Construction Update - Week 20 - A Bit of Progress and A Bit of Back and Forth

So last week was the first week that we have had to get firm with Porter Davis and following numerous phone calls I thought we had reached a way forward on three of the biggest issues that I posted about last week.  Namely:

• What to do about the misplaced window on the front façade
• What to do about the incorrectly roughed-in plumbing in the powder room
• What to do about the staircase hand-rails

Here is how it all panned out...

In the case of the incorrectly placed window, Porter Davis have admitted that it is a mistake and are going to fix it.  According to our site supervisor, rectification work will have commenced on Monday of this week.

 

The Powder Room plumbing is interesting and we have had four or five phone calls with our site supervisor on this.  Our PD "co-ordinator" at head office was unresponsive to our emails on this topic, but it turns out our site supervisor knows how to use a telephone and (like me) is a pragmatist.

 

As at the end of last week (I am posting this nearly a week later, sorry) as far as I can tell, the logic on both sides goes something like this:

• Our site supervisor wants to finish our house so he can move on
• We want our site supervisor to finish our house so we can move in
• He has never installed hand-rails on a staircase before and claims it is not included (note to anyone purchasing staircase "Option 4")

• His plumber has stuffed up the rough-in on the powder room
• We want hand-rails on our stair case
• We can live with Powder Room as it has been plumbed, if we can re-select the taps and faucet that we like
• He can only install the 'standard' taps and faucet in the Powder Room, but at least it will match our Laundry
• We think that's bollocks, as standard looks terrible.  I don't care what the laundry looks like - I don't expect my dinner guests to avail themselves of the Laundry when I invite them over to show off my new home
• He can't give us anything we want because he "cannot afford a $600 tap set" if that's what we choose
• We reminded him to look at the selections we have made so far (we are pretty frugal)
• He admits yeah, you guys are tighter than a cats bum (he didn't actually say that)
• We all agree to pick a tap set is fair and reasonable
• He agrees to install our choice of tap set and a pair (yes pair) of hand rails for the stair case

 

This all sounded good, but there has been a significant unravelling of this since last Friday, which I will post an update on shortly.

 

Dramas aside, in terms on progress on the house, the major highlights are:

• With the obvious exception of the powder room, the plumbing fit-off is completed
• The electrical fit-off is completed - yes we have lighting!

Here are the usual assortment of progress pictures...



From the Front



From the Front



From the Rear (with Chuggalugs striding through the weeds)



From the Rear

Panoramic shot from Dining Area with Living Area on Left and Kitchen on Right



Panoramic shot from kitchen with Dining Area on left and Living Area on Right



Panoramic shot from Living Area with Rumpus Room on left and Dining Area on Right

Panoramic shot from Rumpus Room with Hallway Staircase on left and Living Area on Right



Our Kitchen Sink Mixer



Buggalugs checking out the Ensuite - note the mixers

The Downstairs Powder Room - no mixer possible....

OK, it's just a toilet, but it's my new toilet

I had forgotten that we decided to do our own lighting (other than down-lights).  This is what the 'standard' light fitting looks like.  It won't last long after we move in...

Construction Update - Week 19 - Some Mistakes

Today my wife spoke to our site supervisor about a whole list of things and we have now uncovered -  several mistakes we have made and a couple that Porter Davis have made.

 

Building Mistakes by Porter Davis

Window in the Wrong Spot

 

We have discovered (and had confirmed by our site supervisor) that the window in the master bedroom walk-in-robe is in the wrong spot.  We noticed this on the weekend.  There is no top casement moulding on the window.  You can see in the photo that the sides go straight up to the eaves, which is probably the best that the guy who fitted the faux casement awnings could do.  The reason for this turns out to be that the window itself is set too high in the frame.  This is going to be a pretty messy fix, as everything needs to be taken apart, the window needs to be re-installed, and then the brickwork, plastering, awnings and so on will all have to be re-fitted.

 

Fail - The WIR Window is too high

 

 

Wrong Taps in the Powder Room

 

Porter Davis have roughed-in the completely wrong plumbing in the Powder Room for the vanity.  The rough-in has been done for two wall-mounted taps, rather than the combination faucet we selected.  Our site supervisor says this cannot be changed now.   Hmmm....  More on this to come.

 

The Plumbing that has been Roughed-In

Our Plans

 

 

Installation of Wardrobe Inserts

 

We asked for these not to be installed, because the standard ones are cheap and a bit rubbish.  But they have been installed, and now need to be removed.

 

Hmmmm....

 

 

Mistakes We Now Realise We Have Made
So here are a bunch of mistakes we have made along the way.  These have to be chalked up under the heading of "well, when you buy off the plan, you cannot get everything right."  Remembering that we never had the opportunity to wander through a Wembley 35 display home, we were expecting to miss a few things.  Here they are, in order from most annoying to... meh

 

Missing Window Casements

It turns out that the Oakville facade we have chosen does not include faux casements on all the front-facing windows.  The stairwell window, study area window and bedroom WIR window do not come with casements.   At the end of the day, this is reflected on the plans, but it is a little frustrating to only notice these things now.

 

I thought these windows had casements as part of our façade, but alas

 

 

No banister for stairwell

We were never asked and so we never thought about it, but our staircase does not include a banister for the bottom half.  Given we have three young sprogs, this will be a bit of an issue as the kids have nothing to hold onto when they climb up and down the stairs.  This is in the category of "thanks for nothing - if you had told us, we would have bought it."

 

What do we hold on to?

 

 

Rather Useless Open Space below Laundry Bench-top

 

Again this is on the plans, and perhaps we could have picked this up.  One of "specials" packages includes a slightly extended laundry benchtop.  Yay.  But it creates a pretty useless space beneath it.

 

Anyone got a suggestion for this?

 

Wasted space next to kitchen overhead cupboards

In the 'standard' plans, there is a bit of wasted space on the cupboard next to the walk-in-pantry.  We had to argue hard to get this removed and have the cupboards sized accordingly.  We didn't spot (and no-one pointed out to us) that there was a similar 55mm space-waster next to the cupboard by the fridge.

 

We spotted this and got it fixed

 

But didn't see this one...

Timber in the Stairwell

Not in the plans.  The gap in the plaster-work in the stairwell will apparently be covered by a piece of timber.  Go figure.  No idea if that is going to look good or rubbish.

 

No-one told us about this one...

 

 

Wrap Around of Moulding on Façade

 

This is not on the plans.  We have rendered some elements of the front of the façade, but not all.  And that leaves us with, well, I'm not entirely sure how to describe it.

 

 

Is there a technical term for this?

 

 

Just Dumb

 

Different Heating Vents Upstairs and Downstairs

 

We have circular vents upstairs and square ones downstairs - I have no idea why, but if I find out I will post an update.

 

Upstairs

Downstairs

 

Construction Update - Week 19 - Painting is Finished, Heating System Installed

Another week and a bit more progress to report.  This week the heating system has been installed and the painting has been finished.  Also the ceiling batons for the Alfresco have been installed and the shelving in the linen cupboards and wardrobes has been installed.

Here are the usual pics

From the Front



From the Front



From the Rear

From the Rear

Ceiling Batons for the Alfresco



Shelving in the Upstairs Linen Cupboard

And here are the usual panorama shots.  Not a lot has changed here, but if you look closely you will see the ceiling vents for the heating system

 

Panoramic shot of kitchen, with Dining Area to left and Lounge are to the right

Panoramic shot, with Living Area to the left and kitchen to the right



Panoramic shot, with Rumpus Room to the left and kitchen/dining to the right

Panoramic shot of Rumpus Room, with hallway and stairs to the left and the Living Room to the right

Construction Update - Week 18 - Painting and Tiling

I was not able to get out to the site last weekend (week 17), so it has been two weeks since my last post.  Lots of changes have been going on in the last two weeks.  These include:

• Some of the exterior window architraves have been installed
• Tiling of the bathrooms, powder rooms and laundry
• The splashbacks have been installed in the kitchen
• Painting!!

I have to say, walking through the house today, with painted walls and seeing the tiling was pretty exciting.  Here are the pics!

From the Front

From the Front

From the Rear

Panoramic shot of kitchen, with Dining Area to left and Lounge are to the right

Panoramic shot, with Living Area to the left and kitchen to the right

Panoramic shot, with Rumpus Room to the left and kitchen/dining to the right

 

Panoramic shot of Rumpus Room, with hallway and stairs to the left and the Living Room to the right



Painting!! The view from the front door down the hallway

Panoramic shot - the master bedroom

Panoramic shot - the upstairs living area





Tiling in Laundry

Tiling in the Powder Room

 



Bathroom Shower



Bathroom Vanity and Bath

Toilet Tiling



Ensuite Shower Tiling



Ensuite vanity tiling