Day 39 - We're 1/2 covered

Pretty happy with the progress of the last week, even though not everything has been completed that we expected to be done.  The roof has started to go on (in fact 2/3 of the roof is on) and I've definitely had a colorbond moment in the last few days.  We're really happy with the colour of the roof "Ironstone".  A little bit less sure about the colour of the gutters and fascia.  

When we were at Studio M choosing external colours we wanted some variation on the external of the house and kind of "threw in" the "Dune" colour for the fascia and gutters right at the end to provide some contrast.  At the time we were considering doing the gutters and fascia in Ironstone as well.  We are now reconsidering our "Dune" colour choice as it stands out a fair bit.  We are hoping that having the render and some of the external paint will balance the house out......

Work has also started on the colonial features at the front of the house which can be more easily seen in the last photo.   The feature roofing sits underneath the height of the main roof.  We may end up with a little bit of an issue with the height of the roof under the colonial sections.  We apparently need to maintain a roofing height of 210cm under this roofing, however as we are planning to put decks under this roofing, this may restrict the height of the decks.

 

We were also due to have our Private Building Inspector through to do the frame stage inspection on Friday (after already pushing it back once already).  I had a call from our SS who let us know that the colonial feature framing would not be completed by Friday and that while our inspector could go through, not everything was complete.  This confuses me because we have already received our invoice from Metricon for completion of the frame.  None the less, we'll be holding back on payment of this invoice until our inspector has been through next Wednesday.

Day 35 - Frame Done...Almost

Wow, what a couple of days.  I didn't have much of a chance to go out to the block until late yesterday afternoon due to work commitments. It looks like the frame is pretty much done apart from the portico.  We received invoice for payment of the frame stage as well on Wednesday, even though the frame is still not completely finished.  We'll hold off with payment of that one until we've had one private inspector through on Thursday and also Metricon have their inspector through (booked for next Monday).  It appears that there is some damage to the roof truss that probably happened during delivery to the site.  We'll be checking with our inspector as whether this damage needs to be rectified.

The other item that was completed sometime before Wednesday was our back fence.  We're really happy with the fence and with the contractor we used.  Thanks to Trevor & Roxanne from Coolum Coastal Fencing for fast, friendly and competitive service!!  Give them a call if you need a fence and live on the Sunshine Coast.

Looking forward to the boat show on Friday in Brisvegas.  Hopefully get a better idea on what to get when we get rid of the jetski.  I'm pretty keen on getting an aluminum cabin boat between 5 and 6m.  Not sure that the budget will extend to fibreglass........
Anyway, it will be just good having the day off work.

Day 30 - Another Wet Day

It seems like the weather is working against us at the moment with a wet and overcast day on Friday and no building action at the block.  The forecast for the next few days is surely conspiring against us with Fine all weekend and Rain again on Monday and Tuesday.

I got a call from our SS again this week around dates for booking inspections.  He wanted to have the Frame stage completed on the 17th, but it looks like it might be around the Tuesday 24th assuming no more rain (yeah right).  Anyway, looks like the majority of the frame is finished with only the front portico/colonial feature to complete.

Quite a bit happening with organising other things for the house in the last few days.  We got our quotes for doing the decks under the front portico and outdoor room back this week.  it was amazing the difference in pricing for exactly the same decks (over $6K difference highest to lowest).  Obviously some people don't need the work at the moment.  It would have been good if Metricon did this as part of the build package and we asked for this to be quoted pre-contract by Metricon, however apparently they don't do decks in QLD.  We found this really interesting since the Metricon Sales Consultant gave us a per sqm price for a Metricon supplied deck.

We also have some decisions to make around what type of driveway we're going to do.  We were pretty keen on doing exposed ag originally for the main driveway until we saw how easily they were to damage/mark.  We are now getting some quotes on doing a stencilled driveway or maybe doing a plain concrete driveway and then adding the stencilling later.

Our fencer has nearly completed our back fence, but I think that the rain on Friday slowed him down.  Fences was another thing that Maya and i had some trouble deciding on.  We're really happy with how this back fence is coming up.  We really liked the hardwood fence our neighbours put up and it convinced us to do the same. 

Day 27 - Mostly Framed

Unfortunately, my week has been too busy to be able to get out to the block before dark.  Maya took some of her work mates past the block on their way back from Brisbane today and then took these photos.  Looks like most of the roof trusses are now up including the outdoor room. Maya thought that the rooms looked bigger with most of the frame and trusses up.  I hope so because the I felt the place looked smaller than I first envisaged.

I've had a couple of conversations with our SS over the last couple of days to confirm appointments.  Our back fence with the neighbours should be completed in the next week.  Our back neighbours are fantastic and have been keeping an eye out on our block.  Thanks guys!!  Unfortunately we did have some topsoil taken from the block that we did want to use later.  Nice to know we have two families of police officers in our estate :)

Since our frame stage is due to be completed by the 20th now (due to the rain last week) I've booked our independent inspector for Monday afternoon.  I think our SS is not impressed with us doing the inspection, he's been a little bit less helpful since we notified him of our intention to use an independent inspector.  Hopefully everything will be fine and won't require any corrective actions by Metricon.  Either way, its worth the $500 for peace of mind that we're getting what we paid for and what Metricon promises - QUALITY.  I'll post the details from the inspection next Monday.

Day 23 - Frame and some questions????

With the rain gone, it was clearly action stations for Friday.  The trusses were delivered to the block earlier in the week and were due to be up by the end of Friday.  Our SS has told us that due to the rain he has pushed back the guttering but still expects the frame stage to be completed by the 19th.  Still lots to go to get there.  We took these photos of the frame so far and what I believe is a special photo for Metricon's "what the" collection (see last pic).

And to the last photo.  We did a little inspection of the frame and noticed something strange.  The next photo was taken at the laundry end of the house, looking down inside a cupboard wall.  

I'll let everyone make their own decision on what this is, but as far as I can tell it can only be -

1) An inside the wall drain, essential to all new home builds

2) A Metricon cock up

I am going to take a vote on this one via comments 

Considering that the frame is halfway covering this drain, I'm wondering what Metricon will do to fix this?  It is definitely something that we'll be discussing on Monday with our SS.

Day 22 - What a pizzlling!!!

Yup, a pretty wet couple of days right across SEQ with not much going on at the block.  It did give us a little bit more time to get all those little jobs done that we did not have a chance to over the last month...like tax........

I also had a meeting with the shed "man land" builders around the site prep work that needs to be done.  It seems like we'll have the shed up within the next 4-5weeks which will be really handy for when we are moving furniture across of our current rental.  It will be nice not to have to rush moving house again.

Apparently on Friday morning early our SS got in contact with Maya to do his weekly update call.  He gave us the update that he was expecting the frame to be completed by the 17th Aug (I think that date has been "sunk" with this weeks weather.  He also wanted to check on whether we definitely wanted the "colonial feature" poles for the feature at the front of the house.  I think Maya made it pretty clear that is why we wanted the colonial facade.  Apparently the wrong poles were delivered to the block and this may result in a delay.  We also let him know about our intention to use an independent builder inspector to act on our behalf at all future construction stages.  The SS gave me scripted response of "we have an extensive QA process", "Metricon QA pick everything up to make sure you get a quality build" and "Metricon has got rid of all the poor quality trades due to there being less work on at the moment" and saving the best one for last "I'd hate for you to be wasting your money on an inspection".  I'd like to congratulate Metricon on supplying its construction supervisors with the Sales tools required to use "doubt creating questions".  Unfortunately Metricon, we adamant about wanting someone to protect our interests, complete our due diligence and most importantly be on our payroll rather than Metricons.  But as I said to our Site Supervisor, "I'd like nothing more than for our Independent inspection to pick up nothing and for me to have paid $500 for nothing".

We did see some action today at the block today with the rest of the main frame going up.  I took a run out to the block at about 6pm and took these photo's -

Day16 - Hammers and Nails

It seems like Friday's are the busy days for our Site Supervisor.  Our frame was delivered on Thursday with work starting Friday on our framing.  Our Site Supervisor also called on Friday to give us our weekly update.  

 

Framing will continue for the next couple of days with the roof trusses being delivered early next week to be completed by the end of next week....that is if the rain holds out.  I don't generally trust weather forecasts but the next few days are supposed to bring -

Monday            Possible shower                        Max 22
Tuesday           Showers increasing to rain       Max 20
Wednesday      Rain clearing                            Max 21

Day 13 & 14 - Hmmm

Well, not much happening in the last two days.  I decided to put up some warning tape earlier in the week to stop people driving across the block and possibly breaking the HSTP underground irrigation.  It looks as though there was some earthworks/backfilling around the slab today, but not much else.  I was in contact with our Site Supervisor to make sure that the shed contractors can get on site in about 5 weeks time.  The SS also let me know that the frame will be delivered tomorrow (Thursday) ready for a Friday Frame start.  I really hope they get the roof on pretty quick with the forecast for rain next week.

Day 12 - One Slab .......please

Day 12 and we were off to a very early start.  By the time that I pulled up to the block on the way through to work about 1/2 the slab was poured.  Time to organise a slab or two of another kind in the next couple of days.  Maya made it back out to the block before dark this afternoon and took these photo's.

We should see the frame starting over the next couple of days.  All happening.  Got to remember to start organising the independent building inspector tomorrow.

Also managed to get our shed organised late on Friday.  We had been messing around with quotes on a shed for as couple of months now and really needed to make a decision so that it could get built while we have no fences on the northern boundary.  We went with a 9x6.5x3.3 shed.  We went for the extra height and length to fit the boat in the near future when we offload the Jetski.  Anyone want a 2006 Honda Aquatrax F-12X with 54hrs on the clock????