Roof, Windows & Glass Doors, Ducted Heating, Evap Cooling & Electrical Rough In

Hi All,

Another week has passed and it has been a busy week for our building. Roof has now been completed with heating and cooling unit installed.

From Front with Sand Read for Brick Mortar Mix

Back with Brick to be Installed & Evap Cooling Unit Installed

Looking and how the roof tiles just been put on top of the frame with no barrier make me think about Sarking, but it is a bit too late now =p hoping that the tiles will not leak like colorbond roof.

Roof from Inside

Windows has been installed on every rooms (We can now measure the windows correctly and look around for blinds), door frames & glass doors has been installed in all outdoor doors. Insulation Foil has been put in for most of the house.

Lounge

Alfresco

Dining

Rumpus

Master Bedroom

Bedroom

Living Room - with Plaster Board to be Installed Next Week

Extra frame for double door in our lounge and sliding door for our en-suite has also been installed.

Lounge Entry with Double Sliding Door Frame

Bathtub Frame

Electrical rough in happen on Saturday this is when all the cabling works is done and plate is put in to support the light switches and connection (tv / data / phone) boards.

Tomorrow will be my second private inspection (Pre-plaster) I will be attending this one and will post the experience tomorrow night :)

Next week will be plaster, insulation batts and brick can't waitt!!! :)

Frame Completed & Private Inspection Report

Hi All!!

It has been another week passed and time for an update. Our frame has now finished and invoiced.

The frame finished on Tuesday and on Wednesday two inspection was done (Private by New Home Inspection and Surveyor hired by Carlisle) our inspection (private) result come good only 9 minor defect that needs to be fixed by Carlisle.

When we visit today, we met the carpenter and they are doing the follow up on the private inspection result and almost done with it.

Gutter, some bed frame, some plumbing & front door sidelight has been installed. There is a pile of roof tiles on the ground ready to be installed and packs of windows & glass doors to be installed.

Roof, windows & glass doors should be done by next week and the brick will come afterwards :)

Front Door Opening with Translucent Sidelight Installed

Dining Room (Center) Rumpus (Right) Alfresco (Left)

Windows & Glass Doors to be Installed

View From Backyard with Gutter Installed

Roof Tiles Waiting to be Installed

Bedrooms Corridor

Bathtub Location and Plumbing

Lounge

Mid House Niche and Lounge on the Left

Kitchen & Living Room

Roof Truss 

Frame's Up (Nearly)

Hi All!!

Just went back from visiting the lot, now the frames are almost complete! We can actually see the allocations off all rooms now :). Frame will be finished by Tuesday then gutter, facia and roof to be done next week and the week after.

A private inspection with New Homes Inspections has been scheduled by next week. We will do 3 total private inspection by New Homes Inspections just basically for peace of mind. The stages of private inspection will be Frame, Pre-Plaster & Pre-Handover (PCI)

Alfresco

Garage e.g Framer Workstation =p 

Somewhere Inside the House

Slab Done!!!

Hi All!! 

At last some real progression going on. Our Slab has now done!! Very pleased with the height of the slab, it is very tall (taller than both side neighbors) which will make the house look taller which I think is better. 

I asked my SS in regards to some cracks on the edge of the slab, he said it is normal and will be will be fixed after frame before bricks goes up

FYI The invoice also come in the mail straight away =p

Frame will start from tomorrow and should be finished by mid next week! Can't wait :)

Garage

Porch & Front Door

Porch Looking at Master Bedroom

Alfresco & The House from the Back

Current Building Progress (Christmas Break)

Carlisle Homes how has closed for Christmas and our progress is back on halt. The SS ask whether we still wanted to lay the foundation (rushing) before Christmas and let is stay under the hot of summer for 3 weeks or wait until Jan.

We choose to wait, we don't want to rush things and make sure everything goes accordingly. So Slab has now dated the 6th of Jan and frame the 13th. However site scrape has been done, portable toilet is in, sand barrier has been installed and that cage thingy to put rubbish is there. Also electrical meter is up and Carlisle sign (showing the SS details) has been put up in the site.

As you can see from the pictures below, all of our surrounding neighbors have gone way more than ours in regards to construction (remind you all settled in September 13). They are using Henley, Porter Davis and Simonds. 

The good thing about this is that we won't have a problem in the future that our neighbors start building (fencing to be put down for construction, dust, etc), all fencing costs will be divided equally (yay) and we think it will feel more like a community if our house is surrounded by other houses :).

To be honest I now found that Carlisle is a bit slow in regards to starting construction (showing that other builders can already gone to this stages below). I have finished all paperwork finance etc (other than final drawing) in the end of October. It took them a month to start the site scrape (early Dec). During this time, they are stating that they will be finishing the docs, ordering the material, estimating, and finishing final drawing. I'm hoping the wait is a guarantee of their work results. 

From Front

Look Messy from Back

One of Many Holes on the Ground, Probably to put the Ground Foundation?

Electrical / Meter Box

4th Contract Variation, Final House Plan & Final Electrical Plan

We have now receive and signed our final drawing which mean we won't be able to make anymore changes to the plan unless we want to pay ridiculous amount of penalty.

So these are our final house plans :)

Final House Plan

The plan is mostly standard, the changes that we made are change the robe doors to sliding doors, add sliding doors to ensuite, add double sliding door to lounge, add wall opening to rumpus (from meal) & add extra noggins to future tv location for possible wall hung TVs

For the electrical, we manage to add 4 more power points before they finish the drawing which mean avoiding variation fee :)

Final Electrical Plan

For electrical we do plan to change all the normal batten lights to a down lights after handover & add garden lights in the back and front of the house (with the Junction Box) however at the moment we think the current plan will be enough :)

Our CLE also inform the changes to basin and toilet, she said that these are new standard item which will replace the old ones. They look very similar to the old ones, I think it is just different brand

Old Toilet                           >>>>                   New Toilet  

Old Basin                        >>>>                       New Basin  

Other than that, all have been good and we cannot wait till the house finished!

Update on Land Settlement & Building Progress

Hi All..

It has been a while since I updated the blog. During the two months a lot of things has happen and not happen according to plan.

The land was settled on time and all documentation and settlement goes well and we are now a proud owner of a piece of Melbourne.

After the land is settled we are trying to push the bank and our broker to finalised the construction contract valuation and give us the final approval. This process took them 1 month, this is with me following up on daily basis which is a pain. After the wait the valuation comes 12k short because the bank expected improved property (including landscaping, driveway & fence) which is not and will not be provided by Carlisle.

In the end the problem is sorted (another 2 weeks wait), by borrowing above valuation amount with small LMI. This can probably be avoided by going with the big 4 banks instead of smaller one. In this case we factor the saving in interest rate and willing to take the risk dealing with smaller bank in which tend to be risk adverse and slow in valuation

During this time, I believe Carlisle has made some internal restructuring and our CLE quit the company so we have a new CLE. Fortunately the new CLE is amazing!!

We have to make some changes to the house design because we missed the developer covenant in regards to 2 minimum material to be used in front facade. We choose to go with full render in the beginning and we consider timber posts as the second material, however the developer do not accept this.

In this case we have to

1. go back to original part render / part brick

2. have the Chestnut brick with off white mortar (upgrade)

3. Have FC Sheet above garage with Jasper color
4. remove the 3rd render color and only go with two as per standard

Carlisle did gave us credits in regards to the change.

We have received the building permits & developer approval last week and now waiting on an actual start date, approximate time at this stage is to start late November / early December.

Overall, these have been a tiring two months delay and now we cannot wait until the house start building!!