Lock up stage?

I received the invoice for the Lock up stage on Thursday. After work I went by to check on the house and this is what I saw:

Where are the doors??

Not exactly my definition of 'lock up', which according to the HIA contract is:
'the stage when a home's external wall cladding and roof covering is fixed, the flooring is laid and external doors and external windows are fixed (even if those doors or windows are only temporary)'

I emailed my builder that night and still have not received a reply. And because it is Christmas holiday time, I'm guessing that I won't be hearing from him for a while. But I still have to pay, otherwise I can get penalised.

In the meantime, after I received the invoice on Thursday afternoon, I had to move quickly to get money transferred. From mum's Ubank account to her linked NAB account and then to my account. So I called up Ubank pretending to be mum (she's so technologically illiterate it was easier for me to do it, plus the security mobile is mine), gave all the security answers and security sms. Was asked a few times if I was really her, because apparently I sound younger than the specified age. Eventually though he did put the transfer through. After I saw that the lock up stage was not quite complete I called up later that evening to see if I could delay the transfer - big mistake! They decided to block the account as they had concerns as I sounded too young. So annoying!!! To unblock it mum would have to go to Aus Post to show 100 points of ID. Then mum got an email that night to say that she would receive a letter in 4-5 working days from Ubank that she would need to bring with her to Aus Post to verify her ID and then they would have to send it back to Ubank. And as this is over Christmas time so 4-5 working days is even longer! Especially as I am meant to pay the invoice within 7 days, NOT working days. NOT HAPPY. Anyway mum called up Ubank yesterday and they were able to email the form, so she could take it to Aus Post, but now I still have to wait for Ubank to receive the letter, then organise transfer of the money which can take up to 3 working days, then transfer it from mum's NAB account to mine. Who knows how long that will take. Super annoyed and giving me extra stress. What's the point of having all the security answers and security smses if they still block the account? And it's not as if I'm transferring it to an unknown account, it's to her linked account!

Downpipes

18 December
Downpipes of DW2 upper
21 December
Downpipes of DW1 upper and most of roofing completed

Render DW1 upper floor, stair lights

Rendering of DW1 has been newly completed - not fully dry. Looks like the brickwork is nearly complete. Still some roof tiles to be done.

Aiming for lock up before Christmas...



Lighting
After looking at a lot of LED lights for my stair well, finally decided on this one from Beacon Lighting Nunawading. Warm white silver 10x10. It wasn't even at the other Beacon Lighting shops as Nunawading is apparently a franchise store, so they order in different lights. They didn't have it in stock yesterday so I've ordered 4 for now (still waiting to see if I can add another 4 to my electrical plan) But because I have to wait, I got a further 5% off, so each LED costs $75. Fairly expensive - $300 for per stairwell - but they're meant to last 'forever'. Unfortunately, couldn't find them online. They had cheaper $50 ones at Australian Lighting Clayton but they were bigger and the light wasn't as diffuse - more of a spot.

Fence
Spoke to my right side neighbour about getting the fence replaced. This side is really falling down! However they are a community centre and are planning on moving mid next year, and selling this site, so they are reluctant to pay for a new fence. The site manager said she would present it as a business case. I'll have to just wait and see. Now just need to speak to my rear neighbour.

Upstairs!

10 Dec It was unlocked again!

The stairs have been done, so I was finally able to go upstairs! Exciting!

DW2 stairs
The upstairs retreat - it's small - like everything else! Don't need 2 lights up there... The main bathroom.

The north bedrooms.

With DW1 I just stayed on the stairs. Didn't look as safe! Rendering hasn't been done and pipe work was lying around. It would not be good if I fell through!
Pipes have also been done for the bathroom, laundry and kitchen.
Yesterday they started on the render for DW1 upstairs.

Irks about my builder

2 weeks ago got a call from Mohamed who I had never spoken to saying that they had booked the fence to be put in the following week.
I was annoyed. Firstly, I was told this would be done closer to handover time. Secondly, because of that, I hadn't got another quote. Thirdly, my neighbour hadn't even signed the quote agreeing to split the cost.
I asked him why the rush. He called my site supervisor for the reason and then gave me a nothing answer. Emailed Dan, no reply (who I hadn't heard from in a month and still never replied to my email about the frame stage inspection). It was only after I emailed George that I got a reply via Monika - apparently the neighbour wanted the fence secured before Christmas.
During this time, was trying to get another quote. They were extremely slow, and they said they tried to visit the site 3 times to quote but couldn't get access, even though I had told them to call my site supervisor first. So even though they are cheaper, I'm hesitant to use them.
Anyway on the weekend, managed to finally speak to Andrew to see if he would sign the quote and found out that there wasn't any rush to get the fence completed by Christmas - after all that! This fence has caused me so much hassle! So fence will be sometime around Feb.

Another issue is that I wanted to make 3 amendments to my electrical plan - mainly to have 4 stair lights as opposed to 2. But my builder wants to charge an admin fee of $250 just to write the variation! Not happy about that, especially as I'm already paying about $300 extra for the fence. George said he would get back to me.

It's hard having decided everything early on, as this is where variation charges come in. However I guess it does help speed up the building process.

So my main complaint is the lack of communication. I hadn't heard anything for over a month, and then suddenly they tell me about this fence.

In the bigger scheme of things though, these are minor issues, hence the title of 'irks'. I've heard other horror stories, so in comparison, everything so far is going quite smoothly.

8th December
Portico brickwork of DW1 completed

Render DW2 upper floor

27th Nov

Brickwork continues - DW1 garage, side of DW1 house.
DW2 upper floor render completed.


Some wiring has been done - telephone I think?

29th Nov

Bricking DW1 front of house. Can see the wet cement of the upper brickwork.
5th Dec

Bricking other side of DW1.

Can no longer enter the property - it's locked :(