Flooring done

Floorboards are finally laid and we are should now be ready to move in.

We went with bamboo flooring inspired by our neighbor, Thigee, who lives only across the road from us.  To my recollection, I think she said that strand woven bamboo are the hardest amongst all of them.  There should be some article somewhere in the net that supports this.

I initially wanted to mix with some carpets as, to me personally, it feels like a cosy bedroom. 

Our choice of color for the bamboo is quite restricted as it needs to match up with the internal color that we already have.  As most of our color accent is pretty much chocolate or dark chocolate or even some people called it mocha, then finding a color for the floor shouldn't be too hard.

Here is what we came up with:

Work in progress

When it's all finished and cleaned (by me! :))



The stairs is looking good me thinks.




The state of the study room courtesy of the kids, and we haven't officially move in yet :)

 Overall we are quite happy with the job.  Only thing to note for this is, make sure you know exactly the size of the fridge that you have or will have.  We had some trouble fitting in the fridge as the edging of the floor didn't allow the fridge to go into the space.  So we had to get the people who did the job to come back and take the edging out so we can put the fridge into place.

Obviously this shouldn't be an issue if the floor are done before the hand over or you will have carpet or tiles to where the fridge supposed to go.

Next stop MOVING IN!

I'm Coming Home

I'm coming home I'm coming home
Tell the world I'm coming home
Let the rain wash away...
All the pains of yesterday

I know my kingdom awaits
They've forgiven my mistakes
I'm coming home I'm coming home
Tell the world I'm coming home...

We're coming home people!! Roll out the red carpet! Get the fireworks! Bring on the trumpets and the parade!

Ok that's way over the top and all of them don't necessarily need to happen :) but nonetheless we still got our keys!

So after 9 months and 10 days or 286 days, on Wednesday 22 February 2012, there we are with the key to our home, our sky island.

Hand modeled by our son

We were supposed to get them last December but still judging from the quality of the build, I think I will accept the fact that it is late.  However this would only mean that it is the end of Metricon's construction part.  Before we can move in, we still need to organise the flooring to be installed and the game of waiting isn't over as yet.  I can only now wished that we went with the complete build package with Metricon as at least they include the floor coverings and we can move in right away after the handover...

Landscaping is still need to be done, blinds and hopefully if we have enough funds, shutters and also fencing.

All our sides of neighbor have given the go ahead to build the fence and to do the necessary as we see fit.  They really are wonderful neighbors.

Part of the landscape is in fact nearly done.  Like I promise I will write a separate post about this and the flooring as well.

But here is our dream home at handover.

Nearly There!

We are *THIS* close to getting our keys to the house.

I finally received the bank cheque in the mail today after what it seems to be an endless argument between me and the bank...  Don't ask, I'd rather not re-visit that whole experience again.

I immediately ring our site supervisor to arrange a new time for the handover.  As much as I like it to be tomorrow, unfortunately he is not working tomorrow...  Story of my life.

So we are booked for Wednesday morning for our handover.  YAY!!

It's been long overdue but we are glad that we know have at least a date of when we can move in.  Landscaping should be done by that time also, to which I need to post a detail about it.  I'll do that in the near future.

First thing first, getting the key to the house is our priority at the moment and flooring is going to be layed on the very same day.

PCI. How did it go.

As our last post mentioned, we had our PCI walkthrough last week.

Thanks to Karla with the mother of all checklist, the walkthrough was smooth and we actually have a plan and know what to look for.

We've also been inside the house a few times before the PCI and we had a good look through around the house in preparation for our PCI.  In addition to the list, we felt we are prepared to show our supervisor what we are not happy with.

In all honesty, however, we find very little fault or defects with the quality of the build.  Our supervisor is a man of his word and cleaned everything prior to our appointment.  He guided us into every room and explained to us, if there is anything that needs explanation, very thoroughly and more importantly he didn't rush us to finish our inspection.

I've heard some stories from other people around the area saying that their supervisor rushed them to complete their inspection and got them to sign that the house is basically near perfect.

There is not much blue sticker around the house.  We had a good look on the level and bumps on the ceiling and on the slab.  Tested the light switch and power points.  Check the cornices and skirting board.  Test all windows and doors.  Opening and closing the cupboards.  Tested the water, etc. as you would before you buy a house.

Paint work was excellent and I really couldn't find any patchy spot for the paint as you normally would around the corner after you fix something.  At least that should be visible but nothing to be seen around our house.

Only some of the minor stuff like all of bathroom gaps need another seal, missing light fittings (but it turns out that all appliances and fittings will be fitted after we move in and we are ready), mortar joint on the brickwork needs some touch up and servicing the windows so that it rolls easily.  That is all they need to fix from our list.  Our supervisor said that it wouldn't take long for him to finish and as of today our dream house is ready for hand over.

That is our next step.  Get a bank cheque from our bank, have another walkthrough with our supervisor and if we are happy, hand him over the cheque and he will give us the key to our dream house.

So where's the hold up?  Why haven't we got our keys yet?

Well it is simply because we haven't got the bank cheque yet...

I believe I've posted something about our banks many months ago.  Well that opinion hasn't change until today or in the foreseeable future and don't even mention our broker...

The request to draw the cheque for final payment was made last week and today there is still no sight of cheque to be seen in our mailbox or the bank branch.  Apparently it'll take them 6 - 9 days to send the cheque to us...

It is what it is and it's another setback for us.  So close yet so far.

We all only wish that the cheque would come through early next week so we can get the keys already!

PS. If you like a copy of the PCI checklist, I am more than happy to share that with you.  Please use the "Contact Us" page to... well... contact us.

Just to note that there are 44 pages in this document (you heard me correct, I kid you not), so my recommendation is to read it carefully and change the document to suit your project home.

Are we done yet?? P.C.I.

Nope the key is not in our hands yet but close, very close.  They're now within our reach.... hopefully.

What a week it has been for our family.  Our eldest had his first day of big school already and he seemed to enjoyed it.  I was quite nervous that he will not like going to school but all was very smooth and he was fine.  I guess it's sign that our boy is growing.  Whilst he made me proud as a parent but I'm also sad because he had been with us all this time since he was a baby.

Anyway back to the house...

So our supervisor seem to be running like headless chuck (I actually drove pass him when I was picking up my son at the school and that he was actually working).  All this time I thought he was being a slack.  I guess he gotten busy over the year as in our area there is a lot of Metricon houses being built and they seemed to be struggling to keep up with the demand.

As the title said, our supervisor arranged for us to do our PCI tomorrow!  He rang last week to arrange it with us but I'm the one now being a slack for not updating.

Well it is initially planned for tomorrow but due to the wonderful weather we've been having this week (NOT!!!) the site is covered with mud and we do need to walk to every part of the house.  We postponed it to Monday when it is a lot clearer, well according to the forecast anyway...  Should I trust them?

I've also made contact with all my soon neighbors to be about the fencing construction.  All of them are all very nice people and can't wait to move in to the area.  Generally they are all ok with the quote I sent them via the post.

I feel like over the next few months I will finally get my hands dirty that comes along with the suburban scar and quite busy doing a lot of "home improvement" chores.

I have my finger cross for Monday that everything can be settled as quickly as possible.  Like I said earlier, my son started school in the area already and it is quite inconvenience having to drive from we live now to the school.

Racing to the end...

There is not much I can write in this post as we are very near to our handover stage.

The latest update that I got today from our SS is saying that the guys has been doing some final touch-ups, cleaning and a bit of re-painting inside.

The front pier rendered brick post is going to get painted tomorrow.

He also said that his construction manager has done a walkthrough of the house today and waiting for the council inspection.

He also then invited us to do our walkthrough sometime next week when the place is cleaner and then I can get them to address any issues that we may or may not find.

I better get my act together and get the inspection check list out.

We really can't wait to say that we are finally move in!

We Got Driveway!

Hello everyone.  Welcome to the year 2012!

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful time to start the year and to those who have and will start their building journey, all the best of luck and hope that our experience maybe of some assistance to all.

Our journey has been a pretty long one with some rocky road along the way.  This would probably the last leg of the hurdle that we need to get through in order to get our house to a handover stage.

It would appear from the outside that everything is done and there is not much to do on the inside also.  Other than some fixing up to do like windows, doors not being able to close properly, site clean up, cornices are missing on top of the entrance door front portico, fly screens, paint to the rendered post and some other things that I probably have no clue about, I'd definitely say we're almost there.

However with that being said, there is apparently 5 weeks industry shut down where no tradies or supplier is working or open during the month of January until early February or so I've been told.

The frustrating part is that there has been lack of communication from Metricon and our site supervisor recently with our progress.  I had to chase them up for updates on our house.

We've also taken the step to get some quotes for dividing fences to our neighbours.  I've got two quotes that are very far apart on the amount.  There is about $2000 difference between the two quotes!  Please contact me via the "Contact Us" page if you are interested in getting the contact details for the fencing company.

From our recent visit, I noticed that the driveway has been paved and the window wasn't locked.  So I was able to sneak inside for a quick peek of the house.

I felt like a geek having to post this image.

Shower frame is up.