Day 73: Rear fence installed

Hi Friends,

It's been a while since there has been any further work done to our house. We are currently waiting for Boral to deliver our bricks, this will allow the brickies to start bricking the garage wall and the porch piers. Once this is completed they then install the garage door beam and the beam to the porch, then frame stage is officially completed and lock up stage can begin (according to the builder). So until we see the bricks on site then there won't be any further work.

Although there's no work done to our house but we had the estate boundary fencer installed the rear fence today. It's nothing exciting but at least that is another item crossed of the list. At the moment we have fencing to the right and rear of our block, this is because both our neighbours had moved in. There's still one more side to go.

Anyway this is better than nothing so enjoy the photo's LOL.

Day 67 - Brick Issue

Hi Friends,

Recently we've been told that the bricks we chose during our colour selection is no longer available and we had to re-select the bricks. We were given a list of other bricks from the standard range to choose but upon choosing the bricks we liked on the list we were told they are currently unavailable such as Mocha (actually the majority of the bricks on list are currently not available). We were than advise by our Contract Administrator (C.A) that if we wanted Mocha which is estimated to be available approximately in 4 weeks then they will have to stop work on-site until the bricks are available and they will add the number of delayed days incurred as an extension of time to our building contract.

This is a bit confusing but bear with my explanation below LOL.

We thought in order to not delay work on site and not incurred the extension of time to our building contract we upgraded our bricks to the ones that is currently available (Hmm not the case!!). Upon receiving the variation sheet to sign and reviewing it we noticed that they are extending our contract completion days by 21 days due to delays caused by our unavailable brick, the delay started from the original date the brickwork was suppose to start until the brickwork gets started on site. This came as a shock and disappointment as 1) we weren't told about this so called delay and 2) that it will be added as an extension of time.

I questioned this and told the C.A that there was no delay as there were construction on site during the so called delayed period. The C.A acknowledged that there were work being done on site during that period but the unavailability of the brick had delayed them in commencing the lock-up stage.

In addition I told the C.A that if we were going to incur an extension of time even after we upgraded the brick then we might as well not upgrade and wait for the Mocha, the response we received was if we chose to have Mocha then they will add a further 4 weeks (when Mocha is expected to be available) to the 21 days, so in the end we have to cop this 21 days extension of time on our contract, talk about being unfair.

Anyway I told them I reserved my right to dispute this extension of time later on in the future so hopefully they will complete the construction within the original timeframe so it doesn't get to that point.

Anyone still confused?????

Sorry no photo's for a while LOL.

Day 64: Porch Timber Post Installed

Hi Friends,

The timber post on galvanised stirrup for the porch was installed today along with some treated pine planks sitting on edges of the roof. I'm not sure what the timber planks are for but as long as there are some progress on the house than I'm happy LOL.

Timber post on galvanised stirrup installed at porch. The timber was painted in a silver colour which looks like a steel post.
Treated pine timber planks on the edge of the porch roof top. I don't know what it is for though.

Treated pine timber planks on the edge of the garage roof

Day 63: Roof gutters, fascia's, and valley ribbed installed

Hi Friends,

More progress was made today with the partial installation of the roof gutters, fascia's, and the valley ribbed (i think that's what it's called). We upgraded the roof gutters, fascia's, and downpipes to Colorbond from the standard plain zincalume which gets painted later on. The roof gutters are Colorbond Monument we thought it was black but it seem there's a slight green tinge to it, the fascia's are Colorbond Dune it is a light greyish colour but in the photo it looks like a light peachy colour probably due to the timber frame colour reflecting on it in the sunlight. The tradies will probably finish off the rest tomorrow.

The zincalume valley ribbed sheet installed on the roof edge between the porch and the garage.
Gutters and fascia's installed at kitchen side of the house. You probably wondering why the gutters and fascia's are so high, well I have no idea but I think because the brick parapet wall for bedroom 2 and 3, and garage are all slightly over 3 metres high therefore it needs to match the height.

Bedroom 2 and 3

Rear of house

Alfresco

The roof gutters and fascia's around the garage side and the meal room up to the front of the house still need to be installed, so hopefully it's completed tomorrow.

Day 59: Alfresco roof trusses, steel beam, and posts installed

Hi Friends,

The last remaining section of the roof frame trusses was completed today with the alfresco roof trusses being installed along with the engineered designed steel beam and posts. Now the alfresco looks crampy and small LOL. Anyway lucky we extended the size of the alfresco by 1 metre (cost us a fair bit of $$$) or else it would have been crampy and small. The site is getting very messy so might have to go there on the weekend to give it a clean.

Looking from rear of the house to front

Looking inside the alfresco out. For those of you that wonder how they connected the beam to posts well it was welded together .

Day 58: Alfresco steel beam delivered

Hi Friends,

The alfresco steel beam was delivered today, hopefully it will be installed soon.

Day 57: Meal Room Windows Installed

Hi Friends,

The meal room windows and the steel lintel was installed today that's another part of the house completed. On a sad note the inside of the house is really dirty with alot of mud maybe due to the tradie walking through the house with muddy shoes.

Meal room windows installed with the steel lintel.

Steel lintel for bricks over window to the meal room.

Day 53: Meal Room Steel Lintel Delivered

Hi friends,

There was nothing exciting today except for the delivery of the meal room steel lintel. It will be installed above the window to hold the bricks.

Day 51 & 52: Windows, Roof Bracing, and Temporary Fencing Installed

Hi Friends,

Yesterday, the windows and roof bracing was installed. The colour of the windows is called Colorbond Monument or simply Black LOL. At the moment it is nice and new but let see how long it will stay like that.

Today, the temporary fencing was installed and it looks like the chippies started installing the timbers for the roof tiles, hopefully the roof tiles will start soon so it can protect the timber frames from the rain. My guess it would be that the gutters and fascia will be installed first, follow by the house foil wrapping, then roof tiles.

View from front of house with the master bedroom windows installed. Nice view of the portable toilet I would say.
A closer look at the house front.
Looking at the living room window from the inside. I have to say that's the BEST view ever (our house guests will enjoy seeing those lovely bricks everytime they come over) LOL!!!
The sliding door from the living to the alfresco.
The sliding door to go out to the alfresco.
The laundry sliding door and the little toilet awning window.
Looking at the window for bedroom 3 which faces North (it's going to be a very hot room in summer)
Looking at window for bedroom 2.
Kitchen sliding door and kitchen window. We upgraded the sliding door to go to the little side yard otherwise we have to go through the garage.
If you look closely at the roof you could see the bracing (it's the metal strip running cross way on the roof)

Day 50: Slab fix done & gutters delivered

Hello Friends,

Today the roof gutters was delivered waiting to be installed and the concretors returned to finish off the slab fix. We are still waiting for the engineer's approval letter and the slab fixing plan.

Roof gutters delivered.

Slab fix completed

Day 49: Roof Trusses Partially Installed

Hello friends,

The roof trusses were partially installed today. When looking at the roof pitch on site it looks very high, we upgraded the roof pitch from 20 degrees to 25 degrees. They'll probably going to finish installing the roof trusses for the main dwelling tomorrow and the rest will need to wait for the brickies to start.

They haven't poured the concrete into the foamwork for the frame overhang at the living room area, maybe they do it tomorrow. I was told by SS today that the engineer gave them the rectification plan and the building surveyor's inspector has approved the foamwork, so that is good news.

View from front of house.
I wonder how they're going to get the roof trusses up. It would be interesting to see.

The framers chipped the bracing sheet.