Tiling done; Garage door installed; Rectification works progressing

Australia Day Long Weekend and we're almost home now. Apparently tiling was completed last week, the garage door has been installed, front retaining wall constructed, some of the down pipes connected and the issues we had with exposed slab caused by the drop in garage height (compared to house) rectified by applying a render to the side of the concrete slab.

This week the plumber(s) and electrician(s) will return to do all the fit-offs. We imagine this means power points, switches, down lights, other lights, electrical appliances installed; taps, sinks, basins, waste, toilets, heating/cooling systems installed; down pipes and drainage on-site attended to and all connections completed. Glass splash backs will also need to be installed at some stage.

Also a quick update re some of our other issues.
1. Slab rectification works: CG have already had the original design engineer back out to our site to inspect the slab. The engineer was not satisfied (as we knew would be the case) and will document what should be done and the detail to which these works must be completed, so that CG can arrange to rectify appropriately. This is a great development and we are thankful for the way CG are finally managing the issue. We hope these works are completed in a timely manner and do not affect our completion date. This is what we pushed to avoid all along.
2. Bulkhead issues: some bulkheads need to be rectified and the bulkheads re-painted. We imagine this will be done next week but will need to confirm.

Painting Done; Stone Bench Tops Installed; Finally met Construction Manager

Through the week the painting was completed. The colour is Whisper White and our kitchen laminate colour is Polar White (underbench) and Paperbark (overhead). The stone bench tops have also now been installed. They're from the standard range, gloss finish, 20mm and the colour is Mustard White. Looking at the colours together, we think we went a little too safe. If we do this again, probably a slightly warmer wall colour would have been better, perhaps with more yellow. Having said this, the glass splash backs to the kitchen will have their own impact and we're confident the spotted gum floorboards (which will be the last thing to be installed) will certainly add warmth and a statement.

The wet areas have also been coated in a blue paint, and we understand this is part of the waterproofing before the tiles are laid. We met the tiler (ironically named Ty) this morning and he seems like a nice bloke; he's been described as a 'gun tiler' so we're pleased to have him on the job and to see that he started today. Apparently our tiling will be completed next week.

We also had a productive meeting with our SS and his construction manager on Tuesday. Good to finally meet the construction manager. Nice guy, we found him to be reasonable and understanding. We discussed some of the live issues on-site namely:
- the additional render to the exposed slab behind the laundry; this work has now been completed and it looks great
- the correction of some plastering issues with the bulkhead in the kitchen and the bulkhead in the master bedroom; these will both be corrected
- the concrete slab rectification works; which we understand have now been referred to one of the CG directors; we're confident these works will take place, will be done to correct specification, will be certified and will be completed very soon.

Our fixing payment has been made. Our SS has all trades home booked in. So with roughly 4 weeks to go to completion and one final payment to be made, we're well and truly in the home stretch now. We're hoping that CG can bring this home with no major mistakes or misses, that everything goes to plan and that all works we've been told will be done, get done.

Between now and completion, we will endeavour to visit Byron Interiors one last time and some of the CG display homes one last time to take final notes and to refresh our memory about what we should be receiving at handover. We would urge anyone building to do this for themselves too.

Painting Starts

So it's the new year and CG resumed on our house through the week. The internal painting has started. We noticed sheets up over the windows earlier in the week and by the end of the week most of the house had been undercoated. Some of the doors had also been painted (they are removed and painted on-site) and they had also started on the front door.

Through the week, we have also been attempting to resolve some of the outstanding issues from last year. The plan is to meet up with our SS on Tuesday to inspect some of our areas of concern and how these will be addressed. This meeting will also provide a chance to get an update on the painting, and an indication of the flow of trades and relative time frames moving forward.