Glenn & Vicki's Rowland 41

Almost Finished

2010-09-22T20:55:00.002+10:00

The Pool

2010-08-31T22:48:00.003+10:00

More Pictures and Plants to follow.

Time For An Update.

2009-11-09T22:24:00.002+11:00

It has been a long time between posts.
We have settled in to our beautiful house, but there is always something more to do. Our theatre room is up and running with an X10 D.L.P projector and the most comfortable couch in the universe.
Recently we have tiled the Alfresco area, installed a hot tub and cafe blinds. This has made this area extremely usable in any weather.
The front yard is finished and the back is well on its way.

PCI

2009-02-18T21:59:00.005+11:00

Well we are at the very exciting stage now. We had our PCI last week and were very impressed with how our PD SS handled the inspection, he agreed to pretty much all our requests. We had our independent inspector there at the same time as well and the SS handled that quite well too. Although I am sure the SS would have been happier without the inspector there. Our wonderful inspector - Andrew Forrester of Armaggedon Property Inspections (plug plug!!) - assured us that in his opinion the house was very well constructed, apart from some plaster issues. I can't say how pleasing that was to hear. It appears our money has been well spent after all!

It was a bit of a marathon effort though and we were there for over four hours going thru the issues. We had a very comprehensive list ourselves which helped ensure we didn't miss any of the little things. Most of our problems focused around the poor plaster but our SS has ensured us it will all be fixed by our handover tomorrow!
The other issues outstanding included
- painting
- crooked doorway arch
- crooked mirror
- broken door handle
- crooked power point
- very poor finish on all the grouting edges to showers and laundry tiles
- poor finish to the woodwork around the foyer
- broken base to front door
- unstable SS ballusters (some needed to be replaced with longer ballusters and needed to be glued in). Have to say our SS picked this up himself, we didn't even notice - thanks N
- very poor plaster to roof of foyer void - SS suggested we live with this for a while and he will come back at 3mth review and fix ALL of it. (..and yes, we believe he will come back)
...and a few other minor issues.

..and yes, by the time we finished the house did have the multicoloured measles! Pink for plaster, green for paint.

In the last week we have also had the fencing completed by Mick Anthony who has done a terrific job. Great price, great workmanship and prompt service.

We have also organised the window furnishings which will be installed on Monday. At this point we would have to thoroughly recommend Interlux Designs in Berwick. They are so helpful and professional with great supportive ideas and a very prompt service. We had the measure on Monday and they are going to fit a week later! You couldn't ask for more.

Carpets are booked for Friday and Saturday (Glendale Carpets Hallam) and antenna for tomorrow afternoon (All Aussie Antennas). There seriously is SO much to organise!

And finally, just to make things interesting we had a bit of a stress out today when the bank incorrectly posted our final cheque in the mail instead of letting us pick it up today at the bank. After a quick check of the mail box by our dear neighbour, we realised there was no cheque in sight! Of course it was then back to the bank for both of us with our grumpy faces on. After first being told we could get a replacement cheque in, wait for it, 10 DAYS!!! common sense prevailed and we were given a replacement cheque. You really don't need that the day before settlement. Our advice is to make sure you organise your final cheque two weeks before handover. We left 9 days but this obviously was not enough time!!

So it is one more sleep and dream home here we come. It seems to have been a very long wait and we are so glad it is coming to an end.

Will post some pics tomorrow when it is officially ours!

Certificate of Occupancy

2009-02-06T17:00:00.006+11:00

Had a call from our administrator on Friday to let us know we have the certificate of occupancy. Yippee! Will take this to the Bank together with Insurance notice so we can organise final bank cheque for PD.

We went by the house on Friday and found it was left open, again. This will be no surprise to those who are building, the tradies just don't seem to care if they leave the houses unlocked do they? At least it enabled us to get inside and have a look again. We were able to note the electrical fit off is now complete and the lights all work. It was very exciting going around and turning on all the lights. We have already noted a couple of silly light switch placements! We will do better next time (did I just say next time? I must be mad). Couldn't understand though why some of the downlights gave off yellow light and some white light. Regardless of the colour, they all seem very dull and do not light up nearly as well as we expected??? Will have to look into this as I suspect the globes are low quality.

Have included a couple of pics of the bathrooms below

The Brady Bunch bathroom upstairs between bedroom 2 and 3.

Our ensuite bathroom.

During our look through we also noted the missing light from the upstairs study is still missing, despite notifying our SS of this a few days before the sparkies were to come back!

PD have been busy and have also installed the alfresco fan and completed all three bathrooms, including the bath connection. Remind me again why I wanted three bathrooms to clean!
I even tested that the bath was hooked up properly as my sister built with PD and had a massive flood the first time she used the bath! Pleased to report all in working order.

We have a bit of a query too regarding the door handles, they have space for four screws but PD have only used two screws and the powder room door handle is already falling off? Any ideas?

And finally, a pic of the portico tiles and render.

We have stairs!

2009-02-03T17:31:00.006+11:00

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE
AFTER

Yes folks - PD have been true to their word and have fixed our stairs. We are really happy as it makes a huge difference to the entrance and is as we had pictured it should be. The above before and after shots show the difference - and don't forget all the wood had actually been painted in off white subsequent to the "before" shots above which made the old version look even worse. Thanks PD for fixing this.

DH had a site inspection yesterday - a bit like a pre PCI with the SS. The meeting actually went for 2 hours and the SS walked away with a list as long as your arm of things to be fixed such as:

- problem with the gutters and downpipes, the SS too was somewhat surprised at how bad they were. The plumbers have let him down badly but will have to come back to fix their shoddy work!
- missing and misplaced lights

- bad plaster

- incorrect size mirror

- incorrect glass in the bathrooms

- dented window frames

- fixing roof tile gaps

- splitting alfresco door panel

...just to name a few.

Went by today to meet with driveway contractor to get a second quote and noticed they have already replaced alfresco door so good to see such a quick start.

Started packing old house and OMG what a nightmare to be doing it again so soon. I thought I had thrown out enough junk with the last move and would love to know where it has all come back from! We are trying to follow DGs advice and be ruthless when packing - maybe he could explain that to the kids?!? I am sick of the "Oh Mum, I can't possibly do without that" or "I might play with that again". Ugh!

I can feel a bourbon coming on......

Long awaited update

2009-01-30T21:38:00.005+11:00

The news is not good I'm afraid and yet not unexpected also.

PD are behind in their expected work schedule with the slow progress since the start of December continuing.

Our SS arrived back from holidays today to declare work had not progressed as he had hoped during his leave and there was no way PD could complete our home by our scheduled PCI inspection date. In addition, the heat of the this week has slowed everything down (us included I must admit) AND they are experiencing a delay in rectifying our staircase.

So despite our Administrator's very definite " We are PD and we never miss a PCI date", we have been informed our PCI date will be delayed at least a week.

Must admit, we have no problems with weather related delays and do not expect the tradies to work in such extreme heat. However, if PD had worked just that bit harder during the last 8-10weeks, all would be completed by now.

Lets hope they can stick with the new PCI date of 12.2.09 and handover on 19.2.09 or we may well be without a home as we have to move out of the rental by 26.2.09! Fingers crossed.

AS for the progress that has been made on the job during the last 4 weeks:

- downpipes have been completed in the last couple of days. Unfortunately there are a few faults that will need to be rectified. Photos to follow in next post.

- Tiling has been completed. We actually met the tiler and were able to ensure our shower tiles were layed diagonally (like we had requested). This was lucky as apparently now that the various PD depts have merged, all shower bases must be layed "horizontally" in accordance with the Prestige layout! Something for the Lifestyle people to keep in mind.

- Plaster has been added to alfresco and garage roofs but cannot be stopped until the weather drops below 35 degrees.

- Heating and cooling ducts in.

- Electricals have been fitted but some lights are in wrong spot and some are still missing. Will take this up at PCI.

- Have received final invoice from PD - of course.

- Have received driveway and fencing quotes.

- Have ordered a couple of couches.

- Have ordered the carpets.

- Site has been cleared and house has been cleaned - well sort of anyway.

And to top it all off, the rental we are staying in is now up for sale so we have to keep the house spick and span and be ready for inspections, photos, etc. etc. Gotta luv it. Hopefully next post will be better news.

We have PCI scheduled

2009-01-11T19:48:00.002+11:00

We can't believe it! We have had a call from our administrator and received the holy grail of all letters - our PCI is scheduled for 5.2.09 and handover a week later!
Have to say my DH was sceptical - there is a hell of a lot to do before then and we cannot see how PD can get it all done in time. However, when this was mentioned to our administrator she said she has never missed a date yet and handover WILL go ahead on 12.2.09.

So - OMG do we have some work to do now. I thought I might write myself a list and share it so those who have handover ahead of them can double check / add to this list. The list goes something like this...
- driveway quote (if anyone can recommend a contractor in SE Suburbs that would be great)
- finalise fencing and gates
- insurance
- curtains quote (and organise temporary paper curtains)
- notify carpet supplier of date
- gas and power connection
- telephone connection
- confirm final payment with bank
- aerial
- order couches for theatre room and lounge room
- clothesline
- obtain permit for extended crossover
- letterbox
- seal garage floor prior to moving in
- purchase paint for feature walls
- finalise list of items to check for PCI

A bit to do but all manageable.
Will let you know how things progress and whether PD meet their target. Either way, very exciting times.

Happy New Year

2009-01-07T10:16:00.005+11:00

Just a quick note to wish everyone a happy new year. Hope you have all enjoyed the break.

We had a call from our SS this week to let us know what we knew already - not much has been happening but the tiling should continue this week.

He said we are experiencing delays due to the plumbers not coming back to finalise the flashing on the garage and alfresco. Come on plumbers - come back you are holding everybody back.

Once this is done, the plasterers can then come back to finish the plaster and this then enables the electricians to come back. Once this all happens things should then move along fairly quickly - I guess we will believe it when we see it. SS says he has booked in all the fit offs but doesn't expect PCI until mid Feb09.

We visited the site the other day and found the back window was open. Of course this is bad security as we had problems with this window before with the break ins and DH had placed a piece of wood to stop this from opening. Seems someone had removed the wood. On the plus side, we were able to gain access ourselves and check some of the "progress". All painting is done and looks terrific. Very happy with our colours except for overall kitchen view. Seems all a bit dark so we may have to touch this up ourselves when we move in. Will just live with it for a bit and then make a decision.

Unfortunately the biggest disappointment is still the plaster. It really is a lousy job with problems still existing, some minor and some major. The most disappointing thing is the major ones are the same major problems pointed out by our independent inspector weeks ago. Must admit we don't understand why PD don't just rectify these issues as they arise. At this late stage, the issues raised about the frame have now become plaster issues that of course are now painting issues! Lots more work for PD to fix now?? PCI will be interesting.

The tale of the amazing administrator

2008-12-11T22:18:00.002+11:00

Once upon a time there was a little house to be in the burbs that had a nice little stockpile of tiles set aside for the summer. Then one day, the big bad tile company came and took the tiles away. The little house was devastated - "Oh no, those tiles were perfect, what am I to do now?".

The little house then had an idea! It made a wish and presto - along came the amazing administrator. The amazing administrator waved her magic wand and made those tiles reappear.

Of course, then everyone lived happily ever after (in the little house) with their perfect tiles and had nothing but happy thoughts for the magical powers of the amazing administrator.

...in other words "D" has gone above and beyond and found our missing tiles. Thanks heaps "D" you have saved the day!

Our faith has been restored

2008-12-09T20:00:00.002+11:00

Happy to report some good news. We have amicably resolved our staircase issue with PD, thanks to the efforts of "T" and thankfully some good, old fashioned common sense from all involved. Our staircase will proceed as planned and our SS has advised the alterations shouldn't hold up the build too much as he can work around them. Thanks for all your support and helpful hints with this issue. ..and thanks to PD for resolving the issue so professionally.

Slight prob with the tiles now unfortunately. We all know Urban Earth has been discontinued but our administrator had assured us she had some of the last stock put aside for our use. Unfortunately, now the time has come to lay the tiles, it seems someone has taken the last of the Urban Earth - no special little stockpile for the Gang! So we may now have to find a replacement tile. Our administrator is on the job trying to find exactly where National Tiles have lost our stock pile. Has anyone seen it?

That's all for now really - other than our SS has told us the internal scaffolding was put up today to finish off the plaster work in the foyer.

Will post some pics once we can get back in the house.

A slow couple of weeks

2008-12-07T18:08:00.003+11:00

Did Christmas start early for PD in the East? It certainly has at our place with pretty much no one on site for the last two weeks. Of course when the rat's away the mice will play and I guess it is just the fall out from our SS being away for a week.

Although we have had no tradies on site, things started moving again on Thursday when we had a site meeting with the Construction Manager to discuss the staircase issue. It was terrific that PD sent out a senior manager for us to discuss the issue with. However, we seem to have differing views on what we paid for and what we have received so far. As it stands now, "T" has taken the issues back to the office to consider and will work out where we go from here. Hopefully we will hear back from him tomorrow?

Friday saw a call from our SS with a plaster update. Unfortunately more bad news there as he is very unhappy with the standard of the stopping up. He said he spent two hours marking up all the faults. Two hours - that sounds scary. Glad he is on top of the issue and hope he can bring it up to a reasonable standard. Of course this means more delays because the painting will be at a standstill until he is happy with the plaster. On the good news front, he believes the tilers will be working over Christmas so we may make up some ground there.

We also saw someone on site yesterday and it appeared to be the plasterer? He was not due back until Tuesday - obviously wanted to make an early start.

We were able to take a couple of pics on the phone to show the painting. Ceilings are white of course and walls are Reiki....

A break in

2008-12-01T22:07:00.003+11:00

I guess it had to happen, we have had a break in late afternoon today. As far as we can put together, it happened between 6-7pm. Someone has broken in through a back window and checked out the entire house. No damage has been done but they have ripped off protective sheets from most cupboards and have had a good look through the place. Our best guess is that it is a builder coming in for a bit of a sticky. They also broke into the house next door and did much the same thing. At least nothing has been stolen or broken but they did leave all doors unlocked.

In terms of progress, because the doors were open we were able to get in ourselves and noted
- house looks like the scene from ET when they cover the house with plastic. All windows, doors and cupboards are covered up.
- first coat of paint has been applied via spraying as opposed brushing. Is this how it is done these days?
- some architraves and skirts are still missing
- staircase posts (which of course should have been SS) have been painted
- staircase base plate has been painted when it should have been stained
- many marks have been placed on the walls where the plaster is NQR

Progress has been slow again this week as our SS has taken a much needed week off to get married. Congrats N, hope all went well.

No reply on the staircase issue as yet - expecting something back by Wednesday once our administrator has a chance to chat with N.

We Have Issues.

2008-11-28T20:51:00.002+11:00

Last Friday we had a meeting with our SS. We have raised several points that need to be addressed, specifically in relation to the poor quality plaster and, dare we say it, the staircase!

And all we can say is: "Let the head butting begin". We have emailed our administrator with our issues and are awaiting a response.

There will be some very interesting discussions this week.
Stay tuned. Pictures to follow.

Much overdue update

2008-11-22T23:04:00.006+11:00

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!

Problem Solved.

2008-11-06T20:23:00.005+11:00

After a very productive meeting with our SS today we have been told that they will remove and reverse the 2 bathroom cavity sliding doors. This will solve the problem with the basin clearance and also give the opened hinged door somewhere to hide.

We couldn't of asked for more and are very happy with the cost. ($0.00)

We also have had.

The garage trusses installed.
Base coat of render.
Pantry and cupboard shelving installed.
Fixing almost complete.

A Problem

2008-10-31T19:07:00.004+11:00

Although no action on the site today - thought we would raise a problem we have found.

We happened to be looking at the PD website today, specifically the upstairs "brady bunch" bathroom and noticed our home is different to the display! This upstairs bathroom is situated between two of the bedrooms and has cavity slider doors as access points from each bedroom. The interesting thing is the door openings have been placed a door width away from where they are in the display. If you look at the pic above, the door opening to the right is supposed to be plaster, with the actual opening to the right of that.

Of course our first reaction was "the door openings are in the wrong place"! However, closer inspection of our plans shows that our doors have in fact been placed correctly according to our plans. We find it interesting that this was not pointed out to us on signing- or maybe that is expecting too much? Of course, we didn't pick it up when reviewing our plans either :(

Anyway, this change in door position not a big issue - the issue now revolves around the vanity unit in the pic - it really is too close to the door opening on the right isn't it?

On further review of our plans, we have found the vanity unit has been installed in the wrong spot! It should be further to the left in the pic.

Wonder how we go about getting that fixed?!? Has anyone else had a similar prob?

Full Speed Ahead.

2008-10-30T18:43:00.009+11:00

More action today.
Alfresco roof frame.
Vanities and basins.
Laundry Trough.
Stairs finished. (including S/S balustrades - worth all the pain)
Kitchen Started.

Lock Up

2008-10-29T18:31:00.007+11:00

After a long break from blogging we thought we would share our milestone as our house has been officially locked up.
Our lockup invoice was followed by a concerned accounts department call saying he was worried about the amount (it was the largest he had seen. He hadn't been there long.)
After we had recovered from the shock we thought we would go and see what our money had bought us.
We discovered that the scaffold was down, the brickies were finished, the plaster cornice had been finished, the stairs were being installed and the kitchen cupboards and doors had been delivered.
Starting to look like a real house now.

Our SS believes we should set ourselves up for a February hand over given the three weeks off scheduled over Xmas - but we will wait and see.
Our build tends to go in leaps and bounds and then stops for a week which can be very frustrating.

So the next couple of weeks should see the installation of the kitchen cupboards, fixing completed and the framers returning to build the roof to the garage and alfresco. ..and hopefully a site clean as the place looks like a bomb has hit it!

We have also managed to put aside a hundred plus bricks for our letter box which DH will be building.

We will try to be a bit more regular with our blogs from now on...

We have plaster

2008-10-12T21:55:00.012+11:00

After a frustrating few weeks waiting for the brickies to show up it has been full steam ahead in the past week.

Wednesday saw the return of the brickies - yeh! Since then it has been a flurry of activity with plumbing finished off, heating and cooling ducts installed, insulation installed, temporary doors installed, solar panels fitted and the plasterers doing what they do best. Very surprised to see them on site this Sunday morning and even more surprised that in one day they have completed entire downstairs area and upstairs ceiling.
Day 2 saw them finish off hanging the plaster and taping the joins.
All we needed was an interpreter to help explain that we had to install the HDMI cable in the theatre room ceiling before they hung the plaster.

We caught up with our SS during the week and despite the delay originally with the framing and more recently with the brickies we are only about a week behind his schedule.

Retreat. Insulation.

Theatre Room.
Family Room.

Day 6 Of brickwork.

Scaffold Is Up and More Wrapping

2008-09-30T22:30:00.003+10:00

Now we wait for the mysterious and illusive brickies to bless us with their presence.(they are booked for Friday.)
Now the house has been wrapped we only need the insulation installed and plumbing finished off before the plaster is installed on the 10/10/08.
Wishfull thinking?????????

The Brickies Have Landed.

2008-09-22T19:42:00.006+10:00

After a 2 week wait our brickies have finally arrived and made a start. Yeh!!!
Between a very windy start to the day and a very wet afternoon our brickies have stacked the bricks around the house and layed about 700 bricks.
On closer inspection we are very happy with the quality of their workmanship. Very straight lines, square corners and plum walls are a very positive first step to an important piece of the building puzzle.
Funny how the off white mortar looks so grey at this stage.

On the down side.... The plaster is getting wet every time it rains heavily.

Building Inspection but still no Brickies

2008-09-16T21:46:00.004+10:00

We received our building inspection report and the overall opinion is that the frame has been really well constructed which is terrific. Well done Troy. A couple of minor issues to fix but quite happy with result. It will be good if all the tradies who end up working on the house live up to the same standard.

..of course the brickies have to actually arrive before we can judge their work. Has anyone seen one lately or are they some sort of mythical creature????

We also managed to look through the electricals on the house and found a couple of errors that we will be chasing up with our Administrator. Good idea if you can check electricals to plan prior to plaster going in.

Now the weather is supposed to be good tomorrow so no excuses with the Brickie, oh and look - there go those flying pigs again. :)

No news is good news?

2008-09-12T18:17:00.003+10:00

Well they say no news is good news - so let us give you all some good news...

We have no news.

No brickies to be found, apparently they have all gone away, never to appear again.
Our CS has informed us we can now expect them on Monday, with that good old "weather permitting" clause. She has not let us down yet through the actual site construction so we will remain positive.

Our independent building inspector will be looking over the place in the next couple of days so will be interesting to see what comes up.

..and we hate to inform you all that Zoydberg too is no longer with us. There goes our theories that he was at the bottom of it all, more likely to be the latest batch of food??

Action Stations

2008-09-10T21:19:00.007+10:00

Good News.

Plenty of action this week already.
Scaffold has been removed.
Remaining first floor windows installed
Ducted vacuum installed.
Bi-fold doors installed.
Plumbing rough in finished.
Electrical rough in started.
Plaster has been delivered and stacked in the family room.

Bad news.
No brickie.
Plaster delivery men knocked down the bracing on the alfresco frame.
Not happy with the position of the 3rd bathroom's toilet. It is too close to the wall. A picture from the display house shows it to be the correct position, but you don't notice some things on display.
It is only when you see them in a practical installation that you realise it doesn't look quite right.

We Are Wrapped

2008-09-06T14:07:00.006+10:00

Well, the lower level has been wrapped. We also have had our bricks delivered.

And plumbing roughed in.

The next step is the removal of the scaffold, installation of the rest of the first floor windows and bricklaying to start.

Our house has a lid!

2008-09-04T21:34:00.006+10:00

Well good and bad news for today.

The good news is that we met with our SS this am and all seems to be on track after a few delays in frame stage due to kinks in the Rowland 41 design. We are of course the guinea pigs so our SS is working it out as he goes along! Seems like a good bloke who is very keen to build a decent home on schedule.

The bad news is that we are down from 4 hermit crabs to 1 - don't know why we lost the three within a week or so of each other. For the kids' sake, we are hoping Zoydberg is with us for the long haul!

Our house got a face lift today with the roof tiles being laid - very happy with the colour and can't wait now for the next stages. SS said plumber and sparkie will start in next couple of days but we are likely to have delays with bricky as he has two jobs to finish before he starts ours. Apparently brickies are hard to find - as DeGaul would attest to!

Some pictures attached for your viewing pleasure...

FYI - we have noticed the frosted glass in the bathrooms is the wrong type - mentioned to CSC and she got SS to chase up. Subsequently, CSC has agreed glass in wrong type but no probs, they will fix prior to end of build - can't complain about that.

Fascia and Gutters Installed.

2008-09-01T20:14:00.003+10:00

The Fascia and Gutters were installed bright and early this morning.
I had a call from our SS advising us that the tiles would be delivered on Wednesday and installed soon after.

The colour is Jasper.

Roof Trusses On.

2008-08-27T20:49:00.004+10:00

Good progress today.
Chippies installed the ground floor windows while they were waiting for the trusses to arrive.
Trusses installed. More timber to be installed before the frame inspection on Friday.

Front view less garage.

Rear view.
Alfresco roof will not be installed until after brickie has finished.

Ground floor windows installed.

Looks a bit breezy.

West side.

First floor frame.

2008-08-26T20:58:00.008+10:00

O.H & S void cover.
I think the colours might clash.
Rear bedroom view.

Looking backwards from the study.Kids Rumpus

Wood.

Trusses booked for first thing tomorrow.

Should look like a house by the weekend.

We are starting to get a feel for how big it is now.

Going Up.. First Floor

2008-08-25T20:28:00.005+10:00

Frame inspection booked for Friday.
Facia and gutters have been ordered.
Tiles booked for Monday.

Stair Void and upstairs study. Chippies about to stand up West wall.

Front view.

Ground Floor Frame Complete.

2008-08-22T19:56:00.004+10:00

The view of the lake from the upstairs study.

Rear view of the dog and alfresco.

looking forward.

The stair void and invisable s/s ballustrades.

More Bad Weather

2008-08-21T18:56:00.003+10:00

The heavens opened up today and washed our chippies away.
They did manage to put up the Alfresco frame before leaving. This is the second set of Dressed corner posts, after the original pair went missing over the weekend.
Looks like a temp fence and padlock do nothing to stop someone determined to take something they really want.

Ground Floor Walls Finished.

2008-08-19T19:54:00.009+10:00

Quick update.
Lower floor frame is complete.
Tomorrow 1st floor steel and joists.
Next day 1st floor flooring frame trusses etc.

Some pics from today.
The first full day without rain.

Front view

Looking at the rear alfresco and quad bi fold doors.

Looking from the rear corner

Frame Start.

2008-08-18T19:19:00.003+10:00

After 3 days of very bad weather the framers finally made a start erecting the frame.
While sharing a quiet drink while they packed up, the lead chippie informed me that it was a "pretty good slab".
He also confirmed that it was the first Rowland 41 built, although one Rowland 34 had been finished.
The only problem - one pipe is not quite within the stud wall and will have to be moved, but will be an easy fix.

Bad Weather Day

2008-08-14T21:18:00.004+10:00

While the framers spent a large part of the day hiding from the weather they did manage to dock all the timber to length.

The temporary fence was also installed, including a padlock. This will make it hard to have a sneaky look.

The Timber Has Arrived

2008-08-13T20:48:00.004+10:00

Now all we need are the framers to start.

Received slab invoice today of course - PD don't muck around when it comes to that!

G and V would like to announce the safe arrival of our slab.

2008-08-12T18:49:00.008+10:00

After being away for an extended weekend we arrived home late on Monday evening and discovered our slab had been layed.

This was surprising when you consider how bad the weather was on Monday and the amount of rain we had.

PD must really be under pressure to keep the work progressing but that is fine with us as long as the quality remains.

We noted today that they have already been back to tidy up and remove the rubbish - very impressive.

No doubt our first invoice will be coming shortly!

Day Four. Preparation.

2008-08-06T22:44:00.004+10:00

Today was a quiet day with the only work done being the spreading of the crushed rock in preparation for the slab and the instalation of the meter box.

Day Two and PD have come thru for us again!

2008-08-04T22:41:00.011+10:00

Visited the block again today (it's just around the corner from where we are living which makes life easy) and found a hive of activity...

First thing was the set out of the plan with blue "spray" paint. This is terrific for the three dimensionally challenged like myself because it makes it very easy to visualise where the house will be and how much room is left for the yard.

The plumbers were basically there at the same time so we now have numerous white pipes that appear to be growing out of the ground. Have to say they don't make a lot of sense to me but luckily DH used to be a plumber so was able to explain to me the sub floor plumbing and storm water drains and check it all out to see if matched up to our plans.

All in all very happy with the progress at the moment. It is interesting to note that PD have not made nearly as much mess as H3nl3y did around our block or the surrounding blocks and street. Wonder if that will continue.

..and last but not least, we have joined the elite as we now have a portaloo on the block - and yes, it is of the "Aim" variety.

..next step will be boxing and pouring of the slab. Can't wait for concrete.

Day One. The Cut.

2008-08-01T20:22:00.006+10:00

Today marks the official start to our building. PD have kept their word (thanks to the extra efforts of "D") and have delivered an August site start.
I met the contractor at the block at 7.30am and he had already scraped off the grass.
He apologised for not being there yesterday but explained that he was working out the other side of town and couldn't get back.
Anyway we are very happy to have the building process started and are now looking foward to the next stage.

Where's The Site Cut????

2008-07-31T21:53:00.003+10:00

Notice anything wrong with this picture?

Well it's the 31/7/08 and we do not have a site cut yet. I know we were a bit hopeful that it would actually happen on the planned day but you can't blame us for trying to be positive. Emailed administrator today who confirmed cut should happen at 7am tomorrow. The only problem of course is rain is predicted for tomorrow so we'll just wait and see...

Did get a call from our construction supervisor tonight to go through the upcoming building process and confirming all was about to get rolling tomorrow - so we will remain positive.

Site Cut Booked

2008-07-26T20:20:00.002+10:00

Very exciting news - just heard our site scrape is booked for 31.7.08 and the slab due to be poured 11.8.08. Therefore will end up being two and a half months from original sign up with PD to official start of construction (which we think is on target for PD, if not ahead of schedule).
Have to say we enjoy watching the progress thermometer on our PD website keep on moving up. Construction stage here we come.........(hopefully)

Banur Earth tiles

2008-07-23T18:44:00.007+10:00

If you have read previous posts you will know that NT have discontinued the Urban Earth tile. Bit of a P.I.T.A. for all of us who have selected it - or so we thought. We have just received a sample of the replacement tile for Urban Earth in the mail today. Happy to report it is very similar to Urban Earth, but slightly lighter. Even the name is similar Banur (Ur ban ur) which is very clever. Have advised our administrator that we are happy to use the replacement tile - so out will come another contract variation I guess.

Have attached a pic so all can see - might help those of you suffering the same tile replacement problem.

Also, signed final plans today so hopefully work can start on our block within the week.

The Dirt is Gone! The SS Balustrading remains.

2008-07-22T21:21:00.004+10:00

H*nl*y have been true to their word and removed that mound of dirt from our block which is terrific - mind you the block is now pretty much ripped to shreds! No doubt this will happen anyway once PD start to build on our block. Not sure when this will be now given the probs of the last couple of days. Had hoped to break dirt by EOW but not likely now.

An update on our stairwell issue. We have complained once again to PD. They have listened just a little bit and reduced the price of the SS ballusters slightly. However, that is apparently the best they can do. Had a good discussion with our administrator today but it really doesn't make the feeling of being misled go away. These building companies really do need to start taking responsibility for ensuring we, their clients, understand exactly what the wording in the contracts mean. Although they live and breathe the terminology, we do not.

In addition, after comments mentioned in other threads and blogs we enquired about the tiles we have ordered - Urban Earth - and confirmed that they have indeed been discontinued as of NOW. So in addition to all else, we now have to select a replacment tile. PD have organised for a replacement to be sent out in the mail so we can have a look at it. Apparently it is very similar to the old tile but we will reserve judgement until we see it. Our administrator has assured us all will run smoothly from now on but we'll just wait and see as the track record for PD recently has not been that great.

That pile of dirt...

2008-07-21T19:24:00.003+10:00

Good news at least from H3nl3y. They returned our call and have apologised for the big mess they left on our block and for the broken crossover. They will be removing the dirt by mid week. Getting better service from them than PD atm!

Our stairwell drama

2008-07-21T17:29:00.003+10:00

Today has been a very bad day and to say we feel we have been misled by PD is an understatement. How a process that has been such a great experience so far can be so badly damaged by poor customer relations in one day is surprising.

It all started on the weekend when Hubby was going over our final drawings and noticed two small plaster walls on the plan at the top of the stairwell where our lovely steel ballusters were supposed to be.

So first thing this morning we contacted PD to notify them of their error. "D" our administrator was very prompt in calling us back but was just as prompt in notifying us that the only error was ours. Apparently where the contract states steel ballusters to "whole of the stairwell", we are supposed to read - "only to the staircase itself" (our bad - thought whole meant entire and thought stairwell meant all the way to the top and around). Of course, we were told if we would like to rectify "our error" it would cost an additional $3K!

Of course, we complained profusely and went higher and spoke with a manager who seemed to be listening. Maybe a small fish was finally getting somewhere? But no, "D" eventually called us back, towed the party line once again and then gracefully offered to take a couple of hundred dollars off the quote but that was all they could do.

So now we have a decision to make

steel ballusters to actual "whole of stairwell and loft" to make the place look good - $3K
wooden ballusters to entire staircase and stairwell/loft - $1.6K
fight to the a satisfactory conclusion - priceless.......

...although we all know that can never end well for all concerned.

PS: Apparently the upper areas of the stair"well" are actually the called the stair loft (or something similar). Keep an eye on this if you are heading into similar territory with PD.

Rowland 41

2008-07-20T22:23:00.001+10:00

Our colours

2008-07-20T22:00:00.000+10:00

We know what you all like - colour details and more colour details so please read on...

Bricks - Raheen with off white flush mortar
Roof Tiles - Gun metal macquarie
Windows and flywire - paperbark
Garage door - paperbark contemporary
Front door - paperbark
Gutters, Downpipes and Fascia - Jasper colorbond
Ceiling /Cornice - White
Walls - Reiki
Skirting / Architrave - New Soft Blush
Carpet - Metrique 182
Flooring - Urban Earth 450*450 with feature tile in showers
Benchtops - Vicenza Walnut
Quantum Quartz kitchen benchtops - Sandy
Lighting - Downlights throughout

Our Plans

2008-07-20T11:35:00.004+10:00

As you know, we are building the Rowland 41 with PD. We actually found out today that we are the first one in production - which may not be a good thing?!?

We have attached copies of our plans to show you a few of the extra options we have gone with:

Render to part of front facade
Changed stained timber slats on balcony to tiles - no point having the rain come falling through onto the front door
Removed study/main bedroom wall to open front room up a bit
added door to ensuite toilet
chose fully enclosed stairs with storage underneath (couldn't justify the $8K plus for as displayed stairs) but with SS balustrades and wood stained handrails for entire stairwell
Butlers kitchen as displayed
cupboards above hotplates with enclosed pull out rangehood (had canopy range hood in last home and although it looks terrific, we found it a bugger to keep clean)
added doors to theatre room
extended laundry benchtop and underbench cupboards, as displayed
Alfresco
heating vents to laundry, ensuite and bathroom 1 upstairs
heating and cooling network controller (part of package)
larger unit to handle the extra heating vents
upstairs and downstairs zoned controller
additional option to preset temperatures on different days at different times
double storage cupboard to upstairs games room
2nd bathroom option upstairs (will be useful for guests and the kids when they get older)
"Brady Bunch" sliding doors option to upstairs bedroom one

What a Mess!

2008-07-18T19:11:00.005+10:00

Just thought we would drive by the block today - you know how it is, even though there is nothing there you just have to see it again.

The picture shows what we found....

H3nl3y are building next door to us and they have made a huge mess today excavating for our neighbour's slab. They have wrecked the front of our block and the block across the road and also managed to crack both of our driveways in the process. But best of all (not!) is the huge pile of dirt they have dumped in the middle of our block. Apparently it is now our problem to ensure this is removed prior to our site scrape next week. We have contacted H3nl3y and left message for site administrator to fix the problem asap - will let you know how it goes.

I am sure the Developers are going to be thrilled trying to sell the one remaining block left in the court now given the train smash that is the block next door!

A bit of a tip - if you need to find out which company is building on an unmarked block in your area and they happen to have a skip bin, just call the skip company and they will let you know (thanks D from PD!).

Beware the tiles!!!

2008-07-17T20:37:00.007+10:00

We all know when we build, there must be that one area that truly sucks! Well ours so far has been the tiles.
Not to bore you with too many details, we would just like to say check and double check your tile prices if you are using N Tiles. To say we have had 5 major errors in our tile selection and pricing would not be an understatement. To say we have had some touchy conversations with PD about our tile prices would also not be an understatement.
However, it has all ended reasonably with PD accepting the N Tiles error and effectively splitting the difference with us.
Just have to say though - wouldn't use N Tiles again.

Appointments

2008-07-17T20:32:00.002+10:00

Just some notes on our colour, tender and contract appointments. You can see the dates on these appointments on our timeline.

Tender
Held at PD offices in Berwick. This was the first appointment after our NT tile selection appointment. We saw "M" who was very professional and helpful. Went through all structural changes and the electrical plan (no seperate electrical appointments for Lifestyle homes). Lots to go through and we were there for about 4 hours - longer than the 2 hours expected due to problems with the NT tile quote and a few other prices that the sales consultant had misquoted (read under quoted) to us. It may be useful at this point to let you know that your 5 stage building payment plan is based on your tender document. Any changes made after this date come up as variations that you settle with the final building payment. So, although it is nice to know a fully inclusive price at tender, it would be better to leave off as many items as you can until the contract appointment. You will then get until the end of the build to pay for them - with PD anyway. Have to say we found it hard finalising tender without doing colours. Although PD prefer it that way, we would have liked to do colours first so we knew what our colour selections actually cost us.

Colour
Held at Hopetoun Interiors in Port Melbourne. It is important to visit Hopetoun prior to your actual appointment to ensure you are prepared as there are an enormous number of "colours" and features you need to select during the appointment. We were booked in with "K" and she was wonderful. As we were very prepared we were out of there within 2 hours - very low stress and lots of fun.

Contract
Held at PD offices in Berwick. This is where your colour choices are costed and all your structural changes are finalised. You are presented with your final contract, drawings and electrical plan (any changes after this point become post contract variations and are settled at the end of the final payment) for signing and are expected to sign on the day. However, you can take it away with you if you want to battle for that right. Have to say of all the appointments this was the most full on for us. Don't see how it could be done in 2 hours - ours lasted 3 hours. It was a very intense appointment where we had to ensure every little detail of the house was correct. However, our administrator was very efficient and assured us that if we found a problem we could let her know in the next couple of days and she would fix it for us.
So we then took it all home and checked and doubled checked to ensure all was OK. We did find a couple of changes but "D" was true to her word and just raised PCVs for these without a fuss.

We have water....

2008-07-17T20:30:00.003+10:00

It's amazing how the smallest things can get you excited! We have water and so begins the building process that started back in May 08 when we saw the Rowland41 on the PD website and thought it looked pretty perfect for us!

Our Experience with PD So Far

2008-07-17T20:09:00.005+10:00

Given the blogs we have read so far on the web, we were rather dubious of what our building experience would be with PD. Most blogs have had a fairly positive experience with PD but of course, there are always those negative ones that make you worry.

We started with our sales appointment with J who was lovely to deal with. Like most of you we found our sales quote ended up substantially higher than first quoted due to a couple of errors in the true cost of the "as displayed items" such as render and balcony costs, pantry sinks and benchtops and heating/cooling options. A word of warning to those about to start the building process, be prepared to add $30K to $60K from your original "sales quote" to the final contract price. It is amazing how much it all adds up once you start looking at all the little extras like tiles, carpets, electrical and structural changes. It is also likely that the sales consultant doesn't really let you know the true cost of some of the extras you choose. Makes sense really, if they did you probably wouldn't sign up in the first place.

How It All Began......

2008-07-17T18:48:00.006+10:00

Looking back on our previous posts, we realise we haven't explained how our little journey all began....
Once upon a time four people named Glenn, Vicki, Megan and James lived in a lovely house in Selby in the Melbourne hills. Then before they knew it, Megan was about to start high school so it was time to move out of their hilly retreat and down to the big smoke in Berwick....

So we bought a block of land, only to realise we couldn't happily place any of the homes we were looking at on the block. We also realised we just would not get on with the neighbours and their 9 (yep 9) kids! So, we sold the block and started looking at established homes.

As all of you out there would realise, once you have display home envy there is no chance you can settle on an established home. So even though we really did try hard to find something, we still found ourselves looking at building sites on the web. As fate would have it, we found a newly released design in the Rowland 41 from PD and found ourselves making excuses to just go and "have a look" to see what it was like. You know how it goes, you enter the house on display and fall in love. The rest fell into place pretty quickly and within the day we found we had bought a block and signed up.

So what made us choose the Rowland? Unlike most PD homes, the bedrooms (and not just the master) were big, the kids have their upstairs area for when they are older and we have our bedroom downstairs - away from their bickering!!! Also, we felt we wouldn't use an extra lounge room downstairs in addition to the family and theatre rooms. Of course, it also has the extra bathroom and bedrooms upstairs for those wild party nights......

The View

2008-07-15T22:20:00.001+10:00

This is the view we will be looking at from our balcony once our home is completed.

Our Block

2008-07-15T22:17:00.003+10:00

This is our 741msq block where we plan to build our dream home.

We love this area because it is close to parks, lakes and bike tracks which will be great for our family of 4 and dog Keira.

The block has only 200mm of fall. We have chosen a fixed house and land package thus saving us a huge amount on our site costs.