Driveway (DIY x 0.2)

We now got our brand new driveway and the base for the garden shed. Concerter was a friend of mine and I got a good deal. I and my brother in law prepared the site. Manual labour :|. Happy with the final product though.

Btw: still waiting for items listed in 'letter of undertaking' to be fixed. They were due on 25th nov. Not cool.



Before ...


Preparation ...


3.5 c.m concrete ...


Me sealing ...


Sealed ...


Closer look ...

Handover

We had our handover on last 17th. It was bit stressful at the end and I expected they couldn't finish all the works timely. Some of the plumbing works were carried out next day after the handover and letter of undertaking was issued for three items and I am still waiting for them to come back. Today is the deadline. Supervisor repaired the damaged garage door instead of replacing it. He promised to replace it and it was even clearly written on the PCI list. So basically it quality assurance wasn't up to the standard I expected. Luckily, we were able to report most of the defects and most of them are now rectified.



Keys


Hmm. Pergola still needs some painting.


Kitchen is cool.





Have to redo the feature tiling (strip is not centered)

Handover delayed

Yesterday, I got an update from the SS and now the handover has been delayed at least by another week. This is disappointing. Facade is still under construction. And few other unfinished jobs here and there. It never looked they were going to finish it before the handover. But this wasn't the cause for the delay. We are still waiting for the council certificate. It wasn't issued because of some unknown (to me) reason.



At last the facade window has been double glazed. Good job!



Also we got free fencing from Sunland (developer).



Porch ceiling is still not water proofed. What is that ink mark :|

PCI done

We had our inspection yesterday. We didn't find any new major defects other than few more cosmetic defects. Handover will be in two weeks time. Cool.


Inside looks clean now.





Kitchen with the splashback.

It is time for the inspection

We are having our inspection this Thursday. Still the facade hasn't been finalised though. It might happen in next few days. However, it is good to get over this milestone as well. Then it is just the handover.

We have already reported most of the defects we could see. Hopefully, they might get resolved quickly.



Facade needs some rectifications (including making left most window double glazed) and painting.


Splashback to come.


And some damage repairing

Also wrong powder room vanity option and about 10+ more defects... :)

And then vandalism

Someone has badly damaged garage access door. Not cool.








These people are sick

Carpets and other bits and pieces

Now the carpets are in place there is nothing much left inside the house. Robes are also finished and for my understanding it is just kitchen splashback is the main pending item. Outside though, the defects of facade still need to be fixed. They are not major. I hope they will be fixed and painted soon. Right now I am expecting my inspection next week :)



Facade has bit more work


Carpets


Robe


Laundry


Entry

Electrical, plumbing and more tiling ...

Guys were busy last week and now the all the lights and switches have been installed. Tiling is almost complete. So why did it take more than three weeks to complete? Well the second tiler twisted his ankle and the main tiler had to continue. :(


Lol.


Tiles are installed just the grouting needs to be done.


Ensuite mirror installed.


And the garage door again.

Garage door, Heating ducts, Ceiling batts etc

It was almost impossible to walk around the house because it was too muddy :). So couldn't take many photos. I could only see one pile of tiles through the front door so most of the tiling must have been finished by now. However, tiling is still continuing. Garage door, Ceiling insulation and ducts for cooling and heating are now installed. Electrical works might start next.


Garage door


Ensuite fully tiled (almost)


Waiting to be installed


Attempted keyless entry. My beautiful bifold door is damaged.

Tiling continues...

Now the wall tiling (ensuite and bath room) has been done and tiler now laying the floor tiles. It looks pretty good but very hard to capture it with the camera :). I think they had to use some sort of a grinder to level the floor. All the windows, cabinets are covered with white dust due to this grinding.

Ensuite

Around the kitchen

Tiling now

Well.. nothing much happened last week. I could see very little progress (May be they had been doing something I couldn't see :D). Tilers started their works last friday. According to our SS most of the tiling will be done within this week. So can't wait to see how it is looking once totally tiled!

White tiles and my budget feature strip..

Internal painting and front Pergola

It is just bit more than two months into the build and we are so pleased with the progress. Now painters have finished all the internal works, so it is ready for tiling.

Also the facade Pergola is halfway finished. Initially the carpenter installed the Pergola at wrong height and it has now been corrected. There are some other issues with the facade but I am sure they will be easily fixed as they are minor (naughty tradies haven't followed the drawings). I am getting pretty good at picking defects now. SS is also very supportive and defects are getting fixed.

Facade is almost done.

Theatre room from the Lounge

Paint looks neat

Just after it is painted, we got our pet spider home.

It is ready for painting

We had yet another steady week at our site :). Cabinets are now installed and walls are prepared for painting next week. Bricks are also cleaned and then look neat. Only issue I could see is they have installed a wrong vanity option in the powder room. It should be straight forward to fix.

I received another good news from our SS. CH's window manufacturer has agreed to fix the facade window and it is going to be double glazed. So well done SS. This is a big confidence booster.

Facade: Paint and Pergola to come

Cleaned brick work. Austral Fawn: We expected this to be bit more darker but it turned out to be much lighter. But we don't mind the current look though. 

Kitchen through a window (remember it is locked up :|)

Ensuite

Render, internal doors, architraves etc

We had a on site meeting with our SS. Main aim of this meeting was to discuss the solution for the wrongly installed single glazed window. SS promised us to discuss the matter with his manager and get back to us. I don't have much hope of a replacement now :|

At the same there is a good news also. According to the SS we are good for the handover in seven weeks. Good one. We are not ready.

Oh the water leak is fixed now and SS promised me to fix some of other miner issues I reported.



Some rendering.


Doors are installed.


Architraves and skirting.


Also down pipes.