Completed flooring and garden

We used black butt for our solid timber flooring.  The thing I really like about our floor is there is no quad around the walls.  It was a very long process getting the flooring done, but well worth it.  We were without flooring for about 4 months after moving in (we didn't get the builder to do the flooring, they don't do solid timber only floating floors).  We needed to have the skirting fitted and then both the skirting and walls painted/touched up.

The lawn was laid in April last year and I think it look great.

A couple days of rain and its so green, the only regret is not installing sprinklers before laying the grass.  Kikuyu Kenda Turf is a great lawn, we were told by the supplier that once it gets established it has low water requirements, but over summer we noticed that sections of the lawn dying. Installing the sprinkles would of made the maintenance easier. Over Summer it needed to be mowed every week, it is a very quick growing grass.

Twelve Month Inspection - and beyond

Sorry it been awhile since I updated the blog.

Lots of things are still happening, lots to do and then there is work.  The one thing that causes everything else to wait.

I will post so photo's of the finished floors, the lawn (Kenda Kikuku Turf) and other things we have been doing.

This post is able the twelve month inspection.

We had the same inspector from PW come and check the house, but PW would only book the inspection after we listed things that needed maintenance. Ok, not a problem until they then ask you to provide the exact location of each item and some instances they wanted photos. The inspector then checks the whole house anyway.  It just seems that PW is try to make it hard to get things done.

We still have outstanding items from handover that have not been completed.  I was required to provide photo's of these items again and was then told the inspector would review them when he visits.

We have had maintenance people there working on some of the items since the inspection and we are generally happy what has been done.

We have one window that does not open or close squarely, its quite obvious that its not square but the maintenance person was told (I believe) that if its closing without a problem then leave it.

We even have one double glazed door that has marking inside the double glazing and neither PW or the glazier will do anything about it. The funny thing is that to be considered a problem you need to be able to see the marks from (i think) 1.5 metres.  Thats not really a problem given you can see then from over 2 metres away.

Don't rely on the build to check the windows, I would suggest cleaning them yourself before handover and gets things fixed before final payment, thats the only way the build will listen!

We have some cracking in the mortar which runs through two bricks, will they replace the bricks? don't know, the inspector said he would speak to his supervisor.  Still have not heard back and its been almost a month.  Time to start ringing PW again.

Its been an interesting experience building our home, I would certainly would not take handover until all outstanding items were completed if I were to build again. 

We love our house, but dealing with the build has been slow and difficult at time.  I have no doubt that I was been a pain to them during this process, but given the money you spend on building, I don't believe you should close your eyes at the start of building and open them again when you are given the keys.