Post handover

We are happy with the house, the design is working for our requirements and the look we wanted we have received.

thanks to the team at Carter Grange for responding to our issues, in the end we have achieved an amazing house and any remaining "main issues" have been attended to and rectified, it's just minor maintenance items now.



 

 

1 week to go!

Handover is a week away! 

Busily arranging everything to move in on day of handover. 

Here's a fee things to be done at or after handover. 

1. Concreting

2. Decking

3. Gates

4. Removalists

5. TV antenna

6. Blinds and curtains

7. Roller shutters

8. Furniture deliveries

9. Telstra 

10. Pendant Lighting installed

11. Dishwasher

Most issues have been addressed by our SS. He is true to his word and has genuinely tried to help us. 

We are still not happy about the tiling grout but national tiles have advised CG that if they clean the tiles and grout it should turn a darker colour. Hmmmm ok. 

Otherwise most issues have been fixed and the plaster is looking a little better. 

Their painter needs to be *replaced, lots of patches and the doors are terrible (hairs left from roller all over doors). A new painter has been promised to complete our work, he is supposed to be good so let's hope. A stone bench top that was chipped was repaired but very noticeable and hoping it will be replaced. 

The fireplace/ concrete unitex tender looks amazing worth the coin spent. 

Led lights under the overhead cupboards in kitchen makes for a very very nice feature! Suggest you add this into your contracts :-)

Will post a few final photos once we settle and before the kids destroy the place. 

No news

Not much to report this week. 

Mirrors look to be installed, old gas line removed and new installed, our neighbour keeps us updated on trade movements or lack thereof, he misses nothing!

I went through the house before starting a new job as I may not be able to attend PCI. Stuck postit notes where we identified issues. 101 issues were identified. 

The main issues are:

The tiler seems to have used the wrong colour grout. The colour is a light grey and we selected a dark graphite colour. I ordered a sample grout online and sampled it on our tiles, it is very distinctly different. 

The kitchen cabinets under island bench do not line up with the benchtop, one side sticks out about an inch too far and the other sits under the same amount. The issue is that the flooring is now done so moving it could be an issue. 

The square set is still not very square. We asked for metal square set cornices but looks like paper was used. Going back to the plastering sheets when installed the ceiling boards and wall boards did not join up and the paper doesn't fill the gaps in sufficiently and therefore couldn't possibly be straight. A metal strip would be straighter and stronger. 

We have crooked walls in the hallway, on either side of the front door and a few other rooms. 

The tiling has not been grouted or the wall waterproofed behind our back to the wall bath. The bath has been installed and the tiler attempted to grout around it. 

The wall mixers in showers and bath are too small for the hole cut out by the Tilers. Hence a gap appears around each mixer. CG asked if we could source a back plate to cover the hole. Dodgy. We gave them the cad drawings at tender for our tapware, oven and rangehood. We have requested the tiling to be redone in these areas. 

Around the edges of the carpet we can easily feel the sharp spikes from the carpet trim. A few ouch moments as we wear bare feet when inside so the carpet isn't damaged or gets dirty. Talking about dirty, the whole interior is dirty and lots of surface dirt still around. Hopefully this does not damage the flooring. 

Kitchen

Hallway

Facade

Some photos

Ensuite 2

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Fence gone!

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Island bench kitchen

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Kitchen sink

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Ensuite 3 with wall light. 

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Pantry

...

Laundry cupboards

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Getting there

Tuesday 14th Jan

Electrical pretty much done. Some plumbing has been done such as toilets and bath. Intercom system is awesome can't wait to use it. 

Some sinks installed. 

Insulation installed in roof. 

Wall lights looking fantastic and in general happy with the progress the last week. Outside we now have a garage door and Downpipes. 

Front door has been painted and looks good. Theatre has been painted a very dark grey almost black on all walls and ceiling, makes for a stunning look. 

Things doing this week:

Plumbers installing remaining sinks and tapware. 

Electricians fixing a few powerpoints that were at wrong heights and some replacement points where doubles were installed instead of quads. 

Stone bench/waterfall sides on island bench should be installed. 

Plumbers to fix off Downpipes to storm water connection. 

Cabinet doors to be reinstalled in kitchen.

Plasterers to fix square set and thee plastering issues. 

 

We also have an estimated finish date of mid Feb!

Happy new year

No action at all for the last 2 weeks. Pre Xmas list had not been attended to so we are not overly happy. 

Probably no action until 6 Jan, plumbers are apparently booked in to do some plumbing. Can't see the plumbers being able to fit off the bath as the tiling hasn't been completed. 

5 months has passed since the build started, was fast to start with however progress has been very slow recently. 

Quite a few walls and square set cornices are out of square. The front door wall is out at least a 1cm to the eye. Will need to get the CG plasterer and our independent building inspector to have a look at it. Ensuite bathroom tiles have a gap of about 1cm where the bulkhead has bowed. Lots of wavy cornices/walls, square set should be square in our opinion. 

Let's hope for a good start to 2014 for all.