Letterbox completed, cabinetry started!

I went by yesterday and saw that my letterbox has been built!
I went inside and was surprised to see that the cabinetry had been done in Dw2.

The kitchen looks so good!Kitchen pantryMain bathroomMasterbedroom ensuiteLaundry
Floorboards of Dw1 has been done. View from garage into Dw1.
But what did I receive today? The fixing invoice!

I know that this is definitely premature as I went by yesterday. Dw1 doors hadn't been hung, skirting, architraves and cabinetry hadn't been done.

Internal doors, skirting board and architraves, rendering

After a 4 day break in Adelaide came back to find that they had started on:

Internal doors (stacked on the left), skirting boards (on the ground) and architraves Dw2
Timber floorboards Dw1
Preparing for the internal doors of Dw1. 2340mm high Hume doors for ground floor, 2040 for upper floor.
Rendering of Dw1 portico and around DW2 garage.

Decks

My lovely Merbeau decks have been completed! They look really nice! It turns a rich colour when it's wet.

Dw1 deck Dw2 deck
The timber flooring of DW2 has been completed. I like how the decks continue the colour on the outside.
Plaster of DW1 had been done. Plastering now complete.

They've put gravel on the driveway - so that it's not so muddy?
Fences

Finally got my fence quotes signed off. This was again something that was adding stress as I needed to get it done soon before the landscaping - shouldn't have left it to the last minute.
My rear neighbour agreed to split the cost of the fence. Initially when I spoke to him he didn't think it needed replacing, which it definitely did, as you can see in the photo. But then he changed his mind as long as it had lattice. Dw2 is raised so it looks into his backyard which he didn't like. It also took a while because the fence companies took ages to get the quotes to me. The fencer George uses wasn't getting in contact with me, so I was going to go with another company and smsed him to let him know that. He quickly replied to me to say he'd been in a car crash.. okay.. and that was why he couldn't get back to me but would ring me later tonight. I was quite unsympathetic, but nicely replied that I hoped he was alright, but I was annoyed that he didn't just ring me straight away - he'd had time to message, why not ring?! Anyway, he finally called a couple of hours later, no mention of the car crash, only that he'd had a hectic day. He said he could match the cheaper quote I had, so I decided to go with him as he'd done a lot of work with my builder and would be able to liaise easily with him. Feel a bit bad about not going with the other quote, although they wouldn't be able to do it for 3-4 weeks, and I wanted it done earlier.

Subdivision - Council approval

Finally received approval from council for my subdivision - with conditions. It will only be approved once the development is completed, which means I can't subdivide until after I've finished. More delays! So after it's finished I need to wait for the lawyer to do the paperwork, then wait for the Land Titles Office, blah blah... don't really know the process, except that it will take a while. Which then impacts on when I can split my loans and claim my FHOG. Annoying.

Flooring

Did my weekly check up, and was surprised to see that the flooring had commenced.

Sydney Blue Gum floorboards.

All the plaster in DW2 has been completed.

Insulation has been installed into DW1 and plastering commenced.

Cornices

Cornices have been put in DW2.

Boral Sydney Cove 'feature' cornices to the entrance, kitchen, lounge and dining areas.Scotia 'boring' cornices to the balance.
Laundry switch plate has been fixed. Hopefully it hasn't compromised the integrity of the frame when they cut off part of it to feed the cables through (another thing I worry about!).

Lights

I finally bought the lights for the balance of the house - living, dining, bedrooms, bathrooms, laundry, walk in wardrobe - 25 in total.

And after months of looking, what did I come up with???

These BORING lights.
Lucci 'Gail' Satin Nickel Finish with Opal Frosted Glass. Originally bought 7 for $15.95 from Beacon Lighting Chadstone then went to Springvale to see if they had more, and managed to get them for a cheaper price of $15 for 18. (I already bought the 'Kate' ones for the landing and overhead stair lights for $16.95)
This whole process has made me realise how indecisive I am! Also how anal I am. Find it so annoying that I don't have full control because of my lack of knowledge.

Brain explosion

Have so many things to do:

1. Book flights - Adelaide, Cebu
2. Renew passport
3. Service car
4. Get fence quote
5. Get fence quotes signed by neighbour
6. Organise fences to be done
7. Pick glass splashback
8. Deliver the rest of my lights.
9. Decide about landscape.
10. Follow up with Dale about the laundry switch plate.
11. Check with Westpac if someone else can make my final payment.

Plastering

On the weekend went to check out the house. Plastering has started on DW2. Master bedroom ensuite is quite dark... hopefully it's okay with the 1 batten light (now I'm not sure if I should have deleted the second one.)

Lounge areaKitchen and diningFor some reason they use blue plasterboard for the wet areas - more water resistant?Also the concrete porches have been poured.And gravel put on the driveway so that it's not so muddy.
Strong winds blew the neighbour's tree down on Sunday which brought down the power line so they had no electricity. Yesterday I was driving past to check out the laundry electricals and I saw my neighbour suspiciously putting leads over my fence. As I drove in, he kind of went away, so I went to have a look at the house. I heard my name being called and I went out and I was a bit taken aback because he was on my property. He then asked if he could use my power source until they fixed the power on his side. SO... that's what he was doing! Didn't really feel as if I had any choice but to say yes, so I let him plug it in. He would otherwise have climbed the fence... dodgy! But today I noticed it had been fixed so he is no longer skimming my electricity!

Electrical work

As mentioned previously, electrical has been done. This included the powerpoints (GPO), light switches, light cables, telephone cables, t.v points.

GPO, Telephone, T.v pointElectrical for DW2 kitchen

Lessons learnt:
- DW2 upstairs bathroom can't have the GPO on the vanity where I want it :( - regulation is that it need to be 1m away from the bathtub, I guess so you can't get electrocuted!
- Powerpoints can't be put where sliding doors are (I guess that makes sense)
- Rather than drill through the brick of the garage, cables are run from the ceiling down, and enclosed in this grey tube.- I thought these were accidental nicks in the electrical cables, but learnt that they were intentional and indicated the position there were meant to be on the switch plate.

Thing that will bug me about my electrical plan:
- Not putting a GPO near DW1 kitchen bench. I put 2 on the back wall, but really should have put another one near the long bench for things like mixing bowls, toaster or telephone. I'm still not sure about the position of DW1 phone and whether I should have left it in the original place near the kitchen bench...

Also I've just noticed that the laundry switch plate is in the wrong position (green arrow). It's on the opposite wall to the entrance from the dining room which is impractical as you need to enter the dark room to the other side to turn on the light. I know the laundry isn't very big, but if it can be changed now, I may as well change it. Waiting to hear back from Dale

Feeling calmer

Am now more reassured:

Went by on Monday to let Dale know about the noggins and stair light position. He wasn't there so I relayed the message on to the concretor.
Met Dale Wednesday morning who asked that I tell him directly as the contractors are too busy doing their job. Have rechecked the things on the building inspection report and the changes have been done :)



Also things that Dale had said were true. A concern Kevin had was that a steel beam near DW1 sliding doors didn't have bolts in it. Dale said it had been bolted from the side, which Kevin couldn't check as it had already been bricked. I looked in my past photos and saw that it had been done.

I've met some of the tradies. Know they have done work for George for a while.