Settlement and Moving Day!

26th August 2011

Well as promised settlement day arrived and what a traumatic time. If ever you are building this will be the worst week of the entire process. Our site supervisor invited us for a final inspection on the day of settlement and our bank final payment was touch and go to whether it would make it.

Upon inspection we were very unhappy with some of the finishes and demanded that they be rectified immediately after our move in. We had these things documented and Eden Brae did not fail to deliver. Most if not all were rectified immediately.

One word of caution, when they give you your house don't expect it to be clean. It was not specified in our contract that they provide a "builders clean only". This pretty much means the bathrooms are cleaned of grout and the windows are cleaned. We spent the whole weekend scrubbing wall and floors.

Another thing they don't tell you in that the tiles on the floor are nearly impossible to clean. They have a milky film on them that no elbow grease can remove. Eventually straight white vinegar got it off.

The organised a kitchen splash bank and window coverings ourselves and these were installed after handover.

Anyway, with the process now complete and the landscaping started we are nearly finished the building journey. Would I do it again.....probably not!

Here's pictures of the final product:

We have a handover date!

The 26th August 2011 has been nominated as the handover date of our new home. Yeah!

After watching the house stand their for weeks with not a thing being done to it, I cant imagine that it will ever be finished within 2 weeks (till our final walk through with the builder). It is expected that the following will be finished:

• floor tiles laid
• toilets installed
• shower screens installed
• driveway completed
• rendering finished and painted
• skirting to be completed and painted
• paint touchups

and thats just the things that I have noticed.

Carpet and appliances will be added after our inspection to prevent damage and theft.

We are now busily organising our removal . Lucky we are only moving 8 minutes drive from our rental accommodation that moving will not be as dramatic as it usually is.

Fingers crossed all goes to plan.....

Kitchen benchtops, splashbacks, painting and fitout...

Thursday 21st July 2011

The benchtops went on today and we are very happy with the result. We decided on an all white kitchen with a gunmetal grey glass splashback. We decided to source our own splashback when the kitchen company came back with a figure way to close to $3000. We ended up finding someone on our own for 1/2 the price!

 

The front doors have been stained and the staircase will soon follow. Very happy with the colour palette we have chosen. The house is now about 4 weeks from handover. Hopefully!

 

Kitchen, two bathrooms and fully painted.....

Wednesday 22nd June 2011

Massive week this week with the kitchen being installed and the 2 bathrooms fully decked out and tiled. The house has turned from a shell to a home. 

The kitchen was installed without issues but unfortunately the bathrooms have not as been as easy. Firstly the incorrect sink was installed, 2 benches and two sinks later we are now very happy with the result. Next day the feature tiles we have chosen for the shower niche were laid the wrong direction leaving ugly half cut tiles. The next thing to be followed up with the builder. I am quite amazed and happy that Eden Brae have so far fixed every problem we have had with no fuss.......

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We paid for tiling to the ceiling and extremely happy with the result. See pics below

By Saturday of this week, our house had received its first coat of paint with an army of painters finishing it in one day. Again very happy with the colour choice. This part of building is the most rewarding stage where all your selections come together and you pray that they look ok. 


We have been told by our site supervisor that the house should be finished by mid August......the speed this is going I definitely think we will make it. 

Airconditioning, electrical, gyprock, stairs and doors......

Friday 27th May 2011

With gyprocking scheduled to start next week, the rush to get the air conditioning pipes and electrical in and checked off was in full force. My husband and site supervisor spent today checking every powerpoint and light switch was in the right place. My husband also spent most of a very wet Saturday laying data cable. What boys will do for their TV / electrical plans...... Note to anyone ever doing this - take a friend!


Monday 30th May 2011

Well today was to be the start of the next faze of the house construction, the inside was to begin. This was until a weeks worth of rain put a stop to that. It wasn't till the 7th June that gyprocking started and up in two days. Wow what a difference! Instantly feels like a home.

Friday 3rd June 2011

To our amazement, we arrived on site to catch the stairs being installed. We had chosen to upgrade our staircase and balustrade to the Eden Brae timber open tread staircase and so glad we did. Even without staining or railing it looks fantastic. The stairs will be stained a rich walnut and will match the front doors. 

Wednesday 15th June 2011
After another week of torrential rain the doors finally go on and the house is now fully locked up. Even though this now keeps us out! Was a bit concerned our nice new doors might go walkabouts over a long weekend.  
The front doors are made of timber and will be stained a rich walnut colour. Inserts are frosted glass and they will have long vertical door handles on both doors. Very happy with our choice.
After 2 years of dreaming, our new home has finally come to fruition.

Bottom storey roof and guttering on....

Thursday 12th May 2011

Nearly a month of no work on our house and the wettest April in 127 years, the bottom storey roof and guttering has now been completed. The outside is now nearly finished apart from a few doors. We have had confirmation from our site supervisor that we will be at lockup by the end of the week. It actually feels like we are now getting somewhere!

Render still has not been fixed.... we will keep onto them......

So here's a pic of the nearly finished front of our Eden Brae Entertainer

Bricks cleaned and render begins.......

Tuesday 12th April 2011

Today the bricks were cleaned but to our  horror, the renderer turned up on the same day as the brick cleaner. After completing a very bodgy rendering job, the renderer left. The finish was awful and a call was made to the builder to request it to be redone.

On further talks with Eden Brae we discovered that they were building a completely different balcony to the one we wanted and therefore the render was rough as they were going to just tile over it. Thank god we stopped and checked. Eden Brae has since told us that they will rectify the balcony to the one chosen and render will be fixed.

Here's pics of what we mean. You can see bricks under some parts where the render is too thin and other spots no render at all. Very crappy finish for something we paid extra for!