Windows and doors and wires Oh my

not to mention plumbing and solar......

....well here is the thing about the solar, despite taking pains to contract a reputable solar company I've managed to contract possibly the most incompetent in the industry.

The fact that they were a week late doing the installation we can live with, whats not so easy to accept is them installing 70% of the system on the wrong roof, and a south facing roof at that (NB in southern hemisphere solar systems should generally be north facing).

It turns out that the solar company we contracted to do the work didn't send the installers a copy of the drawing I sent them which identified the exact location of the installation, and when the installers found they couldn't fit the system on the front roof they contacted the site supervisor who told them to install the rest on the adjacent roof (ambiguous but technically correct)... it just strikes me as remarkably dumb that given a choice of two roofs that fitted the bill the installer chose not to use the larger of the two or the most northerly facing of the two!

We are not happy!

Font with Solar Hot Water and PV system on NW roof

SW roof of house with solar panels in wrong place

NW roof without solar panels

The rest of the week has gone pretty well, windows and exterior doors have been installed, as has electrical cabling and pipework, the Window installers managed to break one of the panels on the patio doors, but that's the builders problem not mine.

We had a meeting early on Tuesday with the electrician who was very helpful, we set the locations for all the sockets.

After the cabling was installed I went in and drilled more holes in the noggins for routing the network and AV system cables, since I didn't have enough time/daylight to route the cables, I just installed mouse lines rather that risk the dry liners getting the jump on me and buttoning up the walls before I could install the cables this weekend..

Patio Doors

Bathroom Plumbing

Hot water system plumbing

Next week the bricklayers and dry liners go in... which means we are probably due a another stage payment, but more importantly it should mean that the exterior of the house is nearly complete and we move into the finishing stages of the Build

Dry lining ready to go

roof (nearly)

This week started off well, roofers went to work... but things started to unravel, got a call mid week from the SS asking if we could postpone the Solar installation on Thursday as the roofers will be delayed, so just advised him to sort it out with the solar installers.....

Thurs morning the roofers did some work but by lunchtime left site with the roof not quite finished, I presumed it may have been to make way for the solar installers, but they have not showed up either... so at the end of the week when we should have had a finished roof and a fully installed solar system, we now have an unfinished roof and no solar system... and frankly I've got no idea why!, and had no word from our SS.

yes it really does look like a barn from the inside... some dry lining will fix that!

We have also had the windows and doors delivered, and occupying a lot of space in the garage.

3.6m wide patio doors

1.2m wide front door

Concealed sliding door frames

oh, and there is a bath in the 'kitchen'

Meanwhile Jill and I have been trying to decide on a letter box, found these options on a local website.... anyone got any preferences... we are thinking something blue/redwood/beige to reflect the roof/door/brickwork colours

Next week we are due to meet the electricians, and I guess we should seen doors and windows installed, and a bathless kitchen

Frame

In three weeks we have gone from this

to this.... have you see the mess these builder make of you garden!

The weather over the past week has not exactly been the best (hence the mud on floor), but fortunately its not been bad enough to hold back progress.

The frame is now virtually complete, we have asked the carpenters to add a couple of extra studs to suit the installation of wall mounted a flat screen TV, and next week the roof is due to be fitted.... and in the name of doing everything apparently backwards the guttering gets installed before the roof.

Hopefully this time next week we will have a completed roof and solar system installed, and hopefully will have started the electrical installation.

Rear bedrooms and far side

Patio

Dining room and Media Room

SLAB!

OK, not quite tomorrow, but it was the day after, given the rain lately its hard to complain.

One feature I do like about Coral slabs, and I notice this is something that few other builders do, is their plinth finish.

On Corals slabs the termite protection system is a visual barrier, which means their slabs have an extended plinth, and they take the time to round the edges, so after the bricks are laid the visible plinth looks tidy, you can see this feature on the pictures below, the unfinished corners will of course be hidden by the frame and brickwork.

Prior to the slab being laid we had something of a near miss though, we have designed the kitchen with a butlers pantry, which required an extra drain for the pantry sink.... and the plumbers missed it, fortunately we spotted the error as soon as the plumbers have finished, and get it rectified before the slab was poured.... It really does pay to take the time to check things out regularly and raise any issues with the Site supervisor.

Slab poured Tomorrow

Today we were expecting the form work team to finish the boxing in of the slab, but when I woke this morning the weather was terrible, and I felt resigned to it being delayed.

On my way to work I drove past the site only to see a van parked on the verge and a rather dejected looking tradie staring out at the dismal weather.... don't blame you mate!

However later in the morning I got a text from my wife saying that the waffles were in already, and in teh afternoon she sent me some pictures of the finished formwork.....

So take a good look, this time tomorrow all this will be under 4 inches of hardening concrete, and baring major earthquake should never seen by human eye again!

BTW got to take my hat off to the guys who got this finished, it really was a shitty day to be working outside, and I am really happy to be the guy paying to get it done rather than they poor sod paid to get this done in such dismal weather!