the spa...

We head to Melbourne's Pool & Spa Expo today. Just for a browse... and ended up buying a spa! It's exactly what we were after! The show price was pretty reasonable, but we managed to barter down another $500 off that price too! We didn't get the standard blue colour, instead we followed our internal colour scheme of blacks, greys etc, and went with 'Pearl Shadow' with a cedar outer.

the kitchen (3D mock up)...

A wonderfully talented person has created a 3D image of what our kitchen will look like, including the colours. There's a few design flaws... only a tiny few... like the laminex feature on the kitchen bench comes down at the sides (so bar stools fit underneath)... and there's no bulk head over the over head cupboards. Other than that, it's pretty spot on...

the lock up...

Yesterday we received our 'lock up' invoice. The biggest of all invoices! Being 35% of the total contract price. We're not actually 'officially' locked out as yet though, as the external doors haven't gone on yet... this may happen today, or it may be next week. Our 1200mm pivot door is on order from a supplier in Sydney, it should turn up soon... it'll be exciting to see it on, instead of the temp door that is currently on.

This whole experience has started to get a little stressful. We haven't felt stressed since the finance part of it all early last year. Our build so far has been quite smooth, a few little issues, but our wonderful SS has been on top of everything. I think we're at the stage now where it's only a matter of months... well weeks really until handover. We're getting anxious and just cant wait to move in.

the plaster...

...started today... and finished today!

So... today our plasterers turned up... (they were booked in to start on Monday)... about 6-7 of them piled out of a van... started our plastering... and finished our plastering!!!

However... when we were down the road (at a neighbour's house) we noticed the plasterers in our backyard... they were taking our bricks! We rushed back to the house to find them loading up their van!!! A few quick words and they were unloading them!!! The one who spoke english apologised... the others however muttered something...

We were wandering around the the outside of the site earlier that day, with a camera, so clearly they knew we were the owners, had they wanted the bricks, they had plenty of opportunity to ask! It was only shortly after we went, and headed up the road (I guess they thought we were gone for good) that they started stealing our bricks! Our SS was aware the bricks were staying for us to use after handover. After the plasterers had dumped (and broken) most of the bricks back where they took them from, we then spent the next few hours re-stacking our pallet, and then wrapping the bricks in a tarp, then tied it down with rope!!!


Sprung... plasterers stealing our bricks. I'm so glad that I always have my camera with me. Just incase things got nasty... Oh our admin has very strong views about us being onsite after hours... well, this is the exact reason we stay around the area as often as we do! Thieves!!!
Our solution to our bricks being stolen. Wrapping them in a tarp, tied up with rope (in a very tricky way)... sure, if people are desperate enough they'll undo it and get them, but surely this is a enough to deter idiots from stealing them! There's plenty of other bricks on sites all around our estate that are out in the open!
A sneak peak of the plastering job through our ensuite window.

the render...

Day 97: We organised a meeting with our SS for 8am Wednesday morning to discuss a few issues we have with the front door and the aircon and some plumbing... By the time we arrived at the house, our front door issue had been resolved! The aircon issue is still being debated between Dandy Air and Henley, and our plumbing issue had also been resolved. The bricks had been cleaned, the site had had a clean, the render started, and our painter came in to have a look. It was all go! Plaster will start next Monday (Jan 25th), cabinets hopefully a week after, looking at a possible handover date around end March!!!

the eaves...

The lining under the eaves has started to make way for the render at the front of the house.

the insulation...

The extra $1300 we spent on internal insulation was definately worth every cent. To install the stuff ourselves would have taken forever, and it's a dirty job! Apparently the guys who installed this did it on a Saturday and in 30+ degrees!!!

the arch...

Day 83: The arch on the portico is up! And it's bricked! We have a 'slight' issue with our front entry door... didn't notice much before until the portico posts were bricked... but the entry door frame is VERY far off centre. Sent an email to our admin so hopefully we'll have this re-positioned asap.

the bricking almost complete...

These photos were taken on Saturday. The brickies have almost completed the job. They only need to complete the front now, and the pillars in the portico, and the window sills around the whole house, then clean the bricks. There's one sloppy section near our ensuite that will hopefully look better after the bricks are cleaned, but there's gaps without mortar, so hopefully they do a decent touch up before they say they're finished.