Jinx

It is all coming together nicely....haha famous last words.

 

I can't believe it has been almost been 2 months since my last post - and what a frustrating 2 months it has been.  I really did think all the communication problems and delays were over now we were in the building phase but I was wrong. Frustrating is not quite the word for it.

 

I have begun to think that building companies have their own special take on communication.  In my line of work if we make a commitment that something is going to happen on a specific date and things change we communicate the change, in order to minimise the customers disappointment.  In the building game you call the customer on Friday and let them know what you think might happen over the next week (you don't use the words 'think' or 'might' mind you - you say it will happen). The next Friday give them another call, if what you say would happen last week didn't happen, that's ok promise it again for the next week and blame 1 of the trades that left you down. Now the following Friday make sure you call the customer again (because that is the most important thing) and if what you promised the previous 2 weeks still hasn't happened, that's ok promise if for the next week....and so on and so on.

 

This happened to us with the bricks for the top storey.  We were promised 2 weeks in a row that they would start on following Monday which didn't happen. On the 3rd Friday our SS said he actually wished I hadn't picked up and the call had gone to messagebank as he hates to deliver bad news but the brickies definitely would be on site on Monday.  Well they didn't turn up and I left it until Tuesday afternoon to call him and he informed me, after we spoke on Friday, he called the bricklayer who said he wouldn't be able to get to our job until Thursday/Friday the following week.  He was very surprised when I said I would have thought he would call me back on Friday if the weekly update was found to be incorrect an hour later.  He also said he was hurt because he prides himself on his communication WTF??? 

 

At this stage I think we have to agree to disagree on what good communication is and keep going... and despite all the delays we are still moving forward albeit slowly. The good thing to come out of all miscommunication is we did receive confirmation from Wisdom that we are still on track to complete by the end of March. That is good news!!

 

We are now in the Christmas shutdown period however here are a few photos of where we are up to...

 

  

 

 

 

   2nd storey roof tiles complete (love them!!!)

 

 

  

 

Render to front complete although the painters started to paint the 2nd storey the wrong colour (Grrrr!). It is supposed to be a light colour but was painted a dark grey

 

 

This is the Alfresco area with bricks cleaned - they look amazing however there is a few spots where the bricks are chipped and the base colour is coming through - this is on the list of things to discuss with the SS in January

 

 

This the front entry. The render is beautiful - a lovely job. It is not painted yet (top storey painted the wrong colour)

 

 

Lots of action on our street as well over the last month.  Our 2 direct neighbours and 1 across the street managed to be finished and moved in by Christmas. We are very jealous although I don't envy them in a few weeks being woken early every day by noisy tradies starting their day.

 

Here's to exciting (and less frustrating!!) times in 2015...

Bricks, bricks and more bricks.....

Lots more progress this week...

Monday the plumber came in and installed the water and gas pipes to the whole house. We couldn't believe it was all done in 1 day. 

Tuesday the brickes (a team of them!) arrived bright and early and it looks like they didn't stop all week. It was very exciting every day to go and see what progress that had made. Here is the progress from 4 days...

    Front facade taking shape 

   The entry way

We are loving our brick (PGH Vino) - or at least we will when it is all cleaned up - it is a painted brick so we were worried about chipping and the base colour coming through but at this stage it looks like it will be great

SS called (cannot believe he actually calls every week - where was all this communication during admin?) and the brickies will finish on site on Monday to make way for the scaffolding on tues/wed. Gutters are scheduled for Thur/Fri, roof tiles will start next week and then the brickies will come back and finish the second storey. Apparently they laid 5500 bricks this week with a further 4000 to go!

It is all coming together nicely:)

We have a frame!!!

Well what a difference a week makes!  We started with a slab and 3 days later we had a house.....a very exciting week.

    Day 1- first storey

    Day 2 - 2nd storey!

    Day 3 - a roof and windows

   The front door!!!

It looks amazing - we couldn't be happier. This is a new design by Wisdom, and there is no display home to look at, so this was the first time we could actually walk around the house and see how all the rooms work together. It's stunning and everything we wanted. 

I was particularly worried that the living/dining room was going to be too small but it looks huge...big relief!

We were just getting over all the action this week when we went for a look this morning and the bricks had been delivered. This was followed by a call from SS to say the Brickies will start Monday or Tuesday. I can't believe how quickly it is all going now. Hopefully we will be at lock up before Christmas and, fingers crossed, all finished for Easter. Exciting times ahead

We have a Slab!

Well the week we have been waiting for for so long finally arrived - our slab was poured!!! 

 

    Here are a few pics...

 

    This is the gap from the Alfresco to the pool - about 3 metres.

    Its so big I couldn't get it all in 1 picture.  This is the garage side

The view from the back of the block.  Those are the Blue Mountains in the distance - we are hoping that a single storey is built across the road so we will have a good view from our balcony (fingers crossed).

 

 

The slab was poured last Saturday (12/10) and since then the external drainage has been completed (in the rain would you believe) and the frames have been delivered all ready for the carpenters to start on Monday.  It is crazy how fast it is moving now. 

 

Even more crazy is the communication from Wisdom - our SS calls every week with an update and lets us know the plan for the next week. If only we had this service from the beginning.  We did laugh though when we received the request for the slab payment the day after it was poured. They have never been so quick with the paperwork before - they must want some money lol. 

 

We are officially loving the construction phase and are slowly beginning to forget about the painful Admin process...

 

 

We finally enter the construction phase..

Big news this week....... the all important Port-a-loo has arrived!  

For anyone building you will know what an event this is. We are very excited.  We also had our fence installed so we are all ready to start. I can't believe after all these months we are finally have some action! Our last email from Wisdom said construction would start in 3-4 weeks so it is all systems go.

 

The pool has been completed also and now has a cover over it and a temporary fence around. Following is a photo before the cover was installed (sorry terrible photo).  The colour is a bit darker than what I was expecting but we are hoping it will look ok when it is clean and up and running.

 

 

There is also lots of action in our street with another house starting this week.  I love driving up to see every ones progress - it is almost as exciting as watching our own build. We have now met 1 of our new neighbours that are almost at lock up.  They have had a bit of theft from there block (all their windows were stolen one night after they were delivered) so have taken to sleeping in their car out the front of their block on the weekends. Now that is dedication!  It is crazy the amount of theft and vandalism that occurs in new housing estates. The sooner we are all finished and moved in, the better.

Pool progress

Finally some action on our block....our new pool. Very excited!!!

Not sure about having the pool sitting on site for a few days without a fence. With all the vandals around the area sounds like we are just inviting trouble. I will feel a lot better when it finds its way into its new home.

We also received our final building documents today. It is all happening.....finally!

We have been approved by council...

We were told unofficially by Wisdom last week, but today it is official - we have council approval!!!! It took 7 weeks in total which isn't too bad although it felt like a lifetime.  Now to complete the boring paperwork stuff before the excitement can really begin.

Our block is about 5 minutes from where we live now so I try and drive past everyday to see the progress of all the builds in the development - not to mention the new sporting fields.  There has been heaps of progress in our street.  This week our neighbours on 1 side (single storey) have had their roof tiles laid while on the other side (double storey) the frames have all gone up. The block behind (double storey) also had their slab laid this week so it is all happening.  I can't wait until our house slots right in the middle.