One Brick at a Time......

Not that I'm stalking our build or anything but we took another drive by the block today and found no one on site but noticed our brickies had started.

I hope the weather get its poo poo together and gives us a couple of weeks of the good stuff so we can get this well under way.

Plumbing Roughed In, Power On and Bricks Ready to Go!

We got a call today from the electrical contractors to contact our Energy Supplier and arrange for a NMI number, I don't know what it is but I organised it and thought there may be some progress at the block so out we went. We found the plumbing had been roughed in, the meter box installed with our three phase power connected and all the pallets of bricks split open and neatly stacked around the house ready for the brick layers.

Hopefully by the end of the week we should see a good chunk of the brickwork up. There are at least another three MDJ homes going up in our estate so here's hoping that the trades are kept busy locally. Our neighbors are also finally in so it will be good to have a bit of the neighborhood watch thing happening!

Framing Complete and Bricks Arrive

We took a visit out to the block today to see how things were progressing and were closely shadowed all the way out from Windsor by a big Kenworth full of pallets of bricks and funnily enough they were ours!

Our frame is now all complete and its great to see it taking shape. We also saw another two MDJ blocks cut in the release across the road from us which is fantastic as it will being even more trades into the development. Our next door neighbour is also about three days away from moving in so all his fences are down and his site is being cleaned.

Noice Framing!

A flying visit by the Fun Sheriff today found the majority of our frames up and the house really starting to take shape. Some of the door timbers are in, the stacker doors and the windows have all been fixed, so I can only assume we are all on track for the roof by Friday. We also had a call from our Site Supervisor who stated he expects the plumber in early next week to run all the internal plumbing lines and other fittings. In short all is going to plan and we are really happy with the progress so far!

Taking Shape

A visit to the block today saw us with our framing well and truly under way. We had the chance to have a good chat with Steve who was our frame assembler and he was a really nice and friendly guy. He expects to have all the frames up and the majority of the roof on by Friday. All our prior framing issues appear to have been addressed and rectified and I must give MacDonald Jones and Superloc a big pat on the back for their fantastic customer service, consultation and problem solving. But now the pics,

On other fronts we had a few phone calls and letters from different trades seeking to either supply us with blinds or shutters and the offer to upgrade our air conditioner. We a still thinking through these things as at the end of the day they all add to the bottom line price.

The Good, The not so Bad and the Better

A flying visit by my better half today found that our replacement frames have been delivered on site. I don't know if it's just me but there appears to be a lot less then what we had before but the new pack does seem a bit longer, maybe its just the way it's packed? I did notice one damaged wall plate in this pack so I will wait and see where we go with this. I'm not familiar with the tolerances in terms of damage with steel frames but I assume it could only be minimal as there would be little room for adjustment unlike timber.

I did think that we were due to start framing today but perhaps I may be a day off, here's hoping!

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly Part 2

Today was a day of many telephone calls and to my great delight they were mostly to us. By 10.00am we had heard from our Client Liaison Officer chasing up our framing problem and our Site Supervisor who was on site to assessing the frames. Shortly afterwards the CEO of the framing company telephoned from South Australia offering his sincere  and genuine apology and to tell me what he had already organised to get us back on track. Shortly afterwards I was called by the Owner of McDonald Jones Homes, Mr Bill McDONALD to also ensure everything was on track and that we were being looked after.

Credit where credit is due, I must say that each and every person has greatly exceeded my expectations in terms of Customer Service. To receive telephone calls from both heads of companies was fantastic and really set our minds at ease. It demonstrated to us that even though these people are far removed from our end of the build they demonstrated that when things go amiss they are willing to step up and help resolve it quickly and with little delay. If all goes to plan, our new frames will be re-manufactured and be back on site for our initial framing day of Thursday. Fingers crossed all goes to plan.

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

After a week of not being able to get out to site we were to keen to see what progress had been made.Our stormwater had been plumbed in early in the week and the side retaining wall on the neighbours was also finished with a nice new boundary fence in place. We arrived on site to find to our surprise that our frames had also been delivered and our mains water and termite barrier protection was in place . And this is where it all started to go south! But first the good,

And now for the bad,

And finally, The UGLY!








 

On a rough count, there would  be at least fifteen frames that are substantially crushed, twisted or damaged. There is even a stud that has been torn off the bottom plate, some of it looks like a plane wreck and this is supposed to be our BRAND NEW home. I cannot believe that the delivery person would cause this much damage by accident! The group of trusses in the last of the "Bad" pics are half supported by the slab then they have used a couple of busted pieces of concrete and a block of timber to support the entire weight of the stack. I even noticed that one of the trusses appears to have some screw holes in it where a packing brace has been torn off. We were straight on to our CLO for some advice so we will see what arises. To say I'm really, really disappointed would be an understatement!

After having such a predominately trouble free run so far, I hope this isn't a sign of things to come when it comes to contractors and third party trades and services. It really has left a very sour taste in our mouths........