So... It would seem that things are going to be moving at a snails pace again.
Our internal and external doors were delivered last week but these have not yet been fitted. The chippie who works on our house is lucky to spend 4 hours on site (on the days he bothers to turn up) so I'm not holding my breath for the doors, skirts and architraves to be fitted any time soon.
Even though we were at 'lock up' late January we still do not have the house secured. There are temporary doors in place for the front door and garage internal entry however these are not locked or secured in any way. This annoys me soooo much as I have busted people having a sticky beak through our house. Especially now with the timber floors, timber stairs and cabinetry in I'm even more concerned about the hose being unsecured. To top it off the chippie hung the garage internal entry door so that it swings into the garage and HITS THE STEPS!! I'm mean seriously.... Who does that!?! Before hanging a door wouldn't you check to see that it won't hit anything. The door can't even be opened all the way. I understand it's just there temporarily but it's the possible damage to the stairs I'm worried about.
I'm also annoyed because I arranged for our tiles to be delivered (also paid for by ourselves) because I stupidly listened to the builder when he said that the external doors would be delivered, fitted and house locked up last week. This now means I have 1.5 tonne of tiles in my garage which I cannot deliver on site because the house isn't secured. I can't even park in my garage now.
Our kitchen has not been installed but this would be because I gave the builder strict instruction that anything I have paid for (I purchased the kitchen doors and panels as well as the microwave and bin that is already fitted) is NOT to be left on site whilst the house is not secured. I did not want to risk damage or theft to these items as they're not covered by the builders insurance and they cost me 1000's.
I was rather annoyed that two of our bathroom basins were left on site (we supplied these ourselves too) so I took these today as I didn't want to risk them being stolen or damaged. I did initially supply the cabinetmaker with three basins so I'm hoping that the cabinetmaker only took two on site - otherwise it means that one has already gone. I hope that's not the case as those were expensive basins!!
I had a good look at the internal window frames today. There is only one that isn't damaged or warped. I suppose that's what happens when they're left outside exposed to the weather for months because the framing took so damn long.
I've tried to remain patient with this build and have not blogged about any of the negative things but it is becoming increasing difficult when it has now been twelve whole months and we STILL are not locked up and secure.
To top it off it appears that tradies do not give a shit about damaging property. We have had chips taken out of our plaster walls when the doors were delivered, corners dinted, our timber deck was covered in cement from the brickies and now it's stained by the acid used to wash the bricks. The brickie was THE MESSIEST brickie I have ever seen. How he managed to get mortar across all the windows (if I didn't know any better it looks like he threw it on the windows on purpose) I'll never know. There is still some mortar on the windows even after the acid wash. I am afraid that some (if not all) of the windows have been scratched from the mortar. I will not be accepted scratched windows and these will have to be replaced. The walls that the plasterer sanded back (the plasterer was magnificent too, he straightened all our walls as the chippie did a terrible job of 'straightening' them) now have timber glue on them from the guys who laid the timber floors.
I'm sick of paying for furniture storage as originally we were told we would be in by Christmas. As a result of the delays we cannot put our current home on the market until we move which means we will be paying two mortgages until our home sells and settlement takes place.
Just between storage fees and additional mortgage payments this place has blown out by 10's of 1000's of dollars just in delays.
I understand that a custom home on a difficult site takes longer and is more difficult to build. However I would expect that after 12mths the house was locked up. I would also expect that when paying top dollar for a home that the tradies would take a little care around the place.
I cannot wait to move in and hopefully have the headaches behind us.
I will not tolerate dinted walls, window frames that are not straight, scratched windows or any other sub-standard work. Before we signed the build contract I advised the builder that I was VERY fussy.
I'm getting over it very, very quickly.
