The Humble Fortress

16 Months After Moving In

2011-05-04T22:03:00.006+10:00

Hi Everyone! I've been receiving quite a few emails asking for updates and such. Below is an Email I've sent recently to someone asking for an update. Just so I don't have to keep re-typing the same thing, I've pasted in below:

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Hi K**,

The Liberty is indeed a beautiful home, however we are absolutely not happy with Metricon and how they run their business. During the building stage, we encountered numerous problems and the building quality was nowhere near what you see in their display homes. There were a lot of things they did not even finish. We moved in 8th December 2009 into a sub par quality home and until today these problems have not been rectified as Metricon do not seem to be give a damn.

The timber floors were put in way too early so they're badly scratched, the external capping was never done, the patch work done on the brickwork was never cleaned, broken seals on our shower tiles, very poor paint job, crooked corners, and the list goes on. To top it off, we found out that our house never passed Quality & Assurance! Some important paperwork are missing or were never filed from what I've been told. So at the moment we're back in 'Construction' phase because technically the house is not complete.

We are extremely disappointed with Metricon for not giving 2 hoots about us. It has been a year and we've had about 3 inspections from different teams come to 'fix' the house but never received any follow up. They subcontract to a company and that company subcontracts to another company then when we call them for an update, they have no idea what is going on. We've just had the 3rd inspection last month (we were on holidays then and we were going to file a case with VCAT when we got back) and so far we're getting calls from tradies to get the job done. The company seems to be big mess with the way they run things. When we call them, nobody really knows who's in charge of our house. Our Site Supervisor changed about 4 or 5 times (most left the company saying they're not happy with Metricon and another was fired) and I can't even count how many times our Customer Service Consultant changed.

If I could do it all again, I would not go with another Volume Builder. Metricon are building way too many houses for them to manage at a high standard. It's quantity and not quality with them. Perhaps we ran into a bit of bad luck and you might not have any problems at all, but I do think that the location you're building in plays an important part. We built in an already established area so there were no other Metricom homes being built in the same area. We were the only ones on our street. However if you build in a new estate where there are other Metricon homes going up, they will pay more attention to your home as it's easier to manage say 10 houses in the same area (plus they will be competing with other volume builders in the area).

I would definitely go with a smaller but well established builder who does not subcontract any of their jobs so all their staff and tradies are permanent employees. They might be more expensive, but it will be well worth it. You also get to take your time in choosing your colours and fixtures wheres Metricon (and most other volume builders) only give you a few hours to choose what you want there and then at your Colour Selection appointment. I don't know about now, but at that time they don't allow you to just drop by at the studio whenever you like to have a look at your options. It might not bother you, but I just don't like that whole process at all.

I wish you the best of luck in whoever you choose to go with because you will definitely need it. It's a tiring and time consuming process but well worth it in the end (if everything goes according to plan!) :)

Regards,

G&A

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So that's my update after 1 year and 4 months of moving in. The landscaping is a mess at the moment, but I'll post some photos nonetheless just for you!

Day 422 & Some Good News!

2009-11-04T22:27:00.003+11:00

Since moving out of our rental home and moving in with the mom-in-law 2 months ago (and having no internet access!!! Hence the reason I've been unable to write!), progress on the house has been PAINFULLY slllooOOOoooOOowwwwww. The fireplace flue problem was finally rectified and we thought things were then gonna move along quickly, but 3 weeks later and still no ETA.

Our last site visit was on the 23rd October, 2 weeks ago. The house was cleaned out - floors mopped, benches wiped down, windows cleaned, all rubbish chucked out. A few things still needed to be fixed like:

Garage door is the wrong colour - pale off white instead of a timber colour.
One strip of wall tiling not done in the ensuite.
Sliding door to be installed for cloak cupboard.
Small chip in the kitchen stone benchtop.
Downlights to be installed in Theatre Room.
Wall light in ensuite placed too high up.
Broken powerpoint in kitchen.

This was 2 weeks ago, so I don't know if all these have been rectified or not.

Last Thursday Metricon's Quality & Assurance guys inspected the house and FAILED it with a score of 94% (passing mark is 95%). We don't know what the problems were, but we were told by our Consultant that the problems were merely aesthetic like the bathtub wasn't polished enough, etc. So, on Monday they came back to do another Q&A inspection and we just found out today that it PASSED!!! Yay! We will be doing our Final Walkthrough tomorrow and if we're happy with everything we can pretty much move in after the paperwork is done. Great news! Finally.

To our disbelief we also found out that our Site Supervisor has resigned and will be leaving in 3 weeks. Mind you, he is our 3rd supervisor! He's been instructed to complete our house before he leaves...yeah bloody better.

So sorry I couldn't post any photos! My camera battery went flat and the charger is packed in the box somewhere.....I'll use my camera phone tomorrow and will post some pics I promise! We are so excited!!!

-G&A

Not there yet, but getting closer!

2009-08-07T21:20:00.004+10:00

As of today, we're 38 days over our promised completion date. It looks like we're getting closer little by little but there's still much to be done. Mostly fixing up screw ups here and there and mostly on the electrical side of things. They actually forgot to install the flue for the fireplace at Frame Stage, so now our SS is trying to work out if they can cut out the exact size for the fireplace and install the flue rather than knock down the whole wall.

This is what has happened so far:

Carpets installed
Outdoor decking installed
Light fixtures, switches, power and data points, ceiling fans and some external lights installed (not 100% yet)
Doorbell installed
Some plumbing done
Tiles done (except for Powder Room mirror surround)
Window coverings installed including flyscreens
Security motion sensors installed
Toilets and sinks are in...some tapware not in yet

So we still don't have an ETA yet. SS says all should be completed by end of the month, but we're not getting excited yet. It doesn't include our walkthrough, so we might only be moving in end of September if we find more problems then.

Our Certificate of Occupancy was to be ordered last month, but upon checking MyMetricon today, it's been postponed (for the 5th time!) to the 07/08/2009...today! Yeah right.... It also says Customer Inspection is on 17/08/2009. Fingers crossed!

Grant and I are getting married early Jan at the new house...so the house and landscaping had better be done by then! If not, our guests will have to bathe in mud! Don't think they'll like that very much...

Anyway, time for photo updates!

24/07/2009 - Front door decking complete

24/07/2009 - Alfresco decking complete

24/07/2009 - Guest Bathroom mirror and tiles complete

05/08/2009 - Front Door with light fixture and doorbell button

05/08/2009 - Theatre Room plantation shutters and carpet installed

05/08/2009 - Front door from the inside with shutters

05/08/2009 - Plantation Shutters in Theatre Room closeup

05/08/2009 - Fireplace with missing flue and data point placed too low! Should be ceiling height for the wireless access point.

05/08/2009 - Staircase lighting, one on each side

05/08/2009 - Staircase with shutters installed

05/08/2009 - Upstairs study area with carpet and lights installed. Lights look a little oddly placed.... Data and power points are all correct here.

05/08/2009 - Opened shutters in Masterbedroom

05/08/2009 - More Masterbedroom shutters and venetian blinds for the door...love them!

05/08/2009 - Venetian blinds in Ensuite

05/08/2009 - Ensuite

05/08/2009 - Vanity in Ensuite power points look odd there... Also meant to be a light above the switch

05/08/2009 - Masterbedroom wardrobe with full length mirrors! YAY!

05/08/2009 - Bedroom 4 with light fixture and Holland blinds

05/08/2009 - Balcony/Verandah tiles and railings are in

05/08/2009 - Balcony/Verandah door to masterbedroom

05/08/2009 - Holland blinds installed for large windows (can't really see it here) and downlights

05/08/2009

05/08/2009

-G&A

Tiled and Floored

2009-07-11T23:07:00.006+10:00

Not long more to go! We have electrical fixing, outdoor decking, driveway and some tile work left to be done! I think we will be moving in sometime August...

Timber floors are in. Carpets delivered, waiting to be laid.

Wonder when our feature walls will be painted?

Kitchen

Pantry

Laundry

I find that 2mm of tile on the right rather annoying...don't you?

Kitchen and more

View from dining area

Bi-fold doors have been stained

Guest bathroom all tiled up, but no grout yet.

Ducted heating return air wall grille - upstairs. Carpet underlays have been laid, but no carpet yet.

A rather narrow toilet area in the ensuite...good thing we're not claustrophobic.

Ensuite partially tiled, no grout. And a door in the shower.

More ensuite. Waiting for delivery of extra wall tiles.

Raised floor was meant to be carpeted, but they gave us a bonus of timber flooring instead. SS said they can still lay the carpet if we want, but since it won't cost us extra, we decided to leave it.

Entrance

External painting completed. They did a site clean when we were there yesterday.

Garage plasterwork done, painting almost done.

Heating ducts...oooooooooooh

Shower tap

Alder Moda HS200 (Duo) Rail Shower 99002, we were meant to inform our SS to place the rails higher, but we forgot. Oops.

Linen cupboard handles, same for all wardrobe doors. I'm pretty sure we chose a small round knob at selection. I'll have to check our notes again to be sure.

Gainsborough Contractor 700 Sofia Lever for internal doors

Bathroom floor tiles - (can't remember the exact name as I left the docs with our tiler). It has a rusty look which we thought was quite nice.

Feature tiles for the mirror surrounds - Guest bathroom and Powder room

Feature tiles for the mirror surround - Ensuite. Southern Cross Ceramics, Vista Glass, Fossil (C202-01)

Wall tiles for Pantry and Laundry

Our decking and driveway will be in next week. Exciting! We are getting quite close now and we're growing very impatient! We will be meeting with our SS on site once a week from now on. Looking at MyMetricon, it says Fit Offs will be complete on 13/07/2009 and Certificate of Occupancy will be ordered on 20/07/2009. I somehow doubt these dates are for real, but we can only hope! We still have not been given an ETA.

Till next week!

-G&A

Painted Walls At Last!

2009-06-08T13:23:00.011+10:00

After checking MyMetricon everyday, the painting completion date seemed to be pushed back further and further. Well, as of Saturday we finally have painted walls! We're not sure when they're painting the feature walls, but we're just glad to see something get done. It was very upsetting to see only painted ceilings just a week ago (the day we had the Victory Blinds appointment) when it was meant to be all finished. The tiling should be completed by 12/06/09, but I doubt that will be the case. Lazy bastards. We have only 3 weeks to go, people!

Our appointment with Victory Blinds went well. We added a few extra blinds here and there - stairs, entry door sidelights and ensuite window. To fit our plantation shutters on our wood-framed windows (master bedroom and theatre room), we have to cut out the lever that seals the window from incoming drafts (circled in red). Either that or you can fit the shutters on top of the architraves, which I don't think will look too good. We could just get a pair of pliers if we want to tighten the seal or hang thick drapes.

We chose an off-white colour (Dulux Sago Quarter) for our walls and it looks good against the really white ceilings (from what we could see through the windows!). The difference in colour is obvious. Nothing worse than picking 2 shades of white that look a little too close to each other.

We thought of numerous ways of breaking into the house just to have a look, but we thought maybe not! A good thing we have big windows throughout so we managed to sneak a few shots from outside. I felt like a paparazzi at work. Although I think I need to perfect my craft. I'll bring a ladder next time.

Photos taken on 6 June, Saturday

Entry corridor

Theatre room

Dining area

Living room

Dining / Kitchen area

Looking in from Dining window

Looking in from Laundry door

Garage door - why is there a gap above the door?

Photos taken on 29th May, Friday

Cracks in the foundation - is this normal?

More cracks - this better be normal!

You're so NOT square! Still hasn't been fixed but has been painted over!

I've added 3 links to the sidebar under 'Final Plans' showing all our Colours and Selections. Have a look:

-G&A

Quick Update

2009-05-26T21:15:00.004+10:00

We haven't been able to post any new photos because our house is now fully locked up! I'm happy but at the same time sad because I can't visit and go snap happy when I feel like it. So no photos for this post, sorry! We couldn't tell if some of the plasterwork had been fixed up or not. Our last visit was about 2 weeks ago, so I would assume they'd be fixed by now.

We will be meeting a guy from Victory Blinds this Friday to go through some issues with the plantation shutters we picked. It seems the window handles (for the theatre and masterbedroom) are in the way of the shutters, so he wants to show us what our options are. Works out great because he has the key to the house! I'll be sure to take my camera!

As of today, Metricon has 35 days left to complete our fortress and meet the 1st of July deadline. It doesn't look it should be a problem, but it's cutting it quite close. Just means there will be no room for errors!

According to MyMetricon, internal and external painting will be completed on the 27th and tiling will be done on the 1st June. This means on Friday we should see painted walls! Oooh can't wait!

MyMetricon as of 26 May 09

Progress has been slow...

2009-05-09T22:37:00.005+10:00

Just a quick update to share some photos as it has been ages since my last post. So far we have the garage roof up, raised platform in the theatre room, front door, downpipes, and the most exciting part (well for me at least), the stone benchtops for the kitchen and bathrooms!

It looks like things are moving really slowly now. Painting should have commenced already, but they still have not patched up some of the plasterwork. One of the plasties screwed up the plasterboards (photo below) and that needs to get fixed up before painting. So we're now just waiting, waiting, waiting....

We have been assigned with a new Site Supervisor and met up with him last week (it was the coldest morning in Melbourne ever; 2 degrees and everything was frosty!). Our previous SS left the company :( It was too bad as we were very happy with him.

Now for some photos:

We finally have the garage roof!

Downpipes are in

We now have a real front door

Sheet infills are in

Raised platform in the Theatre room

"Out of square, fix this"

Shelves are in

Prepped up the balcony for the tiles to go in

CaesarStone benchtops in the kitchen. Looking good!

It goes all the way down

CaesarStone benchtop in the powder room

CaesarStone benchtop in the ensuite

I hope my next post will be of painted walls! Till then.....have a good one!

- G&A

Cabinets, Doors and Architraves

2009-04-02T23:44:00.003+11:00

A few exciting things have happened in the past week. We now have cabinets, doors and architraves (80% complete). We also have the kitchen, pantry and laundry sinks put in. Metricon have also done a site cleanup.

I love the look of our laundry cabinets. The lovely contrast between the white and brown makes me jump like a little girl everytime I look at it. And did you see our broom cupboard?? Our pantry is also looking good, although I wish the pantry kickers would match the laundry kickers, but it looks like we matched it to the kitchen instead. Oh well, no biggie.

The raised bit on our kitchen sink counter was meant to be a dark brown (Concept Oak colour), but apparently they could not make it in that colour for some reason, so it was suggested to us that we make it white like the cabinets. But now it just looks TOO white! That raised bit was meant to stand out, but now it just blends in too much. Might give it a paint job with laminate paint from White Knight which is apparently very good. We shall see what it looks like first after the dark brown CaesarStone benchtops go in.

Powder Room - black cabinets

Guest Bathroom - black cabinets

Gainsborough President Style Handles

Ensuite - black cabinets

Fireplace thingamajiggy

Laundry cabinets

Broom cupboard - a place to hang my brooms?? LOVE IT!

Pantry...

And more pantry

Kitchen

Did I mention the Kitchen is a little too big for the house??

Kitchen sink area

Kitchen cabinets

Federation Architraves 67mm x 12mm

BelleBeau's bricks and ours share the same disease!

Last Saturday we went to Harvey Norman just to have a look at a few things. Turns out they were having Super Saturday and everything was way cheaper than other stores - even cheaper than online prices! I was drooling over the Dyson vacuum cleaner, which apparently I'm not allowed to get until our current vacuum cleaner breaks down (might have to 'accidentally' kick it down the stairs...oops!), which was going for only $825! We ended up buying a fridge, home theatre speakers, microwave oven and 2 airconditioners, but no Dyson. Ah well, better luck next time.

We'll be going on holidays for the next 10 days and will be back right after Easter, so no updates till then. We're hoping to see big changes when we come back!

-G&A

Stairway to...........the 1st Floor

2009-03-25T20:56:00.008+11:00

No way was I going to title this post Stairway to Heaven! But in case it wasn't clear enough, we now have stairs!!!

Sexy!!

Check out the rails on that one!

And that one!

*drools*

Rather large cavity in there!

Apart from the stairs, there have been no other changes to the house. We've had a few deliveries which means we should be seeing more changes this week. Our SS have informed us that our garage roof will be coming up this week too. It's finally looking like a complete house now!

Skirtings have arrived...

And our doors!

Mail came in today from a company called Major Carpets. I'm assuming they supply Metricon with all their carpets. It seems the carpet we chose (Feltex plush cut pile, 80% Wool and 20% Nylon) have now been discontinued. Bah! They sent us 4 samples of carpets similar to the one we chose, but we couldn't decide just by looking at small cutouts. They have a showroom on Dandenong Road, Frankston so we might have to take a long drive there to make our selection.

Q: What is wrong with the powder room?
A: We forgot to put in a window! Gah!

-G&A

Ooooh Cornices!!!

2009-03-19T21:29:00.004+11:00

Here's a quick update to say that we have full cornices! In 3 days, they completed all the cornices throughout the house. Impressive!!! We chose the Standard cornice which is the 75mm Scotia design. It's nice to see that they've put in the cornices everywhere; even the wardrobe, cupboards and the storage cavity under the stairs. I thought they would have just plastered the edges. Nice!

I forgot to post a photo of the cloak and powder room in my previous posts. For those of you who don't know it, the cloak room, powder room and theatre rooms were not part of the orignal Liberty plans. It was originally a 5th bedroom with an ensuite. Who needs another bedroom when you can convert it into a cool Theatre room??

Trivia of the day: What is not quite right with the powder room? Answer will be in my next post ;)

Sitting Room and corridor

Standard cornice - Scotia 75mm

Living Room

Cloak and Powder Room

Walk-in Linen and Laundry

Edge of cornice

Masterbedroom wardrobe

Looking out from the masterbedroom

We've Been Plastered

2009-03-15T16:49:00.007+11:00

Progress has been very slow until last week. 3 weeks since my last post, we've seen the painting done for the weatherboards, bricks washed, scaffolding removed and plasterwork. The plasterwork only started last Tuesday after Labour Day. A few small things were done here and there too. Still, a little too slow for our liking.

As you can see from the photos below, all the bricks have been washed. They look so much better now and we're quite happy with them. The colour of the brick is a lot richer and the mortar doesn't stand out so much anymore. I must say the bricky did an excellent job laying the bricks. It all looks really uniformed and perfect. Our SS did well in waiting for him to do our bricks. According to our SS, the bricky got a bit upset when he heard we were thinking of rendering our bricks as he was very pleased with his work. Well, I have to say that we won't be rendering any longer! More money for landscaping and furniture!

Painting of the weatherboards have also been done for front and back of the house. It was painted in Colorbond Jasper. I find the colour a little too dark, but it could be me just being overly critical. We've learned now not to fret over the colours until the whole house is finished as they might all come together nicely in the end.

It's been raining long and hard in Melbourne so everything was muddy and yucky outside. It was painful to see the excess soundbatts thrown out in the rain! We could have used it for something....maybe wrap my partner up with it so I can finally get some silence ;)

I wonder when will they be doing the roof for the garage?? We have about 3 and a half months to go........woo can't wait!

Bricks washed, painting done

Alfresco plastered

Austral's Nougat bricks with natural mortar

- G&A

Brickwork, Weatherboards & Insulation

2009-02-21T15:28:00.008+11:00

Much has happened since my last post 3 weeks ago. We have completed Lockup Stage and we're now in Fixing Stage! According to our SS, we should see some brickwashing, external painting and internal plastering done this week. YAY!!!

Here's what has been completed so far:

External roof lining
Front decorative timber slats installed
Frame inspection
Insulation and Soundbatts installation (except for ceiling soundbatts in theatre room)

Plasterwork will commence sometime this week, but the missing HDMI cables have still not been replaced. There were about 5 green markings on the frames throughout the house from a recent frame inspection, I believe. Doesn't look like much of an issue to me, but if it's been flagged then I hope they fix it up before they put in the plaster!

Hey does anyone know what has happened to Petal?? Her blog doesn't seem to exist anymore.

Latest photos from Thursday, 19th February:

Photos taken on Monday, 16th February:

Insulco Fat Batts

Insulco Acousti-Therm R2.0 Batts

14/02/09 Markings from frame inspection

Photos taken on Wednesday, 11th February:

-G&A

Weatherboards Have Arrived

2009-02-05T23:35:00.003+11:00

One more day to go till the brickwork is complete!!! They've delivered the remaining bricks for the garage and the weatherboards. The solar panels for the water heater has also been installed. Due to the recent heat wave, they stopped working for a week. So now Lockup has been postponed to the 13th Feb 2009.

We've been looking at ways to solve the issue with our ugly bricks. I spoke to our CSC about including render to our contract at this stage and she advised me not to go through Metricon as it will be a lot more expensive. Said she'll give me contacts of people who would be able to do the job for us.

We've also looked at cheaper alternatives to render and we found a possibly good product from Dulux called Full Cover Texture. It provides full coverage for brick mortar joints and surface imperfections. Has anyone used this product before?? It was featured in Backyard Blitz sometime back saying that it costs them only $4000 whereas rendering would have cost them around $10,000. I found an instructional video on YouTube which looked pretty impressive (link here). We are able to source the product for dirt cheap, but we would need someone to do the labour. I'm up for it, but I don't think the other half is! If anyone has had experience with this product, please please send me a message and let me know if it's worth using or not!

Anyway, here are the latest pics!

-G&A

More bricks, wrapping and heating ducts!

2009-01-18T21:40:00.007+11:00

The heating ducts have been put in and the wrapping for the 1st floor is complete. The brickies have also completed the ground floor and have now started laying the garage bricks. Exciting!!! According to MyMetricon, brickwork should be completed on the 30th January and Lockup is on 6th February. I'm not sure when they will be doing the brick wash, but I can't wait for that to happen!

We've received news about our missing HDMI cables (link to post). The electrician supposedly removed them for 'safekeeping' because the cables were not in the contract. He didn't want them stolen. We're not sure how true this is, but we should be seeing them back in the house before the plaster goes in. We should have been notified one way or another if they were going to be removed for 'safekeeping'. Oh well, we're just happy they've been located and are not missing for good.

Ducts in our bedroom

One huge duct

1st floor all wrapped up

More ducts in the house

Brickwork complete

Garage bricks on the way up

-G&A

Happy New Year!!!

2009-01-08T22:38:00.005+11:00

See my previous post here.

We would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year! Thank you so much for keeping an interest in our blog. It's amazing to get 2,716 hits so far! We never thought we would get this many visits :)

A visit to our property yesterday brought us more pain when we saw more of our yucky bricks. The ground floor bricks are now almost complete and they've put up the scaffolding for the 1st floor. A pre-warning to anyone who is getting Austral's Nougat bricks! Please do not got for natural coloured mortar! It is too grey for such light coloured bricks, we've learned a little too late. It's bad enough that the bricks are a lot lighter than we expected. I managed to find a photo online of the Nougat bricks from a showroom (thanks to whoever who took it!) and the colour is a lot richer than what we received. We will wait for the bricks to get washed and will then make a final decision about rendering. We might just render parts of the house.

Nougat bricks in showroom

-G&A

Progress before the holidays

2008-12-20T22:44:00.000+11:00

After 2 months, finally I have time for an update! Progress has been a little slower than expected. Brickwork was meant to start end of November, but our SS was waiting for a particular Bricky who is apparently worth waiting for.

Here's what has happened so far:

All wiring and cables installed
Heating pipes and plumbing installed
Guest bathtub and Ensuite spa installed
Internal doors installed except for laundry/pantry. Front door installed is temporary
Brickwork for ground floor almost complete

Problems so far:

Provision for pipe was in the way of the sliding door between entrance and stairs area. When we made last minute changes to have a sliding door installed, Metricon forgot to reposition the pipe running from 1st floor to ground floor. The problem was fixed within a day by digging into the concrete and removing the pipe. No stress here....
We independently installed some HDMI cables we purchased online. After a week one of the cables went missing.....We're still trying to track it down!
We hate our bricks!!! The brick colour is a lot lighter (more like faded) than what we saw at the showroom. To make things worse, the natural mortar colour does not go at all! Should never have listened to our colour consultant at Studio501 about the mortar colour...boo! hoo!! Now we have to resort to rendering the whole damn thing....

Shitty bricks aside, time for some photos! (in chronological order)

Alfresco roof tiles completed

-G&A

Wrapped Up & Inspection

2008-11-09T14:36:00.008+11:00

We thought it would be a good idea to hire an independent building inspector to come and have a look at what's been done so far; if everything is according to plan, quality of work, etc. I would recommend this to anyone building a house as it's better to locate the problems now rather than when the house has completed. It will give you a peace of mind and might even save you time and money. Metricon has their own 'Independent' Inspector, but how independent, we don't know. We emailed a few companies found through Homeone and Yellowpages. Only two actually rang back! One servicing only QLD and the other was Houspect. The guy gave me a good price for 2 inspections; current stage and after completion, roughly $650 in total. I got the call on Thursday and was able to get an inspector to come in Saturday morning.

We drove up to the property on Saturday morning to join the inspector. He said everything is good except for 2 minor issues:

Downpipe running over the kitchen window as pictured:
Gap above windows upstairs as pictured:

We'll wait for the official report to come in on Monday and then contact Metricon about the problems. It was good to hear him say that Metricon homes are of good quality and normally have no major issues.

Aside from the inspection, the house has now been partially wrapped by '5 Star Building Foils' 329 Weatherwrap Breather. According to their website, the wrap is recommended for use in regions where climate conditions increase the potential for condensation to form and where extra strength and durability is required.

We have been assigned with a new Site Supervisor who gave us a call last week to introduce himself. He said the brick work and wiring will start this week...woo I can't wait!! Now for some photos from yesterday!

Partially wrapped front view

Partially wrapped back view

Alfresco/Outdoor Room

Entrance Corridor

Interior

A&L Windows in Jasper

A&L Windows in Jasper again

Canterbury windows with Black winders

Dog prints!

Broken tiles and rubbish

P.S. Thanks to 'K and T' for informing me that Austral might have ceased production of their Nougat bricks. I rang Austral and was told that the they were in fact having problems with the bricks but they are now back in production and in stock! Great news!

-G&A

Roof Tiles, Gutters, Fascias, Windows and Doors

2008-11-04T10:29:00.007+11:00

As we were drove up our street on the 24th October, the roofers were laying our roof tiles. We were excited to see some live action as this was the first time and even happier to see that our windows have been delivered! We've managed to take pictures of the ground floor only for now. As the stairs have not been installed yet, I haven't been able to go snap happy on the 1st floor.

24/10/08 - Roof tiles get laid

24/10/08 - Bristile Classic roof tiles in Charcoal Grey

24/10/08 - View from afar

29 OCT 2008 - WINDOWS INSTALLED

29/10/08 - Sitting Room Windows

29/10/08 - Dining Room and Kitchen Windows

29/10/08 - Back side view

29/10/08 - Back view

29/10/08 - Staircase Window from outside

3 NOVEMBER 2008 - BI-FOLD DOORS & MORE WINDOWS INSTALLED

03/11/08 - Balcony/Master Bedroom Windows & Doors, Theatre Room Windows

03/11/08 - Bi-fold doors (LOVE THEM!!!)

03/11/08 - Bi-fold doors again

03/11/08 - Alfresco/Outdoor Room

03/11/08 - Dining Room Windows

03/11/08 - Theatre Room Windows

03/11/08 - Front view

At this stage, we've completed the Frame Stage and we're now in Lockup Stage. We're meant to have an inspection for the Frame Stage, but somehow nothing has been organized. Our CSC is really ticking us off! She's so damn useless. She doesn't seem to know what's going on and doesn't keep us informed about the stages. WE have to contact HER to tell her what's going on. Grrrrr!!!

If you'd like to find out more about the building stages, read about Metricon's buying and building process.

I think our bricks should be coming up this week. We are stressing out about the bricks we chose! We chose a light coloured brick (Austral's Nougat colour), but went with the standard mortar colour which from what I was told will be a sandy grey colour. We were told by the colour consultant at Studio 501 not to go with the Off White mortar as it would stand our more. I somehow think that the grey wouldn't go and would stand out like a sore thumb. The idea was to have the bricks and mortar match up to get that rendered look. Ah well, we shall see. Worse comes to worse, we'll get the whole thing rendered or get the mortar tinted. Or maybe we'll have to close one eye....

-G&A

Wall and Roof Frames Are UP!

2008-10-16T21:09:00.011+11:00

We have our wall frames!! This post consists of 3 different visits to the property...have a looksie!

8 OCTOBER 2008 - FRAMES FOR THE GROUND FLOOR ARE UP!

08/10/08 - Front view

11/10/08 - Back view

11 OCTOBER 2008 - FRAMES FOR THE 1ST FLOOR ARE UP!

11/10/08 - Front view

11/10/08 - Back view

15 OCTOBER 2008 - ROOF FRAMES ARE UP!
Our roof frames were scheduled to be up on the 17th, but to our surprise, they came up on the 15th. Excellent!

15/10/08 - Front view

15/10/08 - Back view

15/10/08 - Side view from the garage

15/10/08 - 1st floor from the front

15/10/08 - Right Angle view

15/10/08 - Back view

15/10/08 - Front Door

15/10/08 - Theatre Room

15/10/08 - Powder Room

15/10/08 - Sitting Room

15/10/08 - Laundry and Stairs

15/10/08 - Dining Room/Outdoor Room (Alfresco)

15/10/08 - Living Room

15/10/08 - Kitchen/Pantry/Laundry

-G&A

Waffle Pods and a Slab

2008-10-01T19:14:00.020+10:00

Turns out our slab work was pushed from the 24th to Saturday the 26th. We had a pleasant drive to our block to have a look and see if anything was done. Just as we drove up, the slab guy was just leaving. He must have just finished his work...perfect timing! Looks a little bizarre to see a bunch of Styrofoam laid out for the slab! They poured the concrete on Monday but we couldn't drive up till today. Sucks living so far away from the new property. Would love to watch it like a hawk!

Isn't it annoying when they decide to put the dunny right in the center of the property? I have to take photos from the side from now on. Totally wrecked my 'view-from-the-front' progression pics!

We never actually asked Metricon if they were going to build us a retaining wall...we just assumed they were. But if they were, shouldn't it already be there by now?? Hmm....anyway, here are the photos!

27 Sep 2008 - Slab Preparation

27 Sep 2008 - Waffle Pods

01 Oct 2008 - Slab Complete!

01 Oct 2008 - Junction Box

01 Oct 2008 - One Slopey Back

01 Oct 2008 - View from the back

-G&A

Dirt, Pegs, Drainage and Pipes

2008-09-22T21:28:00.008+10:00

We've been visiting our block a couple of times but decided to post our photos all at once. We don't have a slab yet, but according to MyMetricon, it's scheduled for completion on 24/09/08. I'm still waiting for the call I never received from our CSC in charge of our construction! So unreliable! It's good that I can depend on MyMetricon to view the scheduled dates.

Anyway, here are the pics so far...

13 Sep 2008 - Site cut and filled

13 Sep 2008 - Site cut and filled

17 Sep 2008 - Drainage

17 Sep 2008 - Drainage

20 Sep 2008 - Pipes & Gravel

20 Sep 2008 - Bent Lampost!

-G&A

1st Day of Construction

2008-09-09T23:23:00.003+10:00

Sorry I could not post any updates yesterday as I was busy editing pictures all night!

On Monday I still have not heard from our CSC, so I rang up to confirm that our site start was indeed on the 8th and she said yes. She has not received our building timeline yet but will let me know once received...we shall see if I actually get a call!

We drove up to our site after work yesterday to have a look at what was done on the first day of construction. They've done a bit of excavating and that's about it. Nothing too exciting yet unfortunately! Looks like they're digging pretty deep...I hope our neighbour's house is not gonna cave in! If it does, we'll have to live next to very unhappy neighbours for the rest of our lives, yikes! We didn't think they were not gonna dig in so steep at the fence line. I hope they know what they're doing!

We'll try to drive up again either tomorrow or Friday and post more pics!

-G&A

Construction Starts Next Week!

2008-09-04T23:14:00.008+10:00

I don't think I've mentioned MyMetricon in my earlier posts. MyMetricon is Metricon's equivalent to Porter Davis' 24/7 Online tool, but it's not as in-depth and only currently available in Victoria. MyMetricon only lets you view the stages of your building progress and does not show your plans, contract info, progress photos, etc unlike PD's 24/7.

ANYWAY! I just logged in and noticed a change in the Site Start page...have a look at the snapshot below:

Site Start Page

Are you seeing what I'm seeing? If I'm reading correctly, it says our Site Start is scheduled for 08/09/2008. That's this coming Monday!!! Oooh Oooh...and look at this page below:

Final Preparations Page

Everything has been ticked off! Oooh, but I shouldn't get too excited yet. I have not been informed by our CSC yet, so maybe it's not official. She was meant to give me a call last week to let me know when the site start is, but I haven't heard anything back. What the heck, I'm just gonna get excited anyway...woo hoo!! Is it Monday yet?

-G&A

Structural Variations & Costs

2008-09-02T21:35:00.011+10:00

I thought I'd create a post listing all the structural variations we made that were not included in the base price. We received quite a few questions about the upgrades and how much they cost, so I'll add those details as well.

The base price of the Liberty 38 (Plantation Facade) is $281,900 which does not include site costs. Below is a list of major upgrades we chose. I didn't add the smaller upgrades like doors, windows and such. We increased the size of some windows especially the ones at the Dining Room. They are as big as they can get. We do LOVE the bi-fold doors (since the Bridgeport days!) and just HAD to get them...well TWO of them! They cost $9,768.00 for both...ouch!

You might want to refer to my other post on our Colour Selection Appointment.

Workshop extension to garage - $3,080
Single roll-up door to back of garage in lieu of standard door - $307
Cantilevered Servery to kitchen - $1,100
Re-design Home Theatre Room, Powder Room and Cloak Room - $1,672
Butler's Pantry in lieu of standard pantry - $3,240
Grand Outdoor room in lieu of standard outdoor room - $10,870
Outdoor merbau decking to Outdoor Room and Portico - $8,488
Carpets to 1st Floor and Home Theatre Room - $8,880
Timber flooring to ground floor - $13,635
Tiles to wet areas - $3,036 Read about our Tile Selection Appointment
Curtains and Blinds - $9,494
Electricals - $14,924 Read about our Electrical Appointment
Fireplace and shelving - $9,980
Soundscreen insulation to Home Theatre Room - $480
Outdoor paving - $3,555
Staircase - $1,403
Capped water points to toilets (so I can wash myself after a big dump...pardon my French!) - $309
Adding a door to the area below the staircase - $121

To sum it off, we added another $150,000 worth of variations and upgrades. What ever happened to our "budget"??

-G&A

Building Permits Received

2008-08-22T20:03:00.002+10:00

We got a call today from our SC giving us good news! We've received our building permits....yay! I'm surprised it only took 3 weeks for the council to approve them as I've heard they normally take a lot longer.

Ahhh....one step closer to our dream home...... :)

I've added a blog list to the page. I'm finding it hard to find bloggers who are building with Metricon. Everyone seem to be building with Porter Davis. It's too bad we are not anymore...would be nice to be in the IN crowd ;)
Oh did I tell you that a neighbour down the street from our new property is also building with Metricon? They've already started construction. They're building a different house but chose the same facade as us. Damnit, we thought we were going to have the nicest house on the street! I think I'm going to have a word with them.....hehe

-G&A