Well the start of the week crawled by with yet again NO progress on site. Thats after a whole week last week with very little progress.
I am beginning to think of M as part time builders.
And Tuesday came and went with no PCI date - again, despite assurances from our SS. Today he told us he doesn't know when he can even give us a date for PCI, although, he is hoping for handover by the end of the month - although "don't hold him to that"..
Seems the carpenter came - and went as all the materials he needed weren't on site ( um - why not? It takes so long to get him there they should be prepared for him..) - and now he isn't returning calls from our SS so no idea when the rest of his jobs will be finished.
Apparently the brickies have been twice and its been too wet for them to do what they need to do (and there is no sand for them - it washed down the driveway about 3 weeks ago in some heave weekend rain).
The electricians are there today so there's something to be happy about - although they told Jason they will be coming back again too.
The laundry wall still hasn't been patched so the tilers can come back.
The front door glazing still hasn't been changed.
The garage door can't be fitted until the brickies finish.
The laundry and powder room doors don't shut as the carpenters don't seem to have allowed for the thickness of them (they are timber and glass feature doors) so that will have to be rectified which will probably mean patching and repainting the door frames
There is water leaking into the cabinet under the kitchen sink - and yesterday was leaking out from under 3 sides of the island.
In the words of our SS it's all "little things" left - yeah but a LOT of little things.
Feeling defeated, deflated and over it right now. I let go of the hope of being in for Easter long ago and though maybe Mothers Day? Seems thats a joke of a target now too - I wonder if the June long weekend is aiming too high??
Will post when there is something to report on - don;t hold your breath people!
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Little progress & 6 year old tradesmen???
Morning All, I wonder how many of you were up nice and early with kids today who have no interest or care in the fact that daylight savings ended last night? LOL!
I've been slow to write this post as it has taken me the best part of a day and a half to calm down and let the steam coming out of my ears dissipate enough to write this with a clear head..
I had the opportunity to quickly go past the house on Friday afternoon so I jumped on it and quickly discovered it was NOT a good way to start the weekend and that I should've spent the time doing something- anything else...
Despite a message from our SS on Tuesday night (after ANOTHER TWO WHOLE days with no work on site) assuring us a carpenter would be there the next day, as would painters (why weren't they there Mon/Tue???)- and that he was 'working overtime' to make sure everyone was on it, seems very little has been done. Another week of little progress.
Oh, and I was there at 3pm Friday and you guessed it- site was empty.
We have a gas socket - thats exciting I guess? The electricians had been there at some point as I spoke to the girl from their head office who phoned me to quote me for them to connect us to the mains - thats right, when you build a house they don't even include the cost of connecting your electricity. Another $1020..
The painters have mostly finished upstairs by the look of it but still have a lot to do downstairs, And the stairs still need another coat of stain. Outside needs a few things painted too- but those would require a damn carpenter to actually finish his job first. Our portico still has no ceiling, the master bed balcony still has sheeting to be fixed to the walls (someone has spent ten minutes doing something out there but it's far from finished), the last few bits of cladding have to go on and the Tassie Oak ceiling needs to be re-fixed on the Outdoor Room. All of which were supposed to be done by said carpenter.. Hhmmmm....
But that wasn't what left me wishing I hadn't gone there.
On my quick walk through I decided to check the toilets- when they were fitted I mentioned to Jason they had no seal or anything over the seats and I wasn't thrilled as I KNEW that would mean they would be used by tradesmen. And used they are.
There is urine all over the two toilets I checked and on THE FLOOR. Seeping into my NEW grout. All over our gorgeous floor tiles. To say I am furious is an understatement. Are these painters 6 years old? Do they do that at home?
Why is too much to expect a little respect for someone else's HOME? Might sound dramatic but it made me feel physically ill, and I'm not sure I will ever be able to stand barefoot in the powder room or my own ensuite...
Our SS must've been feeling the rage as we didn't get our usual update call on Friday- maybe lucky for him..
Last week he told us we would have a PCI date on Tuesday- this week he told us we would haven next Tuesday. so much for his aim to have our house ready for PCI at the end of March! When he said that initially I said to Jason there was NO WAY it would be ready then, and I was right..
To say I am at my wits end it an understatement. The last few months have seen painfully slow progress and wether this is due to poor organising of trades, poor communication, lack of resources or a workload that is simply too demanding for Metricon to keep up with I'm not sure but in my opinion it's simply NOT good enough.
And I know we are not the only ones feeling this way.
I would suggest to Metricon that they either need to employ more trades or more Site Supervisors to cope with what I am sure is an ever increasing workload- especially now that they are advertising more and more here in NSW. Of all the blogs I follow the majority of builds progress much more smoothly at this stage (not Metricon builds I should note)- and this is where it matters- this stage is what clients will remember when asked if they would recommend Metricon to others..
Not many pics (although I do have photographic evidence of the violation of my grout and tiles)..
I've been slow to write this post as it has taken me the best part of a day and a half to calm down and let the steam coming out of my ears dissipate enough to write this with a clear head..
I had the opportunity to quickly go past the house on Friday afternoon so I jumped on it and quickly discovered it was NOT a good way to start the weekend and that I should've spent the time doing something- anything else...
Despite a message from our SS on Tuesday night (after ANOTHER TWO WHOLE days with no work on site) assuring us a carpenter would be there the next day, as would painters (why weren't they there Mon/Tue???)- and that he was 'working overtime' to make sure everyone was on it, seems very little has been done. Another week of little progress.
Oh, and I was there at 3pm Friday and you guessed it- site was empty.
We have a gas socket - thats exciting I guess? The electricians had been there at some point as I spoke to the girl from their head office who phoned me to quote me for them to connect us to the mains - thats right, when you build a house they don't even include the cost of connecting your electricity. Another $1020..
The painters have mostly finished upstairs by the look of it but still have a lot to do downstairs, And the stairs still need another coat of stain. Outside needs a few things painted too- but those would require a damn carpenter to actually finish his job first. Our portico still has no ceiling, the master bed balcony still has sheeting to be fixed to the walls (someone has spent ten minutes doing something out there but it's far from finished), the last few bits of cladding have to go on and the Tassie Oak ceiling needs to be re-fixed on the Outdoor Room. All of which were supposed to be done by said carpenter.. Hhmmmm....
But that wasn't what left me wishing I hadn't gone there.
On my quick walk through I decided to check the toilets- when they were fitted I mentioned to Jason they had no seal or anything over the seats and I wasn't thrilled as I KNEW that would mean they would be used by tradesmen. And used they are.
There is urine all over the two toilets I checked and on THE FLOOR. Seeping into my NEW grout. All over our gorgeous floor tiles. To say I am furious is an understatement. Are these painters 6 years old? Do they do that at home?
Why is too much to expect a little respect for someone else's HOME? Might sound dramatic but it made me feel physically ill, and I'm not sure I will ever be able to stand barefoot in the powder room or my own ensuite...
Our SS must've been feeling the rage as we didn't get our usual update call on Friday- maybe lucky for him..
Last week he told us we would have a PCI date on Tuesday- this week he told us we would haven next Tuesday. so much for his aim to have our house ready for PCI at the end of March! When he said that initially I said to Jason there was NO WAY it would be ready then, and I was right..
To say I am at my wits end it an understatement. The last few months have seen painfully slow progress and wether this is due to poor organising of trades, poor communication, lack of resources or a workload that is simply too demanding for Metricon to keep up with I'm not sure but in my opinion it's simply NOT good enough.
And I know we are not the only ones feeling this way.
I would suggest to Metricon that they either need to employ more trades or more Site Supervisors to cope with what I am sure is an ever increasing workload- especially now that they are advertising more and more here in NSW. Of all the blogs I follow the majority of builds progress much more smoothly at this stage (not Metricon builds I should note)- and this is where it matters- this stage is what clients will remember when asked if they would recommend Metricon to others..
Not many pics (although I do have photographic evidence of the violation of my grout and tiles)..
Bedroom - painting finished
Another bedroom - painting complete
Leisure room
Staircase
Bit of a gap there between the door and the slab...
Woot - a gas socket. So by the time we move in (when it will probably be cold at this rate) we can plug a heater in ;)
If you made it this far - thanks for sticking with that rant-tastic post..
Hoping to have more sunny news to speak of when next I post. Electrical fit out allegedly scheduled for Tuesday.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
100th post - going into Week 31 of build..
Visited the house over the weekend to see if anything new had appeared before our eyes, and a few things had been going on..
The painters have been plugging away (not that fast mind you - makes me wonder if they were there on Friday at all..), and the doors appear to have had a second coat of stain (which isn't as dark as I had hoped :( ), and all the architraves appear to be finished. On quick inspection the painting seems to be of a good quality which is great.
They still have to finish staining the stairs, and the skirtings need doing (2 coats), and walls all need a second coat.
We finally have a replacement for a window that was smashed by the gyprockers way back in January sometime in one of the bedrooms.
Also, I noted a week or so back someone had written in pencil on the bulkhead in the kitchen that it needed to be raised 120mm - seems as though that has been happening as our very expensive white poly cabinet doors have been removed and are haphazardly leaning against each other propped on the slab. I will be checking very closely for scratches..
Some pics:
I spoke to our SS on Friday who told me this week will see the painters plugging away (and I assume finish up), the carpenter come back and finish the cladding in a few spots, the Tassie Oak lining on the Outdoor Room ceiling and a load of other small jobs, and he said soon we will see shower screens/wardrobe fit outs etc.
The interior of all wardrobes and the pantry and linen cupboards seem to be painted and finished so that could be happening very soon. I guess everything should be happening really soon seeing as though he told us it would be ready for presentation the first week of April - ha!
So - we are SO close, yet SO far. At this stage I should be excited and anticipating a move in - although I just feel like it will never end and am feeling very overwhelmed by the enormity of trying to organise so many things while keeping up with day to day life all the while not having even a PCI date yet.
This will be week 31 of an apparent 32 week build according to the contract..Hmmm
The painters have been plugging away (not that fast mind you - makes me wonder if they were there on Friday at all..), and the doors appear to have had a second coat of stain (which isn't as dark as I had hoped :( ), and all the architraves appear to be finished. On quick inspection the painting seems to be of a good quality which is great.
They still have to finish staining the stairs, and the skirtings need doing (2 coats), and walls all need a second coat.
We finally have a replacement for a window that was smashed by the gyprockers way back in January sometime in one of the bedrooms.
Also, I noted a week or so back someone had written in pencil on the bulkhead in the kitchen that it needed to be raised 120mm - seems as though that has been happening as our very expensive white poly cabinet doors have been removed and are haphazardly leaning against each other propped on the slab. I will be checking very closely for scratches..
Some pics:
The Laundry and Powder Room doors (I am very happy that they have taken all doors off hinges to properly paint them - have heard many stories of doors not painted top and bottom!)
Some of my kitchen cabinet doors & bits and pieces looking slightly less than pristine
My gorgeous poly doors like the leaning tower of Pisa..
The offending bulkhead - not sure what the issue was..
Oh - the A/C ducts have been fitted - looking much neater and closer to finished up on the ceilings now
Doors stained
Must remember to ask our SS about this gap under the door to the garage. Stairs still to be fitted - hope it wont look dodgy when finished..
Rainwater sticker next to toilet - wonder how long that will last after handover ;) ?
Not sure I knew the toilets used tank water - very happy about that!
The bath - sans painter ;)
Bathrooms looking close to finished now - just need final coat of paint, shower screens, mirrors and powerpoints and light switches..
A nice big dent in the roofing over the study - already collecting dirt from the rain pooling in that spot..
Front door stained - and still riddled with pox!
Looking very forward to seeing these spaces CLEAN and finished - two of my favourite rooms in the house so far!
Hello daylight! Pretty sure you aren't supposed to see the outside world through there!
I spoke to our SS on Friday who told me this week will see the painters plugging away (and I assume finish up), the carpenter come back and finish the cladding in a few spots, the Tassie Oak lining on the Outdoor Room ceiling and a load of other small jobs, and he said soon we will see shower screens/wardrobe fit outs etc.
The interior of all wardrobes and the pantry and linen cupboards seem to be painted and finished so that could be happening very soon. I guess everything should be happening really soon seeing as though he told us it would be ready for presentation the first week of April - ha!
So - we are SO close, yet SO far. At this stage I should be excited and anticipating a move in - although I just feel like it will never end and am feeling very overwhelmed by the enormity of trying to organise so many things while keeping up with day to day life all the while not having even a PCI date yet.
This will be week 31 of an apparent 32 week build according to the contract..Hmmm
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Woo hoo - Loo!
After a quiet day yesterday at the house - Jason drove by and there were no tradies on site (despite the painters having been there on Tuesday), today was a hive of activity!
Jason mentioned that there were toilets and a bath in the study yesterday so I knew plumbing was imminent!
I rocked up late this arvo to meet a guy to talk about gates and fences and the painters were working away (at 5pm), and we have toilets, taps and a bath!! Running water - what luxury!!
I noticed on the weekend the garage door people measured up last week for our garage door so I expect to see that sometime next week hopefully..
Here are a few photos from today, I didn't take too many as I didn't want to get in the painters way.
Jason mentioned that there were toilets and a bath in the study yesterday so I knew plumbing was imminent!
I rocked up late this arvo to meet a guy to talk about gates and fences and the painters were working away (at 5pm), and we have toilets, taps and a bath!! Running water - what luxury!!
I noticed on the weekend the garage door people measured up last week for our garage door so I expect to see that sometime next week hopefully..
Here are a few photos from today, I didn't take too many as I didn't want to get in the painters way.
Front door - glass still to be reglazed to translucent
Staircase with first coat of stain - Intergrain Merbau (I hope the final coat is much darker!)
Powder room sink and tap - super exciting!
Cold water point for fridge - definitely photo worthy eh ? ;)
Toilet - exciting but not so exciting..LOL
Ensuite shower with lovely rainfall showerhead
Ensuite tap
From another angle ;)
Bathroom shower
Bathroom tap
Bathroom tap & mixer - complete with painter standing in our bath!
Gorgeous bath - looking forward to a soak in here in Winter
So the painters seem to have been concentrating on the architraves so far which are looking amazing in gorgeous glossy Dulux Lexicon (half strength), and the staining of all the timber. There were three painters on site today as far as I could see. Not sure how much longer they will be there but I imagine it will be a good 3-4 days (could be less, not too sure!). They haven't done a 2nd coat on the walls yet, and the skirtings still need to be done too.
We should be getting an update from our SS tomorrow on the schedule for next week, looking forward to hearing what is planned.
Until then!
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Fly by update..
Just a quick update - things are slowly progressing ;)
Today a grand total of FOUR painters (Sandrine - four! Can you believe it??) were working at the house when I drove by at 9am - and the truck was still there at 4.15pm - nice to see some tradies who put in a full day!
I'm keen to see how long it takes them to finish with four of them on the job. They have a lot to do - the second coat on all walls, skirtings, architraves and all the doors and timber windows in the master need staining, as do the stairs.
I've been busy organising things in the lead up to handover too. We ordered our bed (FINALLY decided on one!), mattress (SO looking forward to king size!) & our sons mattress on Sunday at Domayne, I've been talking to wardrobe & cabinetry places and today, with much joy, I locked in our carpet!
Yesterday I was at Bella Vista and had some time up my sleeve so decided to pop into Carpet Court. There was a guy there talking to a guy from Metricon head office which intrigued me.. When he heard I was building with Metricon he told me he would look after my quote - hhmm.
Long story short? Apparently Metricon & Carpet Call have a deal and Carpet Call 'look after' Metricon clients if they send them over ;)
So - I chose a carpet, got a quote today and its all locked it - woot!
Will post some pics of the paint once its finished ;)
Today a grand total of FOUR painters (Sandrine - four! Can you believe it??) were working at the house when I drove by at 9am - and the truck was still there at 4.15pm - nice to see some tradies who put in a full day!
I'm keen to see how long it takes them to finish with four of them on the job. They have a lot to do - the second coat on all walls, skirtings, architraves and all the doors and timber windows in the master need staining, as do the stairs.
I've been busy organising things in the lead up to handover too. We ordered our bed (FINALLY decided on one!), mattress (SO looking forward to king size!) & our sons mattress on Sunday at Domayne, I've been talking to wardrobe & cabinetry places and today, with much joy, I locked in our carpet!
Yesterday I was at Bella Vista and had some time up my sleeve so decided to pop into Carpet Court. There was a guy there talking to a guy from Metricon head office which intrigued me.. When he heard I was building with Metricon he told me he would look after my quote - hhmm.
Long story short? Apparently Metricon & Carpet Call have a deal and Carpet Call 'look after' Metricon clients if they send them over ;)
So - I chose a carpet, got a quote today and its all locked it - woot!
Will post some pics of the paint once its finished ;)
Saturday, March 19, 2011
End of another week.
Popped by the house today, hadn't been there since Tuesday. I was pleased to see the tilers had finally tiled the balconies, (minus a skirting tile on the main balcony) it's only been about 5 or 6 weeks since they started our job!
For those counting along - we are entering week 30 of the build (eek!)
They also grouted the stacked stone tiles around the bath, the mosaics in the powder room and around the kitchen window and finished off lots of other grouting (yay!).
They still need to come back however as the tiles that were ripped off in the laundry to make way for architraves took off the gyprock and that has yet to be patched up. So once that is patched the tilers need to finish off in there..
According to our SS carpenters were to be onsite 'over the weekend' to fix an issue with our huge stacking sliders (very noticable sagging under the frame of one set) but they weren't there when I stopped by.
This one is for Reinsey - the splashback mosaics sans yellow backing paper ;) -
For those counting along - we are entering week 30 of the build (eek!)
They also grouted the stacked stone tiles around the bath, the mosaics in the powder room and around the kitchen window and finished off lots of other grouting (yay!).
They still need to come back however as the tiles that were ripped off in the laundry to make way for architraves took off the gyprock and that has yet to be patched up. So once that is patched the tilers need to finish off in there..
According to our SS carpenters were to be onsite 'over the weekend' to fix an issue with our huge stacking sliders (very noticable sagging under the frame of one set) but they weren't there when I stopped by.
This one is for Reinsey - the splashback mosaics sans yellow backing paper ;) -
Excuse the rubbish quality photos - my POS point and shoot often decides the just die in my bag regardless of how much charge the battery had last time I used it - so these are from my iphone and the light was terrible (rainy, grey day here today).
The tiles are still very dirty from grouting and look more silver in these pics than they actually are. LOVE.
I think the gyprock needs to be repaired here no? ;)
Powder room mosaics grouted
Happy!
Toilet skirting tile grouted too..
Bath stacked stone tiles grouted - I bet thats not the easiest job!
Front balcony tiled - happy happy day :)
Hmmm - somethin' ain't right here... look closely at the wall/skirting..
Our SS has informed us that everything has been booked in right up to completion so I imagine things will really start moving soon..
Painter back this week, not sure about what else is booked in so it will be interesting to see if anything happens in conjunction with painting.
Have a great weekend!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Koko Black
Jason has been in Melbourne for work today and yesterday so naturally I had him visit one of my favourite places in Melbourne - Koko Black - and pick me up some of my favourite treats!
I envy Melbourne locals being able to pop in and have Belgian Spoil or a delicious Iced Chocolate on a whim. We can have their wares shipped here to Sydney but alas I don't think Chocolate Mousse would hold up well in the post ;)
Koko Black has a salon in Canberra and are opening one in Perth - still no love for Sydney :(
C'mon Koko Black - Canberra? Perth?? Plleeeeease...Sydney next!!??
Hope you all enjoyed that chocolatey break from my moaning..back to normal transmission tomorrow..
I envy Melbourne locals being able to pop in and have Belgian Spoil or a delicious Iced Chocolate on a whim. We can have their wares shipped here to Sydney but alas I don't think Chocolate Mousse would hold up well in the post ;)
Koko Black has a salon in Canberra and are opening one in Perth - still no love for Sydney :(
C'mon Koko Black - Canberra? Perth?? Plleeeeease...Sydney next!!??
Hope you all enjoyed that chocolatey break from my moaning..back to normal transmission tomorrow..
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