We are in!

Well we have done it, we are finally in our new home! This week has been one of the most exhausting weeks of my life. It has been very exciting at times, very frustrating at times and very cold and smelly at times too! Why you ask (especially the smelly part right?) Well this is how the week unfolded........

In my last post I said that we were having the timber floor done on Monday / Tuesday then the carpets laid on Wednesday so we planned to move in on the Wednesday. Monday morning comes and I let the timber floor installers in then headed off to work. An hour later they called and said that our kitchen floor was too uneven, if they went ahead and laid the floor there would be a noticible dip. So they stopped work after doing the 2 lounge areas, not wanting to lay anywhere else until the problem was fixed.

So I called Henley and told them the problem. To their credit the supervisor went straight around, talked to the flooring guys and organised to have the problem fixed but said it would be done by the end of the week. No that would not do! We needed to be in by Wednesday. So they got someone around that same day and the problem was fixed. Now the problem was that the floor guys had other jobs and couldn't do our floors for a week.....so I had to cancel the carpet layers and we were going to be on bare cement for a week. Not good but we had no choice.

Then on Tuesday Henley called to say there was a problem with our gas. Origin Energy had put the connection in the wrong place so this had to be fixed before the gas could be connected. Our appliances were all being put in on the Wednesday but now there would be no gas. Very disappointing, no floors and now no gas either.

So then Wednesday comes & the flooring guys call to say they had a cancellation and could do our floors on the Thursday.....YAHHH! A call to Fowles and our carpets were rescheduled for Friday.

On Wednesday our concreter also decided to do the pour for our driveway - this was great as our front yard has been such a bog heap & mud was constently being traipsed into the house. So the concreters start, we then have a few panics because Henley are trying to install our water heater right in the spot that the concrete path was going. Thanks to a lot of wonderful tradies working together everything turned out really well.

So Wednesday night we sleep at the house with no gas and no flooring but a lovely driveway!
Then Thursday the floor goes down - 100 metres of flooring installed in a day. Very impressive! Our gas meter turns up late in the day and the pipe is relocated so we are closer to having gas but still need Henley to come and finish off. After a few more calls they promised to make us their priority on Friday morning. Once we had this scheduled we could organise our heating to be set up on Friday as well.
So today, Friday we have all our floors, we have gas, we have heating and we have a driveway that we can walk on tomorrow (drive on by Monday).

I really want to recommend the concreter we had 'Point Cook Concreters' - Marko went above and beyond doing our driveway, he was cheaper than the other 3 quotes we had but impressed me the most with his knowledge & ideas. He really cares about the job too - coming past to check on it, helping other tradies in and out of the house & just being a really top guy.

Also would highly recommend Unique Timber Floors at Hoppers Crossings and their fantastic installers. Our floor has come up beautifully and we also really appreciated their feedback on the slab issues, their willingness to offer solutions and the pride they take in the job.

Must also say that Henley have been fantastic at this stage of the process. All the tradies have been great to deal with and really helpful. We are loving our house ... photos to follow!

Almost there...

We had our pre-handover inspection today (or as Henley call it - the 'New Home Presentation'). All went well, the handover guy was really helpful & professional. He was quick to note down anything that we found & organised for most to be fixed today.

What did we find? Well not a whole lot - a few areas of mortar that need refilling, an outside pipe still needing plugging, rubber seal on one window to be tidied up and two areas on the roof that needed some work (this one was on the list that the Handover dept had already picked up on).

So we are feeling really happy & excited. I have sent off the final invoice for payment but the bank will probably organise a valuation prior to paying, hopefully this won't hold us up too much.

The timber floor is booked for installation on the 28th July, carpet will follow on the 30th July and hopefully the driveway & blinds will also happen around this time.

Yaah! We are almost there!

Handover starts tomorrow

We had a call today from our CSR to let us know that our house officially goes to the Handover team tomorrow......YAAH!!!!!!
Hopefully we should have our first handover inspection early next week & if all goes well may even get to settlement towards the end of the week.
Very happy & excited that the end is near. We have to be out of our current house this weekend so will be staying with friends until the new house is ours. Its really nice to be able to plan around a possible move in date of a week (or two).

More jobs complete

The shower screens were put in on Thursday & look just great. The rangehood was installed on Friday as well.

On Friday the termite contractor was also filling up & sealing the containers.

The site cleanup was supposed to happen on Friday but didnt. A bit disappointing but hopefully will be done early next week.

So whats left?
- broken window to be fixed
- clean up
- paint touchups (red spots are ALL over the place)
- hot water system

Not sure what else but really not too much now, hopefully we should be told a date for handover very soon. Our CSR finished with the company on Friday so we are waiting to be given a new contact person.

I did email our CSR this week to ask why we werent given the chrome powerpoints in the kitchen - waiting for a response on this one. Just a minor thing really!

And now for the plumbing

The plumbers were at the house early this morning & were still working hard late this afternoon when we called in.

It was a beautiful, sunny Melbourne day & with all the doors wide open & music playing loudly it was really lovely to be inside our house which is feeling more and more like a home.

Today the sinks & taps were all installed in the laundry, bathrooms & kitchen. The showers, bath and toilets were also installed though the shower screens are still to be done.

To finish off all the outside downpipe connections there was a lot of digging done today - the outside was already a mess but now its just awful. I have to keep gumboots in the car to avoid trapsing clay everywhere!

Anyway all is going really well & we are looking forward to seeing the last few jobs finished off shortly.

Shiny, new toilet


Ensuite (there are 2 sinks, one is hidden behind the door)

Kitchen sink with tap (try to avoid looking at the mess in the living room, just focus on that shiny sink!)

And the bathroom, I was a bit surprised at the length of the tap! The vanity still has the protective board sitting on the top which is hiding the sink.

Its full steam ahead

Today was a very productive day at the house. Firstly the carpenter was there installing all our cupboard shelves & rails. Very exciting to see the walk in robe completely finished now.

Also today our mirrors were installed in the bathrooms.

And our ugly security fence is gone!!

Tomorrow the plumber is due to arrive and will be finishing of the drain pipes, installing the bath, toilet & taps. The shower screens will also be installed.
We also have plenty of red dots around the place showing touch ups needed by the painters.

A site clean has been booked for this Friday - yaah!

That leaves very little to be finished now - I can't even think what else is waiting now, just the gas meter, one broken window to be replaced, kitchen exhaust - is that it? Ooooh I am so excited!



Pantry shelving


Main bathroom - mirror installed today, sink & taps to come



& new mirror in our ensuite.

Getting very excited now!

I'm feeling very excited this week with our house getting closer and closer to being finished.

The electrician came today and has done all the powerpoints and lights throughout the house. Was very happy to discover the laundry door had been left open so I managed to get a couple of shots before the damn #@#$# batteries on the camera went flat! Anyway here is the front of the house with the garage door finally down.






And very happy to see the discusting portaloo is finally gone (though our toilets aren't in yet!) There better be no using our back yard for you know what!!



The tiles haven't been cleaned yet but the colour does look good with the white cupboards. Will be nice to see it once its all clean. Was surprised to see the powerpoints were white in the kitchen, I thought we were getting fancy silver ones? Will have to check up on this.



Our bath has arrived & is waiting to be installed. Hopefully the plumber will be there next & the shower screens should be arriving soon too.


More photos to come once I have charged the batteries!