Cabinets

We got the fixing stage invoice on Friday, so when we went to the house today (Saturday) we found a couple of chippies working trying to actually finish the fixing stage.  I think they need to work on their invoicing process a bit.  Getting an invoice before the stage is complete, and then ignoring the public holidays and only allowing 4 business days is just bad customer relations, even if they're not going to enforce it.  After all, I don't think they'll be working on easter monday to receive the funds on the due date!
Anyway, the entry still needs insulation, plaster and architraves, and skirting needs to go on throughout the house before the stage is complete.  Even if they get that done in the next couple of days, and we approve the invoice, they'll be getting their money a few days late.

We had a bit of a look around, but didn't stay too long and didn't take too many photos because we didn't want to get in the way, but kitchen and bathroom cabinets are in, and all the upstairs doors - although one had been installed the wrong way. Downstairs doors are being installed as I type, including our front door, so it looks like we might actually be locked up as of today (about a month after we received that invoice...).

Main bathroom

Ensuite (note door should open out, not in)

Kitchen

Front door - to be stained

Marching on

The second half of March has seen continual (if somewhat slow) progress.  Each time I visited there were small changes, without anything for me to get very excited about.  But it looks like things have turned around, and we might get to the final stage before Easter.

Roof tiles finally on...

... stairs installed (no more ladder!) ...

 ... kitchen and bathroom cabinets delivered...

... and internal doors and skirting ready for installation.

Plastered

Well, it's been a slow couple of weeks, but progress is picking up again.

The scaffolding has come down...

...and plaster has gone in, including the ceiling of the entry, which has no roof tiles.  I really hope it doesn't rain in the next few days until the tilers come!

The upstairs in particular looks very different, as there are a lot more internal walls being closed off.

The scaffolding coming down was a major hurdle, so I'm looking forward to lots of things happening this week.

External Painting

There has been a bit of rain over the last week or so that has slowed down progress just a little bit.  Of course it's nothing compared to the floods in NSW and northern Victoria, but it was enough to delay the painters.  The end of this week has cleared up, and the final bit of painting was being done while we visited this morning.  In the big mass of decisions that happens at colour selection, we passed over these fairly quickly, and I had no idea how it would look.  Now with the result, I am absolutely delighted. 

In these pics the triangular section above the hip roof is yet to be painted, but will be the same cream with dark blue highlights.  The cream is the same colour as our garage door will be, so I can start to see how the whole facade will look.  We just need the scaffolding out of the way (booked for wednesday and thursday next week), and the garage roof on (booked for next friday)!

In the meantime we've been correcting a few positioning issues with the cabling and plumbing inside the house, so the delay hasn't been completely wasted.  I highly recommend that anyone going through the contract process makes sure that the heights of everything is explicity specified, as there is no side elevation of electrical positioning.  Don't assume that something is obvious, because if it's not in the contract, it's not their responsibility to do it that way.  For us, we missed specifying the location of the speaker cable - we have free standing speakers, so wanted the cable to run to the floor.  The electrician assumed we were installing speakers in the ceiling.  End result - our cable doesn't run where we said we wanted it, but it's 'correct' according to the plans, so they won't change it.  Oh well, you live and learn.  As my other half said, at least we didn't end up with power points in the ceiling...

Internals started

We still haven't quite reached lockup, but with a roof over most of the house, work has continued rapidly on the inside.
On the outside, we have had eaves installed, cladding fixed to the front of the house and the top metre or so of drainpipes.  All of these still need painting before the scaffold can come down and we can get the final bit of roofing done.

Facade nearly complete

Scaffolding goes straight through the entry roof

On the inside, we've had heating and cooling installed, solar panel fixed, cabling and plumbing done, and insulation in the roof and most walls.  The bath and shower bases have also been delivered and set in place, and the frame for the cavity sliding door has been installed.