Nearly there

We're approaching final handover now. We've just had an inspection, and they're going through fixing up various issues in the paint-work. There's still a few odds'n'ends to be finished. Mysteriously the garage door still hasn't appeared?! At least the tanks are in their correct site, and are connected up with the septic, pumps and doodahs. We've had a few storms over the last few days, and hopefully they'll fill up the tanks. Everything is pretty wet at the moment, which gives us some good indicators of where we'll need to put in extra drainage.

Fittings

Fittings are going in now. Most of the bathroom fit outs are done, toilets, basins, shower bits'n'pieces, bath tubs. Door handles are going on, light switches, power sockets are in. The security system is in. The kitchen appliances have arrived, but the stove is majorly damaged. Looks like someone dropped it or dropped something heavy on it, judging by the ripped metal plates down the back of it, and the severely bent top. Hopefully it won't take them too long to replace it. The light fittings are all in and working, although we've got a bayonet fitting in each room at the moment until we get an electrician into install fans in their place. Rob's also finding out if it's going to be possible to get the air conditioners installed now rather than waiting until handover.

Painting

The house has been prepped for painting, and the primer coat has been sprayed all through the house. The painting is moving slowly forward. Hopefully it will pick up speed this week. We're really excited to be getting into our new home.

Interior work

The exterior bricking hasn't been finished yet because apparently they ran out of bricks, but they've got a couple more pallets in now, so hopefully it will be done soon. But what's been done so far looks fabulous, and we're very happy with the color scheme we picked out. The interior is progressing quickly though. Door frames, window frames, sills, and skirting boards are being installed now. It's in a semi-locked up state now. The kitchen is being installed, and we're very excited with the licorice color we've picked. The shelving in the butlers pantry is in, although they made a mistake and installed the shelving on one side that we'd asked not to be there. The bathroom cabinets and basins are in. I'm surprised the tiling hasn't been started yet since the waterproofing was done last week, but i see some of the metal edging for the tiling is down, so maybe that will be happening this week.

Interior progress

While the brickwork still isn't progressing the interior has been moving in leaps and bounds. The waterproofing is going in the wet areas, and the tiles have been delivered, and are ready for installation in the bathrooms and laundry area. The ceiling scotia has been completed throughout the house. No sign of the skirting boards yet, but I'm not sure if they're waiting for the floor tiles to go in before doing that? Rob was saying she'd seen the kitchen fitout being delivered the other day, so that could well be in soon too. The brickwork should be resuming soon, since the Termimesh looks like it's finally been installed, and glass pieces have been poured into the footing spaces around the pad and behind the base layer of bricks.

Interior walls

The interior wall lining has started to go in. It's all taking shape now, and we're starting to get a feel for the size of the spaces now, instead of trying to imagine it from the plans.

Interior wall lining

Despite all the rain and disruption at the moment, the builder's have been making fantastic progress on the interior, and we're finally starting to get a feel for what we have wrought. We're very sure now it's not too small! The interior lining is in, with the gib-stopping done, but no skirting yet. The bricklayers were setting up on Sunday, but the weather isn't forecast to be great, so we're not sure how much progress they're going to be able to make on the exterior.

Moving ahead with lining

We had some wet weather again earlier in the week, but it's finally cleared up and things are moving again. The paper lining has gone up on the exterior. The interior wall lining has started to appear. Luckily we've managed to get the plumber to come back and put in the water line for the fridge, and the cable guy has run the HDMI for the media room. Unfortunately, they couldn't run the cable the length we were wanting, and they weren't prepared to put in a signal booster, so we've had to remove the fan from the media room, and go back to a ceiling-mounted arrangement for the projector. We're getting excited as things are taking shape, and I can't wait to see the brickwork start to go in.

Joinery installed

The windows and sliding doors have been installed. The electrical wiring is in, and we were out there today trying to figure out what extra cabling we need to put in for the theatre system. It's starting to get a feel about it now as bits and pieces are completed, and we're getting more excited about it.

The roofs on

Finally the roofs on. The builders have made good progress, and I was impressed to see them out working on it today (Saturday). I'm pretty sure they don't do that in NZ. This week the electrician is coming through, and possibly the air conditioning person. Paper lining should be starting to go up in preparation for the bricklayers starting July 1. Can't wait, because once the thing is enclosed we won't have to worry about wet weather slowing things down any more, and we really need somewhere to live as soon as possible.

More Roofing

More roofing structure has been going up. The actual sheeting should be going up tomorrow. The guttering is on and some of the fascia is starting to go up. Rob's also had an excavator in to cut the section back further on the end of the house, and relocate the dirt to the front of the house, extending the flat space in front of the entrance. The air-conditioner installer came through for a look on Sunday, and he provided some good advice, so hopefully that will be done properly.

Roof Joists

Roof joists are going on now the big rain has finally stopped. Weather's still a bit patchy, but at least things are progressing again, and not too wet. Roof should be going on a week Tuesday. Rob's going to buy the air conditioners this week so they can be installed when the roof's up.

Framing Erected

The framing's starting to go up now. Unfortunately after a couple of days we had a massive week-long rain, so everything's ground to a halt and pretty damned wet. Figure's it's been dry for months, the second the framing goes up the heavens open! Hopefully its not going to set us back to far, since we're going to be needing somewhere to live pretty soon since the relatives are moving over from New Zealand on the 7th of June.

Framings Arrived Early

Amazingly the framing arrived earlier than expected. It had been indicated it could take a few weeks to turn up because of the excessive demand for house frames were causing delays. So it could get going up this week. It's all very exciting.

Pouring the Slab

There's been a stream of concrete trucks heading to and from our land today as they pour the concrete pad. The water tanks also arrived at lunchtime, and we were there to supervise and help unload the massive tanks. We also had some water tanked in today, and replaced some of our neighbour's water that the subcontractors had helped themselves too.

Boxing time

The boxing for the concrete is starting to go up now. They're really working hard, and we've been impressed that they've been out working on the weekends too. Hopefully everything is going to go quickly and smoothly. Rob's taking a few days off so she can get the water tanks sorted out. Hopefully she'll be able to whip them into shape.

Prepping for pad

Ground tidy up is under way now all the plumbing piping and electrical cable has been laid. Foam block and steel mesh has arrived for the pad and will start going down soon in preparation for the pad. The timetable on the water tanks has hopefully moved up slightly and we should have tanks soon. We're currently trying to source some water, but we can't get it supplied from within the water restricted zone, so we have to get it trucked in from some far off location.

Pipes and Cables

The plumbing pipes and electrical cable is being put in today in preparation for the pad going down on the 14th. Looks like they've made quite a bit of progress already, with cable already run up to the front of the road, digging and trenches going on all the way up to the top of the hill, and plumbing pipes visible sticking up out of the ground on the summit where the pad will be going.

Prep Finished

The land preparation has been finished now. Next we'll be waiting for the plumber to come in and do his stuff. The water tanks should be due to arrive on the 14th, but as usual we're not sure about that. Hopefully the tank guy will lift his game. The pad should also be started on the 14th.

We've got some more spraying to do this weekend. In the areas where there isn't any mulch down yet, we're getting regrowth quite quickly. Hopefully we'll be able to afford some more mulch soon to cover the bare areas before they get out of hand again.

Finally it begins

We met with the Construction Manager this morning, and it seems like we're all in agreement on what we want and expect to happen. This afternoon the digger is on-site moving the soil around and shaping the site. They should be there till tomorrow finishing it. We may have to get them to cut us a pad for the water tanks to fit on too, since we're not sure what's happening with those now, and our tank supplier has decided to go overseas for three weeks. So far the tanks and water treatment system have been the only thorn in the process. Hopefully someone will be able to sort those out today, because they'll need to be on the site for when the concrete pad goes down.