The House of Never Ending Dramas

I must apologise for the lack of blog updates in the last couple of weeks, I have been one very busy person and have not had the time.

I took possession of the house on 30 November which just happened to be my 43rd birthday (no smart remarks about the age thank you). I could not have asked for a better birthday present and I started moving in that night.

I had a mad three days of moving into the new house while cleaning the old house ready for hand over to the new owners, my thanks to June, Mark and Leanne for all their help with the move, I would not have been able to do it without you.

While the new house had been professionally cleaned it needed another one as dust had settled everywhere. I have since discovered that when living in a new estate with trucks going up and down each day it's hard to keep the place clean however it's funny how you love house work when it's a new house.

I had a blind company come out during the week to measure and quote on blinds. While plantation shutters are a little out of budget at the moment I have ordered Shutter blinds for all of the bedrooms and the bathrooms and roller blinds for all the other windows and doors. I don't expect to have them until after Christmas so am living with sheets at the moment.

So what about these dramas that I speak of, well where to begin?

As some of you who have been reading my blog will know I was installing my Kitchen appliances myself however the builder was installing the microwave. I was quite happy to live on frozen meals for a week or so. The first Saturday of the move it was 9:00pm, I was dead tired and had not eaten since the bag of jelly beans I had the night before. I take a frozen meal from the freezer, place it in the microwave press 'start' and nothing, not a thing! Call customer care on Monday morning and they say they will have to get a technician out, first day free is Wednesday. Technician comes out and says 'It's dead' we will have to replace it. Can't do that until the following Thursday so it looks like toasted sandwiches and salads for a week.

Sunday, after finding my TV cables I hook up the TV to the antenna only to get a mass of snow on the screen. So it's a call to my SS Monday morning and another one to the Antenna company who have installed the antenna but not hooked it up. It seems the antenna was installed before the star system and no-one connected the two.

Monday the Foxtel guy comes to install my satellite dish. I put some carpet off cuts down on the floor where he is going to work so it does not get scratched. Low and behold he still manages to scratch it. He offers to pay for it but I'm thinking I can polish them out. He is kind enough to give me a digi path for my trouble.

Tuesday morning I open my beautiful Bi-part doors to the alfresco area and one of the doors falls out of it's track. I catch it in time, put it back in place but cannot slide it. I call the SS and he is there within 30 minutes to fix it himself. Seems that the painters took the door off to paint and put the guides back in the wrong place.

Wednesday the guys come to install the oven only to find that the cavity is 5mm too small, yes the oven fits in but the door cannot be opened, another call to the SS who is yet to rectify this problem. The electricians remove the top trim so that I can have an oven and all is well.

The dishwasher is also installed on Wednesday but alas there's a leak, the gas fitter who installs my cook top fixes this and I am happy.

Thursday my phone is to be installed, I get to 4:00pm and still no technician so I call Telstra only to find that they installed my telephone (and the new number I gave to all my friends) to another house in the estate. I'm not happy as it was such an easy number to remember. They re-schedule for the next day, give me a new number and true to their word the technician is there at 10:00am to install it (takes less than 5 minutes)

Lastly Saturday morning I decide to do some washing. My friends husband kindly hooked up my washing machine for me when I moved. A lot of people warned me not to be surprised if after moving the washing machine I go to do a load of washing and the thing wont start. I put a load on start her up and it goes, I breath a sigh of relief and go off to continue unpacking. Twenty minutes later I think that the washing machine has been a little quiet. I go to check it and sure enough, not going, pumps gone. So it's off to buy a new washing machine, something I did not budget for but thanks to 'The Good Guys' I got a good deal.

So to sum up. While it has been a drama filled week I would expect nothing less. All new houses have teething problems and mine have not been anything major, just a number of them one after the other. I love my house and will love it even more when the 100 odd boxes are unpack, I have some more money to visit ikea and get my scrapbook room set up and my brother-in-law pays a visit and helps me get my garden set up. Once I have a couple of months to put my stamp on things it will start to feel like home.

Will update with photos once it starts to feel like home.

In a Whirlwind (Final Inspection)

Well it is almost time for handover and the last few day have been complete craziness!

In between preparing for a Garage Sale (which was advertised to start 8:00am Saturday morning but in fact in the eyes of the professional dealers started Wednesday morning) and packing I had my final walk through and inspection on Friday.

I was most impressed. Everything that I had been worried about when I walked through the house a couple of weeks ago had been taken care of without me having to point them out to my SS. Both the windows have been fixed. I took a friend along as an extra pair of eyes and with the companies inspection, the independent inspection and mine I am pretty happy.

My SS advised me that the feature wall in the rumpus room had been re-painted again due to damage made by the carpet installers and that they had also repainted the two walls in the dining as there had been a scratch in the plaster work and some dirty marks.

The only disappointment for me is the splash back in the kitchen. Although the colour ordered was 'stone' it does not seem to be the colour that I had picked out and taken a photo of all those months ago. Instead of a green tinge it seems to be more of a latte colour.

I could kick up a fuss and have it replaced but this would hold up the hand over for another four weeks! Do I want to do this? No! I know some people will say do not compromise but I am in a corner at the moment with having no where to live after this week, I just want to get into my home and if a green tinge on a splash back is all that's holding things up than it is not worth it. I have been told by several people who have spoken to sales people that the colour can vary from the show room once installed so maybe this is the case. Never mind, I will get used to it.

There were no other problems, just a few splashes of paint on the brickwork that will be removed in the final clean. I have even been given left over paint in case I needed to do touch ups after I move in (there can always be the odd accident even if you are so careful).

So - Where are we at? After much drama with my bank about getting the valuation and cheque (I am still waiting to be told when I can pick up the said cheque but have been guaranteed I will have it by Tuesday) We are set for hand over on the 30th of November! Could not be a better day as this is my Birthday and I could not ask for a better Birthday present. (Well maybe George Clooney wearing nothing but a bow tie but I won't let bore you with my fantasies).

The hot water service will be put in that morning, no appliances to go in as I am doing that myself, cleaning will be later that morning and I will have the keys that afternoon. Look out for the lovely curtains (aka sheets) in the windows that night.

As I have a hundred and one things to do between now and then this will be my last post until I move in. Look out for some photos next week.

Oh and one final thing. I had the pleasure of meeting two of my new neighbours who are also building the Santorini just a couple of doors up. Unfortunately because I am old and have the memory of a gold fish I have forgotten their names but they are a really lovely couple which makes me feel even more content that I have made the right decision in where I have chosen to live.

Waiting is the Hardest Part

For the last week my SS has been very quiet, rather than him calling me to tell me what is going on I have had to call him. Twice now he has said he would get back to me that afternoon with answers and twice he has not called back. Is there something going on I should know about?

The house has been finished now for a week. I received the Certificate of Occupancy over a week ago and was told that I should be getting the keys 19 November. When I spoke with him on Monday his Manager was going through to check things out at the time, yesterday it was QA so hopefully tomorrow it will be my turn. I need to get my Inspector in to have a look through, however they won't even give me a date that I can do that. I need to allow for the fact that my guy is probably going to find mistakes that need to be rectified so I guess I am looking at another week again.

So close and yet so far. Wish me luck!

November 19th

Yes that's right, November 19 is set as the date for handover!

Had a call from my SS today to advise that the Certificate of Occupancy has been approved, he has the painters coming in tomorrow to fix the facade and touch up around the house. His Manager will go through with him probably Wednesday and then Quality Assurance. He will then walk me through the house and my Inspector will go through on Monday.

It's now happening so fast. I have so much to do and so much more to pack. I am surrounded by 'to do' lists and have not crossed anything off. It's time to get organised!

Will keep you updated.

Photo Update

Had to go down to the house this morning to put my number on the window for the Gas connection so I took a few photos.

The facade has been fixed, didn't take much at all by the looks of things. It is yet to be painted however that will happen when the touch ups are done. There are a few more red stickers here and there but not as many as I want to see (I know no one wants to see red stickers but I know there should be a lot more).

The drive has been poured however it is yet to be finished as it needs to dry before they seal it.

There was a lot of work being done at the estate today with trucks coming in with loads of dirt. The end of the street was being rolled so it looks like they are getting ready to finish the road (this should make you happy Janine). I took a drive around the estate and noticed that there are four Metricon homes going up in Maplewood court, I'd love to know which ones are being built.

There has also been more tree planting along the boulevard and one of the side streets. I am just hoping that we get the same trees in our street as they provide wonderful shade and a shady street means $$$$ to the house.

Now I have to start thinking about the garden and what I am going to do there. I have three months from hand over to get it complete however I want to get on to it as soon as possible. I'm open to suggestions, I want something that is going to take care of itself but I'm not into natives. It looks like a visit to the nursery is in order. Does anyone know a good one.

Anyway, here are some photos, possibly the last before handover as there is very little left to be done now. I'm sorry if the quality is not too good, they were taken through windows once again.

Nearly a New Home Owner

Well it's been a little while since I have blogged as I have taken a little time off and been to Queensland to catch up with family. Had a wonderful time but I'm home now and it's all go, go, go as I start packing ready for the big move.

It seems like things have moved a little slowly in the last couple of weeks as it often seems to with building. I had a call yesterday morning from my SS saying that all the flooring was now in and all that needed to be done was the splash back which was going in on Monday and the driveway which was being poured today.

He said he would be going through the house with his Manager next week to check everything (this is where they put those little red stickers all over everything). The facade will be fixed this week and then he will get the painters to come in and do their touch ups.

I didn't tell him that I went to the house on Tuesday, found it unlocked and let myself in to have a little look around. I really was not happy with some of the things I found. There were scuff marks on several walls including a deep scratch in the plaster, paint on brick work and windows, paint scratched on skirting, paint on my nicely stained bi part doors, fly screens that were not in properly because they were too big, blood all over one wall from someone who had obviously cut them selves and one window frame badly dented.

I've made note of all of these, taken photos and if they have not been picked up in the Metricon inspection I will point them out to my Private Inspector when we go through the house. It's better that these come from him than from me.

I also noted that there was a sign on the window saying that the house had been cleaned however I still thought it was very dirty. My SS advised me that he would be getting the house cleaned again next week before hand over.

He also said that they would be applying for the certificate of Occupancy on the 8th of November which is Monday. I thought they would have everything finished to do that however it must not be the case.

Also got a call today from the energy company saying that they were putting in the gas metre on Monday or Tuesday and connecting the gas.

Oh and I mentioned in one of my previous posts that I thought the garage door was the wrong colour.....it is, however, this is my fault. I had chosen the darker door when I was having the original darker coloured paint work on the facade. When I changed the paint colours we had also talked about changing the colour of the garage door to the lighter one, it seems the colour consultant missed this and I did not pick up on it, my own fault but it is a lesson to any of you still in the contract stage to check things very closely. I'll live with it, 12 months down the track I will probably change the facade colour anyway.

So according to my SS I should be in my house some time between the 15th and the 20th of November. Keep your fingers crossed that this is true. If it is it will be Christmas Drinks at my house.

Keep you updated.

Floorboards Down, Wardrobes fitted

I know I said there would be no posts for a little while however I couldn't help myself. I had to go down to Baxter today and as the house is only a few short minutes out of the way I thought I would drop by and see if anything was going on.

The big pile of dirt is still down one side of the house and nothing yet has been done to the facade (I expect that will be another week away at least) however there was a guy there fitting out the wardrobes so I stopped to have a chat with him. He said to go on in as he had just completed the walk in robes and was about to start on bedroom 2. He will probably be finished tomorrow.

Master Robe Behind the door

I checked my drawings and I did not have a rail behind the door. He said he was not sure if there was meant to be one so he did it anyway, (I wont be paying for it) but it will be great as I can hang my shoes along here (not wide enough for hanging clothes).

This shot really does not give a true indication of just how big the robes are. This is every woman's dream. The lower rack is half again as long and there is plenty of room for storage boxes on top as well.

To my surprise the floorboards have gone down and I am really happy with them. There are a few boards here and there that are either a bit darker or a bit lighter however that is the nature of Tallowwood. I was advised the other day not to put a rug down for at least six months as it will darken up a little once the light gets on to it and if a rug is down it will leave patches. They have covered it with corrugated cardboard at the moment to stop marking.

Front Entry

Entry to rumpus room

Shower doors, taps and bath have now gone in as well. All that needs to be done to the bathrooms is the corking and a good tidy up. I am really happy with the pebble feature tile in the showers. Just needs some accessories to the rooms to add that oomph and it will look great.

Main Bathroom

En Suite

Pebble Feature Tile.

The next two major things to be done will be the carpet and the driveway which can't be too far away now. Then it will be just the little things here and there. Hopefully by this time next month I will be just about in. Fingers crossed.