neighbours on the left hand side are moving in from this weekend and as they have young children are keen to get the fence up ASAP - so hopefully DA has issued or will issue any day and R can then get someone out to start on site to atleast get left hand side fence done.

So after today's fantastic news, I've made a few phone calls:

1. garbage bins will be delivered around 3 Nov
2. blinds will be installed on 4 Nov
3. removalist booked for Sat 6 Nov

Between 3 and 6 Nov - Geoff will move over to house and we will also move a mattress, fridge, clothes, boxes and smaller stuff - we will save the furniture and larger appliances for the removalists.

For our family this has been a very long 14 months of renting....we will be very glad to be in our brand new home.

Blog again soon.

Update

Since our last blog:

• tiling to main downstairs floors completed;
• insulation fitted;
• air conditioning completed - despite a minor hiccup with cutting of grills;
• upstairs floor sanded;
• electricals completed - despite a couple of issues with positioning of light fittings;
• plumbing completed;
• gyprock repairs completed;
• shower screens measured;
• downpipes connected;

What's left to be done before handover:

• shower screen installation
• carpets to be laid
• handrails to stairs to be fitted
• wardrobe and pantry fittings
• thorough clean up inside and outside
• driveway and alfresco area

Practical completion inspection booked for Tuesday 26 October and handover should be sometime either on or or before 5 November 2010.

Not long now......

Photos - part 4

Kitchen update - following installation of splashback and rangehood

These are the main floor tiles - delivered today before laying commenced

Entry ceiling - downlights installed

Ensuite - looking in towards shower - feature tile strip - same design in main bathroom shower

Photos - part 3

Photos - part 2

Downstairs powder room

Main upstairs bathroom - vanities

Main upstairs bathroom - frame for bath

Photos - part 1

Under the stairs

Up the stairs

Kitchen - gap under window is where the freestanding oven/stove goes

Wider view of kitchen

Update

Hello again....we are on the homeward stretch but not yet been given a handover date.

Since last blog:

• tiling in bathrooms, laundry completed;
• toilets and bath installed;
• majority of plumbing completed;
• electricians back in - installed alarm, power points, exhaust fans, IXL Tastics, rangehood, light outlets, downlights;
• tiling to main downstairs floors commenced - hope to be finished on Tuesday

Met with J our SS on Friday - unfortunately there has been an issue between gyprockers/electricians - no marks on ceilings as to where wiring for lighting is which will lead to repairs to gyprock. Also, step in pantry not correct - needs to be fixed.

Next week:

• tiling to main downstairs floors to be completed;
• insulation to be fitted;
• air conditioning to be completed;
• upstairs floor sanding;
• electricals to be completed;
• plumbing to be completed;
• gyprock repairs;
• hopefully - measurements will be taken for shower screens so these can be installed asap.

Once the above has been done, cleaners can then come back in and do a thorough clean before painters come in again.

Last word from R our landscaper, is that our DA is in neighbour consultation stage which will finish on 13 October and approval should issue within a week - hopefully R will be available to commence landscaping works asap after approval issued.

Perhaps we should start the packing yet again!!!

Sorry it's been so long....

Hey guys...yes I know we are slack but here's a list of what's happened since our last post:

• kitchen install finished - benches and glass splashback finished, minor repair to the step in pantry
• bathroom, ensuite and powder room vanities installed
  
• gyprock finished - however some areas need to be attended to
• downpipes installed
• electrician has done cut outs
• some doors (not all) fitted to bedrooms and wardrobes
• first round of painting done
• laundry tub delivered
• tiling currently underway - working on bathrooms/laundry and will then move onto floor tiles

It does sound like a lot has been done however we have honestly been disappointed with the progress but also disappointed that we have to ring our SS to get updates when we believe he should be calling us.

So as of yesterday's discussions that G had with F at Wisdom - he is certain we will have hand over in the next 4 weeks.

Once bathroom tiling has been finished, the showers will be measured for screens and these should be installed within about 10 days from measurements being done.

We've decided on which company we will use for blinds, screens etc - we chose a local company from Quakers Hill - Delta Blinds - Steve is great. We have given him the go ahead to order and commencing making the blinds.

Landscaping quotes finalised - just waiting to get DA approval to retaining walls so we will be moving in with fencing/landscaping to be done later.

I really really promise - we'll upload more photos by the end of this weekend.

Stay tuned for the next instalment.

Things are happening at The Ridge

Hey guys...B and I (D) went up to the house on our travels this morning to discover a lovely gentleman from Timpelle Kitchens was there installing our kitchen cupboards and bathroom vanities. He made comment that the kitchen will look great once finished. He also indicated from his knowledge - we should be in within 6-8 weeks maximum.

The question we had concerning our stairs appears to be resolved - they have partially finished the gyprocking of the stairs and it would seem that a railing will be installed on top of the open side and also another railing along the wall on the enclosed side of the stairs (we think similar to fellow Wisdom clients who are building the Aspiration in The Ponds).

Waterproofing done in powder room, laundry, main bathroom/toilet and ensuite.

Some of the rooms have been finished with window frames, door frames etc but still some to be done.

Friends at Wisdom gave us a call today to advise our SS has had a death in the family - our sincere sympathies to him and his family - and to assure us that all is under control and if we have any questions we should contact the office.

Photos to be uploaded soon.

WOW - we are so excited!! This week it looks like lots is going to happen.

When we visited tonight and peaked through the windows we could see that the kitchen cupboard units have been delivered, waterproofing has been done downstairs (could not see upstairs) and architraves are continuing.

Stay tuned for regular updates - more photos to come shortly.

Finally we have Lockup.

Friday: We saw that the Gyprock and cornices were finished, the stairs went in and the SS told us that we should have lockup by Tuesday.

We finally got to see the stairs and were surprised to see that the walls have been set up around the stairs but we don't understand why the walls were not put in before the Gyprockers came in!!



With the gyprock in we now understand the size of each of the rooms and are happy with how it is all shaping up.


Today (late) we called past and saw that the external doors were on and the roller door was on and some of the architrave's were started. We will have to wait till the weekend to have a good look.


We are hoping that we are about 6 weeks off completion, that is going by other Wisdom bloggers, maybe we should start hassling Wisdom for a date soon as we have to give 30 days notice for a rental place.

This week has seen some progress, the outside is now pretty much finished, the air conditioning is in and the electrical rough in complete. The electrical rough in did a minor hiccup but after reading on another blog how they had hassles with the electrical layout we requested a copy of the working diagram and just as well. A couple of small but significant change where not included in our house and after a phone call to the SS who told us that it was not uncommon for the electrical rough in to be wrong everything was sorted out but that afternoon. This week we also met with the landscaper and the final quote should be to us very shortly

This coming week we have been told that the insulation is to completed and the Gyprock should be almost completed.

Since our last post the brick work has finally finished, the bricks have been cleaned and they look good, but the past 2 weeks have been very frustrating. Over this time all that has happened is the the upstairs eaves have been painted ( a job that took less than a day) and the scaffolding has been removed. ( a day to remove) When the SS was asked about the slow progress he just said that it was due to the regulations. But what I don't understand is how the regulations stop them working for around 12 out of the last 15 days, especially when every other house around us has progressed.

Wisdom told us that they do read these blogs, so Mr Wisdom we hope you get a move on.

Enough of my ranting...

This week we have been told that the ground floor gutters and barge boards and roof will be finished, we hope to see the light weight material on and the outside also completed.

Bricks nearly finished

Hey guys since our last post here's what's happened:

• more bricks laid
• gutters and barge board to top storey
• roof tiles to top storey
• more bricks done

Hoping bricks will be finished early this week.

Have had probs uploading photos but looks like we can now do this. Will upload photos soon.

Update

since our last post here's what has happened

• bricks delivered and started - up to around row 22
• windows installed - like the colour we chose
• then it rained and it rained and it rained
• kitchen layout received - it's going to be fabulous...i (D) might need to learn how to cook proper otherwise such a glamorous kitchen is going to be a waste
  
• scaffolding built around house
• first floor barge boards and gutters fitted - great colours - the barge boards are very close match to the window colours
• roof tiles delivered

Sorry friends for some reason we can't seem to attach photos...will investigate.

Bye for now

Update...since our last blog

Met with Timpelle Kitchens to select kitchen layout.

Brickies started today and will hopefully continue tomorrow.

Received quote from Di Lorenzo for feature tiling to bathroom.

Will blog again soon.

Oops

All the plumbing has been roughed in and there is a couple of things are of concern
1. The gas point is in the home theatre should be in the dinning room this should be easy to fix
2. The sewage pipes coming down from the main bathroom don't line up with the hole in the slab, the pipe comes down in the pantry but the pipe hole in the slab is the other side of the wall. This should be interesting in how they fix this. I spoke with SS and he was going to check it out and get back to me

The SS also told us that there was a delay in the delivery of the bricks, apparently Boral has only just done the production run and they are still waiting for the "selectors" to sort the bricks and then they will be delivered.

Since our last blog a lot has happened

Today all the frame work appears to have been completed and we now have some idea as to the actual size of the house as previously we had only seen it on the plans.

Over the weekend we had a walk through the frame work and started working out where to put furniture. This lead to some minor room usage changes. Like our dining room table is too large for the area we were going to place it, so we have decided to make our indoor leisure room (which was known to us as the study) the dining room, we will have a study downstairs in a section of the fifth bedroom and as the gallery upstairs is a lot larger than we expected we will have another study upstairs.

We have lift off....

18 March 2010 letter arrived from Bank to give builder the go ahead....to our surprise when G & J drove past the block that afternoon we had a port-a-loo on site. By the afternoon of 19 March 2010 we had a Cyclone fence around our block (see photos).






Hopefully this week they will start earthworks and maybe pier holes. Hope to also get a call from our SS.

Ready...Set....??

This week has finally seen the construction certificate issued, the bank give a verbal go ahead but we are still waiting for the documents and Wisdom sent through the pricing variations, unfortunately they have to go back and look at again as they didn't include several items that were on the electrical layout plan, don't know how they missed them as they were drawn and written, SC at Wisdom couldn't understand how they missed it as well.

Wisdom said they are ready to start digging as soon as the bank paperwork is completed. Apparently the plans have gone to the Estimator to start ordering the bits and pieces. Hope the paperwork comes through this week and we can finally see something happening.

Colour Selections

Saturday 6 February 2010 we met with Anita from Wisdom for our colour selections appointment. Whilst we had 100% decided on most selections there were a couple of things we were both unsure of and we were very happy to have Anita assure us that our selections were correct or provide us with suggestions for alternatives.

So in the end, we have decided on the following:

External
Bricks - Boral Horizon Graphite

Rooftiles - Bristile Gunmetal


Gutters - Colorbond Ironstone


Fascia, Downpipes - Colorbond Shale Gray

Garage door - Panel Lift Contemporary Profile - Ironstone

Front door - painted in Colorbond Ironstone

Windows - Trend Anodic Natural Matt


Second storey cladding/eaves - Taubmans Gazebo White
Driveway/Outdoor leisure room - Plain with Edge brick header - Gunmetal

Internal
Kitchen
Benchtops - Caesar Stone Ice Snow


Cupboard doors - Polyurethane Laminex White
Glass splashback - Cappucino

Bathroom, Ensuite & Powder Room
Vanity top - Laminex Natural Quartz (Natural Finish)

Cupboard doors - Laminex Nocturne Oak (Natural Finish)

Paint
Wall & Woodwork Paint - Taubmans Fume Blanc
Ceilings/cornices - Taubmans White

Selections of carpet and tiles will be done around the time the slab is poured - we know what we want and hope they are still in range at that time.

So what now...we are waiting on the Construction Certificate to issue and the financier to get back to us with the documents etc.

Stay watching hopefully we will have some further updates in the next week or so.

Settled & Building Plans Approved

Monday 25 January 2010 - DA approved and building plans now released from Council - just waiting to receive approved plans from Wisdom, finance application can then be finalised.

Wednesday 27 January 2010 - B from Wisdom advised they will now arrange for submission of docs to Sydney Water for approval (approx 3 weeks) and hopefully will have Construction Certificate shortly thereafter. Need to chase landscaper (again) for final quote.

Wednesday 27 January 2010 - we settled today, we now own a piece of dirt, with a bit of grass and a few pegs. Please feel free to drop in for a picnic but just make sure you take y0ur rubbish with you.

Long time no blog

Well as you can see it is now 2010 and it has been two months since we blogged. So I hear you ask what's been happening.

Development Consent - not yet granted. Unfortunately just prior to Christmas we received a phone call from Wisdom to say that Council were asking for the landscaping plan and the letter of consent from owner to lodgement of development application - this was a surprise to us as we provided these documents to Wisdom in October.

On 12 Jan - Wisdom provided us with a letter from Council to advise there was an issue with the amount of fill and that some minor amendments were required to landscaping plan. Geoff spoke to our mate Colt about the fill issue and he believes that as the excess fill is very minor Wisdom should be able to resolve this by lodging a letter of justification.

On 18 Jan - the plan of subdivision for our block was registered - so now it is all steam ahead to settle on the land.

On 19 Jan - we received the amended landscaping plan and emailed this to Wisdom - they have prepared a letter of justificati0n and would be sending both these docs to Council.

Hopefully we will have Development Consent any day now and we can then obtain the Construction Certificate.

On 6 Feb we will be meeting with Anita of Wisdom for our colour selection appointment. We have pretty well decided on most things but need her wisdom (lol) on some selections.

Watch out for next blog.