Doors plus - no fuss

Had an inkling today that the delivered doors wouldn't be just left lying around too long and this proved to be true much to our delight!!

We are officially locked out and will be peeping through windows to monitor progress till the end of the build:(

They must have worked a full day as the following was done today, cornices in the downstairs areas and front, laundry and side garage door installed and locked. Bi-fold doors now have glass installed and also locked.

Cannot tell you how excited I was to see that the kitchen cabinets have also been delivered.

A good days work.

Here are the rest of the pics...

Can't wait to see the render painted, wonder when that will happen...

Kitchen cabinets delivered, top cabinets are 'slate grey' and bottom are' frosty white'

'Frosty white' lower cabinets

Stairway to Haven

We've reached another huge milestone, just like some of our fellow "buildees" - the installation of the stairs!

The bottom two treads will be stained and the rest carpeted by us after handover. I've been dying to understand exactly what "bullnoses" are, since it was mentioned on our tender. Suppose that's the extra thick protrusion on those bottom stairs. Learning all the building terminology is great but unfortunately not something you can necessarily impress your work colleagues with at the water dispenser. :)

Metricon refused to put in a door to the stair void anywhere other than from the lounge/kitchen/dining area (through the doorway to the right) because the stairs are on top of  the "step-down" for our slab. Frankly, on seeing the final result and the amount of space underneath, we think this was poor advice, and we're definitely going to install a small door after handover. After all, we need a place to threaten to send the kids when they're naughty! ;)

We are really happy with the timber + steel look so far, should look great once everything is stained/painted. We opted for a couple of stair lights along the wall (good for the kids getting a drink of water at night etc).

We noticed that cornices started going on as well so architraves, skirting and doors should be done this week. It won't be long until we get locked out ... so a quick first look at the view for Sandrine who was too scared to climb the ladder! 

Hope everyone has a good week with lots of progress.

Gyp, Rock and Roll

We are stoked to finally have the house gyprocked over a month after what was originally scheduled.

We can really see the shape of the rooms and imagine the layout of our furniture, starting to get excited again!!

Without further ado here are the pictures...

Standing from the family room looking towards the kitchen

Kitchen slimline window

Family room, tv nook on the left

Fridge nook on the left, there will be two wooden steps up to the hallway

Outdoor room ceiling and a little of our view...

The view from our ensuite bath, should we get this window frosted or keep the view?? Thoughts everyone ...

And finally, evidence of the lengths that we have gone to to ensure that the gyprockers do a quality job, he he.

No gyprockers were harmed in the making of this photo. Get back to work mate!!!!

Quick Update - Insulated

Happy to see more progress today with the wall and roofing insulation going in...

The roof batts are rated R4.1 and they're pretty thick monsters:

Gyprock was delivered today as well, and according to our SS, the crew start on this tomorrow.

A Spark of Progress

Hurray, post-shutdown activity has been kicked-off at the house and the electrical pre-wire (call it a "rough-in" if you're tough enough!) has finally been done.

This is what a three-way switch can look like behind the scenes ...  spaghetti!

In-wall conduit with draw-wire for flat-screen wall mounting, viewed from the laundry side. Will have to be really careful about drilling holes for the brackets with those water pipes around! Yes dear, it'll be fine :)

Puzzled by the height of the light switch plates in this area ... maybe if elves (or our children, same thing) are going through to the garage at night?

This is where all the network (cat6) and free-to-air cabling have been terminated in the garage where I will setup our future communications rack after handover:

Air conditioning ducting and internal motor has also gone in on the same day. Good boys Vaccaro!

LockNess

Happy New Year to all our fellow buildee's! This is the year we bring it all home people!

After the angst associated with our last post over the lack of any discernible progress during December, we decided (with some trepidation) it was worth escalating our concerns to our CSR. Within hours we received feedback that our SS understood and shared some of our frustrations, and that resources would be pulled from other jobs onto ours, including electrical pre-wiring so as to permit gyprocking over the break.

The effect of this was that the remaining guttering, roofing and cladding was completed in the last couple of days before Christmas. Good.

Unfortunately the electrical pre-wiring didn't, hence neither will gyprocking commence until around mid Jan. Disappointing.

Metricon accounts department were very efficient though, ensuring we received the 'lockup' stage invoice dated 24 December.
Classic!