Day 261: Final (Pre-Handover) Inspection

We originally had booked in for the final pre-handover inspection on Wednesday, but Metricon had to move it to today (Friday) as they wanted to get more painting fixes done before presenting to us.

It was busy at the house when we arrived with Simon, our Site Manager going over things with one of Metricon’s QA guys (Mick).  Theo from New Home Inspections (who was doing our independent inspection) was also there, and a few tradies doing maintenance works such as putting locks on doors.

Its been a few weeks since we have been inside the house and it was very exciting to see that we are so close to finishing. Having an independent inspector was good as he would pick up any structural or building regulation issues which we would not know about.  Theo did pick up a few items, one of the major ones was the surface finish and cracks in the garage which will need to be topped up with more cement concrete.

Armed with a box of red dots, we went through the house with Simon inspecting the finishes.  Anywhere we found a fault (eg paint blemish, cracks, holes, damage etc) we put a red dot so they can be fixed prior to PCI (Practical Completion Inspection). Metricon will have a combined list of defects from their QA person, New Home Inspections Report and our list of defects to fix next week.

It was good to see Simon pick up a few issues as well as it shows he wants us to have a quality house.  Some of the defects we found included:

• Scratches in floorboard (hopefully these can be fixed up well).
• Damaged fly wire screens.
• Front door lock mechanism needed adjusting.
• Light switch not working
• Power switch plate had a white plate when it should have been a metal/chrome plate.
• Scratch in powder room mirror.

Early next week will also see the final electrical items go in, including all the kitchen appliances, hot water system, outdoor fan and ducted vacuum.

Here’s a few photos we took today:

Our pretty house!!

Pillar lights

Pillar Lights from another angle

Today was the first time we saw the stain on the stairs which has definitely finished off the stairs quite well.

Stained stairs

Close up of stairs

View of the stairs from above

View of stairs from leisure room.

Bi-fold doors complete with door handle

Close up of door handle on bi-fold

Laundry splash back

Laundry splash back

Lock and handle on sliding door to powder room

Study ‘feature’ door now complete with handle

Balcony complete with wire balustrades

Some of the dots throughout the house indicating a defect

Aircon unit

Speaking with Simon, we are his last house in the Northern Suburbs.  Due to some changes at Metricon he is now working out in the East (around the Wantirna area).  Whoever has him now will be in good hands.

We also got the final invoice from Metricon’s office today.

We need to start packing soon….

C&K

Day 253: Full frontal exposure

The scaffolding has come down and we can finally see our beautiful house from the street in full frontal.  Doesn’t it look pretty. 🙂

View of Our Nolan Plantation Facade from the street

Close up of Balcony

The gables are now how they should be.  When they were first installed there was no recess.

Gables

C&K

Day 252: Final Inspection Next Week

We got a phone call from Simon to give us an update since last Monday and to say we will be ready next Wednesday 24th at 8am to do a final inspection!!!  It’s getting very close to the end now as the final touches are being applied to the house.

We will organise our independent inspection with New Home Inspections to perform an inspection at the same time as us.  That way we can provide Metricon with a combined list of items to fix prior to handover.

Earlier this week, work on replacing the RHS paling fence started.  This should be completed later in the week.

We are awaiting quotes for landscaping so we can line this up straight after handover.

Next on the list is to start getting quotes for house insurance.

 

C&K

New Nolan Facades by Metricon

A recent visit to the Nolan on Metricon’s website has  uncovered several new facades – Verve, Provincial and Alessi.  We like the Verve – modern, contemporary and fresh and looks like it has a reasonable balcony.

The Provincial facade is has some aspects of the Bordeaux feel which will appeal to people living in an area with some older style homes.

One thing we would like to see added to Metricon’s Lookbook is a list of available displays with different facades to make it easy to locate a particular facade to visit.

Nolan Verve Facade

Nolan Provincial Facade

Nolan Alessi Facade

C&K

Day 243: Updated Landscape Design

Today we got the updated landscape design from Ben which we love!!

Landscape Design v3. Copyright @ Daviscapes.

And here are some of the perspectives of the landscape.  The first one is the front yard and the next three are the backyard – the last one a view from the covered alfresco area looking towards the rear.

C&K

Day 241: Landscape Design

Today we met Ben (good bloke and very friendly) from Daviscapes on site to discuss the landscape design.

We really like the general layout of the latest version of the plans.  Ben has approached the landscaping from a holistic point of view, giving thought and consideration into the way the garden will flow, the various textures being used and elements that will capture the eye from various points of the house.  He has also incorporated our functional needs – for example incorporation of trampoline.

Doing a landscape design has really helped us visualise and get a feel for what the lanscaping will look like.  It is hard to imagine the backyard given we have a bit of slope, but Ben was able to show us a ‘walkthrough’ of the landscape on his laptop which really helped.

There’s a few changes/tweaks to be made to the design but the whole layout is something we can work with.  We should get the next version of the design and a quote for the construction next week – which we are really looking forward to considering we should be getting a handover from Metricon later this month.

Landscape Plans v2. Copyright @ Daviscapes.

C&K

Day 236: On the home straight

We have been advised by Simon that we are looking at a handover sometime this month.  Woo Hoo!!  The final straight.

The last 2 weeks has seen various final touches being worked on – there hasn’t been a lot of obvious change but its all this little bits and pieces coming together. The security fence around the front of the house is now taken down and we can get a full view of the front of the house.  The scaffolding has been put up again so the gables in the roof can be fixed up.

Parts of the colorbond roof near the rear have been replaced due to some damage caused by contractors when they have been working on the roof.

The RHS glass splash back in the kitchen has been installed – we are becoming more use to the colour and actually quite like it now.

The mirrors in the bathrooms have been installed – which has made a major impact to overall feel and look to the bathrooms.

Powder room vanity with mirror

Master bedroom ensuite vanity with mirror

The glass shower screen (frameless) in the master ensuite has been installed.

Frameless showerscreen

We have also found a bunch of items that needed attention and forwarded them to Simon.  He has been good in asking for us to let him know of anything we pick up so he can fix them.

Due to a supply issue, our appliances that were part of our contract (and part of the promotion we had) are no longer available.  The Zampetti appliances are now replaced with Technika equivalents:

• Technika GHE09TDSS-4 DUAL FUEL COOKER 900MM
• Technika FHEE22A9S BOX Rangehood
• Technika WD904SS & TT904 Microwave
• Technika TDX6SS-3 Dishwasher

For amusement, here is a photo of a door stop that we found installed which seemed rather pointless.

Door stop that doesn’t stop the door

We have received a first draft of our landscape design from Ben at Daviscapes which we were impressed by but will tweaking to be more functional for our needs.  We have provided some feedback and look forward to the updated design.

We are also having some issues negotiating the replacement fence with one of our neighbours.  We hope to book in a fencer in a weeks time.

C&K