Monday, January 31, 2011

Monday inactivity..




Drove by the house this morning after daycare dropoff and was greeted by and empty site and a locked gate..

Boo!

Also no sign of the skirting, architraves and internal doors that were due for delivery last week.

There is however a pile of sand and some bags of cement in the garage - not sure what thats for?

I called our SS and he told me there had been a problem with the delivery and he was "hoping" it would come tomorrow then a fixing carpenter would be on site as soon as the materials were delivered to fix it all.

Waterproofing and kitchen are scheduled for this week - so in our SS's words - its all happening. Just not today.

Hopefully tomorrow?

Shame the AC and power aren't connected - any trades that show up will swelter in the temps we are forecast to have this week!

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Goodbye ladder!

Huge news over at the house!!

I drove by Tuesday morning after a frantic morning getting myself and the 2 year old out of the house and dropping him off at daycare (Jason is in the US), completely expecting to see nothing happening..

I was however, SUPER excited to see a truck backed up in the driveway and through the window I could see the outline of a staircase, already well on the way to being in place!

So excited that I in fact exclaimed to an empty car "the stairs are going in!!". Tragic.

I'd been told Wednesday or Thursday would be the day so yay for things being early ;)

As I went back past in the afternoon - around 2.30, the guys building the stairs were packing up and saw me peeking up the driveway so invited me in the have a quick look :)

Without further ado - pics..

SO exciting, a huge milestone in the build for me..




Seeing that gate open is the BEST sight during a build!





Woohoo! On the right I added a door and will utilise that space as a storage area (where you can see the tradies toolbelt ;) )





View from the study of staircase.
 Gyprockers need to come back at some stage and wall up under the stairs. Note cornices finished also.




Looking from study back into hallway/garage access door on right, through to living/laundry/powder room on left









Looking from upstairs 








From upstairs living looking back to stairs. We chose to upgrade from the standard staircase at a cost of around $1600- $1700 to match the one displayed at The Ponds. Looking really forward to seeing that gorgeous timber stained.























The remainder of this week will see the skirtings, architraves and I *think* internal doors and front door?? delivered, ready for fixing next week..

Friday, January 21, 2011

Friday Update

Happy Friday everyone!

Received a call from our SS while we were having an afternoon swim (Jason was soaking up the sun ahead of jetting of to a very chilly New York City tomorrow!!), and he informed me (jokingly) that he probably doesn't need to fill us in as we seem to know what's going on at the house!

Haha, Hi S!

A friend drove by today and reported there were tradies there which is good to know..

I may know what's BEEN happening but I am always keen to know what is GOING to happen next ;)

So this coming week as we know will see the stairs fitted Wednesday or Thursday and all the fit off materials delivered - skirtings, architraves, internal doors etc ready for the following week.

Once the stairs are in the waterproofing will commence and above mentioned fit off will happen, and then the kitchen will go in - CANNOT wait to see that!! I imagine we are hopefully no more than a week and a half away from seeing cabinetry..hopefully.

Fingers crossed for no delays in any way shape or form - exciting stuff is afoot!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend, see you next week.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

I spy tradesmen..

I drove by the house today after an appointment with my Rheumatologist saw me close to home..so I just couldn't help myself!

Needless to say I was happy to drive down the street and see the gate open - and a tradies vehicle parked in the driveway.

I spotted one guy preparing the cornices that had been laid out on the garage - happy day!

Had a quick walk around the side of the house and saw that the holes for the AC vents had been cut in the ceilings too.

I also forgot to mention our beautiful big door frames had been delivered when I drove by on Tuesday!!




Hole in ceiling for AC duct. Note the lovely view of the fence out that high window! Shows how much excavation happened at the rear of our block. Nice tall plants are needed there..




























These doors are HUGE in person. Looking really forward to seeing them in place and stained.

Its not like me to wish a weekend away but I can't wait for the new working week to arrive and bring with it our stairs!!

Jason is off to New York on Saturday for a few days then onto a golf trade show in Florida so updates may be a little slow next week as I keep this ship floating without him around!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Start stop.

Well true to their word the gyprockers were finished by Saturday afternoon when we drove past, so it took then a total of four days to get the whole place done, except for around the stairs that aren't installed yet, and around the sliding doors in the family/dining rooms - I guess they come back and do that after the doors are installed.

Yesterday the site was empty as I drove by.

Jason just spoke to our SS, apparently this week they are "finishing things up around the gyprock"..whatever that means.. I think it means basically nothing is going on!

Next week stairs are scheduled to go in and I think he said architraves, and I imagine cornices too - unless cornices are going on this week.. (This is what happens when Jason speaks to the SS - its like a bad game of Chinese whispers!! LOL).

After that the doors will be installed and the week after - first week in Feb, the kitchen is due to be installed. Originally that was planned for late Jan so I guess trades are still scarce an things are slipping back a little.

I wonder if we will be in by Easter - which is late April this year? If not I will definitely cry! And probably throw some stuff around too..LOL

I was hoping late March for PCI, handover soon after. Lots of houses seem to be done 8 weeks or so after gyprock has finished but I have a feeling ours will be dragging..

I hope you all see some progress this week!!

Friday, January 14, 2011

Rocking along!

I went past the house today on my way to pick up the little man from daycare and the gyprockers were hard at work doing the joins - it appeared as though downstairs was mostly done and they moved upstairs as I poked my head in and said hello.

The change from a frame to real walls is amazing - its really taking shape now and starting to feel and look like somewhere we might actually live soon!

I took a few quick snaps then got out of the way.


Garage





Looking in from front door



From Outdoor Room into Family/Kitchen (thats the Tasmanian Oak panelling they removed from the Outdoor Room ceiling haphazardly stacked outside now..)




Dining Room in foreground and Kitchen will be in that recess on the back wall



Study





Looking from Kitchen into Family Room




Family Room



Looking back toward front door - living room through the cut out on the left. Fridge cavity on the right.




From Dining Room looking into Living and beyond into hallway




From outside into Family Room.



Love love love seeing progress! Wonder what next week holds??

We haven't heard from our SS properly this week so look forward to seeing/hearing what is in store in the coming week.

Hope you all have a safe weekend.




Thursday, January 13, 2011

Long time no post...

Well I am seriously happy to report that as I type this our house is over 50% gyprocked!

They started yesterday and when Jason stopped by yesterday the boss man was there and he said they would be finished on Saturday - and they will work on Saturday which I believe is maybe the second Saturday in the entire build there has been action on the site!

He did say to Jason they would have to come back to finish the rooms that still didn't have a complete roof over them (at that point the garage and study).

I drove by this morning and there was a plumbers truck out front, a guy on the garage roof and a team of gyprockers onsite too. Be still my heart.

I had a quick chat to the very lovely plumber who told me he had just finished the drain on the balcony :) And I *think* just maybe the guy on the roof was actually finishing the roof over the garage as when Jason drove by later today the garage had been gyprocked.

I'm kicking myself now that I didn't take enough pics of the internals of the walls for the purpose of locating what lie behind them in future but I may have taken enough..hopefully..






























Master Bedroom



Generally after gyprock the stairs go in, the architraves go on then the doors so I hope we can expect these things in the next week or so?? Hopeful maybe?

I live in hope!


I almost feel wrong writing this post considering the awful tragedy that has unfolded in QLD and my heart goes out to everyone affected. I hope recovery and rebuilding is swift..

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Slow going but at least its going..

Not much to report - but at least there is something to report..

We went past the house on New Years Day (Saturday) and the insulation was about half way installed, meaning that they must have started on New Years Eve (Friday).. I drove by today and they have almost finished by the look of it..

Still no gyprock on site even though they were supposed to start last week.. (not that they can start until the insulation is finished..)

Cant wait for next week when hopefully things really start moving along.

I feel like I write that a lot!!