Handover date is Nigh...

We received a call from our lovely SS with a handover date. Everything's been booked in for this Friday coming. Fingers crossed if all goes well we will be moving over the weekend :)

Our CLE also rang us to confirm the settlement date. She said she also had a present waiting for us at Mulgrave. I'm guessing it's a toaster or blender.

Now all we need to do is organise the removalists, fencing, concreter, landscaper, mailbox, etc., etc....
OMG it seems like we'll never get to rest... :)

PCI is over and out

We had our PCI yesterday. It went better than expected. Much better :) We were very impressed with not only the quality workmanship of the tradies, but also our wonderful Site Supervisor Kevin.

We found a few issues, all of which were minor ones. The thing that impressed us was Kevin. He was helping us pick out faults as well, some of which were barely noticeable. It's good to see Kevin prides his work and treats everyone's build as his own home.

He didn't give us a date for the final inspection as he needs to book in some tradies, but he did indicate it would be a couple of weeks.

We're getting very excited now and looking forward to moving in :)

PS. We took the camera with us with the intention of taking pics but totally forgot. Sorry all.

One Step Backward

Well the past week and a bit has been a drama for us. Our CLE had called us and advised that the PCI would need to be postponed due to things not being finished on time. Things like our front door not being fixed, wiring getting stolen during pre-plaster stage, tiling and tile grouting not done. Things just seemed to be mounting up. We thought at this rate we'd be lucky to move in before Christmas.

Well I'm glad to say we received another call from our CLE. We've been given a new PCI date :) I won't tell you guys though coz I don't want to jinx it again :) Next time we speak we should (fingers crossed) have completed the PCI and be one step closer to Handover.

Almost at the finish line

We've got exactly one week left till PCI. So exciting!!!! :)

The facade has been finished and our colours look wonderful. The front door has since been replaced (no photo of that yet) but not painted. Our carpet looks fantastic. Nothing like the sample back at Spectra. We didn't realise it had a pattern running through it which is only visible at certain angles.

Now deciding whether or not to visit the house in this last week or leave it as a surprise come PCI? Hmmm.... may not be able to control myself..... :)

The carpet has a pleasant texture to it.

Close up of the carpet

The final rendered facade. I'm loving the colours :)

Our stolen front door. The house was left like this for a good three days. It's since been replaced though.

We are still alive!

It has been the slowest month ever!
At the rate CH was going we were expecting to move in by now haha but alas, PCI is pencilled in for the end of this month.
So where are we up to thus far?
- we got a garage door woot woot~~
- walls are painted BEAUTIFUL! (although, there are still some spots that need to be patched up!)
- sexy red splash back fitted in the kitchen
- tiles to wet areas complete (except for the showers)
- toilet, tapeware, and door handles fitted
- we have lights!
- and our floor was laid today!

rendering and front door to be painted

very happy with our wall colours and the red splash back is divine!

a bit dusty but these are our floor boards

Bathroom

Powder Room

Master Ensuite

Locked and Fixed!!!

So we received our Lock Up invoice a couple of weeks ago, and then BAM Fixing invoice came a couple of days later! It's been a rather slow couple of weeks actually. We're just biting our nails "hurry up and finish already!" lol

Our walls are still raw, painting has been delayed because there are holes in the Study and Master WIR that needs to be plastered back again - they forgot to pull out the wiring for external hot water system. Well, at least it's discovered now!

Still, a breath of excitement for our bench tops and sinks in our Kitchen and Bathrooms are in. Glad to see that our colour choices are working well together so far hehe

Our bricks been cleaned and scaffolding has been taken down and our front facade is looking sooo sexy! Cannot wait for the completed rendering!

Breathe in all the dust!

We are so in love with Carlisle Homes right now! Here's why:

we have stairs!!!

our doors are delivered

and our cabinets and drawers

The men were in to prep the walls for painting before the electricians come out to bring out the wiring. Strange, I would have thought it was the other way around.

Here's some pictures of our plastered walls:

Our Family Room

Upstairs Activity Area

The Master Bedroom

Our WIR leading into the Ensuite

Ensuite leading into the WIR

Gyprock, you rock. We've been Plastered!!!

Hi all. Went to check out the progress today and found 10 men in our home. They all took one large sheet of Gyprock plaster and headed into our kitchen. Simultaneously, they lifted it above their heads toward the ceiling with one hand, and with the other they lifted their power drills and screwed it into place. Each board was in it's place within 10 seconds. It was amazing and fun to watch. Kind of reminded me of the 7 Dwarfs (except that there were 10). Hi Ho, Hi Ho..... lol.

I took pictures but I'm not happy with them. The flash left too many specks on each photo so I'm heading back tomorrow to take some more.

As thick as a Brick

Our lovely GREEN door. Wonder when they will paint it?? May ask them to leave it as is, NOT!! :)

Our bricks seem to slowly be making their way up the wall. Don't worry little brickie, you'll soon meet your  friend the roof tile....

You can't really see it in this picture, but this is meant to be our three stacker sliding door leading out to the Alfresco. Oh yeah, and our plaster is still waiting patiently inside as you can see.

The outer wall of the meals area.

Our beautiful roller door leading into the back yard.

The other side of our house. This is where the laundry leads out to. Jackki's vegie garden will also eventually be going here.

All Wrapped and Warm.

It's been awhile since our last post because it has been too dark to capture the wonderful progress. And oh my so much has happened!
Firstly, our roof is tiled, windows installed and bricks delivered. We are wrapped, insulated and plumbing is complete. Our lights and powers are in place and the plaster has been delivered. And our entrance door is ready to be hinged!
Our home is truly looking beautiful!

Our glowing bricks in the bright morning sun

Awaiting to be touched up with Red Box coloured paint.

The Garage has been wrapped and insulated too. Wasn't expecting that.

Jackki's massive study.

Our plaster waiting in the kitchen.

This is where our kitchen rangehood will go.

Who wants to jump in the bath with me? 

Our Master walk-in-robe

This is our shower recess.

Our electrical, telephone and network cables.

Frame Stage complete

Our Site Supervisor advised us last week that Frame stage would be completed by Wednesday. True to his word we have now been FRAMED!! :>

We organised an independent inspector (NHI) to come in and assess the work so far. The guy was very impressed with Carlisle's work which made us more confident that we did indeed choose the right builder to go with. He only found a hand full of minor issues which the Site Supervisor had agreed were issues and that he would get them attended to.

Our roof tiles were also delivered today, so hopefully we have cover above our eager little heads by early next week.

The only disappointing thing so far is that we didn't take photos to post this time round.

Framed!!!

After a week of rain we are so impressed to have windows installed and framing stage nearly complete! Only the roof trusses remain.

looking very impressive already!

 

knock knock anyone home??

our garage

family and rumpus

family room

We have to look into getting an Independent Inspector to assess the frame as it looks like they're almost done with frame stage. Very very impressed so far with CH. Although we noticed two windows have been mismatched, being placed in the wrong area. Will have to alert them on Monday.
ahhh soooo excited!!!

Half Framed!

Thought we would've had more time to discuss our beautiful slab but low and behold we have half a frame! We went for a drive to the land as we were bored. Didn't expected much since it was raining today but not only do we have our first floor framed; our windows were delivered as well!!! Wish we have the photos to show but it's too wet and dark to capture anything.

So impressed with Carlisle at the moment, hard working people!

SLABBBBB!!!

Our slab was delayed for a few days due to weather but we have a slab now!!!!!!!!!

Isn't it sexy???

getting ready for frame work

our fixed $4596 rock removal.

UPDATE: The above photos were taken on Saturday. Went back today and they're still working. A very dedicated carpenter is prepping the timber for Frame Stage. Keep up the good work buddy :) Still haven't met our Site Supervisor yet, but the Carpenter had only good things to say about the guy. Looking forward to the rest of the build.

Design Review Committee

Although our plans got approved quite quickly, it wasn't without issue - we had to pay a Design Review Committee fee to the Developer's Architect. Needless to say, we were very surprised about this fee as it wasn't mentioned in the contract or the guideline that we would have to cover the cost. We would have thought the Developer would pay for it since it's them hiring the Architect to ensure the guidelines are being met.

We paid the fee to avoid further delays but what are the chances of getting this back...

Site start - We've been scraped!

Yay, our plans got approved with no problems!
Site scrape was booked in for today.
Here's a peak of before and after :D

Our virgin land:

Cross over:

the markings of the beginning. Not as deeply cut as I would have thought:

...time to go home, ducks blessings:

Looking forward to the Slab in two weeks!!!

-J.