After our visit to Hopetoun Interiors, then on to Connolleys (http://www.connollys.com.au/) to let the flooring guy know he wont be able to lay the floor in July, we passed by Compass Pools

to look at what kind of Pool we might like:

As we don't want to have a large lawn in the back garden preferring to have a great outside entertainment area. The idea is a 4m deck (12 feet) extending out from the house, then the pool with a meter or two of decking on the other side of the pool, this still leaves 8m (24 feet) of back garden, where we will grow soft fruits and fruit trees.

Here's what we selected: The Riviera (http://www.compasspools.com.au/riviera.html)

We picked the 11.8 m long pool, so its big enough to have a real swim in. The salesman moved us away from solar heating to gas heating (we live in Melbourne and the sun does not shine enough to keep the pool at a temperature Giorgia would be happy with all year round).

We where also sold on the self cleaning mechanism (it was on special offer "today only").

More details about this phase of the build as we get them .......

We have both been away for a week so we haven't seen what had happened at the house since the 14th of May. Giorgia had spoken to the site supervisor to ask how things where progressing. Last Thursday (19th May) we arrived in Auckland to see an e-mail from Gail, another thing needs to be changed, this time is was the bench tops in the en-suites. The colour we had chosen is no longer available, therefore we need to make a new selection ....

A trip to Hopetoun Interiors this morning and 2 new colours selected (Organic and Peat removed changed to Paper Bark and Fossil). Need to mail Gail with this info or we will 'delay' the cabinet makers....

When we turned up today the brickie was on site (on a Saturday) he needed to get a few things finished so the scaffold could be put up tomorrow (Sunday)

Finally its starting to look like a house (now the roof is on). Its hard to tell from this photo, but the tiles are very light (Wild Rice). We seem to be the only house in the area (so far) that hasn't gone with black/dark grey tiles.

Scaffold will go up tomorrow and the second floor will be weather proofed (the green fabric).

The brickie will come back on Wednesday (with 3 mates) and get on with the rest of the walls.

The meter cupboard is now almost entirely embedded into the wall (only sticking out a small amount).
Not a bad view of the front of the house, the brickie was building the 'pier' you can just see him in the centre of the image (as well as doing some work on the wall near the garage) his son seemed less impressed working on a Saturday.

You can't see in this image but they have finally filled in the missing piece of the slab, lets see how it holds up to general wear and tear.

Most of the windows in the house are now in-situ (a couple of the pains of glass are not yet in place). The sliding door in the master bedroom to the balcony are now in place (although a little dirty).

The first 'native' plant has been put in by the council or the Heritage Springs site managers. We will have to check how 'native' it really is (clearly a gum tree, but which type)?

The grass growing around the tree will be removed (even if they also sowed grass seed) and replaced with native grasses and flowering plants (nothing that will grow too high though).

A view from the back of the house, its a little easier to see how light the roof tiles are. The guttering and fascia are now in place (we are a little concerned with the position of one of the down pipes as its right in the middle of one of the patio doors).

Some of the waste piping has now been put in place (no photo's as one of the builders was on site today). We did notice that there are a couple of pipes that poke through the roof, we could see light around the edges of the pipes, so lets see how this has been sealed (lead flashing on the roof, Silicone seal ....).

Something to keep a eye on.

Problems Fixed : Slab ------ Finally done ;-)

Outstanding Problems: Bidets water pipes still in the wrong place (the builders have now made holes for the waste in the wrong place too). Contact Gail and Lenny again.

As its been a miserable Autumnal week in Melbourne (cold and heavy rain everyday) we did not think much would have been done on the house. So we where quite surprised when we arrived there today!

After some debate, some time and once again.... more cash ! The roof tiles have finally arrived sometime this week (the tiles we had originally picked a year ago are no longer available so we had to 'upgrade').

I guess due to the weather the roof tiling was not started. But they are on site. This week if the weather holds out we might have a roof.

We expected absolutely no progress on the site, so when we saw they had started to work on the garage we where quite happy. Here is the back door for the garage (another piece of metal, this should keep Amelia happy). It looks a little damaged at the bottom (and covered in cement).

The stand alone garage wall. I think thats as high as the garage will be, just need the steel lintel over the garage door and then the roof (this will be the first room/part of the house completed)

If you don't include doors.

Something else we did notice on site, one of the 'bright-sparks' (not a pun for electricians) has removed the cover for the electricity meter. As we said earlier, its been a very wet week, so taking the cover off the meter..... Not a great idea.

I am not a qualified electrician, but water and electricity don't mix. Look at the condensation inside of the meter. Do we need to contact our site supervisor or customer service agent, or the electricity company !

Not visible on this photo, is the trip switch box, with everything switched on...

Still no building on plots 913 and 915. The plot in the background, is also a Porter Davis Home and also a Marriott. Same site supervisor for both builds (as well as another 12+ houses).

He seems on top of his game though. Lets see though.

The ground is very soft in the front of the house, with the large trucks leaving massive indentations in the ground.

Still to fix:

Part of slab still missing (they need to get this sorted, now its getting old)

Meter Box (do we need a new one, can the door be put back on)?

Bricks and door frames cleaned of excess morter

Have the other repairs been made. Correct spacing of L brackets and nails for the flooring ?

We finally meet with our site supervisor on Tuesday and went through the problems or independent inspector found. Lenny promised that all the problems would be rectified asap:

He was worried about our roof tiles (or lack of roof tiles) and without tiles no progress would be made.... Bricks had been delivered, but without roofing the brickies would do nothing.

Phone calls from Porter Davis on Friday asking for payment for the frame... Have the fixes been made ? NO ! But still we have to pay on their promise that everything will be fixed (its in writing).

E-mail Friday (again Porter Davis) need to sign a document agreeing to pay $670 for the roof tiles (our CSA had to get permission to use these tiles, first we knew).

So after all these caveats during the week we expected no change from last weekend.

Imagine our surprise to see brickwork up around the house.

Front view: Brickwork for the back wall of the garage and the lounge, nothing around the study as yet.
Round the back: Brickwork on both sides of the house and as you can see the back wall is coming along nicely (although Giorgia says the bricks aren't straight)! Can not see the damp proof course poking through the lower brick levels, but what do I know.

After worrying about the gaps around the door frames and the house frame (and still wondering) what they would pack it out with, it looks like they just brick up to the edge, still to see what filler will be used in the gaps.

Its the same with the window frames still quite a gap between the window frame and the house frame.

This is the electricity box, it will be half in the house and half outside (I did need to check with Lenny) again another gap in the external walls, lets see how this gets sealed into the brickwork.

Lenny had told us he was waiting for our corner windows to be delivered for the upstairs rumpus room. At least the frames are now both here (although the corner part of the window is missing). How will that be double glazed ?

Problems fixed:

Steel post - Now bolted down (lets hope they fix the house frame they had to damage to fix it)

Other problems: L brackets ! What are they ? Flooring got enough nails now ?

Still to fix:

Lenny knows about the 'missing slab' area, he was surprised it had not been fixed yet.

Moving hot and cold pipes for the bidets (this week)?

Our first visitor to the house (at least whist we have been there) we tried to tell him to head away and back to the wild, but he was determined to see what had replaced the grassland that had been there 4 months ago. Was the food any better now there is no grass ?

Well we rocked up today (Sunday 1st May) not expecting any change from last weeks visit as its been Easter and we guessed the builders would have been on holiday all of last week. But looking at the progress they have made, they must have been there for a couple of days last week.

Withe the weather proof covering going on its starting to look a lot less like a shell and a little more like a house (not a home as yet). A view down the side of the house where we will be growing our own vegetables this time next year. 4 metres 60cm from the corner to the first window (15 feet) 1 meter 50 between the two windows (5 feet) and 2 meters 50 between the final 2 windows (8 and a half feet). Time to plan the veggie beds !

Strange (for me) the house has no roof, only the trusses to support the tiles when they eventually get there, but the builders have already gotten the guttering and the facia in-place.

How the bricks are going to be laid without damaging the facia I am unsure. Time will tell:

more than happy to get the builders to do it again if the facia is all bent and the guttering wrecked.

Hard to see the colours, the facia is 'cobalt blue' with the guttering 'rice white'.

Some of the pipe work 'in place' I say in-place but these are the hot and cold pipes for the bidets in en-suits 3 and 4, these should be on the outside wall and not on the adjoining wall ! Something else for the builders to change. Already contacted Porter Davis to let them know.

Just in case we forget who is building the house, every two meters is the name of the builder.

Something else I can't understand (amongst so many things) its a wooden house thats been built (to some extent) around the openings for the doors and windows so how can there be such a big gap from the window frame and the timber frame of the house ! (Its about 2-3 cm).

How these houses get any kind of energy efficiency is beyond me.

The defects so far (so I/we don't forget).

The size of the gaps between the window frames and door frames and the house frame.

Lets hope thats packed out with wood and not just insulation.

Pipes for the Bidet's in all bathrooms are in the wrong place (they need to be moved now).

We have contacted Porter Davis to get them to rectify this and ensure the builders have the correct and upto date plans for the build.

The 3 problems our building inspector found (Metal post not bolted to the slab) too large a distance between the nails in the flooring and the L bracket spaces.

If the metal post is at the right hand size of the study, then its still not bolted down, Porter Davis have just covered the post with the weather proof sheet !

This also needs to be fixed !

Still to fix the slab 40 cm x 100cm of missing slab in the study, when will they pour more concrete here (Check once again with Porter Davis).

No fix no payment - Simple as........