Carpet and Retaining Wall Footings

It was a busy day yesterday. We got our carpet laid and retaining wall footing done.

Hardly Normal sent in a fantastic installer and even my retaining wall guys were admiring his skills, so we know he did a great job. We initially had some carpet problems when we rang them for installation - our chosen color was completed sold out and no stock would come in until mid next month or we could choose another color. Craig was very vely upset as he really veally loved Gondola. For me, it was a tad too dark but I didn't mind it. Of course we didn't want to wait so we decided to change color, so we chose a slightly lighter color - "Veranda" based on a 5 sq cm of sample, risky, isn't it? It turned out perfect!

Keys Keys More Keys

Yes, we went through settlement with the builder on Friday 12/11/10 and received a big bunch of keys. Appliances will be delivered on the 19th and installation will be 22nd and guess what, we are moving next weekend!

Weekend transformation

Craig's been working real hard over the weekend to move the rocks and to recover the trench. After much sweat and sunburn, he did it! Most of the rocks are now behind the garage.

We have asked the painter to come back to do two extra coats Dulux paint on the wall during the weekend and it's looking so much better than the thin Wattyl 2 coats. Not sure if the pictures actually show the difference.

Inspection

It's been 1 week since the Site Supervisor did the walk through with me while Craig was away in Queensland. During the walk through, we found some minor issues - mostly cosmetic which can be easily fixed - it could be me trying to rush things through and I chose to ignore little things. There is 12 months maintainence period and 7 years warranty anyway so why would I care? I JUST WANT THE BLOODY THING TO FINISH! (I'd better leave a remark here - I HOPE I won't regret this 3 months from now).

Supervisor is leaving the company next week and being a very responsible person, he's trying to finish my project before he leaves and I can tell he's doing his best to organize tradesmen to do the fix-ups. I can't praise him enough.

While the pool was supposed to start the excavation last week and sure enough, they didn't show up. On Monday, we decided not to wait and started some site work for the remaining retaining walls and the driveway. On Monday, we got the excavator to level up the driveway a bit and dig the trenches for the retaining walls - surprise surprise, we broke the drainage pipes - I sort of expected as it's right under where we need to put the retaining wall - my concreter/landscaper is going to fix it anyway so I won't let that bother me! Then, just 30 minutes after all the job's done, it started raining. I couldn't even take a picture of what the trenches. Nothing is going my way!

On Tuesday, the pool supervisor had decided to call me to let me know that they were going to excavate on Wednesday and I said to myself - see, I just needed to be calm, things will move along. Wednesday morning, beautiful day, good for excavation and we needed the dirt from the pool to back fill my retaining walls so I asked the excavator to leave the soil on site where my fill needed to be, next to my TRENCH. Off to work we went! All day Wednesday thinking about how great things turned out and when I finished work, I couldn't wait to get back to see the site.

When Kai and I got off the car, I was so shocked by the sight of a mountain of rock right at my backyard. Where the bloody hell is my TRENCH! I didn't know if I should laugh or cry. It turned out that I had more than enough of dirt and rock to fill the retaining walls and there was so much, my trench was buried right under the rocks!

Craig is going to have so much much moving the rocks! OK, I've talked too much already. Here are some pictures.



Tiles in the living area

Shutters

Sneak Peek

We went into the house with the cable guy to go through smart wiring points on Saturday. The weather on Saturday morning was fantastic (got 3 loads of washing done!) and we were hoping a great photo opportunity. By 3 o'clock, it started to look nasty and our appointment was at five so we didn't bother to bring the proper camera then when we got in the house, we were so happy to see the tile work, we couldn't resist using the phone camera. Here they are.
Ensuite


Main Bathroom



Laundry

Kitchen


Family and Dining

The tiler answered my call

Bathroom, Ensuite and Laundry are being tiled as I type. The main living area will be tiled after the practical completion inspection and before handover. According to the supervisor, we are looking to do the inspection sometime next week, then we will work towards the magical word "Keys".

O Tiler, Tiler, Wherefore art thou Tiler?

Well, the title says it all - We are still waiting for the tilers. Last Monday, we were told they couldn't do the tiles because we hadn't paid for the extra tiles we ordered and the ironic thing was that I actually rang them a week before to check with them if I had to pay first. We paid them immediately on Monday, and on Tuesday, the tiles were delivered but no tilers the whole week. On Friday, we were then told they would start on Monday because they got stuck with other jobs. Let's hope we will be tiled this week!

On a positive note, the Caesarstone Benchtop was installed last week and it looks amazing.

Also received 2 bills from the builder plus an information leaflet about settlement. No dates just yet, PCI should be soon. Can't wait!

It's a Waiting Game

Nothing much happened last week except the painting's done. There are a couple of yellow spots they need to come back and correct. Concrete and sand were delivered at the beginning of the week and we were hoping the tilers were coming in soon, but surprise, surprise, they didn't come.

Telstra technician came but he couldn't connect the phone line as there was no record in telstra's system showing there was conduit connected to our site. He said a private contractor would have to come in to dig trenches and connect the service. The job has been booked for Oct 21. Great news, isn't it?!

Day light saving has been switched on and we're losing 1 hour of sleep, and the rain during the long weekend hasn't helped to raise my spirit either, so I'm quite depressed. Let's hope there will be some action this week.

Edit - hang on, we did get something done over the long weekend. We bought the shaving cabinets, some light fixtures, clothesline and booked carpets through Hardly Normal.

Feb to Sep 2010 - Aerial View

Aerial Pictures from this really cool website: http://www.nearmap.com/
February

April

June

September

Kitchen Cupboards Installed

Went back to the site on Saturday afternoon and was happy to find the cupboards installed except for the wall cupboards above the Fridge space. It turned out the Fridge space was not wide enough for the cupboard. We need 1000mm wide for the the space and after everything installed, it was only 960mm left and I bet the Site supervisor wouldn't be happy to see a note from the cupboard installer on the wall - "to be moved".

More Stuff

Thursday, September 23, 2010, Craig gave in when I insisted going to the new house to have a look before picking Kai up for baseball. Guess what we stumbled upon? Half of a trench for electricity connection AND room full of stuff inside the house. Here they are.

We're Officially Locked Up

It's been a long while since I last updated the blog. I've been extremely busy at work, and went to 3 countries within 1 month for work. For someone who has very serious motion sickness, this is not a very pleasant thing. After all these, I am sick as a dog.

There hasn't been a huge progress, but believe it or not, we are officially locked up as of today. We've got walls, doors, bath tubs delivered...blah blah blah... Very happy and words from different tradesmen are we are looking at 4 more weeks to finish and I take that as best scenario and add 2 weeks stuff-ups.

Photo Fest!

Bricks are done and Cables are in

Now that I know Winnie my niece is checking on my progress all the way from Paris, there is more reason for update!

Brickies have finished their job! A good 40th birthday present for Craig - we've got cables yesterday. Although the electrician put the metrebox on the wrong wall, it didn't upset us too much as he's going to move it. A progress is a progress!