Pre XMAS

A few things were supposed to happen before XMAS. Not sure if they will get done (as of today 20/12 they had not been) but here's a list of things CG advised would be done before Xmas:

Tiler finish (about 95%done)

Electrical fit off (mostly done but a few errors with putting in double GPOs instead of the quads we had in plans, power points missed and ensuite 3 GPO on wrong side of bench - all rectifiable)

Render completed to alfresco (50% done)

Downpipes installed and plumbed( not done)

Site cleanup and temp fence removed (not done)

Drawers and cabinet drawers installed in kitchen (not done)

Island bench stone completed (half done)

Garage roller door (not done)

Aircon and heating vents installed (not done)

On a positive note all our side and rear fences are done and are looking good. 

Merry Christmas!

SS on-site meeting 3/12/2013

on-site meeting today

all went well, tiling underway - any damaged tiles to be put aside and hopefully we will have enough good ones to get the job done, Alucobond pretty much done.

Yes I am including a happy face, good to see some positive action on-site
:-)

p.s A big hi to CP!

Tiling underway, Alucobond underway, kitchen partially replaced 2/12/2013

Not much action the last week but today a little more action to report on site

Tiling has commenced. Tiler reported today he found a few boxes of tiles that had damaged edges and bowed during manufacturing. When we told him how much $$$ we paid extra to national tiles for these Argentinian porcelain tiles he said he would try and have them replaced. Meeting with Site superior tomorrow so will let him know the issue. 

He is a good tiler and a nice young man, they have good trades at CG. 

Kitchen has been replaced partially today, old kitchen removed and new cabinet shells have been installed. Pot drawers and cupboards are now equal widths and we have pot drawers on island bench instead of cabinet doors. Doors and drawers should be in by Xmas. 

Alucobond has also been about 80% installed. It has finished off the facade nicely can't wait to see render finished and Alucobond unwrapped!

This week 23/11/2013

This week we should have painting finished off (still needs theatre room, front door outside, skirting, and a final coat on all walls - in our opinion). Tiles have been delivered so tiling should begin this week. We read about optical hazing issues on national tiles porcelain tiles and hopefully as ours are made in Argentina we won't have the same issues. 

We should also have the incorrect kitchen removed and new cabinet shells installed (draws and cupboard doors to come later). 

Render outside should also be completed this week. 

We have missed our last 4 visits with the Site Supervisor, I am thinking he may be avoiding us! Our next scheduled meeting is this Tuesday 9am. 

Painting continues and waterproofing

Waterproofing of wet areas is being undertaken this weekend. Ready for tiling mid next week hopefully. Looks like no early Christmas present from CG as kitchen error will likely push the build back to early 2014. 

8/11/2013 Painting commenced

Painting looks to have commenced on Friday 

Received a call from CG manager on Friday offering a credit of $2000 if we accept the kitchen as is. We advised that we would like the kitchen we designed and paid for, so thanks but no thanks. All pleasant conversation, he was just giving us the option of having a credit if we could live with the existing cabinets. 

Cabinet photos

Laundry in white laminex (standard)

Floating entertainment unit (white gloss laminex upgrade)

And

Ensuite in white gloss laminex (upgrade)

Master ensuite laminex white gloss (upgrade)

Kitchen (the wrong one) in white vinyl wrap and finger pull drawers

Kitchen

CG's building manager has confirmed today that yes the kitchen is incorrect and yes it will be removed and a new kitchen built and installed. It looks like somehow the cabinet makers "reverted back to the old plans". Looks like our site supervisor needs to eat some words. Expensive error as we had vinyl wrap cabinets, and a lot of them. Hopefully it won't put the build too far behind, on a positive note the building manager picked up all the same issues as we had with the kitchen without me needing to prompt him. 

The bathrooms and laundry cabinets are looking good! Pics to follow

Oh oh - kitchen wrong

We happened to be at the house location last night talking with the new neighbours and getting a front fence quotation when the kitchen cabinetry was delivered. From what the plans/drawings that the cabinet people had provided to us with the delivery of the cabinets, we seem to have wrong cabinetry in the kitchen, island bench, pantry and wrong benchtop in ensuite 3. From my eye it also appears the powder room cabinet is also a bit too large to fit in the cavity space provided (15-20mm too wide). Surely they could not be working off the old plans again!
We have raised this on so many occasions that it is now not funny, if it is incorrect as we suspect then we have lost trust in CG.
The cabinets are still being installed today despite the fact we have asked them not to be installed until checked but the building Manager has promised that the kitchen is correct and that he will personally drop past with the latest plans and check for himself on Friday, however I can almost 100% guarantee that they are wrong (again).
We are at the point of terminating CG services and running the rest of the build with another builder, if they cant even manage to work with correct plans, even after being asked numerous times by us to check and recheck. We know things happen in a build but we have encountered these issues with almost every stage of our build and we have had to raise all the issues for rectification.

Plastering continues

Plastering continues

CSR inspected the water damage in theatre room. Plasterboard has been assessed as being ok however insulation requires replacing. 

Plasterers are hard at work doing the square set and painting preparation. They are great guys and do a fantastic job. 

We are now looking at concrete driveway and sideway etc. 

Here's our colour:

Kitchen cabinets and laundry go in this coming week. We received a email from CG to advise the cabinet handle we chose is discontinued. Luckily we were around the area and popped in to their office. Their new renovations look great, so good infact that we are looking at the new concrete look render on our fireplace walls, aka Matt and Kym from the block 2013. We also realised we had the wrong colour glass splashback, we wanted a metallic sparkly look however we had selected the same as our wall colour lexicon quarter. We now have white pearl metallic glass! Overall a productive visit. Oh and we selected a decent replacement cabinet handle too. 

Raining inside

Well, after a bit of rain last night we visited the house to find our front theatre room inundated with water, yes water coming through the roof and walls. 

A little frustrating as it was entirely avoidable and I had raised the potential for water damage in earlier visits with both the site supervisor and building manager. CG were reluctant to put up our Alucobond at this early stage of our build due to its fragility. We suggested that perhaps they use some temporary cladding such as cement sheeting to help protect the internals in front of the house. Once plaster and insulation went in this was even more important. Alas our concerns fell on deaf ears and now the front room is drenched. 

Our issues are that wet insulation is not good, it stuffs the thermal properties of the insulation and can breed mould and create damp smells. The wet plasterboard is not good either as it does not handle water well and becomes unstable. Wet wooden frames over time can lead to rising damp. 

CG have promised to rectify all issues which is great but it was totally avoidable and therefore I must vent here :-)

Also our meter box is hanging off the wall and is also allowing the elements in. 

Plaster in one day. Here's some pics

Lounge/dining from kitchen

Fireplace/TV from kitchen

Kitchen and hallway from lounge

Entrance and hallway

Walk in robe

Plaster done in a day

Welcome Saturday surprise!

Team of plasterers hung the whole house in a day. They were super fast and hard working. 

Some internal photos

Here are some internal photos per lockup or is that lockout?

Front pivot door. Blue wire hanging out wall is for the intercom 

This is where our TV will go in the lounge. An array of electrical sits in the wall. Power at 2 heights, aerial, foxtel, network/data, speakers. 

Electrical

Wiring/Electrical is mostly done. Again working off old plans. Dropped by and gave them the correct plans. No major issues just points at wrong heights and some missing.  The electrical guys were great about it and accepted the changes to the correct plans. 

Framers coming back Monday to fix up a few issues and redo the frame at laundry as the slider door was in the wrong location by about 1 metre. Of course this then stuffed up the electrical with our laundry internal light switch Placed in the hallway, this will need to be rectified once the slider is re framed. 

We also received a big lockup invoice mid last week but there is still no front door. So not at lockup and hence won't be paid until it is at lockup. 

We have weekly onsite meetings now!

New home inspections are doing a pre-plaster report on Friday.

Rear view of house

The 4 x 1m window at back of lounge is awesome lots of light. 

Starting to think about landscaping now!

Hebel almost done

Hebel Hebel almost done. A few issues:

1. Bath spout hose/plumbing has somehow been plumbed to outside the Hebel wall rather than inside the house! Guess we will be having an external bath. 

2. Hebel wall was installed where the incorrect hot water service/solar plumbing was located. This will need to be removed and rectified. 

Communication seems to be an issue with our SS. One site visit meeting in 8 week and one phone call other than to placate or ask for mixers. We have raised all errors so far and if we hadn't then CG would have gone ahead oblivious to the errors and hence would have slowed down the build or even worse meant we had to compromise on the end product as a result of the errors. 

 As a result of the issues we have appointed new home inspections to undertake preplaster and final inspections on our behalf. 

Bath spout outside wall

Hebel almost done

Plumbing and Hebel prep 24/9/2013

The amazing pace continues!

Plumbers in and installed all lines for water and gas inc shower mixers. Can't believe they did a whole house in one day!

Hebel preparation pretty much done and installation may occur as early as Wednesday. 

The race is on for a Christmas finish

Roof tiling completed. House wrapped 23/9/2013

House tiling done from what we can see it looks awesome. Flat monier tiles in barracuda grey. 

House is now wrapped and Hebel panels have been delivered. Heating and cooling units and vents are installed in the roof. The ducts are great and attached to the top of the roof trusses which means that the roof "floor" is relatively unobstructed. 

Still needs ensuite window to be installed and 2 x dining room windows to be installed before hebel can go up after install errors mentioned in prior posts. Requires some reframing before these can go in. 

We noticed that the Hot water service plumbing from the solar panels is on the wrong side of the house! Again trades working off old house plans grrrrr

Had discussions with a few key staff inc a CG director and hope this wont happen again. Credit to them they are following up on all issues and promised to rectify but I don't think it should be up to us to point out errors. Reminder again to ensure that all trades have the latest plans when building!

Roofs up 18/9/2013

What a difference a day makes!

Roof tiles are on and looking great. 

Worth the extra $$ for the flatter looking tiles that's for sure. 

Windows in wrong location

The 2 dining room windows installed last week should have been located in the WIR and theatre; they are both awning windows and the ones in the dining are supposed to be fixed glazed. The fixed glazed windows are at the site so it should just be a matter of ripping out the awnings and replacing with the fixed glazed. Easily remedied I am sure but another reminder for others to keep an eye out for.

Windows

Some windows are installed, loving the commercial look and double glazing gives them a solid look. Can't wait to see them all in!

Roof framing almost there

Roof framing continuing, it's good to see the house coming together in 3d after seeing 2d plans for the last few months. Happy with the roof design!

Framing continues

Framing is continuing and progressing well. Roof trusses are going up and windows etc delivered. Asked the carpenter on site with permission from CG to add noggins for towel rails and toilet roll holders. Our TVs are lightweight so no need for noggins on these.

Note that when building please please please make sure site supervisor and trades have the most up to date plans! After a brief visit to the site we noticed that our ensuite 3 window was in the wrong location, its position was changed post initial contract but the site supervisor did not have the amended post contract plans! Also noticed a error with laundry cabinets being boxed up incorrectly, but this is an easy fix. 

Good to see the roof trusses going up and the rooms taking shape. 

Frame commencement

Slab done 27/8/2013

Slab is down. Looking good.

Slab start 27/8/2013

These guys don't mess around!

Slab is being poured today 27/8/2013.

By 9am almost half of the slab was poured

Pre-Slab preparation 22/8/2013

Close to slab now, all plumbing is now in and the site has been scrapped ready for the steel and waffle polystyrene.

21/8/2013 Plumbing done, ready for slab

Weather was threatening this week but just enough rain to make the ground soft enough to dig - apart from it being freezing cold all seems to be going as planned.

Looks like most of the plumbing is completed, just needs a site tidy/clean and then ready for slab prep.

How it all began

I thought we would share our experiences with building a custom single story house.

The overall process has been long and exhausting, definately thorough and overwhelmingly worth the effort.

It started out with itchy feet, a growing family and need to move to a new area with a custom designed family home. We decided early on that most volume builders offered good packages but we wanted something custom designed to suit our requirements.

Chronolology:
Early 2011 - We almost bought land and built with Carter Grange, a little double story in Ascot Vale on a tiny 300sq metre block. In the end it was just too big a house we required on too small a block so we let it go. The designers and sales staff at the time tried in vain to come up with a design that suited all the requirements but we just fell short.

Late 2012 - After visiting what seemed like 1000 display homes we bought a large block of land at Attwood and appointed a draftsperson to design our home from scratch. We designed a 43 square single story, based loosely on a few displays from volume builders. The designer was Scott Ellis from Ausdraft, can highly recommend his services as an alternative to an architect. Way cheaper and great design mindset. We came close to appointing a small builder to undertake the works.

Early 2013 - We got itchy feet, the block at Attwood was beautiful and had great parkland aspects and country views however we really wanted our family to be closer to the kids schools and our work.

March 2013 - After a short time searching we found a potential knockdown in Inner north west melbourne, a bidding war ensured at auction but we got it in the end. Time to sell up everything else and jump in the deep end.

April 2013 - Back we went to 1000's of display homes, including a near miss with PD homes. In the end we returned to the builder we initially contacted, Carter Grange. We initially designed a custom double story 47 squares with the assistance of the sales and drafts people at CG. It ended up being too big and too costly for our needs, we really wanted a  single story. My wife asked, do you think we could fit a single story on the block and still have a decent back yard? I responded, lets check out a couple of displays and find out. We found the display of another builder (name removed) near Point Cook. It was close to the size we were after, 33 squares and the same size block ~610m. Back to the drawing board I used this display and many others as a starting point for mocking up a sketch. I took this sketch back to CG and they weaved their magic. We wanted some specific things in our new home; ensuites to all bedrooms, kids play area, alucobond cladding to facade (loved the new Seattle facade in the double story range), our own SMEG oven and rangehood, fireplace and tapware - all no problems!

June 2013 - Finalised plans, colour appointments, tenders. The tender appointment/staff member was amazing and so helpful - went out of her way to find ideas and concepts. Yes even on weekends/in her own time.

July 2013 - Tiling appointments, contracts, demolition of existing dwelling (Express Demolitions, great job guys - so clean and no damage to footpath, crossover, fences)


August 2013- Site Start!