Some pictures from the last 4 moths.

The view of the deck from inside (note, we have moved the pink dog house!!)

Front foyer light:

Veggie and strawberry patch:

Basics of the landscaping. This was months ago. It is very different now!

Side fence:

Side fence with the beginnings of a windbreak:

The other side fence. Still not finished!

The driveway!

Part of the gym:

Warranty Issues

I know it has been ages since I last posted, but there has been a lot going on. We are in the middle of trying to get our warranty items attended to. We have had several problems with the plumbing and I am starting to wonder if they will ever be resolved. We had our warranty inspection and it all went well (apart from the fact that some of the things I mentioned weren't written down and therefore not listed and attended too). A word of advice, have a detailed list with you and check it against the builder's list. If they pressure you to sign off that the jobs have been completed, then make sure you take your time and check that they have...

The faults with the paint and plaster were sorted out straight away and we are pleased with the results (it is a pity it needed doing in the first place, but the end result is all good).

Our spa is still faulty. It only works about 70- 80% of the time and we have basically stopped using it. Pretty disappointing as this was one of the main features of the house that we loved when were were deciding what to build. The plumber said the motor would have to be replaced. So who organises and pays for that?

Our powder room still stinks like a sewer about half the time, and not at all the other half. Unfortunately the day the plumber came it didn't smell, so the response I got today was "I believe the plumber has been to your home & done what they could."

I am really worried about the plumbing job throughout the house... there has been problem after problem and there is still water accumulating at the base of the downpipe out the back door. There was an external drain where they had just inserted 90mm pipe into a piece of 100mm pipe and just left it resting there.

Generally everything has been attended to and resolved without delay and I can't fault that... but I feel that these last few issues are going to cause us some grief.

My next post will be cheerier, I promise. I will put up some lovely photos!!

Problems... need to vent

We have been busy shopping for lights,  planning our landscaping and trying to organise someone to build our fence. The landscaping guy has taken ages to build his retaining walls (for the path and driveway) and blames a lack of materials... grrr

We have been getting our lighting and audio/visual stuff done for the last week or two and I will be VERY happy when that is finished! At the moment, it is driving me to the drink. 

I'm getting frustrated with Carlisle now. I rang a week ago about the spa not working. We tried it again on the weekend, just in case it was working, and no bubbles! I emailed them early this week and have heard nothing. I just hope we don't have to wait until the end of our warranty period to get it fixed. That's not on! The gas cooker is playing up too. 3/4 of the time it lights fine, but the rest of the time I can't get any of the burners to light. I have to leave it for 5 mins and then when I try again it usually works. The plumber called me about this, I explained the problem, and haven't heard anything since. 

Yesterday, when I had my shower I had the mixer turned completely to hot and my shower was just warm... not happy! 

The guy doing our lights reckons the electrician who did the house did a lousy job. According to him it was done on the cheap and probably by apprentices.... Not really what I want to hear, and I just hope it's his extremely high standard of work that he is comparing it to... ha ha.... Even the people employed by Carlisle have told me that aspects of the job aren't done as well as they should be... GREAT!

Apparently they are coming to fix the bifolds today (they were put on around the wrong way). That will be great, it's been a pain having them around the wrong way. 

Yes, I am annoyed... Yes, I am frustrated... Yes, I still love the house, it's great. I just want to get things fixed and working properly. 

Impressive!

We have been in our house for almost 2 weeks now and I am so pleased with the way Carlisle have dealt with all of our issues (except the driveway, see below). I have heard so many stories from people about how once that final cheque is handed over, then you can't get them to do anything... but that couldn't be further from the truth with these people... they really have been wonderful.

Things are coming along. We have several quotes for the electrical work (ouch) and we have bought a... fitting lots of eco downlights and pendants, as well as the audio-visual stuff. The curtains have been ordered and will be here in 2-3 weeks hopefully. We are still fenceless, but hopefully that will be done in the next few weeks. They have excavated along the side for the path and retaining wall and have started on the driveway. The driveway has caused us a bit of stress because the builder, or builder's plumber have put a pipe right through where the driveway would obviously go, and very close to the surface. Our landscaper has crashed into it and its broken. It should not have been there in the first place. If the builder had been responsible for building the driveway, they would have put it somewhere else. Now we have to pay to have it moved and we aren't too happy about that.  

Getting Settled and Having a Whinge.

We have been in the new house for nearly a week now and we are starting to feel a little settled. The house has a great feel to it... the layout is fantastic and it really works for us. We are grateful that they managed to get everything finished so that we could move in before our lease expired, but there are so many things that need fixing or things that have just been done poorly (paining mainly) and probably won't get fixed. It's been a week and we still don't have heating/cooling. For the most part, that doesn't matter, but when I'm up at 4am with the kids and it's freezing cold, it does matter. We were told late last week that we need to call them to arrange for them to come out and set it up for us, and then when I called they said they couldn't come for a week. It would have been nice to have been told this before we moved in so that we could arrange for it to be done when we moved in. The bifold doors are on the wrong way around. The single door part is mostly behind our bench, so luckily we are thin enough to fit through the tiny gap. We found this out a couple of days before handover. The guys working here at the time said it would be fixed. When the window person came out on Saturday to fit the fly screens he said he had heard nothing about it and he couldn't fix it. He said it was a major job. He also said that they'd done a poor job fitting the windows. 4 locks were broken already... I hope they fix the bifolds soon. 

We aren't happy with the plumbing. It takes forever to get any hot water and I feel guilty whenever I turn on the hot tap. I am going to have to get buckets for all the sinks, showers etc. According to the guy doing our landscaping they have put a pipe in a really, really stupid place which stops us putting in a driveway... genius. Anyway, we have to pay to get that moved and we are annoyed to say the least!

I know I'm having a whinge, but its so disappointing to get to this point and have things not to the standard we would expect. When I came to the house for handover, I actually asked if it had been cleaned (it had apparently). It was absolutely disgusting, and that's putting it politely. I will be too embarrassed to have people come and visit until I can get things cleaned up a bit. The few family members that have been love the house, but can't get over the state it was in when we got it.... and then there's the apparent site clean.... again, how disappointing! I could tell you what the builders have been eating/drinking for the last few weeks and what brand of ciggies they smoke. There's wire, tiles mounds of concrete etc everywhere... needless to say, the kids won't be going out to play until it's cleaned up.

A few more things... the light in the powder room doesn't work. We bought a new globe, still doesn't work. There are no handles on the wardrobe in the guest room and the door on the powder room can't be unlocked from inside. They have dropped off a replacement, but it looks different to all the other door handles throughout the house! The painting is terrible. There's one bit where they have tried to cover up a mark on the wall and  it looks worse! In our ensuite there are little holes all over the wall in the paint. Oh and I saw a spark from one of the powerpoints. 

The CLE has been fantastic, calling to make sure everything is ok, and sounding willing to fix the things that aren't right. I know we should have picked up a lot of these things when we had our walk through appointment, but we never really had it, and that's partly our doing. 

On a more positive note, a guy turned up this morning around 6.45 am to fix the missing silicone in the showers, so at least we can have a shower now without damaging the walls!! Well in 24 hours from now, because that's how long it will take to dry! He didn't fix the problem with the silicone above the splashback, because he couldn't tell if it was deliberately left that way or not... he did agree that it looked shocking though! 

I think once a few of these problems get sorted out, I will be feeling a lot more positive about things and I will post some photos then. It really is a beautiful house and I just want it to be perfect! 

In Like Flynn....

We picked up our keys this morning and we're in!! I think we had the World's worst removalists and only have half our stuff here... hopefully we will get the rest tomorrow. House is fantastic, albeit it filthy inside and out... but WE ARE IN!! 

Another Delay.

So much for painting over the weekend. We have postponed our painters until Easter which is a pity. We are busy packing at the moment and awaiting the removalists tomorrow morning. I think things could be a bit messy if we get delayed again!! 

We went past the house on Saturday arvo, and someone had left it unlocked! Luckily no one got in and trashed the place... unlikely I know,  but not really a risk I want taken at this stage. Yesterday when we went past there was someone there painting.... the facade looks fantastic now (see below). We had a nice walk around the block and got a real feel for the place. Gee we have a lot of hard work ahead of us! If only we could find someone to do the fences, it would be a good start. 

The view from the back corner:

From the street: 

I have been trying to organise quotes for the curtains. Someone from Kresta came out about a week and a half ago, and I still don't have a quote from them.. on the other hand, someone from Vista came out on Thursday came out and we got a quote the next day..... it's a no brainer really. Kresta are obviously too busy and don't need our business. I'm not sold on Vista though, they really don't have much of a range. So, it will be sheets up for a while for us while we investigate a few more options.