Private Frame Inspection - worth every cent

We met our private building inspector today. He was fantastic and thorough. Obviously has done loads of these inspections before because he knew exactly what to look for. Every item I wanted to question, he had already noted in his report. He also had time to talk me through what he found and to answer my questions. I'll ask if he minds me referencing his company in this blog, because I'd highly recommend retaining him to do your frame inspections if you're planning on building (no matter who the builder).

Some of the items he noted during his inspection:

1. Exposed steel (reinforcement) in the side of the slab. Very obvious in both the base of the slab but also in the upper section of the slab. Concrete should surround the steel completely. In fact, there should be 40mm of concrete buffering the ends of any steel in the slab. This is how the concrete slab gets its strength. To have steel exposed, is like not having any steel there at all, because the concrete loses its torsional strength. As it stands, this is the biggest concern.

2. Some small discrepancies between the engineering report and what had actually been built. The inspector could identify where timber/steel/supports/bracing/etc were meant to be; he could even identify what type of timber should be used in certain areas of the frame from the engineering report (where I couldn't make sense of this report at all - it was was too technical for me).

3. An issue with one of the larger steel beams that supports part of the first floor of the house. Namely in the way it had been secured to the ground floor frame.

4. An issue with the engineering report and what could actually be achieved regarding the colourbond roof and how it attached to the house frame and roof trusses. Obviously, it's very important the roof is secured adequately to the house (he'd seen instances where strong wind has lifted an entire colourbond roof off a house) - he had questions regarding this.

5. The concern I noted in an earlier post regarding the steel upright beam supporting the steel beam spanning the garage entry. Since posting the photo (see post 8/9/12),  it is apparent some work has been done to attempt to rectify the problem (see photo below). However, I got the feeling our inspector still had an issue with this item. We do too. Although they have obviously fixed up the overhang, the concrete still appears to be crumbling and not that strong. What are your thoughts?

In summary, we are very glad we used a private building inspector at frame stage. He identified items we would simply have missed or not known to question. My understanding is that his report will strongly recommend CG get their inspector, surveyor and/or engineer back out to give their opinion on the items identified in the report. We'll see what happens and how CG respond.

Posi-Struts (a response to BruP)

Firstly, thanks BruP for your comments on our blog (see post 8/9/12) regarding posi-struts. I did some research. The diagrams below explain what posi-struts are. I also read the engtruss website you supplied (thanks again - a good reference). BruP you're right. An advantage of posi-strut is that it's easier to run services (eg pipes) through the open space.

You're aware we had our private frame inspection today. I asked our inspector about the pros and cons of posi-strut and whether it would have been better for this build. His opinion is that while it is easier to run services through posi-strut joists, for good tradies, it's not very difficult to drill holes through the standard joists (such as the joists used in our build) to run services. Further, he suggested the standard joists could actually be better because sometimes posi-strut can creak and squeak and actually make more floor noise under foot. He also offered that a large percentage (I think he said 80%) of the better builders will still be using the standard joists as opposed to posi-strut.

It's good to hear you are not paying $5K upgrade for posi-struts. If you were, based on advice I received today, I'd be telling you to save your money. You could possibly just clarify with CG what the $5K is for, then again, ours is not a custom build so I would imagine things would be different between our builds. I wonder why CG custom builds use posi-strut?

Thanks for drawing our attention to posi-strut. I would not have known to research if you had not made your comment. Good to be communicating. Cheers.

Posi-Strut & Posi-Plus Posi-STRUT® is an open web truss system that combines the strength of steel with the flexibility of timber for custom made systems that will meet the exact requirements of your job. The joists used in our build (see below)

Fascia and Gutters installed / Windows delivered

 

At the end of the day today the fascia and gutters were in place. The colour we've chosen is Surfmist. We actually thought the colourbond roof would also be at least started today, but obviously this has not happened. I wonder how quickly the roof can be done.
Without the roof in place, we were worried any rain would damage the first floor flooring boards. Our site supervisor has advised us not to worry and that rain will not affect the flooring boards.

Also noticed that the windows and sliding doors had also been delivered sans glass. They were all stacked up in the garage space except for one sliding door, apparently the one we upgraded post contract. We are unsure when these windows and doors will be put into place. It will be interesting to see how this is done. 

Progress - Frame stage complete

The framers worked hard all of last week to finish off the ground floor frame and then almost finish the first floor frame too. First photo below shows the modification we made to the rear wall. You can now see that it includes a large opening for a sliding door in the rear wall. An important variation since we now have vision into the back yard. It will also make our living space more bright with natural light.

The next couple of photos were taken on the weekend. You can see the entire structure now. The roof trusses are in place. You can clearly make out the location, heights and sizes of all windows and doors. You can do a real walk through the home. It feels larger walking through the house frame than walking on the open slab. We're certainly not building experts so we will be hiring a private building inspector to check over the house frame.

So my understanding is that frame stage is now complete and that the frame stage inspection will happen some time this week. Fingers crossed that CG obtain an outstanding report. Our site supervisor seems confident.

The scaffolding that can be seen surrounding the house has been erected in preparation for the next stage - where they install all the colourbond - the fascia, gutters and roof (which we upgraded). Our understanding is that this is happening this week (and potentially start of next week), then the scaffolding comes down middle/end of next week. This is also time used to rectify any defects identified in the building inspection, before the hebel guys start on the external cladding on October 1.

Progress - Ground Floor frame almost complete

The ground floor frame of our house is almost complete. Took 5 days. I met our site supervisor on-site on Friday and he seemed pleased with progress. We did a walk through the house and he outlined what would happen next. He's confirmed that our house frame may even be complete by next week and certainly by the week after next. This is exciting.

This is the view standing in the corner of the garage and looking out towards the street at the front of the house. You can see the large floor joists overhead. These will create the floor of the first story. The first picture is the view standing at the back of the house and looking along the entry passage back towards the entry to the house.

This is the view standing on the front boundary of the property looking at the front of the house. The large steel structural beam spans the entry of the garage. This steel beam is supported either side by steel uprights that appear to be secured into the slab. Walking through the frame of the house gives you a great sense of the size of the rooms and the height of the ceiling. It's starting to feel real now.

We are concerned about something a friend picked up on. Left is a photo of one of the upright beams supporting the large steel structural beam spanning the garage entry. You can clearly see that it overhangs the slab. It also seems to be bolted into a section of the slab that does not appear to be finished as well as most of the other parts of the edge of the slab. We have no idea if this is a reason for concern or not. It may be perfectly normal. In any case, I will almost certainly ask our site supervisor about it on Monday. We really hope this is no problem.

Progress - Frame going up

We checked progress on-site at end of day on Monday (a fine weather day) and we were pleased to see some of the frame structure already up. We also noticed the rear wall had already been put up (see photo below).

You can clearly see why the wall needs modification. Having no window(s) means it limits the view of the back yard. It would also reduce the amount of natural light coming into the living room.

Through the day yesterday we concluded our discussions with CG regarding the variation to add a sliding door to this rear wall. It must be noted, CG were very helpful and prepared to work to our needs with this variation. We reached an agreement on the price, and while the cost is still very high (after all, we are just adding a sliding door), we now have a much better understanding of the costs involved, and have decided to proceed with the variation. Most of these costs would not have been charged had we made this variation prior to signing contract.

A PCV was raised immediately and plans re-drawn to reflect the variation.

We were concerned the variation hadn’t been communicated to the framers on-site when we saw the rear wall already up. But we were assured today they were aware a change was being made and that it was all good. The rear wall needed to be up so the framers could keep going with the rest of the frame today.

At the end of the day today, it's obvious the frame guys got through a great deal of work because they've almost finished building the entire ground floor frame. This work completed, despite the ferocious winds lashing Melbourne today (and still howling outside as I type - I hope the frame structure is strong and sturdy!!!).

So frame is progressing well. We're told the large steel beams laying on the ground on-site will be positioned tomorrow before the framers start on the first floor frame. We'll meet our site supervisor out on-site on Friday to check progress. At this stage, everything seems to be progressing really well.

Frame Start: 3 September 2012

Last Friday we noticed that our slab had been marked up with pencil outlines for the frame. It was really good to do the virtual tour of the home. You could get a great feel for the spaces of each room. Today we're really pleased to see that the framers have started on our frame. The timber and steel that will form the frame of our home is now on-site ready to be cut to size and put together. Today some of the timber had been roughly laid out and we're hoping that with fine weather forecast for tomorrow, some good work can be done.

We also hope to finalise discussions with CG regarding the rear window/sliding door variation I mentioned in the last post. They've been great at listening and working to try to accommodate our needs. Interestingly, CG have now introduced a new house design, the Stamford42, which includes this exact variation (ie a sliding door to the rear living room wall). We're hopeful we can copy this design for our Hyatt38. The reason we never picked up on this design issue with the Hyatt is that we never actually went outside to the back of the Hyatt on display in Cranbourne. If you take the time to do this, you will see what we're talking about. The back wall of the house really does need a second window or even better, a sliding, stacker or bi-fold doors, especially if your block has a back yard that faces north or east.