H-A-N-D-O-V-E-R !

Just a quick post to say we had handover today! Received a really lovely picnic set cooler bag set which is perfect to have in the car for weekends! An even better surprise was that Andrew rang this afternoon and said his boss is so happy he has caught him up on a heap of work so he can come home a bit earlier than planned.

I had our storage POD delivered today and Mum and I managed to get it completely emptied in under 3 hours. There are boxes everywhere and still more to come from Mum & Dad's but I can't tell you how good a feeling it is to have our stuff in our home!

The rest of the week will probably go by in a blur so I'll be back next week to update on progress!

Playing the waiting game ...

Well our original handover date didn't happen yesterday, isn't happening today and won't happen tomorrow either.  We've been pushed back until Monday though I'm doubtful on Monday going ahead either. 

Since PCI last Friday, I have noticed a few more bits and pieces that need fixing, one being the plaster on the bulkhead in the kitchen.  I don't know how it was missed, although it is hard to see the problem in daylight, (I saw it at 10pm Sunday night on my way home from the airport!) but the plaster was all wobbly and weird (see photo below).  It has since been fixed and we're just waiting on paint now.

The house also failed the final plumbing inspection, despite me voicing Andrew's concerns (he is a plumber) a number of weeks ago to the supervisor regarding a few things, our supervisor assured me all would be fine.  Seems so silly that the plumber who was doing the work wouldn't have done his best work considering he knows the owner is a plumber?!  Anyway, still waiting on a number of items to be fixed by the plumber, along with a missing flyscreen, broken window, tiling issues and the list goes on.  When I dropped round to the house last night only a handful of the PCI items have so far been rectified. 

We also found out yesterday that our bank stuffed up the final payment to the builder and ignored our request for a bank cheque to take to handover and instead paid the final invoice on Tuesday by EFT.  So we're now paying for a house that we don't even have the keys for and can't get to the keys to until the problems have been fixed!

Origin Energy also managed to completely stuff up our gas & electricity connection.  I sat on hold for 1.5 hours about two weeks ago to organise our billing account etc and when I hadn't received any paperwork, (as they said I would) I called them on Wednesday to check everything was okay.  After waiting for 40 minutes and being passed through 8 customer service people, the end result was I didn't exist to them and there was no record of my call.  After a further half hour they found me under the wrong spelling of my name and at the wrong address.  Duh!

I've been busy scheduling carpet layers, turf deliveries, security & ducted vacuum fit offs and delivery of our storage 'POD'.  Tomorrow my Dad and I, along with one set of the neighbours are getting the retaining walls done and then Monday Mum and I will be starting to unpack the storage POD, and if we're lucky we may also get handover too!  Luckily our supervisor understands that I have already booked the POD delivery etc in and we have a construction key for inside access so he doesn't mind us getting a head start.    The plan for the next few weeks is to have the POD unpacked in to the garage Monday & Tuesday, back at work for Wednesday & Thursday then off for 2 weeks.  Then Andrew is flying back down for 1.5 weeks from Thursday night (yippee!!), fences and turf Friday to Sunday, start laying our timber planks from Monday onwards, have a small (but necessary!) party on the Saturday night and then the carpet is being laid on Monday before Andrew flies back up on Tuesday.  Then I'll be left on my own to organise the driveway and sort out all of the boxes inside!

So out of all the weeks since the build started, this week has definitely been the most stressful and frustrating. Really starting to feel a little bit over it all and it's the first time I've really felt annoyed that Andrew isn't here!  I'm at the stage where I just want to get in to the house and start unpacking!

I hope you all have a good weekend ... Spring is definitely on it's way!

PCI - done & dusted

A quick update before I head off for the weekend.. I had our PC inspection this morning and took my boss and her husband along for the ride (they have owner built a number of times and he is a carpenter). Happy to report that everything is on track for our handover next Saturday. Our supervisor has 5 handovers next week and very kindly offered to do ours on Saturday rather than wait until Monday the following week. There are just some minor fix ups here and there, as expected. I would have liked to have seen the house cleaned this morning but the cleaner was running behind so she is doing it tomorrow. A few pictures below... Ignore the batten light fittings as they will be changed and the lovely brown bricks will be rendered after handover too.

Have a good weekend in this beautiful Brisbane weather!

On the home stretch ....

This week we are due for our PC inspection, either Thursday or Friday.  The house has been a hive of activity with trades coming and going and doing their thing.  I spent over an hour just playing with the lights and working out which switch belongs to which light!  There is a problem with some tapware so we're waiting on the plumber to sort that out, also waiting on the mirrors to be installed, flyscreens to be installed and the house to be cleaned.

I arrived at the house early Friday morning to find our cooktop had been installed.  Not impressed.  The back trim of the cooktop was hard up against the splashback tiles (that hadn't even been grouted yet) and there was a huge gap at the front.  It looked horrible (see for yourself below) and wasn't what we were expecting at all.  I quickly shot off a message to our supervisor to let him know I wasn't happy.  He rang me this morning and said he agreed 100% and that it looked terrible and hadn't been installed to plan.  So the stone guys are apparently at fault, again!  They didn't cut the hole in the right place, and the electrician just installed where the hole was, understandably!  Our supervisor has told the stone guys he wants the complete bench top replaced and the hole cut in the right place, however I am a little hesitant as I don't want to bring another different batch of granite in now.  My Dad had a look at it yesterday and thinks there is a bit of room to play with so fingers crossed the cooktop can be moved forward slightly (any gap at the back is better than no gap) without having to replace the whole top.

In other news, I'm heading away this coming weekend to see my Husband - it's been 4 weeks since he left and we had thought the house would be ready by now and he would be down at the moment but that was not to be.  So rather than wait another 2 or 3 weeks, I'm heading up Friday night and coming home Sunday night - just a really quick visit but a must-see visit!

Waiting on a laminated face for the rangehood to bring it in line with the other overhead cupboards.

The offending cooktop.

Lights & fans - woohoo!

Painted glass wardrobe doors.