Approaching lock up

It's been a month since my last blog update and as usual, there have been periods of lull and periods of really good activity.

The first week or so since my last update not a whole lot happened at the build, although we did see the first of our stone benchtops installed into the master ensuite, kids bathroom and kids powder, along with some basins. You may recall we changed our mind on our benchtops quite a long time after our initial selections and we're really happy we made the switch. The new benchtops are lovely. There was also some framing down to the ground floor roof where we are having bulkheads, soffits and coffered ceilings.

We also made a post-build decision and have appointed Art of Timber as our preferred supplier for the suply and installation of our timber flooring that will go up the staircase, across the landing, down the upstairs hallways and insto the master bedroom and walk in robe. We've chosen a wide board blackbutt in a brushed matte finish. Can't wait to see it.

Early May saw the arrival of our bathroom tiles, which was a little earlier than expected but a pleasant surprise. The rendering team also arrived back to start the cement render inside and outside of the ground floor. They have been on site pretty much every working day for the last two weeks. They completed all the cement render and then started into the final plaster coat. In between the two coats, the glazier was out to install all the downstairs glass.

Two days ago we saw the installation of two temporary doors, one at the front and one between the garage and the mudroom. These were actually locked for the first time yesterday in the first real sign of lock up. Yesterday we also had an on-site meeting with the tiler who talked us through his plan to lay out the tiles for our upstairs bathrooms. He will get started in earnest in the next few weeks. Finally, today, the ceiling fixer team in on site to install all the gyprock sheeting to our ground floor areas. A labourer team was also on site cutting a channel into our slab for the sliding door to the alfresco. It's a commercial stacking door and has an in-built sump drain so that it can sit flush with the flooring that needs to be cut into the slab. We also need a plumber to come out and plumb this drain and also some more brickwork to be done before that door can be installed. Once it's in, we'll officially be a lock up!

Ground Floor Works

There has been a spattering of activity over the last few week post the completion of our ground floor roof cover. 

Firstly the skylight appeared on Good Friday. I had visited site on Thursday March 28th and hadn't seen any progress since the roof cover had been finished. I then went to site late in the afternoon of Good Friday, March 29th and the first thing I noticed was the skylight was now installed! In fact, I didn't notice straight away, I was on site to water the fruit trees, had turned on the water and while walking through the kitchen realised it wasn't as dark as it had been the day before. Looked up and saw the skylight!

Wanting to get a photo of the skylight from the top as well as the bottom, I walked upstairs and that's when I got my second surprise of the day - cabinetry for our kitchenette was in place! I then looked around the coner into the master and sure enough, our ensuite had our vanity and shaving cabinets installed. Returning to the other side of the upper floor and cabinets were also installed for the kids powder and bathroom. A very unexpected, but pleasant, surprise indeed.

Another week passed with no works until the following Friday when two vehicles were parked out the front with a cement mixer. Turns out these guys were here to brick in the kids bath as well as install brick bases for under our bathroom vanity units. The bricked in and rendered over their work. Small steps but steps none-the-less.

We flew to Singapore on 8th April for our first overseas family trip so I'm unsure of the timeline for the next 7 days but I do know the plumbers were on site when we left. Upon our return we found that all the ground floor water lines had been installed, including to our outdoor kitchen area and outside taps and all the upstairs waste piping was complete. At some point the waterproofing team had also been back and waterproofed around the newly bricked in bath and vanity bases as well as giving the walls and floor another coating to the upstairs bathrooms. They also waterproofed the balcony.

This week saw the air-con team come out and extend the piping and ducting into the ground floor living area under the ground floor roof. The next step is for the rendering team to come but we've been told it's a bit of a wait for them (4-6) weeks. In the meantime we can expect a few other small bits done like measuring up our commercial sliding door and construction of the light tunnel for the skylight. It's a bit death by a thousand cuts but we are inching closer to the finish.

In other news we have purchased and received the lights we intend to put in our void and master bedroom and are awaiting delivery of the light that will go over the kitchen island. We have also asked Stannard for a variation to fit out our bar area as we are keen to get the same stone benchtop as the rest of the house before the engineered stone ban comes into effect.

Ground Floor Roof Cover

Monday afternoon I was doing one of my usual drive-by's of our build site on my way home from work and was surprised to see a truck parked out the front making a delivery. Naturally I stopped for a chat and it turned out he was asked to do a late delivery of our ground floor roofing colorbond materials as the roofies would be starting the job the next day.

We were therefore a little disappointed when Tuesday brought about no progress at our site, nor any Wednesday (although there was a brief appearance by the sparkies), nor any progress Thursday. Happily though, Friday saw a team of roofies appear on site and they quickly went to work installing all the ground floor roof cover, including the little bit of roof over one side of the garage. It was a pretty long day for them as they were still finishing off by school pick up time, despite the typically early tradesperson start time.

Another step closer to lock up. Still no sign of the plumbers as yet but hopefully we'll see them, the skylight people and the air-con guys show up. Alternatively, they could come and install the glass to all the lower floor windows and doors, install the front door, alfresco slider and the door between the house and the garage and we'd be at lock up! I'd be happy with either and any progress is good progress.

More Ground Roof + Electrical

After a flurry of activity in the first two days of ground floor roof construction, the roof chippies disappeared for a couple of weeks. However, progress continued on a different front - the ground floor electrical. Speaking with the electricians, it seems the main roof chippie got injured at some point (unsure if on our site or not) and Stannard was organising another team to finish it off. 

The electricians have spent many days on site over the last couple of weeks chasing cables through the spaghetti maze of pipework within the upper floor slab to provision wiring to all the ground floor light switches, power points, internet points, TV points and speaker points. They have then been fitting off the cables into the wall channels that were cut previously. A few channels were missed the first time so they were also marked out and a chasing company came in and did a few more cuts for the electricans to finish. 

The electricans also ran the cabling through the new ground floor roof and into the single storey part of the house. There is now a mass of cabling leading into our garage, where both the electrical load centre and internet hub will be located. Pleasingly, another roof team also showed up to finish off the ground floor roof framing works so that the colourbond could be measured up and ordered. We've already had the guttering and downpipes delivered. Imagine we'll see the roof chippies return once the colourbond material arrives ready for roof cover to go on. 

I also expect we'll see the plumbers come in now and chase the plumbing through the single storey portion of the house and complete the waste piping for the upper floor wet areas. They appeared briefly about two weeks ago to concrete in the bath tub in the kids bathroom, of all things! 

I got the drone out on the weekend so here's a quick whip around of where we're at :)

Ground Floor Roof

Pleasingly we are starting to see fairly regular attendance of trades at our block so far this calendar year. Having had the scaffold removed from the upper storey and relocated to the ground floor (which is at the back of the house, next to the pool) in the first week of February, we've seen a few things happen every few days. First, the came and removed the brick lift and tidied up the front of the block. Next a couple of guys spent a full day cleaning the inside of the house as well as down each side and around the back of other building debris that accumulated during the construction of the top storey. Roofing materials then started appearing on site in preparation for the construction of the ground floor roof.

Yesterday, February 19th, a big mobile crane came and lifted all the wood and steel beams up and over the top storey and into the back part of the block (and where necessary, into place as part of the roof support). Despite it being 40+ degrees, the roof chippies were also on site and cracked on with the construction of our lower floor roof. By the end of the day, pretty much all the horizontal beams had been installed. Today, another 36+ degree day, the roof chippie team had constructed all the pitched beams. They now need to tidy up all the eaves, install the flashing & guttering and horizontal supports across the pitched roof and it'll be ready for measuring up for cover. 

Upper storey revealed

Today we got the first look at our completed upper floor following the removal of the scaffold that has surrounded it since mid June 2023. We are thrilled with how the house is looking, the colours we've chosen and the lineal design style. We really like how the splayed gutters accentuate the house width.

Removal of the scaffold marks an exciting step as construction now moves to focus on the lower floor, starting with construction of the roof at the back half of the house, including the alfresco, which is also under the main roof. We are also looking forward to seeing the light come in from the skylight we optioned to have over the kitchen.

 Once the roof is on, it's back to more render inside and out, installation of the door and window glass, including our large commercial sliding stacker door between the kitchen/dining and alfresco and our wide front door to get to lock up. Lock up is our next formal completion stage and the next time the builder gets cash so I'm hoping that incentive will see us power through the next phase. I've got a bet on with Josh that we reach lock up by March 31st. Two shiny dollars are at stake so fingers crossed!

Ready for scaffold drop!

Hope everyone had a great festive break. Our builders certainly took one with nothing happening at the build between Dec 19th and Jan 17th - pretty much a month, but that's to be expected at this time of year.

Happily, since the 17th, we've seen a few things happen. The first trade back to site was the tiling team, who came and screeded our master ensuite, the kids bathroom and the balcony. The next week, it was the rendering team, who first applied a paint sealer to all our external walls before coming back the next day to apply the acrylic render texture coat to the whole outside of the upper floor. At the same time, the tiling team came back and applied the waterproofing to the ensuite & kids bathroom. The painting team then reappeared to finish painting all the eaves of the house. The upstairs is really looking great!

Best as we can tell, there's nothing left that requires the scaffolding, perhaps just the drain down pipes, so hopefully we see the scaffolding dropped so work can start on the lower floor. At this point, the build looks like a house (upper floor) has been built on top of a construction site (ground floor). 

We're excited to be moving to the ground floor part of the build. The upper floor is more of our "sleeping" zone of the house, while the ground floor is where we're going to do our living, so it will be great to see that start to come together.