Double Whammy

I received a double whammy from Metricon yesterday - two invoices on the same day - one for Lock Up and one for Fixing. On the good side that means that all the bricks have been finished (yay) and that things have are progressing inside as well. On the downside those two invoices account for 45% of the construction price - the next loan repayment's going to hurt!

We met our SS up at the house last night. I was hoping to get a look around inside but the tilers were still on the job - they'd just finished grouting the tiles and washing away the excess so we couldn't go in.

I was so pleased to see the bricks finished. After all my worrying there wasn't a problem with the colour of the bricks and I really like the way the house looks. We're so glad that we mentioned that the half built portico pillar was too small, because the bigger size looks really good.

Peering through our bedroom window I could get a bit of a look at the tiling in our ensuite. All the floor and wall tiles have been completed and my spa has been installed. Shower screens are due to go in today - not sure when the basins go in.

Our SS has scheduled the rest of the things that need doing to complete the house and it looks like everything will be done by the end of October, so if all goes well handover should be around mid-November (touch wood) which allows time for any defects to be fixed.

Day 126 and we have tiles.

Pretty happy with the way it's all going so far. At the moment the tiles stretch from the garage internal access door all the way through the house, including the entry, kitchen/dining/family room, pantry bathrooms etc.

We've run out of bricks, so at the moment the bricking has come to a halt while we wait for three more pallets of bricks. One of the portico pillars is partially built, but will have to come down as it has been built too small. It's not a major problem and we probably could have left it, but we both felt the house would look better with the pillars the bigger size. Given all the dramas we have had with the bricks, we're very concerned that the new ones wont match the rest of the house!

Our SS has moved to a different area and we are the last house in this area that he is coordinating. In some ways that's good - he knows all the ins and outs of the job so far, on the down side there doesn't seem to be a lot of 'supervising' going on at the moment. Maybe that's normal? Everything seems to have really slowed down.

It's all coming together

Day 118. We're so excited, the house is all coming together and we think it looks beautiful.

Wade called in at the house last night to see how the bricks were progressing and the house had been left unlocked, so I went straight around to check out the inside.

All the internal painting has been completed, there are a couple of areas that will need a touch up but nothing major. The finish is just beautiful. Our gorgeous timber front door and timber bi-part doors have been stained and they looked fantastic. The front door won't go up for a little while yet, but it looks great.

The electricians have been and about half of the house now has lights and all our switches and power points have been fitted. So glad we went with the slim line option, they look fantastic. All our vents for the ducted heating have been installed and the remote is hanging on the wall.

All the stone bench tops have been fitted and the cabinet handles have been installed.

According to My Metricon and the internal communication board, our wall tiling will commence today. Of course my camera went flat after one photo yesterday so I've only got mobile phone pictures. Hopefully I'll be able to get back there later in the week with my camera and there might even be some tiles to check out!

Plastered

Day 76. Our dodgy bricks were pulled down today - I don't have photos of that yet and I'm not sure I really want to see it. It was necessary but it still feels as though we're going backwards instead of forwards.

In the picture above you can see the amount of variation in the brick. It's not Metricon's fault, we just got a bad batch. Austral tried to get the brickies to toss out the really dark ones, but with the bricks being wet it's incredibly difficult to tell which were too dark. Our SS did mention that we could let the bricking continue and then have the house rendered at the end, but we really preferred the bricks.

On a happier note - the plaster is just about complete. It's all up and the cornices were all cut today and should be put up tomorrow.




Our SS also mentioned that the kitchen floor will levelled this week, ready for tiling to start. Not sure when that is due but hopefully not for a few weeks yet. According to the engineers our slab needs to sit for at least three months before tiling commences.