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

Final New Home Inspection

We had our final (pre-handover) inspection with New Home Inspections (our private building inspector) this morning. Except for the fly screens and mesh sliding doors, all the small fixing items (eg toilet roll holders, towel rails), the glass splash backs in the kitchen and laundry and the appliance installations, everything inside this house has been completed and was ready to be inspected.

Overall, we're happy to report that our private building inspector was relatively satisfied. His full report will be available to use shortly, however, we thought we'd just run through some of the items identified.

1. lack of articulation joints in our west facing hebel wall
2. scratches to glass in some of our sliding doors
3. some walls and door frames out of plumb; most notable along the first floor gallery passage
4. the biggest issue was the powder room vanity being almost 12mm from horizontal (the plus side of this is that our SS already picked this fault and even before I called him, had contacted his cabinet makers to get them back to rectify this work. That's great preemptive management. We can only hope the rectification works for this vanity are easy and that they don't damage the stone bench top.

Since the kitchen glass splash back is not yet in place, our inspector advised us to ensure that before the splash back goes on, the correct process is to make a cut-out in the wall plaster the width of the stove top (directly above the stove top) (roughly 150mm high) and pack this space with hebel. This has something to do with fire rating, as plaster behind the splash back may not be fire resistant. We called our SS on this too, and happy to report that this will be done and indeed is a requirement for glass splash backs above open stove tops. Good building CG.

The last issue we'll discuss here are the cracks in our garage floor slab. CG are adamant they are only surface cracks. The fact is they don't know this for sure and so we don't either. The concern with these cracks is that, while they are not defects right now (ie greater than 2mm crack would be a defect), they are obvious now and can only get worse over time. We have knowledge that water - say from the wet tyres of  cars parking in the garage after driving in rain - can penetrate these cracks, reach the steel reinforcement within the concrete slab and then oxidise the metal. This would lead to weakening within the slab, further cracking or worsening of existing cracks and reduce the long-term integrity of the slab. We will discuss this with CG next week. At the very least, we have documented the issue now and would hope it never becomes a defect or a problem. We imagine a good builder would want to manage this now and preempt any potential future problems and claims.

Painters are finishing off their works tomorrow. We have our pre-handover walk though with our SS on Monday. Looking forward to this.

Carpet Complete; Site Cleaned; Temporary Fencing Removed

Just a quick post here to inform that the carpets are now complete; master (including WIR) and study on the  ground floor plus entire first floor (except for wet areas). The temporary barrier fencing has been removed and now our property looks more like a home than a building site. Scoria has been applied around most of the house and the site has been generally cleaned.

The first two photos below show the front facade of our house. There's still a small issue with that little retaining wall to the right of the garage. How CG can't see it looks unfinished is a little beyond us, however, the issue is in the hands of management so we will see how they respond.

The last two photos show our first floor stair landing and gallery passage. The carpet looks great and we'd highly recommend upgrading to the best underlay you can afford since it gives that feeling of softness and springiness under foot. The stair rails still need to be sanded and stained.

Given the carpets were delayed a day, the painter was rescheduled to tomorrow (Friday) and as a result, we have pushed our pre-handover walk through with our SS to Monday morning. We will still attend an on-site meeting with our private building inspector tomorrow morning to inspect the build quality of this house. We are hoping this will be a really positive meeting with no unexpected surprises.

Timber Floor Complete; Termite Barrier installed

Our timber floorboards are spotted gum. We absolutely love the colour. The flooring looks fantastic. It really adds depth and character to the home. Where we thought the conservative whisper white wall colour was too plain, now we're quite pleased as your focus is now drawn to the flooring.

The floorboards have been installed really well. We've used floating floors before and the attention to detail with this job has been second to none. We met the guy responsible for most of the CG timber and floating floor installations (including the bolero products commonly used in CG display homes). He obviously knew his stuff and even spent time with us to explain how to care for and maintain the timber floor. If you want this type of look in your home, talk to Adam at Jackson Flooring.

Those with a good eye will also notice we painted the kitchen bulkhead and the entry passage wall a feature colour (it's actually a Haymes colour called Eureka). We're so glad we did this as it really defines the kitchen space and works really well with the spotted gum flooring.

The only thing left for the kitchen is the glass splash backs, and then the appliance installation (which we're told occurs on the actual day of handover).

The other works we noticed that had been done are the concrete slab works, which we're told are all complete now (in fact our SS sent us the design engineers report certifying his approvals) as well as the installation of the termite protection barrier. You can see this in the photos below, the orange line that looks like a pipe running next to the slab. This will sit under the landscaping, out of site.

Nearing Completion ... One Week to go ... Fingers Crossed

This photo taken late Sunday afternoon. With one week left on this build, we hope this sky-writer is working for Carter Grange, with a simple message expressing some love our way as we near completion!

With a pre-handover walk-through scheduled for this Friday morning, CG still have a sh#@-load of work to complete. They say it will be done, who are we to question. We know carpets and floorboards are booked and will be done. We know the painter will be back on Thursday to finish off. We see major works being undertaken to rectify the slab issues, but it's yet to be confirmed when these works will be completed and certified. Same deal with render issues. All plaster works are pretty much done, except they still need to put cornices on the bulkhead above our laundry over-heads. Caulking and sealing still needs to be done. Plumbing works, including digging storm-water pipes much deeper (at present some or not even 50mm deep), still need to be done. Electrical works still need to be done. Glass splash backs and mirrors still need to be done.Fly screens and sliding mesh screens still need to be done. Handles still need to be done. Site clean and rubbish removal still needs to be done.

We had a look at CG display homes today to get a feel for how this business finishes everything off. We'll compare notes at the walk through

Here are some photos:

Vinyl sliding doors in the laundry. We love our mega-spacious laundry. It really has that wow factor. 

Mirror sliding doors in master WIR

There were guys on-site through the week cutting back all the dirt and concrete around the edge of our slab. They were cutting back to the vapour barrier (the black plastic) in such a way that the slab edge can now be inspected. They also attached more new black PVC sheeting. We had a good chat to one of the guys, who confirmed that fixing these mistakes was not a very fun job. Why CG didn't get this mob to pour our slab in the first place, we're not sure, be have now been assured the vapor barrier and the function it serves, is correct.

You can also see the work down on the front portico. Due to the garage step down issues, the portico front edge will be exposed. To get around this CG have agreed to render the area directly beneath the rendered column.

Now the vapour barrier (black sheeting) has been replaced or repaired pretty much all around the house. This is along the front of the house.

The view from our living room, across our dining space and into the kitchen. We are thinking of painting the bulkhead.

The door to access under the stairs has been installed. It was suppose to be plain MDF, which could then be painted. It's actually been made and finished in a gloss type layer, which apparently cant be painted. Will need to look into this and find out why it wasn't done  correctly.

One thing is for sure. It looks good and is highly functional. This was a really great variation.

Bits & Pieces - This Home Almost Complete

This home is almost complete and we're doing all that we can to ensure it's completed to high standard and on time.

The plasterers were back to fix up the faulty bulkheads, complete the plaster reveals for our under stair door and to make good all wall areas where there were defects in the plaster (eg other trades trying to find cables, pipes, etc in the walls behind the plaster) (they missed a repair under bench at the dish washer so will need to return anyway).

The tiler was back to finish off all the tiling. We have chosen porcelain tiles (Majestic Ivory) and they look fantastic. Tiles are found in all wet areas including the laundry. The stairs from laundry into house have been tiled and they look absolutely fine. No concerns there.

During all this work, we noticed the handrail for the stairs had been damaged; a chip had been taken out of the hand rail - we mentioned this to our SS and today, this handrail was completely replaced. Great service from CG.

Also, regarding our carpet. We went into Byron Interiors on Monday to re-select our carpet since our original choice was not in stock. We chose a similar colour from the same range (Cat 3 Riva). We also noted another colour we liked, but this colour was only available in a different carpet range (Cosmopolitan) - which was a Cat 5 carpet and therefore more expensive.

Anyway, today CG called us to inform that again, our re-selected carpet was not in stock. Before we even had a chance to complain, our administrator apologised and then suggested that CG would be willing to provide us with the Cat 5 carpet (the upgrade) at their cost (ie no extra cost to us). We accepted this offer and feel that this is excellent customer service once again. Really well managed. Thanks CG.

We're now really just waiting for our glass splash backs, mirrors, wardrobe sliding doors (Crystal), flyscreens and sliding mesh doors (A&L) and kitchen appliances (Harvey Norman). We were lucky enough to bump into Craig from Crystal today on-site, and he's confirmed that he's now all measured up and should have his work complete next week. Just in time. We've scheduled a pre-handover inspection for Friday 15 Feb with our SS and New Home Inspections. Hope all is done by then.

The couple of remaining external issues requiring attention are:

1. Retaining wall: apparently done to plan, but looks unfinished and unsightly as is. Will need to discuss this with the construction manager. It just stops (with an H bar at the end) and really looks like it needs one more length of sleeper or something. See what you think.

2. Concrete slab issues: will touch base with our SS on Friday to see if these have been attended to and if so, to get a copy of the relevant certifications for the works.

3. Render issues: need to render the front portico and clear away soil along the edge to ensure a clean and sightly finish. Especially the case since our driveway will be at different height to the portico.

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.