Facias and gutters

Tuesday 19 November 2013

On Tuesday the facias and gutters went up! I had been dying to go out and look at the house all week, but couldn't get out their until Thursday! The facia and gutters looked great. 

The roof was due to start on Thursday all pending weather... When I woke on Thursday it was a clear sunny sky! I thought for sure the roofer's would be there. But to my disappointment they weren't! The scaffolding was up ready to go and all the materials on site. Friday was predicted to be rain and storms so I didn't expect anything to start on Friday. I also know it takes two days to put the roof on so didn't think they'd start and leave it over the weekend.

I called the SS on Friday morning to get a  new time for when the roof would be started. It was pouring rain so I knew it wouldn't happen today.  I have a few extra whirly birds I want installed so it is important to catch them on site. The SS said they were on site today and doing the roof as we speak! I was shocked!! 

I bolted in the car and raced down to see the guys. There were 3 young men working on the roof putting the beams across for the colourbond sheets to screw into. I asked one of then if they could put in a few more whirly birds for me in lieu of cash or beer..... He said no worries, we'll take the beer! Sweet! It was too easy! So I left them with 3 whirly birds and 2 cases of beer! 

About 2:30pm this arvo we received some torrential rain!! Probably the heaviest rain I've seen in a long time! I wonder how far the guys got with the roof...... I think my insulation is going to be soaked :-/

Happy new eaves!

Wednesday 6 November 2013

Today was the day! I waited and waited, checking my email constantly to see if the quote for the eaves had been sent through. I held off until 3pm and hadn't heard anything so I sent the construction manager an email. Sure enough, by 2:30pm I had recieved an email with the quote! It came back 1.5k less than what we were prepared to pay.  I was pretty stoked, but also saw, included in the quote was the MJH admin fee of 1k. So really the eaves will only cost 2.5k!

I thought I would try and get the admin fee waved, due to the circumstances of no one explaining our plans thoroughly. I spoke with yet another manager who wouldn't budge on the admin fee, stating I was lucky that they are making a change to the plans during construction. I was so happy that we are getting the eaves fixed that I didnt want to push the issue further. I informed the SS, and he was completely unaware that I was still disputing the eaves. He had already ordered our roof, gutters/facia which is due to be installed on wednesday. He was able to cancel the order, thankfully! So now we have to wait for the plans to go through the appropriate peaople, council, etc. I also received a copy of the amended plans showing the eaves all the way around the garage. At least that happened quickly. I just hope the rest of the paperwork goes quickly so we can get our roof on. All in all, we are very happy and I feel as though a weight has been lifted off my shoulders!

Foil flapping frantically

Sunday 3rd November 2013

We went down to see the house a few times this week, mainly to ensure our foil wrap was still attached to the house! We have had some strong winds and sure enough, the foil wrap had pulled through the tech screws and was now flapping madly in the wind. It started off with just one side coming loose, but now all the left hand side and back of the house had fallen down. I know the builders cant help the weather elements, but I had contacted the SS to let him know it had fallen down a week ago and he informed me that it would be tacked back up. When I last saw the brickies (friday morning) they said they would tack it up. But after seeing it today, it certainly hadn't been tacked up, and no more bricks had been laid! I expected to see the left hand side finished off with the bricks, but it seemed as though the brickies just left at 9am when we left. I couldnt believe that nothing else had been done! So now my foil wrap will flap around and tear some more! Not pleasing!

I still hadnt heard back from the construction manger regarding the quote on the eaves by Friday arvo either. I contacted him and he advised he' ll have the quote ready by Tuesdays or Wednesday. So we wait again..... there has not been much good news at all the last two weeks! We went from a high to now a low.... I just hope things start to pick up again and some positive, happy news comes our way!

On a side note, we have managed to pick out two lounges we really like from king furniture (who wouln't find anything nice there)! We have placed our deposit down on the strata and king cloud. Here are some of the pics.

Not happy Jan!

Wednesday 30th October 2013

I waited all day,  checking my phone every 30 minutes in case I missed the call. I hadnt heard anything,  so I contacted the CLO at 1pm, only to get her message box. Anticipation followed by dissappointment! I went back out to the house and saw the foil wrap had been completed, and the brickies had started. Some positive news! It appeared that the brickies had only started on the Tuesday and they didnt get very far..... I think there is only 1 guy doing it. I contafted the CLO a few more times, but to no avail.

We went home and I was having a shower when my partner started yelling at me to get out. In shear panic, thinking that someone was hurt or something was seriously wrong, I flew out of the shower dripping wet, only to have the phone thrown at me and my partner yelling, " its Suzanne, its Suzanne (CLO)". I answered the call to recieve the verdict of our eaves. The CLO said, "the manager has decided that they will not add the eave as you are too far in now". A part of my heart sunk, only to then instantly feel anger and outrage. I asked what the problem was and why it couldnt be done. The CLO stuttered and hesitantly said it would take too long and cost too much, as plans need to be redrawn and submitted back into council. I knew she was only the messanger and I didnt want to 'shoot" her so to speak, so I requested the managers details and I would follow up the lack of reasons with him. Given the CLO had contacted me late in the afternoon,  I had to wait until tomorrow to contact the manager.

Thurdsay 31st October
I contacted the manager first thing  and informed him that I wanted further information about why the eaves could not be done. He went on to say that its not that it cant be done, it can be, it's just that it will cost you time and I dont think you realise how much it will cost. I was offended by this response, and informed him that noone had even given me a rough cost to fix it. I felt like they had judged me and formed the opinion that I would not be able to afford it. When in fact my partner and I had discussed we would be prepared to pay 5k to add the eaves. We thought what's 5k compared to the rest of the money we have  spent and we want to be happy with the appearance of our house, given we'll be in it for the next 30 years. I continued to inform the manager that I would like a quote and we are prepared to wait the necessary time to have it fixed. I also expressed my concern that noone had gone through our plans with us, and for first home builders, looking at a house plan makes no sense. We would have appreciated it, if someone had pointed out certain things such as the eaves. At that early stage in our build, we didnt even know the dotted line was the eave. I think I did a good job emphasizing how much we want the eave added. At the end of the  conversation, I was informed that the manger would quote up the cost and get back to me. I was satisfied that I had gone from a straight out "NO" to now a quote. There may be light at the end of the tunnel after all.

Still waiting on the verdict of our eaves

Monday 28th October 2013

I contacted the SS at 7:45am, the lack of eave over the garage has been playing on my mind all weekend! However he didnt answer. I tried a few more times during the day, but still no answer and no return call :(. So Mum and I went out to the house after lunch, expecting to see our foil wrap done and maybe even be lucky enough to meet the SS and discuss the lack of eaves! Nothing further had been done with the foil wrap, it was no more complete than how it was left on Friday. Bit disappointing. On the other hand our corner windows had now been installed! Hopefully the foil wrap was done after we left.

The Ss wasnt there so I rang him again. This time I got through and discussed with him my issues with the garage eave. At the start of the conversation he practically stated that it would be a nightmare to do and does not think i'll be able to do get it fixed. I was frustrated and stressed how much I wanted my dream home to look perfect and without eaves on the garage, it would not be perfect! Towards the end of the conversation the SS said there is nothing I cant fix, but its up to MJH if they will allow you to change it now. I had a glimpse of hope that perhaps its not too late to fix it, given the roof had not be instslled.

I contacted the CLO and raised my issue. She advised that she would need to speak with the SS and construction manager and that it would be up to them if it can be fixed. She then said, "but I dont like your chances" . I was told the ss and the construction mgr would meet on wednesday and I would have an answer by then. I really didnt know what the big deal was about adding the eaves. The roof wasnt on and it was a simple fix. 45cm more of steel needed to be added, how hard could it be!  Sn now I wait another two days for an answer.....

No eaves!!!!

Saturday 26 October 2013

So after hearing all the good news about the progress yesterday, mum, dad, felicity, and I, oh and our boarder collie dog Joey visited the house! Upon arrival we could see that the house had been foil wrapped around the bottom half of the frame. I was quite impressed by the thick material used and also the attention to detail. Where the foil was cut to go around gas pipes, it had firmly been taped and screwed back together. It was a very neat job! We also got a better look at all the plumbing which had been finished off. It all looked great and in the right locations, expept our back tap is leaking.

I was showing dad the media room when he said to me, "you don't have eave's over your garage"! I looked up and saw that the frame was defiantly shorter around the garage and definitely appeared to have no eave's. I was gutted! I hate houses with no eave's! Why didn't it have eave's? I thought it did! I quickly pulled out my plans to check and there were no eaves drawn in around the garage! I was so cranky with myself that I hadn't pick this up!! I must have looked over our plans 100 times and didn't pick up on this! Once again it was due to the type of facade chosen! I just wish MJH would advise of the changes caused from certain facades! 

I ran up the road to look at the other MJH houses being built. All of them have eaves around their garages! Mine was the only one that didn't :( I'm so disappointed! On the drive out, I saw a tradie working on an MJH frame. I stopped and spoke to him about whether it is possible to get eaves this far down the track. He said you need to run in by your SS, but it can be done as an extra peice of steel slides over the frame already there and screws into it! 

I really hope we can do this! First thing on Monday morning, I'm going to call the SS and ask if this can be done. I guess if it can be, I'll be hit with the $1000 admin fee for changing something as well as the addition costs in materials! But I really need the eaves over the garage! So spewing I didn't pick up on this! 

On a happier note, our bricks and sand were delivered. Our brick colour looks great, just as we remember it being. Funnily enough, every other house in our precinct has chosen a dark brick except for our neighbors and us, who went for the light brick!! Lol. Here are some pics from today. 

No eves!! :(

No afternoon siesta!

Friday 25 October 2013

So today I expected to see the roof trusses completely finished. So mum and I went for a drive out in the morning. I was surprised to see not only were the roof trusses finished, but the windows, sliding doors and plumbing were all done as well! It looked great! We have chosen white window frames which mum thought were quite bright, but I love that they look so crisp and fresh! The big corner windows for the front of the house were not yet in. This then bought my attention to the media room, which is our front room. Where I thought out tv was going, (right hand wall) there were now 3 small windows up high. Surely our tv could not go under the windows as it would sit too low! I also couldn't make out where our tv recess was going??? This had me in a bit of a bother. :/ There were no tradies on sight nor on any other site either? They must have had a day off from Bingara. So we left to go back home.

I wanted to get an indication on whether our roof will go on next or the bricks and also ask about the media room? I rang the SS in the arvo and asked about the media room. He informed me that due to my facade having corner windows a recess cannot fit in the media room. He also said the tv would go on the left hand wall (backs onto entry recess). It now feels a little back to front (according to my feng shui). But I wasn't too bothered by nott having a recess, at least it won't matter what size tv we get now. Perhaps it would have been nice of MJH to point this fact our during one of our meetings tho. We also realized that we may have to place wooden boards in the frame where we want to hang heavy items, such as the tv, so that the screws have something to bite into. I just don't think the screws will bite into the the thin steel frame very well. The SS said he would give permission for me to go on site and do just that! 

I also enquired about the progress. To my utmost surprise yet again, he said the house is already half foil wrapped and the bricks have been delivered ready to start on Tuesday! What tha!! That wasn't all there this morning! I'm was thinking that the SS may have my house confused with someone else's, but he assured me that the tradies arrived after lunch! He said we were lucky as a bricky had just come back from leave and so he placed him straight onto my house! You little beauty!! We may now get ahead of the MJH behind us which started before us :) I was just dying to get back out there now and have a look! 

Here are some pics of the windows and sliding doors