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!

Eaves and Guttering....

Wednesday 30th March 2011

The eaves and guttering were added to the house today and boy what a difference it makes. My husband decided to

scare me by mentioning that the downpipe put on the house were white and not the monument we had selected. After several emails to the builder we were told that as they are aluminium they would be painted towards the end of the build instead of colourbond which comes already coloured.

 

And the roof is on....

Wednesday 23rd March 2011

Today the roof was scheduled to go on and it did - in a day! Its nice that we are so much closer to being watertight and can move onto the inside.

Tough week emotionally, with the build starting to slow down (or less noticable!). I cant imagine what my hubby is going to be like when he cant see anything going on as its all inside.

Anyway here a pic:

Bricks complete, guttering on, no roof and the heavens open.....

Thursday 17th March 2011

The upper story guttering has been fixed and the roof is scheduled to go on tomorrow, Wednesday 23rd March. However, we are not sure how likely that may be as we have had a deluge of rain over the past 4 days. Cross your fingers! Then we will be officially watertight.

Monday 21st March 2011

The bricks are now finished and the scaffolding is ready to come down. Cant wait to see what it looks like once it is all cleaned up. If you are wondering, we are rendering the front balcony in the colour Dune which is why the different bricks have been used.

And the bricking continues......

  

The front of the house has been bricked to the second storey. 

The first rows of bricks for the front balony. These are just rough bricks as the will be rendered later

The view from the alfresco area. Windows and doors are now in

 












The gas lines and water are now in for the kitchen. Really started to visualise rooms now we have walls.

Plumbing is in.

And the bricks arrive and start to be laid.......

Thursday 16th February 2011

After my last blog and our problems with "lost bricks" we are now back on track with the original bricks being delivered early last week and the first bricks laid on Thursday. After having a chat with the brick layers on Saturday we were promised a fantastic finish, as both men had been doing it for no less than 40 years each and were not a day younger than 50. Working in high 30 degree weather as well!


Anyway, this is how we look so far,

First stumbling block....

Thursday 10th February 2011

Well I am now eating my words! Our site supervisor called us on Thursday 10th February to inform us that the bricks we had chosen were not available (or given to another job) and that there would be a 4 week wait. The impact to the schedule would be significant! And also to our back balance with extra rent and interest to pay. 


We were ask to go reselect bricks but due to our colour choice PGH Espresso not offering an alternative we were left to quote for a significantly more expensive brick - PGH Blue Flash Steel. However with an extra $6k price tag we decided that we would wait.


On Monday 14th February 2011, a miracle occurred and PGH informed us that they miraculously found enough bricks to complete the house and that bricklaying would commence on Thursday 17th February. Hopefully we don't have a multi coloured house with bricks from different batches......my husband will be watching it very carefully.

The second storey, balcony and windows......

Tuesday 8th February 2011


Frame starts and goes up in four days! Really happy with our choices so far...
On Friday 11th February, our site supervisor Caine organised for us to have a walk through. Caine was not able to attend but sent Peter as his replacement. We were able take as long as we wanted to look around, and never once pushed to leave. 
I am very happy with the Eden Brae experience so far. It was fantastic to check out our view from the second storey elevation with a pond in our neighbour's property that we never knew existed (they are a farm!)

The house facade takes shape with the windows, glass highlight and balcony added.

The frame arrives.....and goes up!

Thursday 3rd February 2011


The frame arrived on the 1st February and construction of the first floor began on the 3rd. It was amazing how fast our new home was taking shape. With 40 degree days this week it was an achievement that anything was done. Cant wait till the second floor goes up to really understand what the house will look like.


Heres some early pics: