Plastered!

I've been plastered!! Woohoo!! Gawd it looks soooooooooooo different! So much lighter and brighter and houselike!

I turned up and there were about 6-8 asian guys all working on my house, all doing their thing and so I didn't get too many photo's as I didn't want to get in their way. I then went past again at 6:30pm, in the dark, and they were still working!! OMG! They had all these flood lights lighting up the house - amazing!

Garage


Garage


Master bedroom


Ensuite shower and tile niche


Ensuite - Insert basins and cabinets here


Family room


Kitchen and fridge cavity


Meals window


Entrance


Fixed! Beam has been moved just needs some bricks

Full steam ahead

I rang B my SS this morning and he is going to get the light switch in the garage fixed up but he can't do anything about the lights at the back of the house as that would need to be done under a variation, ahh well I'm sure I can work out a fix for it once I am in there :)

I asked B how long he expects is left in the build and he said 5-6 weeks! YaY!! That's the first time I've actually asked for a date and I'm glad it's inline with what I have been thinking and hoping for.
So plaster is starting today and the cabinets are booked to start next Thursday. Fix stage will then get started and then tiling and then a general once over or something - how awesome!!

I now really need to pull my finger out and organise some quotes for driveways and fencing. It's such a shame that I couldn't have done that while on holidays due to the brickies, but ahh well these things happen.

I saw some guys doing some fencing in my estate the other day so I stopped and got their phone number and will hopefully get them to do the fencing. They mentioned that if the developer has to pay for half of two sides then he will do it for the same rate as what the developer would be charged! Nice! I kind of hope that my neighbour starts soon so that I can see how long their garage is as I wont worry about fencing that bit as it is going to be on the boundary.

Also, now that the brickies sand has been spread around the place I can start doing measurements for my driveway and get quotes on that too!

Sparkys have been!

I have the power!! The sparkys have been and put their spaghetti cables everywhere!

Oh and so much for being locked up, not only was my front door WIDE open, but the other doors were all unlocked too! Ahh well, it gave me easy access at least! Oh and of course I locked them all up when I left :D

The sparky has been!


Spaghetti! See the water? I think when they drilled through the wood for the cables they hit one of the laundry pipes - oops!


Powerpoint in the foreground and light switch before the door. I really wanted this light switch on the other side of the door so it's on the side of the door jam that the door locks into, not a big deal I spose :(


I put this light on the corner but thought it would go closer, I think I would prefer it on the other wall - do you think I can get this changed?


Plaster has been delivered!!!


Cornices (or something) too!

Locked out photos

Ok I've finally got the photo's to show

Delivered and waiting to be installed



Bathtub frame


Building inspector has been and the walls have been straightened ready for the plaster



Wood shavings everywhere from the walls being straightened


Bricks removed to make the beam straight - it must be easier to move the beam than pull the brick wall down


Chateau Lisa


The site has been cleaned and the brickie sand spread all over the driveway area - better than in the garden!


Although the sand now contains traces of broken roof tiles... hrmm!


My front door!!


Although it has the wrong handle.... I assume my nice good expensive one will be installed closer to handover??


All cleaned up! No more wood shavings


I really hope that they empty this before installing the bathtub


Front hallway with my door


My front door, again


A new sign! Pitty, I liked the Mernda! addition to the old one ;)

I'm a rates payer!

That's right, today in the mail I got my first ever rates notice!!! It's actually kind of exciting! It's the first bit of mail for my new house!! -squeal- It even has my actual street number on it (which I already knew) and not just a lot number!! Unfortunately though, like most of my snail mail letters these days, it was a bill, but a relatively small one compared to the other snail mail invoice I got today, my lock up invoice -faints-

According to council, my land is valued at less than what I paid for it but considering that the rates are calculated on this value I am MORE than happy for it to be lower :)

How adult like, I'm now paying a mortgage and council rates!!

Yes, I know it's VERY odd to be getting excited about a council rates notice, but it's the first one I have ever had and it's kind of a big thing in a way for me :D It's almost like a welcome letter to the City of Whittlesea!

(I'm such a loser I know! -puts l shaped hand to forehead- hahahahaha)

PD247 - locked up!

My Porter Davis 24/7 login now shows me officially at being at lock up!! It sounds kinda silly but I just love seeing that little progress thermometer going up and up as the dates get put into the system! Also just seeing the official dates in there makes it all a bit more real too :D YaY!!

I'm locked out!!

I'm locked out!! YaY!!! (and boooooooo!) Well I wasn't when I went to visit before, but the tradie was in the process of putting the doors on so I would be by now! I can't say I'm looking forward to the massive 35% invoice payment either, but ahh well!

I also have a bath tub frame, someone attacked my frame with a planer or something to level out the walls and padded out other bits and the building inspector attacked with the pink spray can!
They've also started removing some bricks to move the front wooden beam part of my garage forward to make the front of my garage square/straight/level/something!

I have pictures but they will have to wait as I don't have the time to upload them today.

I was talking to the tradie doing my doors and he said that they have 14 weeks to put the Porter Davis Access houses together, I told him I had 22.5 weeks in my contract and he just looked at me funny hehehe. So say PCI is in week 14 then that's only 6 weeks Wooohooo!! :D -happy dance-

Brickwork is completed

My brick work is completed!!! Although there is a bit of a fail :( I was there this arvo taking a look and the framers turned up and started measuring lots of things to do with the garage. I asked them what was going on and after a bit they discovered that the brickies haven't done the garage walls that well and the front left pillar will probably need to be pulled down and re-done - nothing major and it shouldn't hold anything up.

Talking to the framer he told me how great B my SS is, and how he picks up even the smallest things and makes people re-do them etc and he is the best SS at PD that he deals with! This is the second person that has told me that! :D

I was trying to organise Kevin to do my pre-plaster inspection but he can't do it so I organised to get it done through someone else but but after my conversation today with the framer I have decided not to worry about it. Everyone keeps telling me how fantastic my SS is and how he picks up on everything and gets them sorted, so I am going to put all my faith and trust in my SS and save the cash.

Photo's time!!

Chateau Lisa


Front door


Master bedroom


:)


:)


Garage and family room window


Bed2 and meals door


Bathroom and bed 2


From the rear looking forward


Bed 3 and rumpus


window sill


laundry, kitchen and meals on the blind side


Hazards of a builders dog....


Casualty :(


My house all bricked up!


Left hand side of garage, notice the number of bricks - 1 and a bit


right hand side of garage - notice the number of bricks, only 1.... the LHS pillar will most likely be pulled down and re-done

A quick update - the brickies should finish tomorrow, my aircon/heater guys are installing ducts on Monday, my walls are being straightened next week and then the plaster starts next Friday! So I'm also assuming that somewhere in there the sparky's will turn up to do their thing too.

Lock up is expected on Tuesday!

I've been trying to not post boring photo's of all my bricks until they are finished

Another moment

Sometimes I get these random moments of

OMG I AM BUILDING A HOUSE!!! MY VERY OWN HOUSE!! A HOUSE FOR ME, MY OWN PLACE. I AM GOING TO LIVE IN MY OWN PLACE FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE!!!

Wow!!

-breathes deeply-

My brickies are doing a fantastic job! I sat there watching them for about 20 minutes today and the care that they took was really nice to see. One of the guys clearly didn't have as much experience as the other as he was taking longer, but he just seemed to take so much care in how each brick was laid that it really was beautiful to watch and you can really tell with their work that they take care and do a fantastic job! I love it!

More bricks!

I didn't get out to my house yesterday but I did today and they have done quite a bit more bricking.

I am LOVING the colour of my bricks! The colour theme I used throughout the house was earthy neutral and I think that these bricks follow that well with their earthy browny clay appearance. I am so happy with them AND they don't seem to be used around my area

I'm really loving the earthy clay browny colour of the Boral Brushwood bricks!


Up close and personal


Garage


Garage and family room


Bathroom and bed 2


Bed 2


Bathroom


Bed 3 and rumpus


Bed 3, bathroom and bed 2


Bed 3


Rumpus


Waiting to be bricked