Pre-Handover Walk-Through with our SS

We received our Pre Handover Report from New Home Inspections this morning. It contained 23 items, great detail and formed the basis of our meeting with our SS today for our pre-handover walk-through.

Item 1 was the articulation joint, or lack of, in the length of wall down the left hand side of our house. The missing joint will need to be installed and our SS seems to think this will not be an issue; it will be the job of the render guys. Items 2-4 are roofing and termite protection issues which have been explained and will be addressed. Items 5-6 are garage floor issues, which CG already know about and our SS has been very understanding with these issues. Item 7, front door issue that will be addressed. In addition, there's a slight gap between the bottom of door and the floor and our SS has kindly offered to attach a door seal to the door to prevent dirt and draft entering the house through this gap. Items 8, 9, 14-16, 20 are glazing issues and our SS will rectify all. Item 10 is the powder room vanity issue (discussed in the last post) - we are hoping CG will rectify this the way we would like (it is very poor workmanship as it is). Items 11-13 are minor issues in the kitchen that will all be addressed. Items 17-18 are stair issues which will be addressed. Item 19 details the bowing in the gallery wall issue (discussed in the last post). Our SS suggests this can be rectified, but often post rectification it looks worse. He discussed the reason for the bowing and we've agreed on a solution. Items 21-23 relate to issues in the roof cavity, namely reinstating insulation in areas across the ceiling where it was removed for one reason or another; and completing a walkway in the roof space to provide required access for the servicing of the heating unit. We'll get up and check this has been done at the final inspection. We're told it absolutely will be.

Overall, really good meeting. Our SS went through every item in the report. He was even there a little earlier and had noted items himself (eg our toilet seats should be soft-close, but weren't, so he'll have them changed over). We completed a Practical Completion List that noted items discussed and our SS has committed to completing all items (except for replacement of scratched glass - which takes between 10-15 days) by Friday. So everything crossed he can get it all done. If all goes to plan, we will do our final walk-through this Friday and aim to settle and handover next Monday. This is when final payment is to be made, certificates are provided, keys handed over and technically, when our home becomes ours. This is a very exciting thought.

Regarding the vanity in powder room issue. Here's a picture. You can see it just floats, in fact the stone bench top is only held up by two small pieces of timber at either end of the bench top. This is why it has already dropped. If someone accidently sat on the bench top or if you lent on it with any weight, it would fall down and rip off the wall. We've discussed this with our SS and we really do hope he agrees to rectify this issue in the way we would like. If we had our time again, it would have been better to build a cabinet in under the bench top. This would serve to hold up the bench top as well as serving as a proper vanity with storage.

Also, it's probably just us, but up until today, we thought that bathroom fixing items, namely towel rails and toilet roll holders, would be standard inclusions. We were told today they are not and that we'd have to purchase these items ourselves and have them installed ourselves. We wonder if any one else has been caught out here. Perhaps it's just us. Not a big issue. We'll probably just pay a visit to Reece and grab these items over the weekend.

Finally, we looked into this business of installing a thermal barrier behind the glass splash back above the stove top. Our SS mentioned the term bellis board, and we found this explanation on the internet. We are satisfied that CG make the use of a bellis board standard when they are installing glass splash backs above the stove in the kitchen.


o Important Notice – Glass installers (Glaziers) are not licenced to remove or
refit general electrical power outlets.   All electrical work must be carried out
by a licensed electrical contractor.
o Gas top burners
If the gas burner installation is located less than 200mm from the periphery
of the nearest burner to any vertical combustible surface to be covered with
toughened glass, the vertical surface needs to be protected to ensure the
surface temperature of the combustible surface does not exceed 65ºC above
ambient.  This protected area must cover a minimum 150mm above the hob.
Standard plasterboard and other general wall materials do not comply with
the definition under AS5601:2010 Standard and therefore cannot be taken as
“non-combustible”.  This means that these materials are not exempt from
the clearance requirements for gas cooking appliances and need to be
covered by a non-combustible material.  Some examples of compliant fire
resistant wall linings that can be used for the section behind the stove hob
are:
Proprietary name of material Minimum thickness required
Bellis Board 9mm
Firemaster 550 10mm
Supalux 9mm
Promina 9mm
Promatect H 12mm