Settlement booked

Just a quick note to say settlement has been tentatively booked for August 3rd.  Yay!!!

PCI wrapup

OK, so I've been a bit lazy about posting about PCI.  It went fairly well, in that we didn't find any major flaws or problems, although there were still a reasonably large number of minor issues to add to our existing list of items to be fixed or finished.  The inspector identified some of the same issues as us, as well as some that we had not picked up, so I think he was worth the money.

We received the final invoice from Simonds last Thursday, with a credit for $3500 because they hadn't needed a spotter for overhead wires.  Woohoo! We are still trying to find out what happens with the $2500 allocated for the council asset protection, as we should be getting this back at settlement also (provided nothing needs replacing). 
The latest feedback from Simonds is that they should be finished at the end of this week.  I somehow doubt it with what is still left to be done   We've passed on the invoice to the bank so at least that will all be ready for us, and I've started the process of getting our phone line connected.

So here's the list that needed completion after PCI.  I've marked items in green that appeared to be complete yesterday morning, and orange if they are partially done :
- Add hand rail to lower half of stair case in hardwood and stain
- Install flyscreens to all windows and 2 sliding flydoors
- Painting to gable
- Glass and aluminium cover to window sill behind stove
- Clear stain and paint to balcony decking above and below
- Add external infill above kitchen window
- Painting to meter box
- Dining door hinge to be fixed and door adjusted to ensure latching (found this was being held together with an allen key, lol)
- Laundry cabinet hinge to be adjusted
- Add robe hooks  to ensuite door
- Replace and extend tiling in ensuite to meet repositioned door
- Install towel rings in powder room and main bathroom
- Install heating thermostat in study
- Caulking to kitchen splashback
- Powder room door to be adjusted to ensure privacy lock works when closed
- Various painting required on downpipes, and a couple need fixing to brick wall.
- Various mortar needs cleaning on bricks, including garage wall on boundary.
- Various mortar holes need filling
- Various internal painting touch ups and marks to be cleaned.
- Dent and chip in kitchen bench.
- Fill holes in floor from holesaw and safety barrier and gap to stairs
- Chip to front door sill
- Chip to shower base
- Clean grout off stone feature tile in shower niche
- Gas meter installation
- Garage manhole needs finishing
- Ensuite door striker plate needs finishing

Additional from inspector:
- Bricking 40mm perpend joint above garden tap rh side of house
- Bricking Articularion joint does not extend through sill of WC window
- Bricking articulation joint does not extend through sill of Living sliding door
- Bricking articulation joint on garage boudary wall needs caulking
- Gas pipe needs UV shielding
- Water stain on rh side of front entry sill
- Ag pipe scoria has been covered with clay soil, blocking the drainage
- Balcony cladding should have 5mm gap to brick sill
- Nail to balcony support moulding is sticking out
- Back garage door needs sealing top and bottom
- Internal garage door needs sealing top and bottom
- Dining entry door hinges are missing screws
- Dining entry door needs sealing top and bottom
- Powder door is chipped at top right corner
- Kitchen plaster gap between overhead cupboard and window
- Bed 2 cupboard sliding door is out of alignment
- Wall bracing behind return air has been cut
- Heating unit has been installed without the bearers to evenly distribute load.
- Location of the light switch in the ceiling is out of reach of opening

PCI booked...

PCI has finally been booked in for Monday 2nd July at 8am.  I've also booked in an independent inspector to join us and provide a report to ensure the house has been built to australian building standards.  This will help take the pressure off us, so we can focus on the finishing touches of the house.  Even so, when writing up my checklist for the day, I was surprised when it ended up being 10 pages long!  In this case, I think paranoia is a good thing.

...and as I hate to post without providing pictures, here's one of the carpet we've chosen - it's the third from the top.

Driveway

Well, it's been a very slow few weeks, and not much has happened on site in that time, but we've finally had our driveway concreted.

Full frontal

Not much to report this week.  The QA inspection has been pushed back a week to next Tuesday, and we haven't been inside to see what has been acheived, but from the outside we can see that the driveway is yet to be poured, the flyscreens and flydoors are yet to be installed, and the gable painting is yet to be finished.

On the more positive side, we have chosen our carpet - Smartstrand Design II in colour 'Outback'.  I can't find a good picture to show you, but it's a brownish colour with a textured pattern that looks a bit like the grain in the hardwood floor.  It's lovely and soft too, so I'm very happy to have that sorted out. 

I've found some DIY pendant lights that I think will work well over the kitchen bench, but I'll wait until we have the floors in before making a final decision.

Also the temporary fence has been taken down, so we can now properly see the facade from the street.

Landscaping ideas

OK, now that handover is so close, it's time for us to start making plans for the garden.  Of course, this is something we've been talking about since the beginning, but I want to start writing it all down.

So, first decision we made is that we will try to do as much as possible ourselves (except maybe the odd fence and retaining wall). 
The second decision, made very shortly after I realised just how much we need to do, was that we needed to break it down into small sections, and work on one at a time.  We don't expect to do it all in a month, or even in a year.  But we can continue with the overall planning as we go.

Here's an overview of our plan so far (thanks to nearmap for the overhead shot, taken on the 12th April)

Section 1 is easy - Simonds will be paving the driveway.
Section 2 we want to be a bird attracting native garden.
- hardenbergia to grow up the 2 brick columns supporting our balcony
- hops to grow as a screen beneath the balcony in summer, and cut back in winter to let sun in and be made into aromatic beers.
- other natives such as a flowering red gum, and a few grevilleas

Section 2 & 3 will be separated by a path up to the front door.
- we will plant fragrant flowering bushes such as lavendar, rosemary, gardenias, and wax flowers as a border along the path
- we have two dwarf apple trees currently in pots that we will plant between the path and the fence line.  We had a good crop of apples from them this year, but I think we will add to these with some different varieties to extend our apple season.

Section 4 will get a lot of shade, so we're looking at putting our pond here if we can fit it, with a few ferns and other plants that like shade.  We also want to enclose this area with netting so it can become an enclosure for our two indoor cats to enjoy.

Not 100% sure what we're doing with section 5.  We will install a water tank along the southeast wall, and initially we'll just leave it as an access to get equipment into the back yard.

Section 6 will need a bit of a retaining wall on the west side, and this is also directly outside the kitchen, so we might try some planters with herbs that can be picked through the kitchen window.
On the east side we will level out a section to use as an outdoor entertaining area.  We may deck or pave this eventually, but initially we'll probably just cover the area with some nice redgum wood chip.

Section 7 will be our vegie patches and chickens.  We plan to build the vegie patches the same size as the chicken enclosure so that we can rotate it around the beds and feed back into the soil.

Section 8 will be grassed, with more fruit trees scattered throughout.  The grapfruit tree is already there, circled in blue.  We also have a lemon and lime tree ready to plant.
We also need to fit a clothes line in somewhere.

Of course this is only the plan at the moment.  Once we move in and see where the sun goes, we might move some things around, particularly out the back.

Home Stretch

After failing to get any information via email, we organised a site meeting on Friday morning.  As we arrived, a couple of guys were getting ready to do the caulking in the wet areas.  Apart from that, there had been some progress during the week, but mostly just finishing touches to various things.  The biggest change was that the house had been cleaned!  All the blue plastic had been removed from the windows, and everything looked shiny.
The best news was that they have booked in their QA inspection for 5th June.  Assuming nothing major is picked up, our PCI, or final inspection, can be booked in after that, and (again assuming all goes well), settlement is usually a week after PCI.  So, we're looking at handover at around about the 15th June. Yay!!!