I 'Googled' the name of the house we are building with Porter Davis and found all these blogs of people in very similar circumstances to us. I thought 'what a great idea! What a fantastic way to keep a record of our progress.' So here is my attempt. We are a family of 6 building a just-right sized house west of Melbourne. Feel free to travel along with us.

About Me

I'm a woman with many interests but very few skills. I'm committed to trying to make the world a better place and one that we can share peacefully. I want people to be respectful thinkers. I have a husband but I don't think that defines me. I also have kids who I love dearly and am so proud of. We have a dog.

Tuesday 24 March 2009

Staircase issues....again..

Well, I didn't realise it has been so long since my last post. It's really only been plastering that has been happening for the last couple of weeks.

We got a bill for 'lock-up' before the bi-folds had gone in so I told them in no uncertain terms that I would not be paying for 'lock-up' until the house can, in fact, be locked up. However, I have now paid the huge bill and the bi-folds are still not in!! The brickie had been waiting for a lintel to arrive before he could finish one last row of bricks above an upstairs window, the scaffolding couldn't come down until the brickie had finished, and the bi-folds couldn't go in until the scaffolding came down.....After much discussion with the SS (who, by the way, is wonderful) I agreed to pay so the rest of the work can continue. The upstairs bricks are now complete and washed and the scaffolding is down, so I expect some bi-folds very, very soon!!

Since the plastering has been completed there has been a bit more action. The internal doors have arrived and are stacked up ready to be hung (which is a bit of a worry since we can't lock them up inside and they may go walking..) and the staircase is in the process of being installed. Unfortunately, it's the wrong staircase! The staircase has always been an issue as we were told initially that we couldn't have what we wanted and then the wrong description was included in the contract. After I pointed out the error it was rectified in a post-contract variation, but unfortunately that variation didn't seem to make it to the carpenter. So Graeme visited the house the other morning to find the guy there installing quite obviously the wrong posts, which makes the whole staircase totally wrong!!! Shit! Shit! Shit!! Please excuse my French...

Anyway, after a couple of phone calls, the SS admitted that there had indeed been a mistake, but they will continue installing the wrong staircase so they can use it when they fit out upstairs, and then replace it with the correct staircase later. Oh, if only they had got it right in the first place......

Still, that is just a minor hiccup which PD are quite happy to rectify so I am okay with that.

4 comments:

K AND T said...

Hi Mandy,
No need to pardon you French....I'd be saying the same thing! Why, oh why can't they get these things right from the beginning???? How hard could it be to even just staple the variations to the original? Totally understand your annoyance on this. Stay on their backs and make sure they don't put this one in the too hard basket.
Really looking forward to seeing some completed brickwork photos.
K.

BelleBeau said...

Hey Mandy,

it's soo frustrating that there is so much waste in building. We are plastering at the moment and the amount of plasterboard etc outside is amazing.

Make sure you keep checking everything. Variations are the one place they do stuff up alot from what I have read. At least you can still get in and have a look! So that's a positive!

Plastering seems to take forever doesn't it?

Cheers
J

R&C's Brookvale 45 Home said...

Mandy,
congrats, youv'e come to the stage where you need to make lists. Ours is now 4 pages long (mostly minor) but it is really worth doing otherwise you forget what you have forgotten is wrong. At least things are progressing even if it is the wrong staircase.

We held off our lock up payment until it was locked up and we are currently holding onto our fit out payment which is making them a little annoyed, however we have the building inspector backing us up that they have not finished yet.

Hope to see some plaster photo's soon.

R&C

NoShitSherlock said...

Thanks everyone, it's so nice to have an understanding ear isn't it??!! R&C, I will start on my list, but either we are not very observant or there really isn't much to complain about so far ( I prefer the latter.. lol) PS - I LOVE your garage door! I can't really remember the colour of the one I selected, but I'm really hoping it's the same as yours. :)