Day 142: Good Friday, Good Progress

It is nice to have a extra long weekend with Easter!!  It’s been a few days since we have seen the house in full daylight as it’s starting to get dark earlier.

We got an update from Simon during the week and he advised that we would be at lock-up completion by this weekend.  The garage truss was put up on Wednesday with the gutter and fascia being added on Thursday.  The colorbond roof for the garage is not on yet, but should be by Tuesday/Wednesday next week.

Some of the other progress made during the week included the completion of the internal plastering work, the cornices and downstairs architraves.

If all goes well we should have our internal stairs and kitchen cabinets in by the following weekend.  These are the two things Kristen has been hanging out for.

We also had a site clean.

Garage truss installed.

Site cleaned.

Looking through the front window we could see this door – looks like the front door!

C&K

Visiting Metricon Bordeaux Display

This weekend was the official opening of Metricon Bordeaux in Balwyn.  So we went and visited the display yesterday to check it out. It looks like this display replaces the older one further down the road which is now closed.  When we walked in we saw our Sales Consultant, Melissa Norden, but we couldn’t say “hi” as she was busy serving some customers.

The Bordeaux facade is very different to the existing Metricon available facades which we think would appeal to many people and is being advertised as being based on French Provincial styling.  The display was 56 squares (floor plans) and it did feel large, but not that much larger than Our Nolan 45.  The Bordeaux had a 5th bedroom but didn’t have a rumpus room downstairs which is something we would have needed.  Overall the display was nicely presented and had a nice layout.

One of the reasons for the trip to the display is that we are getting ideas for window furnishings – its hard to picture small curtain samples in isolation.  The Bordeaux was nicely decorated and we did get some good ideas for Our Nolan.  We will take a few more trips over the coming months to other displays for more window furnishing ideas as well as some outdoor ideas, in particular for the flooring of the Outdoor Room (paving or decking?).

We took lots of photos from our visit:

The Bordeaux facade

View of the side of the Bordeaux. The large glass window on the ground floor is the display office (garage?).

We took this photo from upstairs in a display home across the road.

Approaching the front door.

Welcome.  Let’s walk in…..

Entrance way

There’s a few photos we photo stitched together to get the full room into shot, starting with the next few.

Standing in the entrance way into the family, kitchen & dining room.

Standing in the corner of the family room.

Standing in the dining room corner.

Dining room.

Laundry room.

Laundry room bench.

Bedroom 4.

Shared bathroom for bedrooms 2 & 3.

Bedroom 3.

Bedroom 5 (downstairs).

Bedroom 2.

Upstairs Leisure Room.

Kristen liked this table.

Desk alcove near the upstairs leisure room.

Master bedroom. Ensuite can be seen through the double sliding doors.

Standing in the corner of the master bedroom. The room felt huge – too big for us.

Master bedroom ensuite.

Walk-in robe in the master bedroom.

Study – this was located off to the side in the master bedroom.

Outdoor room.  There are three bi-fold doors in the area, 2 of which can be seen here.  This would be nice for entertainment.

Pool off the to side of the house and outdoor room – will be nice on a hot day.

View of the outdoor area that is accessed from the Siting Room.

View of the pool from the other end.

At the end of the visit, time to sit down, relax and reflect…..

C&K

Day 135: Facade reveal

Today saw the scaffolding come down to finally reveal the Plantation facade that has been worked on over the past few weeks.  Its still not complete yet, but its taking shape.  We also saw the first signs of painting with the weatherboard cladding being painted with the colour Dulux Linseed.  We can also see that some of the first floor windows painted with Cabot’s Stain – Rich Walnut.

The Plantation facade is coming together nicely.

Here’s a zoomed in photo which show’s the weatherboard cladding colour. The render top coat which contains the colour has not been applied yet.

Gables (timber slats) on the roof also painted with Cabot’s Stain – Rich Walnut

Side on view from up the street.

Looks like the rubbish from plastering has been removed from inside the house.

C&K

Day 133: Plastering begins…

Today we met Simon on site first thing in the morning to go through the latest updates and a walkthrough of the defect fixes from our independent building inspector’s report.  When we arrived it was a busy morning on site with lots of activity:

• Carpenter fixing one of the last defects where the top flange of the SmartJoists has been notched through for the installation of the ducted vacuum system pipe.
• Brick cleaners in their protective suits cleaning the first floor bricks – they use acid and then high pressure hose to rinse.
• Scaffolding being reinforced and extended at the front to allow access to install the gables.
• Electricians and plumber fixing minor issues.
• 5 people working on putting up the plaster.

We spent about an hour with Simon walking through the house and going through the items in the report.  There were a few things we couldn’t see anymore as it was covered up, but we have asked Simon to send us the photos that were taken of the fixes.  There were a couple of items that weren’t fixed and Simon took it upon himself to rolls his sleeves up and fix them.  We are really pleased that Simon and Metricon are taking the effort and additional time to fix the defects to make sure the house is right.

In the afternoon, the carpenters were back to install the gables to the front of the roof and start on the weatherboard cladding to the rear of the house.

Ready for some photos?  Here’s what we took today.  Enjoy – we sure did 🙂

View from the street.  Facade is looking great!

Master bedroom – double cavity sliding door with opaque class that opens up into ensuite.

View of the master bedroom and the french doors that open up to the balcony.

Very pink room – this one is of the upstairs leisure. The two black items are plaster boards.

Window still to be installed in upstairs bathroom. The size of the window needs to be reduced to accommodate the roof line.  The old and incorrect window can be seen in the foreground.

Bedroom number 3.

View from the corner in the upstairs leisure area.

Scaffolding being worked on.

Latest view of the rear of the house. That’s Simon standing in the outdoor room taking a phone call.

That’s a lot of broken bricks!!

Rumpus Room – first signs of plaster!!

Plasterers working hard in the family room.

Another plasterer working in the kitchen.

Bi-fold doors – the glass has finally been put in.  These  will be nice to open up the dining and outdoor rooms.

Balcony – nice and wide.

Weatherboard cladding.

View of the side of the house.

Clean bricks!!

More clean bricks!!

Gables have been installed into the roof.

Plaster ceiling in the outdoor room.

Weatherboard cladding at the rear of the house.

Plastered room – standing in the dining room. Left is the kitchen, straight ahead is the family room and the large opening on the right is the rumpus room.

Plastered room – standing in the opposite corner in the family room. Opening to the left is the rumpus room. And straight ahead is the dining and kitchen.

Plastered room – rumpus room.

So what’s next?  Well lock-up completion is not far away, most likely just after Easter break (early April).  Which means another payment milestone.  The scaffolding will come down this coming Friday.  Next week will see the garage truss and roof installed, final coats of the render (coloured) and a site clean.

C&K

Day 131: Cladding and Rendering

Today saw some work which was very apparent.  The carpenters have been busy putting up the weatherboard cladding and the rendering to the front has started.  The facade is now really taking shape!

According to MyMetricon, the Lock-up stage is scheduled to be complete on 25 March which is only next week.  There seems to be still a bit of work to go before Lock-up is complete including putting up the garage roof truss and roofing.  And they can’t do this until they finish with the balcony, first floor cladding and render to the first floor so they remove the scaffolding which is blocking the garage roofing work.

C&K

Day 130: Brickwork complete

It’s been a while since we have provided an update.  As of today, the scaffolding is still up and it seems the bricklayers equipment have been removed from the site.

Our usual front of the house photo

The the first floor bricking was completed on Wednesday (13 March).  We think (???) this completes the brickwork part of the lock-up stage.  There were a few bricks left over which we will want to keep, but will probably not enough to do anything significant with.  One of the next things to be done is to clean the bricks.

Some of the nice brickwork. We love the colour. Bricks will need to be cleaned.

We have noticed the eaves have been installed but not sure if they are complete (???).

Closeup of the eaves at the front of the house.

The carpenters have been back to work on the pre-plaster defects and the balcony.  The cladding (Scyon™ Linea™ weatherboard) has been delivered and it looks like the carpenters will be putting these up in the coming days to the front and rear of the house.  The metal capping has been installed on the balcony in preparation for the weatherboard cladding.

Balcony is starting to come together.

Metal capping on bricks ready for cladding.

Below: We went through the house and marked up on the frame (which you can see in blue in the photo) and on the plans where we would like towel rails and toilet roll holders.  Our site manager, Simon, got the carpenters to put in some noggings for the towel rails and toilet roll holders which was great based on our markings.

One of several noggings throughout the bathrooms and toilets – this one is for toilet roll holder.

We have been really pleased with the work our Site Manager, Simon, has been doing.  Simon has been fairly prompt with replies and has worked with us to find solutions to any issues that have arisen and has been following up with the quality issues and defects which has been great.  We might have to nominate him for best site manager award (if there is one). 🙂  We are hoping to get a walkthrough in the coming week with Simon once all the pre-plaster defects have been fixed and before the plaster goes in.

We are also waiting on Telstra to provide a quote/solution to the Telstra phone pit on the nature strip – it is currently where we will need to locate the driveway and the new crossover.

Below: We have noticed the following signage put up on our fence.  Looks like Metricon is getting in as much advertising as possible.

C&K

Day 118: Scaffolding installed for first floor bricking

Its been 11 days since since our last progress update with photos.  Some of the progress over the past week includes:

• Installation of the insulation batts
• Completion of the electrical and plumbing rough-in
• Defect fixing from the Independent Pre-Plaster Inspection and Metricon’s own Q&A (we are still waiting for a walkthrough of the fixes before the plaster goes in)
• Completion of the ground floor bricking
• Delivery of the plaster and cornice material

Today saw the scaffolding installed so the brick layers can continue with the first floor bricking.

Over the weekend we met our new neighbors who recently bought the property across the road.  We found out they are doing a knock down and rebuild too – they are planning to build a single story Porter Davis.  Looks like we have started a trend on our street 🙂

C&K

Scaffolding near the garage