Day 275: Our Nolan is now “Our” Nolan!!!!

We have keys!!!!   Today was handover day.  It was very exciting to finally take the keys after 275 days of build time.

Last week has been very busy as we organised home insurance, final milestone payment, organising trucks for the move and calling in familiy and friends to help with the move.  We have also been busy finalising our LED downlight selection.

This morning I ordered 3 cubic metres of crushed rock so we can avoid walking and driving on mud that is currently our front yard.

New Home Inspections did a re-inspection of the pre-handover defects today just prior to our handover with Simon.  There’s were still a few things that need to be fixed and Simon will be following these up next week.

Curtains will go in tomorrow and Monday and the next 3 main activities for us are:

• Move house
• Finalise quote and book in a landscaper
• Book in electrician to install LED downlights

C&K

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

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

Day 218: Carpets are in, Flooring Complete

Yesterday saw the remaining of the Timber Floor completed – took 2 days in total to complete.  And yesterday the carpet also went in.  Looks like the flooring is complete, except for a few edgings between the timber floor, tiles and carpet.  We are glad the grey concrete which we have been staring at for the last 218 days is now gone.  The whole house has that new carpet smell.

 

Siting Room

Upstairs landing area

Master Bedroom

C&K

Day 215: Timber floors goes in

Today saw the start of the timber floorboards installation.  We upgraded the laminated floors included in our promotion to Timber Floors – Boral Blackbutt.

The locations of the timber floor includes Entry (through to Kitchen), Kitchen, Walk-in Pantry, Family room, Dining room and storage under the stairs.  The timber floors are installed over a high density foam, moisture resistant underlay.

Note – if flooring is included in your purchase as part of a promotion, you should check to see if this includes the storage area under the stairs.  Normally this area is NOT included and you will need to add it in.  Otherwise when you open the door to under the stairs you will just have concrete which we didn’t think it would look too nice.

The timber floors really start to transform the look and feel of the rooms – it really brightens up the space compared to the dull concrete.

There are a still a few fit off and painting activities to go and we were worried about the floor being damaged.  However, looking through the contract we found that there is a “Protective sheeting will be laid over the completed timber floor to provide protection against accidental damage during the final stages of construction. The protective sheeting becomes the responsibility of the client after handover.” This protective sheeting will also be handy when we move our possessions into the house.

Timber floors in the dining area

Timber floors in the WIP

Timber floors in the kitchen

View of the timber floors around the kitchen area

The last week has also seen part of the glass splashback installed in the kitchen.  The colour of the splashback took a bit of time for us to warm to – at first we thought it may have been too dark, but over time we think it does go well with the Cesarstone bench.

Glass splashback and ceasar stone bench top

The tiler has been back to tile around the glass backing boards in the powder room, bathroom and ensuite.

Tiling around mirror – Powder Room

Tiling around mirror – Bathroom

Tiling around mirror – Ensuite

The shower in the ensuite had an extra row of tiles added as the glass frame is higher.

Ensuite Shower

We are looking forward to seeing the remainder of the timber floors installed this week.

C&K

Day 212 – Latest review of progress – Electrical Fitoffs

Its been awhile since we have provided an update on the house.  This week Kristen met our Site Manager, Simon, on site for some plantation shutter measurements and to get an update on progress.  Things have been progressing well and looks like we can finally say we will have handover NEXT MONTH !!!  (assuming things keep going well).

Last time we saw a lot of the plumbing happening.  This time around we have seen a lot of the electrical fitoffs being done.  Many of the powerpoints, tv aerials and data points have been installed.  All the light fittings have been done including the light bulbs.

Many of the door handles have started to appear and the robes now have mirrored doors installed and fitted out with rails.  Also the windows have been cleaned and the fly screens have been installed.

We have lights!

We are looking forward to replacing the light fittings with LED downlights and last weekend we have started to visit some lighting stores – we will need to purchase around 84.  That’s a lot of downlights!

Kitchen

Sitting Room – Kristen loves the feature wall!

During the electrical appointment we weren’t sure if we should got with 2 or 3 stair lights.  In the end we went with 2 and we are more than happy with our decision.

Stair lights

Light up the stairwells

Mirrored doors for the robes – these were part of a promotion

In the master bedroom we elected to have a set of double rails – one on each end of the WIR

All our thrones (toilets) look like this

Family room electrical fitoff – ready for some serious entertaining. 2 Tv aerials, 3 data points (CAT 6), quad powerpoint and a conduit for the TV cables

Door handle

A few things that still need following up:

• A powerpoint in the kitchen needs to be relocated due to it being in the way of the glass splashback.
• Water not draining properly along one side of the house
• Brick mortar need fixing near kitchen (brick cleaners blasted some of the mortar out)
• Laundry splashback still needs to be completed – looks like not enough tiles were ordered.
• Pillars need to be re-rendered
• Gables need fixing as it was not installed properly
• Some replaster and plaster fixes

It’s really great to see things progressing well.  Floors should start sometime next week.

C&K

Day 199: UFOs and Window Dressings

Most of this week has been internal work.  The plumbers have been busy fitting the showerheads, taps, toilets, bathtubs and basins.  The bathrooms are now slowly looking more and more complete.

Master Ensuite

Shower head in the Master Ensuite

Kitchen sink and tap

Bathtub in upstairs bathroom

Nice looking tiled shower base

The electricians have also been busy fitting off the light switches, ceiling light battens, powerpoints, exhaust fans and smoke detectors.  We added a lot of additional light points throughout the house for future downlights, and as a result the ceiling is littered with numerous Unsightly Fixed Objects (UFOs), also known as Conical Shades that comes standard with each light batten fitting.

Conical Shade and light batten

These will look much better when we replace them with downlights.

Ceiling full of Conical Shades

Quadruple powerpoint and tv point

It’s been great to see the fit offs progressing well.

We have been spending a bit of our time looking at curtains the past few weeks and today we went to Dollar Curtains in Doncaster to finalise our selections.  They will take 6-8 weeks to produce which is why we wanted to order them now – they should be ready around the same time we get the handover from Metricon.  We have been pleased with curtains and prices from Dollar Curtains in the past.  The folks at Dollar Curtains, in particular Robyn were great – they were very friendly, helpful and thorough.

Dollar Curtains, 1002 Doncaster Rd, East Doncaster, VIC

C&K

Day 196: Fit offs commenced

Monday saw the start of the plumbing fit offs including toilets, taps, bathtubs and basins.

The electricians have also been around to do some of the electrical fit offs.  Due to structural elements of the house we have had to shift a couple of the powerpoints to another location.

Tiling is almost complete – the laundry splashback is the only remaining tiling yet to be completed.

The majority of the painting is done – the painters will be back towards the end to do the touchups.

C&K