Day 129 Progress

1. Progress to date

We've been a bit slack with updating this blog. Here is the progress to date:

• Bricking of the ground and first floor with the garage nearly finished
• Insulation almost done
• Plaster has arrived
• Eave sheets being installed
• Garage roof trusses arrived 2 days ago

And basically that's it! Things have been moving very slowly. Roof tiles above the dining and outdoor area yet to be done (and cannot be done until the scaffolding comes down). See attached photos for progression of build.

We found out 4 days ago that there was a change in Site Supervisor and Customer Support Co-ordinator. We found out about the SS change when we were chasing him for our independent building inspector - who had tried calling the SS a number of times without a response. This change in SS may explain the slow progress.

Day 96 - Bricking

Day 103 Scaffolding delivered to site

Day 105 Scaffolding erected

Outdoor Area

Day 105 Garage wall

Day 107 First Floor Bricking

Day 121 Eaves installed

Day 121Garage T Bar and Eaves installed

2. Storm Water Drain update

A meeting was held on 20th March with the council inspector, base stage supervisor and plumber on site to discuss the relocation of the storm water legal point of discharge. It was decided to relocate the LPOD further to the right hand side of the property and closer to the existing driveway. We were informed by Building Support Co-ordinator on the 27th of March that the works would be completed ASAP. From what we can see it has not been done yet.

3. Outdoor Brick Pillar

When the pillars for the outdoor room were being bricked we noticed that the middle pillar (due to its depth of 710mm) :

• Took up a lot of space in the outdoor room and therefore reduced the useable space
• Looks intrusive and makes the outdoor area narrow. It looks out of proportion relative to the outdoor area
• Potentially will further obscure the view of the garden from the family room

Yes, the dimensions of the pillars are on the plans that we signed. However, being completely naive to the building process we were unable to visualise and put the scale of the plans into perspective. Furthermore, while we requested for the outdoor room extension we did not determine the pillar size and position and deferred to the expertise of Metricon's designers. We wonder whether this was an oversight because the middle pillar at the front of the house (portico area) is not as deep (470mm) as the other front pillars which are of the same dimensions as the outdoor area pillars. Even our independent building inspector agrees that the middle outdoor pillar could be less deep.

We contacted the SS and Building Support Co-ordinator but were told nothing can be done. We were surprised and disappointed that there was seemingly no attempt to help us rectify this problem. (The pillars were only half bricked when we contacted them about it.) We were assured earlier on in the process by the sales people that Metricon takes great pride in their final product as it is an advertisement of their work. In our opinion, this pillar is an eyesore! And to boot, every time we have friends and family over, it'll be one of the first things they will notice about the outdoor area. 

Day 94 - Front Brickworks started

From what we can see there has not been much progress. Unsure whether further works have been done inside. Haven't had our weekly update from the SS. Called him Monday to ask about the brickworks and found out he had been sick last week. 

After nearly 2 weeks since the delivery of the bricks, the brickies have finally started work at the front of the house today. It was suppose to have started last week but the original bricklayers could not do the job and another crew had to be contracted. 

There was a meeting yesterday on site with the base supervisor, plumber and council inspector. The future crossover and storm water legal point of discharge (LPOD) was marked out on the nature strip ie 2.5 m from tree and 3 m wide cross over. There will be about a 1m gap between the southern fence and the LHS of the aggregate driveway. Plumbers can relocate the LPOD again with the pipe running parallel and closer to southern fence line but have to leave a gap for a future fence post. There was a suggestion that the LPOD be relocated on the other side of the front nature strip tree (which is well away from the future crossover), however, this will require approval by the council engineer. The council inspector will discuss this with the council engineers.

Things that will need to be considered when relocating the storm water pipes to the opposite side of tree:

• Telstra pit and underground conduit/cables 
• Front garden tap
• Potential impact of landscaping 
• Fence posts
• Have we missed anything!!!

We haven't heard from the building inspector about the overhang correction - whether this was done appropriately. Will need to follow up ASAP.

Base and frame

It's been a while since we updated this blog and since then a number of things have occurred including the base and frame of the house! It is now day 68! Once the process began the progress was fairly quick but unfortunately not without issues.

The concrete slab was completed late January/early February and the frame commenced on the February 5th. It took about 2 weeks for the bulk of the frame (ground and first floor) to be completed.

Site preparation

Waffle pods and reinforce mesh

 

Concrete slab with free standing meter box

Frames

The site supervisor (SS) that we had been assigned came on board from the frame stage. The base stage was handled by another person. We only discovered this when we contacted the SS regarding the concrete footings and was referred to the base stage person. 

Issues

Concrete footings

The first issue involved some concrete footings that were dug up during the excavation process. We were unable to contact the demolisher and the footings needed to be removed asap for work to continue so we ended up having to pay Metricon $300 remove them.  

Unexpected gap

The second issue, which we were very unhappy about, involved the distance of the concrete slab on the south side of the house relative to the neighbour's fence. We had requested on several occasions leading up to and including the contract signing day that the house/garage be built as close as possible to the neighbour's fence. Metricon insisted on a 150mm gap between the house and fence and so we were eventually resigned to this gap. To our dismay, the gap is in fact 500mm! We now have 500mm of useless space that we will need to seal off to prevent external access. Furthermore, while this may seem like a trivial distance it may actually impact on the construction of the crossover and impinge on the 2.5m distance set by the council relative to the tree on the nature strip.

Nature strip tree (right hand side)!

Stormwater drain??

A possible further issue, which we are investigating, is the relocation of the storm water drain on the kerb. It has now been moved from it's original position in line with south side fence line towards our future crossover. 

Original storm water drain (left hand kerb)

New storm water drain

Scheduled meetings?!

We had arrange to meet with the SS to inspect the site after the frame stage. One of us made special arrangements to leave work in order to do this as we felt it was important for both of us to be there to meet the SS in person. Unfortunately, on the day the SS was held up at another site and this meeting did not eventuate. He did give us permission to inspect the site ourselves and it was at this time that we discovered the second issue above. We contacted the SS via phone the day after to discuss. Unfortunately, he was in transit and we were at work and so the discussion was brief and some issues remained unresolved. We did learn from the SS that we were supposed to have had a meeting at the base stage. We must have missed the fine print somewhere because we were not aware of this. Furthermore, we had previously (early February) attempted to contact the base stage person but did not receive a return call. 

We sent an email to our building support co-ordinator (BSC) this weekend to express our concerns and to ask for her help with resolving the crossover/driveway issue.

We haven't spoken to the SS about the storm water drain yet. It's something we will have to follow up asap.