3 Days Til Settlement - 5 Til The Big Move!

AAAAAAHHHHHHH! It's finally approaching! We have organised to have settlement on Thursday 15th at 4pm. The big move is on for Saturday.
The good news or the bad news? Ok, bad first so we can end on a positive note.
Our carpet layers - the wonderful Western Distributers is fully booked until next Wednesday! This means we will be moving in with no carpet. No big deal, we will just sleep in the family room until the carpets are in so that we don't have to assemble then dis-assembling then re-assemble the bed frame. A few nights on the mattress on the floor won't hurt us and with a bit of luck we will be that exhausted that we won't care! Another possible bad thing could be the fact that we only received the final invoice today - which we can lodge with the bank first thing tomorrow but I hope that is enough time! Please, please, please!
And somewhat bad news is that our Site Manager/Supervisor has left Metricon for a smaller local builder after 9 years service. We wish him all the best at his new job and thank him for his patience and help over the last 6 months or so. We will have handover with a replacement SM.
Now for the good news - we have the certificate of occupancy - despite being rejected last week for cracked roof tiles (rolls eyes at them), so it is all green lights for Thursday's handover.
We contacted a local blind company and they quoted the whole house - windows in hollands, sliding doors in verticals - for $1580. We were so wrapped with this quote! I met with the guy today at the house and he quickly double checked the measurements while I pondered over the colour selection and finally come to the conclusion that the best colour was "pewter" which is not the colour that the name suggests but was closest to the wall colour in a complimentary tone. The blinds will be installed Friday - how's that for service!
We have sent off our fencing quotes to the relevant neighbours but are yet to hear back - so it is just as well we will be moving in with blinds on the windows... is a bit of privacy too much to ask?
Oh, and the moving van is booked for first thing Saturday so we better get cracking with the last of the packing (he, he, that rhymes!).
WOOOOHOOOO!

We have a moving date!

Yesterday was our big inspection. It went relatively well, and after 2 hrs and about 300 red dots we emerged with 4 pages of items to be corrected - most of which were paint related (scuffs, scratches, dents, etc). The bricks will need to be re-cleaned, some grout issues resolved, a pane of glass in the ensuite shower fixed, a leaking tap over the spa rectified and 2 panels of the garage door need to be replaced.
All that being said, we still don't have a glass splashback in the kitchen. If this can get installed this week we have a hope (very small) of having handover on the 9th May - next Friday. As it seems this is highly unlikely, handover will be on Friday 16th May, with us moving in on the 17th. It would be great if it was next Friday, as this would give us a chance to do the concrete and fencing prior to moving in. Then again, we will get more compensation if handover is on the 16th - so it's a toss up which would be better.
This week we visited Bunnings to obtain a step ladder, light globes and a temporary letterbox until we get around to building the brick one. We also visited a homewares store on the weekend to buy some new small appliances and a matching coffee table to the TV unit we have on order ready to be delivered as soon as we are in. It's all very exciting - 17 days!!!
Still to arrange - getting written quotes for fencing, a concreting contractor to do our driveway and path (minimum), and as soon as we have a set handover date we can also book in the carpet laying. I also need to get a quote from a locally recommended blind company that are apparently cheap. Oh, and booking a moving van - anyone vollunteering their help for that day?
Money money money...

It's clean and shiny

We have had our house clean, and while it isn't 100% it has come up beautiful (IMO!).

Here are some pics taken this week after the clean:

Other BIG news is that we have our inspection Tuesday morning! If all goes well our handover may be 1-2 weeks after that. Fingers crossed, because we have now given our 28 days notice to vacate our rental so it has to be before the 22/5.

April is upon us - looks like we will be moving in May

Well, it looks like a house!

Our plumbing has been finished, the electrician has installed the lights and powerpoints, the wardrobes and pantry have the shelving in and the shower screens are now in (after the photos). It looks livable. The only things left to be fitted are the mirrors and the glass splashback in the kitchen.

House clean should have happened yesterday, but didn't, and inspections are supposed to start this coming week. We still haven't been given a date, but following a conversation with our Customer Service Coordinator, she suggested we give the 28 days notice to vacate our rental when the surveyor goes through the house (whatever that is), which is due to happen this coming week, so it looks like it will still be 3-4 weeks until we are in our new house.

So - the great reveal! These photos were taken on Tuesday evening.

Front

Inside front door - looking from front door toward Kitchen/Dining/Family

Entry - looking from Sitting room across to Master

Entry - looking from Kitchen/Dining room door


Butlers' Pantry through to Kitchen



Kitchen (view from dining room)


Kitchen (view from Family room)




Kitchen Island Bench




Ensuite Benchtop and sinks


Ensuite spa




Ensuite Shower








Bathroom Shower




Bathroom Vanity/Basin


Bathroom Bath

End of March... on the final stretch.

March has been a busy month, yet from the surface it may seem that not much has been done.

Our painting was finished (which I have noticed a few small defects that will need to be fixed) and overall we are very happy with it. It is a strange colour though, as in some lights it looks nearly yellow, mostly it looks creamy-brown, and late evening it seems to look pink!

The doors have been installed, including our Sikkens stained feature doors.


The garage door has been installed, although there is a large dent in the door on the inside that will need to be fixed!

The heating and evaporative cooling ducts/outlets have been installed into the ceiling, and the electrician will hook it up when he comes - hopefully this week.

The tiles have been laid, and what was supposed to be a 3-4 day job has now dragged out to be 6 working days with another 2 public holidays (Easter) + 2 weekends - so 10 days. The final grouting will be done today and then that will be finished.


Floor Tiles (Main):








The following photos have been enhanced as it was getting dark when they were taken:


Master/Ensuite




Ensuite





Dining/Kitchen





Kitchen/Family/Back Passage through to Laundry




Laundry/Back passage through to Family



Bathroom




Sitting/Entry




Electrician is yet to come to hook everything up and install all the light fittings and powerpoints.

The glass splashback is ready to be installed at some stage.

Our site supervisor has said that clean up should happen next week, with inspections to follow that.


We were told that we WOULD be in before the middle of April, although it seems doubtful at this stage - but if everything goes smoothly it could? We should be in by the end of April... BETTER BE!!!


It just seems like the time is dragging - maybe because it is so close to being finished.

Almost everything - AND a kitchen sink!

Wow - we are totally blown away by how things are progressing so well! Everytime we visit the house there is something that has been done and some sign that we are a tiny bit closer to getting the long awaited keys.

Today on my visit I found:

The tiles had in fact been delivered last night.

I'm guessing all of the ceilings are finished, and most of the walls have had the first coat of paint.

Our ceasarstone (despite still being covered - which is a good thing) has been installed and the kitchen sink.

We are yet to hear from our site super this week - usually rings Wednesdays, so that we can arrange a time to inspect the tiles prior to them being laid (although I notice on the boxes the floor tiles say "polished porcelain" so I'm interested if they are the ones we picked... but as long as they are the right colour they'll be fine ;) thanks very much ;) )

Tiles have arrived.

I drove past this afternoon/evening and found the truck delivering what could only be our floor/wall tiles (no idea what else they would be). Woo-hoo!
I also noticed that the plumber has been back and ripped the plaster off the wall in the ensuite and moved the mixer tap over the spa back to it's original position (on the closest side).
Ceiling has been sprayed in "Bedouin Beige" and the architraves have been sprayed in "Sandlight" (well, according to our selection schedule) - yet the empty cans in the bin out the side say "Taubmans Tradex Paint" - not Bristol... and yes, I know they are essentially the same company... the ironic part was that in the beginning I was told they used Taubmans paints so I went and got sample pots and painted a large sheet of MDF to use as our guide for colour selections. We later found out that it HAD to be Bristol colours so we matched our initial selection of Taubmans "Cafe" and "Teague" as best we could to the Bristol colours... now it IS Taubmans paints?!?!? Ah, who cares as long as it looks good in the end!

When...? That is the question.

Matt spoke to our site supervisor Wednesday (weekly phone call) and during the conversation it came up about our finishing date... Matt asked if it would be by middle of next month (April) and he replied that we was hoping that it would be before then (YAY!!!!!). So then Matt asked if it would be by the end of this month, considering they are starting the painting at the moment and should be done by mid week, then tiling and fit offs and it's basically finished - bar the inspections. He said that it may not be that quick with this month having 3 short weeks (Labour Day + Good Friday + Easter Monday) but somewhere start of April! That means we have 4-6 weeks before we are moving - HOORAY!!!
Better start getting some boxes!

Cabinets, Carpets and More!

We went to "Western Distributors" this morning, and after looking at Carpet Call, Carpet Choice, Carpet Court and Floorworld (and then drove to Maceys), it was FANTASTIC. It is a big warehouse with rolls and rolls of carpet. You are free to look at all of the rolls and the guys with forklifts will pull out a roll in 5 seconds flat. They have a smallish showroom with displays (like the stores), but most of that carpet is "order only". We found a carpet in the showroom that we had gotten a quote for at Floorworld - $200/lm at Floorworld, $140/lm at WD. Now that's a BIG difference for the exact same carpet (Signature, Today series). They do have seconds carpets, some with shading, some "pile reversal" others are water damaged (they all say why they are seconds) and they start at about $39/lm - fantastic for if people are putting carpet into a rental property, or we did look at one with some minor shading that would have been ok as we don't have joins in the rooms, so if one end is slightly lighter/darker than the other you wouldn't be able to tell - but hubby didn't like the colour. We ended up putting a deposit on carpet that is perfect! It is an end of the line roll of first quality carpet by Redbook (100% nylon) called Interior Charm. It has a mixture of cut and loop pile in a fairly fine square-like pattern. Their regular price was $125/lm (which was cheap), but being last remaning carpet (they had 2 rolls, one was 19m, the other 16m) it was being sold for $99/lm. The colour was PERFECT! Also their laying charge was $20/lm, where as we had been quoted at some places $50/lm! And I think they are quite willing to travel a fair distance (but will add a surcharge). All up we have carpeted our sitting room, master, WIR, bed 2 and bed 3 for $2600 with the best foam underlay. This is compared to the cheapest quote from a store of $3400 for lesser quality carpet and underlay in a similar look. We are totally wrapped! We paid 1/3 deposit to hold it, another 1/3 is due when we book the laying, and balance due on the day of laying - and they said they could hold the carpet for up to 3 months (not that we - fingers crossed - need that long). In addition to carpet, they have a showroom for tiles and hard floorings, and their prices were the best I had seen for stack-stone @ $77/m2.

They are located at 234 McIntyre Road Sunshine North. Their hours are Mon - Fri - 8:00am to 5:30pm Sat - 8:00am to 1:00pm. Well worth a look!

On the home front, our plaster had been finished, the architraves and skirtings have been put on, the doors are hung (including our sikkens which look awesome), the kitchen and cabinetry has been installed (minus the ceasarstone top which is still being made), and the tiles may have been delivered yesterday (I didn't check). The porta-loo has also been taken away - without the toilets being installed so I pity the poor tradies that have to come there now!

Front as at 21/2:

Kitchen Cabinets - rear view:

Kitchen Cabinets - side view:

Kitchen Island Bench:

Butlers' Pantry Benchtops:

Bathroom Cupboard:

Ensuite Cupboard:

Kitchen (view in the Family room window) with skirtings, architraves and sikkens door to entry:

Master Bedroom Doors:

It's all coming together well. Now we just need to organise concreting (driveway and paths), curtains/blinds (which we have had a quote for $6000 for - no thanks!!!), fencing and after we move in - letterbox.