Fully Bricked Mate! (Well almost)

Finally some fine hot weather. It fact it was so hot on Monday, our Brickies decided not to show up. We can't win, its either too wet too work or too hot! Nevertheless I'm not about to complain because we are more than happy with the job they are doing on our brick work at the moment.

At the present stage the entire house has been bricked up to at least head height or higher and the bricks look better than what we expected now we can view it in large sections rather than single bricks.

The Brick layers have been great. On the weekend we noticed a broken brick that had been laid. On Tuesday when we spoke to the guys on site and they were more than happy to pull it out and replace it with another. After watching them for half an hour or so it was clear to see how careful and selective they were being with the bricks not to lay any that had slight imperfections. Can't fault these guys as they have been friendly, knowledgeable and very helpful. So far the McDonald Jones Tradies continue to impress.

While on one of our daily visits to the house we were luckily enough to meet the carpenter who will be installing the Kitchen and Study desk etc. It is always great to meet the person building the items in our house that we will be living with for years to come. He was double checking and measuring up benches etc and said work will commence on them and will be ready to install in about six weeks. Very impressive.

Anyway hopefully the next time you here from us we will be happy to report that we are water tight and have a lid on the place, here's hoping!

       

Bricks have arrived!!

It feels like ages since the last mass activity on the block, even though the frames only finished a bit over a week ago. But alas our beautiful PGH Mild Steel bricks have arrived and the first course is already down!

Last week saw the installation of our power box to the side of the house frame as well as the running of all recycled and mains water throughout the house to the desired locations. Along with this, the gas piping and points were installed, as well as all the exterior taps on the house. The frame work is also now totally complete. All in all we are happy with the progress and quality of the workmanship so far!

On another note, I was contacted by the slab supervisor, (like I was promised), to inform me to meet with the concretor on site yesterday, to witness the repairs to the Hob in the garage, which I had raised concerns about a number or weeks ago. To the builders and concretors credit, the work was carried out without hassles and to the required standards. 

I was also lucky enough to meet the bricky, who clearly illustrated to me how the brick work either side of the garage would work in with the overhanging frame. Within a number of minutes, all my concerns were resolved and I was more than happy with how things were going to progress from now on. Full credit to the tradies again! 

Our Site Supervisor also called today to notify us that the things were on track and if the weather remained fine the Brick work should be complete by this time next week when the roofing would then take place shortly after.

If all goes well and mother nature is kind to us, we may even get some internal work complete before the jolly old fat man in the red suit arrives at Christmas. I have everything crossed!! 

Build me a House!

Taken a few drives past the house over the last week and are happy to report that things are taking shape. Termite protection was installed, windows arrived, wall frames and roof trusses were delivered and erected. Starting to look very much like a house now.

Not sure how or what the termite protection is supposed to do when the frame of your house is steel, but hey it might stop the nasty little buggers getting into the furniture??

Putting the puzzle together. Glad to say there was no pieces missing.

One issue we did notice on one of our many detoured visits to the site was that our wall frames on either side of the garage seem to be over hanging the slab by some 120 mm! After secretly taking a look at a number of McDonald Jones houses being constructed in the area, it became pretty clear to me that there had been a cock up made somewhere by someone with either the slab, frames or on the drawings.

Concerned about how this may affect the brickwork on either side of the garage I organised to meet the site foreman on site. After meeting on site to sort out the issue I was informed that it would be rectified in quick time and MDJ would structurally guarantee the work carried out. Fingers crossed MDJ hold up there end of the bargain and follow through in solving this issue in quick time so the brick work is not compromised or worse still held up.

Anyway, the next step that we have been informed of in the construction process is in the lap of the plumber, sparky and brickies. Looking forward to seeing those pallets of PGH bricks next week.

By the way that person, kid (imbecile) with the spray can, bugger off and get a job you low life!

Stay tuned!

Slabbed and ready to go!

Its been a week or two since our last update on progress at the block. This was largely as a result that not much has happened due to poor weather. But to the credit of our concretors, we were able to see the form work completed during breaks in the wet weather and the slab poured soon after.

As a whole I was pleasantly surprised and impressed with the quality and standard of form work, steelwork and finishing of the slab. In the past 7 years, I have been lucky enough (or not) to have supervised a lot of concrete work and would have to say the job that was completed on our slab it was not too bad at all. Pat on the back to the McDonald Jones subbies.

It is interesting to see the difference having the slab poured now makes. To me, before the concrete went down, the outline of the house looked a lot larger to the naked eye than it does know. But I suppose this will change again when the frame work goes up in the next week or so.

Some other happenings on the block that we have noticed, is that the downpipes, recycled and mains water as well as power have all been cut in from the road to the slab ready for the next stage. So lets hope the wet weather racks off for a couple of weeks so some real house construction can begin. Fingers and toes crossed!!! Forgot to mention we also met our lovely new neighbour's (if they happen to be reading) on the weekend, who are also going to be commencing their build hopefully this side of Christmas. Fingers crossed guys the officer you get in Hawkesbury Council is able to get your house approved in quick time unlike us!  

Piering, Formwork and Plumbing Complete

This week brought the commencement of our Piering and Formwork. On Monday morning we we made our way out to the block of land in the driving rain expecting to see no work being complete and the site washed away. To our pleasant surprise we could not have been more wrong. The formworkers were braving the elements and working hard marking out, forming up and drilling the pier holes ankle deep in mud!

It soon become apparent after drilling the first few pier holes that our allowance of 60 lin metres of concrete may have been under threat. This was due to the fact that when the subdivision was in the construction stage, the land that the lots are situated on required filling in order to allow fall from the back of the lots to the road frontages. Hence the reason why our pier holes were having to be drilled deeper in order to get through the fill to an even footing of sand.

In the end we went around 7 lin metres of concrete over our allowance. Not what we were hoping for but at the end of the day it has to be done correctly, because there is no fixing the problem once the house is built.

It was also great to see that the Plumbing for the slab had been roughed in, pods and steel delivered to site and ready to go. We also noticed that we now had a water meter as well. On another note however, we received a letter in the mail from our bank stating that we had a short fall of $340 on our loan which needed to be paid before the next progress payment!! WTF!! We forwarded the letter the our finance advisor who said it needed to be paid to the builder as it was from their end. So we then spoke to the builder who had no idea what it was in regards to, who then said we should speak to the Bank!! Anyway, obviously I have nothing better to do with my time, so I will have to make a thousand calls to someone who knows nothing to solve the mystery!

Levelled and Pegged

Decided to stop by the block this week 20/09/11, to find our land had been transformed from a nice green paddock to that of a construction site. You little ripper!! Melissa our client liaison officer from MDJ was true to her word in saying that we would see some action on site this week. Great work.

Fences are up, land has been scraped and levelled as well as pegged. I also received a phone call from our slab supervisor informing us that peering would occur on Monday next week and hopefully weather permitting we should have the slab poured by the end of next week too. So, great to finally see some progress. Looking forward to a big week to come.

Shame on you Hawkesbury Council

After spending months delayed due to the land not being registered, it was time to experience the proficiency of submitting our plans to council for approval. Our former neighbours who are consequently also building at Vermont at the same time as well (great people if they are reading) had lodged with the Hawkesbury Council a month or to earlier, managed to get DA approval in 12 days! With this in mind we were extremely hopeful we would get approved in the same time frame as we are using the same builder, same land size (within a few sqm's) and were located only one street away! We could not have been more wrong.

As it turns out it all depends on who is looking after your file in council at the time. McDonald Jones lodged the plans with council in the first week in July and it is here everything came to a stop. Persistent phone calls to the council went on deaf ears or we were told that they were under staffed, people were on annual leave or sick. Every excuse under the sun was used but they could not tell us why someone five houses away with the same builder got approved in 12 days. I know technically they have got 40 business days to approve plans but consistency is what we wanted. We did not receive Council approval till the last day in August!! Very disappointing and to think they are going to be our local Council from now on. Lets hope they can remember to empty our bins because as sure as night follows day I know they won't forget when our rates are due!!

Anyway, with this aside things have progressed quickly since the Council debacle and McDonald Jones have been fantastic. Time to start the build!!