We have walls!

Last week was a very exciting week for us. The bricks were finished and the walls went up. We can really see what the rooms are going to look like now. Very happy with what we are seeing. The build is really powering along. Last week was 7 weeks since site cut. So we are really impressed with how much has been done in that time.

  From front door.

  Rumpus & family

 Kitchen

Fairly Quiet

Last week was a fairly quiet week at the house. Our poor little brickie is still chipping along. We had a chat to him when we were out on Saturday and he is so lovely. Very nice fellow and told us he thought he should be finished on Tuesday. So we are hopeful for today. Although when we went for a look yesterday he still has a lot of fiddly bits to go so we won't be too disappointed if he needs another day. It was nice to hear he is full of praise for our site supervisor. Apparently he has known him for 20 years and thinks he is wonderful. He is also a big advocate for Coral. It is nice to know our tradies think highly of our builder as I'm sure they have seen it all. He has done a fantastic job. We have a lot of difficult edges and he has taken the challenge and is making them look perfect.

Last week we also had our friend come in and run all the TV cables for us. Our bath in the ensuite has been put in and the solar panels have gone up. So I guess things are still happening just not the noticeable stuff. We were really excited yesterday to see that the insulation is 75% in and the gyprock and cornices have arrived. Hopefully we will have walls by the end of the week. We are both really excited to see our tiles go in. So for us walls is just one step closer to that. Neither of us are really sure what steps come next so we are getting lots of surprises at the moment. I am looking up all the Coral blogs and threads to try to get some ideas. From what I can figure out after gyprock is plasterers and then waterfproofing. Then cupboards. Then maybe tiles.

Lucky Coral have such a great construction team because our customer service contact is driving us insane. We are being emailed the invoices for progress payments. That night we sign an authority for the bank and send it on to them. Our bank is then removing the funds from our account within about 4 days and sending a cheque to Coral. By the time the cheque arrives in the Gold Coast we are normally about 1 day over the 7 day payment requirement. Which Coral really should understand considering we haven't even received the invoice in the mail from them by then. However, we still get sent a letter asking for payment. Our bank sends us a copy of the letter they send with the cheque. About a week ago we received a phone call from our customer service lady asking for our address as they have had a letter sent back to them. We have told them the address is wrong about 5 times now. They are sending it to our current street address but the suburb and postcode of our block. So my husband rang her and surprise, surprise she didn't answer her phone. I don't think she has ever answered her phone when we have rang. He left a message with our correct address stating we live at Unit 4 ..... Yesterday we receive another letter about an unpaid invoice. The letter is addressed to Minute 4. Really has anyone ever lived at a minute? Common sense people. Then the letter is dated at 19.04.2013. The copy of the letter from our bank that was sent to them with the cheque was dated 16.04.2013. I understand they probably would have received it the following day in the mail so that is why it was sent the first time. However, wouldn't you check you haven't received the payment before you resent the letter. My husband has then emailed our customer service lady with a copy of the letter that had been sent to Coral and our correct address again, and yet again she is on leave. According to the email responses we have had from her she has had at least 3 or 4 weeks off already this year. We are starting to think we want her job because she is never actually working. She is just impossible to contact and it is quite frustrating.

Anyway back to the good stuff. Here are some piccies from the weekend.

Roof and Bricks

I can't believe how much our house has changed in a week. Last weekend we were really excited to have gutters. This weekend we have a roof, half a house of bricks, plumbing and electrical. The house has really progressed and now we can see some of the colours we have chosen coming together. Loving our bricks and are very happy to see they look good with the roof colour.

Looking very different

Wow. Our block of land is really starting to look like a house.

We Have Movement

Our start date has come and gone and our block is now looking very different. We had a slight issue while we were on holidays before the start date. Our portaloo was burnt down. But Coral have now got a new one on site. We have finished our retaining wall and are on track for a slab pour on the 5th of April. Just have to hope for no rain. Finally we have pics of movement on the block.

Site Supervisor

We have been very impressed with our site supervisor so far. We have had a phone call from him introducing himself and letting us know his plan for the first monthish. His current plan is...
21.03.2013 - Cut the block
22-24.03.2013 - We build the other half of the retaining wall
25.03.2013 - Slab pour
11.04.2013 - Frame goes up

It is really nice to know that things have been planned and he is all ready to go. Give us that nice secure feeling.

Hubby had also mentioned to him that he would out on the block during last week putting the retaining wall up so the SS dropped by to meet Jas and have a look at the block. Needless to say we are long the service so far. Very happy to be in the consrtuction zone now.

We are also very excited to now have half a retaining wall built. Jas completed the wall last week and it is really good to finally see something on the block. We are about to go on holidays for a week so will post pics when we are back.

We Have A Start Date!

We are very excited that we got a call on Friday to say that our start date is the 21st of March, weather permitting. We have spent the day sourcing materials for the retaining wall so we can have that done in time for the start date.

Thought this would also be a good time to post a pic of our house plan.

Sorry for the dodgy pic. Best I could do.