Saturday, November 22, 2008

Much overdue update



It's been a while since we posted and an update is way overdue. Fixing stage is complete, kitchen is installed (other than sink and appliances), shower bases have been installed, frame under the stairs has been boxed and plastered and we have roof and roof tiles above our alfresco and garage. Must say the front of the house looks heaps better with a garage roof! Seems to finish it off nicely. The problem with the upstairs bathroom has now been fixed with the doors back to their correct position. We are very happy with the way PD dealt with this issue.

Although we have paid for fixing, we feel some "fixing" is still outstanding. Unfortunately our plastering has left a wee bit to be desired and a significant amount of the last week has been spent trying to sand out the "blemishes" in our plaster. We met with our SS on Friday and he feels we are going to have some probs with the painting due to the poor plastering. He plans to have one coat of paint applied which will highlight the real problem areas. He can then fix these areas before coats 2 and 3 are applied. Have a look at the mess the sparkies have made this week. Seems they forgot to wire in the front light.
Our kitchen benches have been installed but have to admit we are not that keen on them as they are a bit too yellow. The quantum quartz is "Sandy" but the sample didn't look that yellow - it's funny as the colour seems to change in different lights - just like paint. We will just have to wait until all painting is complete, tiles and appliances are in before we make our final judgement. IF the colour is no good, it will have to be replaced.

Went back to the display today to have a look. It is amazing how much better the inside looks with paint, tiles and carpet! Unfortunately we found a bit of a problem with our staircase (yes again!). Refer the pictures below and see if you can pick the difference. Keep in mind we paid the extra to have the SS ballusters to the whole of the stairwell, as per display. Looks like we are going to have another fight with PD about the stairs! Which look is your favourite? We prefer the display version, especially as that is what we paid the extra for.



On the good news front, our SS feels we will be pretty close to finishing at the end of January which will be great. Can't wait to move in!

8 comments:

DeGaul said...

Hey Gang. Good to have you back.
Blast on that plastering...! I was told that Boral use Chinese plasteres not just because they are cheaper, but because they actually do a fairly good job..! Not so in your case..! At least SS has owned up and is already planning corrective measures.
Electrical re-work should be covered up no probs.
Bring on January

R&C's Brookvale 45 Home said...

G&V, thanks for the update, yes picked the difference in the stairs. I would be querying why which I am sure you are.

I am amazed at the progress you have made because you started one month before us, your bricked and they are fiting out already. We, well we have the same problem you had earlier, slow brickies. R&C

M&J said...

Hi Gang, definitely obvious about the staircase and considering you had to pay extra for it, Pd really can't argue too much about it and hopefully they do the right thing without much drama as they did with the doors.

We're getting "Sandy" for our master and guest ensuites. Hopefully will look ok... you have me worried now! Been second guessing alot of our options recently.

Petal said...

Looking really wonderful Gang ;-)
Yep, spotted the diff- and I'd be battling if you prefer what's in the display....grrr..

Interesting about your bench, Toni and I both have Ice, and we both also thought ours were quite a bit more cream coloured than the samples - I wonder if the QQ they are producing at the minute is coming out darker than normal , or something???

I was also wondering how easy it would be to change , with everything done ? (Not very, I'm thinking...!!!)

THE HOLIDAY GANG said...

DG - we did have chinese plasters and they were supposed to be good but as you said, not in this case.
SS seems great so far but we will have to swait and see if he comes thru.
R&C - Have sent an email to the administrator but am expecting some sort of cover up as we received whwn organising the ss ballusters in the first place. But we will keep our fingers crossed. Hope your brickies arrive this week.
M&J - We paid a total of $3.2K to remove the plaster wall and add ss ballustrading. For this I hope we get the entire ss ballustrading but will have to wait and see?? I am sure your sandy will be fine. It is great in the full natural light but just comes up a bit yellow in the darker spots. Will depend on the laminate you have around it.
Petal - interesting to see your QQs were also a bit creamier. Hopefully you both still like the final look.
We are hoping ours will not be quite so blah once all the paint and tiles are in. If it doesn't end up matching you are quite right, it will be huge job to fix it.

Toni said...

I don't think you should be asking us what our favourite look is, we should be asking you! If you have paid for SS staircase/balustrades as per display then this is what you should receive and you shouldn't have to fight for it.

As Petal said my "Ice' bench is not as white as the sample I have and I actually asked NT to show me a slab before I made my choice between Ice and New Diamond White - I chose Ice because it was more whiter. Anyway I'm happy with what we have as it blends in nicely with our walls. Waiting to see what happens when we get our splashback.

Will be great if you get end of Jan handover.

Anonymous said...

Hey G&V,
Looking great! Don't stress about the imperfections in the plaster. What your SS doing is good - apply the first coat and paint and that will bring all the blemishes to the surface. Our SS has done the same thing with ours. It's the best way to do it. They're pretty good at fixing all the plastering glitches. Ours are coming up just fine.

Your staircase - yes I can immediately see the difference. It's now a matter of personal choice. I'm sure PD will refund the cost of your upgrade if you decide you like the stairs "as-built".

Here's my creative visualisation:
If you are going to stain the stairs and handrails, I'm tempted to stay it will look better the way it is now. But if you are painting them, then the ss ballusters will look more striking againt the paint and will offset it nicely. A timber stain will give it a very warm feel and the ss balusters will give it more "minimalist, New York Loft" look. We have ss balusters on ours but we are painting our stairs. We didn't think it would work at all, if we stained the stairs.

Big decision - good luck.
Cheers Liana

NoShitSherlock said...

Hi Glenn & Vicki,
I am building the smaller version of the Rowland (due to start next month) and I can't tell you how difficult it was to get the staircase right. Check the details on your contract - we paid extra for ss balusters, but when I checked we actually had to pay extra again for ss POSTS! There's a difference. Our initial tender stated 'stainless steel balusters' and 'stain grade posts'. We had to get them to change it in the contract. It was very frustrating at the time because they said they couldn't provide ss posts (until I argued that they had them in the display!!) but they also couldn't supply us with an example of the 'standard' staircase so we really didn't know what we were getting..... Good luck with the rest of your journey - it must be getting exciting now!! Mandy

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