Plumbing & Electrical Fit-Offs complete

There was activity on site last week. The plumbers and electricians were working to complete the fit-offs. Apparently, the plumbers had trouble locating some of the storm water pipes. On Tuesday, large trench type holes had been dug very close to the slab. We did not know the plumbers had dug these holes; we thought that someone was searching for foundations or something. See the photos below. We worried when Melbourne was hit with that deluge of rain Thursday afternoon/evening. The trench holes filled up and we were thought the water might have or could affect the integrity of the concrete slab and/or foundations. We let our SS know our concerns, and he didn't seem too concerned. In any case, the next morning (the Friday), we noticed the plumber had located the pipes in question and connected them up with the down pipes and all looked ok.

As it is now, most of our down pipes are connected to the storm water pipes, and the storm water pipes are now underground. Inside the house we have taps, toilets and our bath. Regards to electrical, we now have our switches, GPOs, lights (with the exception of a few, like the stair lights), alarm system and points in place per the electrical plan. Couple of corrections required with location of a GPO and location of an external para-flood light, but save from that, electrical is pretty much done now too. 

We still need kitchen appliances (stove, oven, range hood), glass splash backs, mirrors, sliding robe doors and fly screens installed - this will presumably happen through this week. This week will also serve to allow the plasterer to return to fix bulkhead issues and some plaster reveals, carpenter to return to check off and painter to return to finish off the painting works. We're told the concreter will also be back through the week to re-do his work in line with the engineers requirements. As long as we receive a document certifying these works, we're content. To their credit, CG are now on top of this issue and we feel are very committed to having these works done correctly and satisfactorily. 

We've also decided to add a door to a wall so we can access the space under our stair case. CG standard design is the plaster this space off, allowing no access. We will need to liaise directly with the cabinet maker to fit this door; CG have only gone so far as to cut out the door shape and build the plaster reveals.

One final issue we hope to resolve tomorrow is that of carpet (note: carpet supposed to be installed on Mon 11 Feb, timber floorboards booked for Tues 12 Feb - both apparently one day jobs). We received a call from CG early last Fri morning informing us that the carpet we had selected was not in stock until the end of the month. A little frustrating since this carpet choice has been locked in from the start; to confirm its availability around Jan/Feb would not have been hard. Now we need to take an afternoon off to go back to Byron Interiors to (hopefully) re-select our carpet. We'll keep you posted on this one.

So basically, if all goes to plan, this house will be completed somewhere between Feb 11 - 14. We'll arrange for a walk-through inspection on Feb 14 (with New Home Inspections). We've told our SS we'd prefer that if he knows there are any problems or defects with works, to rectify these works before our walk-through inspection. In our opinion, the lower the number of problems or defects picked up during this inspection, the better and if New Home Inspections found no defects, we would certainly not be complaining.