Monday, September 27, 2010

End of Act II

Well folks, on Friday last week the curtain went down on act II of this great big performance:


"How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides, your looped and windowed raggedness, defend you?" (King Lear)


We were very happy to see framing appearing all complete, including roof trusses, and all windows installed! Framing started Monday and was completed by Friday. Was great to see tradies working everyday last week.



Here are some pics below as we did a sneaky walk through the house :)

Study. Place of refuge.

Sitting. Happy with the size of the windows actually, they seem larger than they appeared in plans. We also opted for thicker glazing and Q-LON seals around all front opening windows.

Through to Family/Dining/Kitchen. Beyond is where the timber bi-folds will eventually lead through to the outdoor room. Its looking like we will be able to capture the views behind us as long as the house behind is not going to be a huge double storey (no plans sent to council as yet). We are very happy with ceiling heights thanks to the extra ceiling height promotion and our need to have two steps down to the family/dining/kitchen due to the slope of the block.



Kitchen. Low profile window above the counter top, in promotion. However the window is not as big as the Newhaven displays (Metricon are sneaky that way). Not to worry though, as we will have plenty of light flooding through with the big window next to the kitchen as well as the bifold doors.
Hoping to put in some tropical plants along the fence line here, whilst Sandrine cooks up a storm.

Family. We opted for another low profile window here,the original plans had a big square window which would give out too much glare for tv watching, We changed it to the low profile to enable us to put the sofa underneath and eventually put some shutters over this window as a feature.

Upstairs. Looking up from outdoor room to our bedroom, well I thought this picture looked a bit arty. That's all for now.

8 comments:

  1. Looking great! Wish i had known about those seals - we got double glazing in bedrooms but i had no idea about the seals! I REALLY wish Metricon told customers more about what was available!!

    Also I see the winders on your awning windows MATCH your window colour?? Mine are BLACK. Was told they only come in black - veeeery interesting seeing as we are both Sydney builds. My windows are Sounthern Star I believe - and yours seem to be Canterbury - even though we have a big Canterbury doors and windows poster on our fence... *scratches head*

    I HATE the black winders...off to email customer service today about that one!!

    LOL

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  2. Agreed that Metricon should tell customers more about what is available.
    That is strange about the windows suppliers being different. Def contact customer service about that. Though they are very funny about any alterations after contract signing. I found this frustrating as there are so many things that you don't realise till later on in the process. All selections are done too early and you have to wait at least 6 months till anything starts to happen and that is usually when you can visualise what your house will look like. They should offer a product book of what you can upgrade and at what prices. I asked about a built in rubbish bin to be added as a variation and they said that this could not be done now as the cupboards had already been ordered. Surely it could be added as this is not something structural to the house build. I think studio m in Sydney is a bit of a let down as this is the place where you go to see what colours are available yet the person on the weekend is not very knowledgeable about the products and the next stage is to make your selections and commit to colours at your external and internal colour appointment. Sorry about the rant :) let me know how you go with customer service.

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  3. Sandrine I TOTALLY agree with all of the above!

    I felt the Studio M process was a bit rushed and quite frankly sometimes I feel like I was made to feel like I was being painful asking for certain things - when it comes down to it we are paying a lot of money for a HUGE investment and we have every right to ask for what we want!!

    I also asked about a pull out/integrated rubbish bin and was simply told it couldnt be done, that they didn't do them at all. I asked this during my Studio M appointment. I am going to look into doing it after handover now which means more money!

    I agree - the person staffing Studio M on the weekends isn't very knowledgeable (although very nice) and they make a big deal about being informed so you are ready for the actual appointment yet they don't offer enough info for you to be informed!!

    This inevitably means you end up making on the spot decisions which you could later regret.

    Apparently some builders do have huge books you can look at showing all the extras you can add - something Metricon should definitely do.

    I also felt I was told a few incorrect things along the way which was really annoying.

    I wanted an appliance cupboard that opens sideways onto the bench - so you can hide away the kettle/toaster etc etc and slide them out to use easily. I mentioned that at tender and was told to ask at Studio M. At Stuido M they completely misunderstood and I have ended up with retractable doors that open outwards like normal doors defeating the point. This is in my microwave tower. - HOWEVER if I had been told the right info - this should have been done at tender stage as it should have been placed on the opposite end of the kitchen recessed into the wall - something that needed to be drawn in at planning stage as it affects the exterior of the house. I am still really annoyed about that one!!

    I also think electrical selection was far too rushed and should be done on a separate day,

    Very strange about the windows - maybe it has something to do with the particular style? My awnings are all in one piece, different to yours (no fixed panel) but I have looked on the manufacturers website and it says they match the winder colour for most powdercoat colours..HHmmmm. Even white would be better than black!!

    Ok, enough ranting from me!!

    Have a great day!

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  4. Looking good guys! We're about a week behind you.

    Our floorplans are quite similar. We've also got a stepdown into our leisure/kitchen area due to the slope of the block. The higher ceilings will be lovely!

    Wish we'd have known about the seals too. We got thicker glass due to noisy neighbours lol.

    I agree with you both, all builders should provide a prouduct book of all the possible options/upgrades. We're getting those glowing saturn lightswitches in all the common areas......something we only found out about when we walked through the builders latest home in Oran Park.

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  5. Hi again, just wanted to let you know what my CS said about the windows. In summary - not much, just a blurb about different suppliers etc and not wanting to hold up a build etc etc. So pretty non committal and not really answering the question about why you guys have matching winders and we dont!
    I am curious however - do you remember being told they would match @ Studio M? I know I was definitely told they would be black but remember thinking how odd that was!

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  6. Hi Shayne,

    I had a check of the colour schedule from Studio M and you are correct. Black is standard for the winders. Not sure why we got the ones matching our windows (not complaining):) however if black was the one that we had selected and wanted then I would be very annoyed when getting to the house and seeing the wrong colour.

    Its not really fair, of course we don't want anything holding up the build, however if there is something that has run out with the supplier a courtesy call to check with the client would be appreciated. We are the ones who will live with this for the next 15 years or so.

    If in a few years you get sick of the black ones and we get sick of our colour we can swap with each other :)

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  7. Guys, things are really coming along for you. Best of luck - now it really starts to look like a house!

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  8. Sandrine thats a good bonus for you guys then!! :)

    I have considered finding out if changing the winders after handover if possible, haha. I will live with them for a while and see how much they annoy me!

    Most of them will have shutters over them anyway so hopefully I wont notice after a while..

    Good luck getting your brickwork started this week ;) Ours apparently wont be on site much this week so we will probably end up at the same stage again by the end of the week ;)

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