Occupation Certificate

While we were doing the PCI yesterday, the site supervisor again mentnioned how we might not get past council due to the large 'drop' on the front patio, and the drop on the laundry landing. The laundry landing,they had to fill as per the plans so I wasn't too concerned about that, but the front patio, Kel and I were against having steps there from the outset.. we really did not want this. Here is some images of the areas concerned..

Front Patio 

Laundry landing

As you can see, there is quite a drop for both areas.

Our SS had already booked a guy with a bobcat to come and fill around the laundry as per plans, and also to re-fill under the driveway as some had been taken away in the rains. I asked if he could fill the fornt to bring it up to the level of the porch slab so we would not require stairs.. he said he would try.

Anyway, council turned up before any of this work had taken place, and failed the inspection with the items:

• Provide balustrade and stairs to laundry landing
• provide suitable steps to front entrance.
•  complete retaining walls

Retaining walls we always knew we had to do, but the other two items failed the inspection. I went and had a look after work and the work was completed, so I was a bit concerned as to where to go from here, so sent the builder a quick email.

After worrying about it overnight, the builder got back to me... The council inspector must of re-inspected after the first failure, and has now issued the interim occupancy certificate! It is an interim as we need to do retaining walls after handover and the retaining is the only item outstanding on the interim! So looks like the earth works have satisfied council and we no longer need steps at the front, laundry or balustrade!

So now, the pics after the earthworks.. still a lot of landscaping to do, but there is clearly a difference!

Front porch area. We plan to fill the entire front yard and retain at the boundary so the yard is flatter

front yard/porch

Another angle of front porch

Laundry landing

Laundry landing

Laundry landing

Laundry landing/Alfresco. Looks much flatter!

So now, no hold up with the bank(as they wanted an OC) and we should be on track for handover on the 10th June, and moving in over the week and hopefully fully moved in by the 24th June!

Practical Completion Inspection! Get ready for picture overload!

We are finally there.. at the pointy end of the project. Practical completion was completed today, with a few issues outstanding. We have a tentative date for Handover of 19th June!

Some of the issues - mostly small issues so I don't think we have a lot to worry about at this time.

• Chip in island bench(about the size of half a match head)
• Tops of doors not painted
• Lots of scuff marks/paint touchups required.
• Some small drill holes to be filled and painted
• Small chip in one drawer
• No carpet
• No shutters
• Driveway needs fill compacted underneath after rain washed some away
• Driveway not painted
• No flyscreens
• laundry door is hard to open(door bends when trying to open)
• Some backfill around the laundry landing
• Brickwork clean - small issues all over but a lot from the brickies doing our neighbors house
• Some bricks require mortar fill
• Some levelling of floors in rooms adjacent to wet areas
• Some door handles requiring adjustment(loose)

And now, some pictures:

Kitchen

Furniture recess with joinery and mirror

Kitchen

Ignore our bags on the bench. I really need to change that power point on the island bench to be less conspicuous.

Fan in the living room

Kitchen area with fridge recess in the background - water point to fridge

SMEG oven

NBN Comms equipment for Fibre to the Home(FTTH)

Great room(Fancy name for living room)

Great room

TV Bracket for our new 60" LED-LCD

Mirror recess

Great room

Looking to the main bedroom from ensuite

Ensuite

Ensuite shower

Ensuite

Just another kitchen picture

Kitchen workbench

Study Nook

Bella's room

Spare room

Looking towards Emily's door from the study nook

Air conditioning control

Main bathroom

Main bathroom

Main bathroom

Main bathroom

Desk in Emily's room

Emily's room

Emily's room

Island bench with Microwave and Dishwasher

Microwave

Splashback with powerpoint

Oven - again

Dishwasher

great room and mirror in background

And again..

Not all that happy with my phone actually.. Many pictures appear blurry.  I should of used our Nikon.. Ahh well, plenty of time for that very soon! :)

A day of shopping

So, Harvey Norman had a sale on for today only. We went and had a look around.. came out with empty wallets!.

We have been planning a new fridge, as the existing one is going to be used as a 'beer fridge' complete with 3 taps, and should hold 4-5 20 litre kegs.

The TV, well, it is still working somewhat, although the speakers are shot.. so we have a cheap stereo running the sound. As the kids were keen on a 3D TV, we also purchased a 3D blu-ray player. The old TV will still be used, and I still need a 'sound bar' rather than using the cheap stereo we have at the moment.

And a dryer, we have not had a dryer for many years. Where we are living at the moment, the clothes line is in the shade all day, and with the kids using at least 3 sets of clothes per day, it is hard to keep up! We wont be here much longer, but we always planned to get a dryer anyway.

So, here are our purchases for today

680 litre fridge that makes kell happy! :) Plumbed water and ice maker.

LG 60" LED-LCD 200Hz 3D smart TV

LG 3D Blu-Ray player

Clothes dryer

Have asked that the delivery of the fridge and TV be delayed until handover and they were OK with that! So once we have a handover date I simply call and ask for a delivery on the day we require!