Telstra, final payment, FHOG

Ringing Telstra today was far less painful than I anticipated. Was not on hold for very long at all and have booked in the connection for our phone in a couple of weeks time. I think I'm starting to get this smart wiring business! Once the phone is connected we can ring up and get broadband connected. Not sure we'll have much time for the net in the first few weeks of being moved anyway!
Also sent thru an email to the bank with a million questions, such as:
1. How do we put the carpet on the home loan?
2. How do we put the driveway on the home loan?
3. Does the bank have to inspect our house before authorising final payment?
4. If so, book us in man.
5. How do we organise the final cheque?
6. Where o where is our FHOG?????????????????????
So far I have answers to Question 5 only. haha.

PCI pics!

PCI is done! We have covered our house with little red polka dots and done our best to pin point every little flaw we saw. Our re-inspection is due in 13 days. Fingers crossed everything is resolved by then!
Paid the deposit on the carpet today. Also met with the driveway man who is flat out at the moment but will try to fit us in after handover. Trying to nut out all this smart wiring crap. Will ring Telstra on Monday and have cup of coffee and snacks by phone in case I die of thirst or hunger before they take my call off hold.

Here's the ensuite. Small scratch on mirror. Lots of dirty marks around towel rail.


Main bathroom. Lots of chipped tiles on the floor. Lucky we noticed them. Only did because I was sitting on the bath and hung my head down in tiredness, then went 'hey look at those!' haha


Laundry. Two cupboards have to have the doors replaced. They tried to polyfil and sand the scratches out put there by careless installers. Tsk tsk- how could they ever think that sanding laminex would work?????!


Our splashback arrived 10 minutes into the PCI meeting. It looks brownish but it's not. Trust me. It's 'grey nurse' and we love it!

Carpet shopping, getting prepped for PCI

Went and bought some fluoro green dots for our PCI on Friday, just in case the ss runs out; don't want anything to get in the way of it all going smoothly. Was very tempted to get pink ones, but figured the brighter the better!
Stopped into the carpet shop and shortlisted us to two different colours/types. They are both very dense grey twist pile, one is Redbook and one is Godfrey Hirst. Going back tomorrow afternoon to take samples home so we can take them to PCI and lay them out against the floor tiles.
Also stopped into RACV to get home and contents quotes. Pretty happy with their price, just have to finalise exactly what level of cover to go with and then we'll lock it in.

Flyscreens, tiles fixed

Couldn't get in to the house, but noticed the flyscreens are on, the manhole is in the laundry, and the crooked tiling in the entry is fixed. They have also painted our eaves and the portico plaster. Looks done to me!

New fridge!

We didn't plan on buying a fridge today... But called in to E & S to check out their 20% off sale. Was very skeptical. Thought "pfff, it won't be that cheap..." Wrong. It was very cheap. We've admired this fridge for a little while but it was soooo expensive- twice as dear as other fridges the same size. Got offered such a good deal we thought, why not? Love, love, love it :-) It's a massive 653litres, and 'silver finish' so no fingerprints for us, and it has the fancy French doors. Ooo la la.

WE HAVE OUR NEW HOME INSPECTION BOOKED!

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next Friday. 28th May.

Can't wait.

More little fix-ups

Here's one they still need to fix... Our ensuite sink appears to have a blockage! The water just does not drain away!

A few other things have been fixed though. Here's our plaster wall in the pantry. At least now the door will have something to stop up against, and we'll now be able to have shelving on 2 sides rather than just two.

Bits of wood have been put around the lintels on the alfresco to hide the ugly bits where they join the brick. Guessing they will be painted this week.

Tiling in the ensuite is finished, but looks like some sort of sealer needs to be squeezed into the corners as there's no grout in there. Powerpoints are very high up, which is a bit stoopid but probably due to some regulation.

We also have a roof in the portico now. Yay! Nice batten light, don't you think? Very stylish, very standard looking.

Pantry wall, downpipe variation

Got a call today re the missing wall in our pantry. Were asked if we would be happy with a piece of melamine shelving instead- no thanks. No sweat, it's being put in as a plaster wall, as it should have been.

Also got a variation in the mail about moving one of the downpipes from the master bedroom wall to the portico? Not exactly sure where they mean and it sounds like it might be a bit of an eyesore, so we've asked for a copy of the house plan clearly indicating the proposed location.

No more temporary fencing!! Woo hoo!

Well after months and months we can finally take a photo of the finished outside of our home without temporary fencing in front of it. Will be good when that green bin goes, but it's handy, so I want it to stay a while longer!

toilet, pantry, bath, mirrors

Bath tiles have been grouted in place. Doesn't look like they've yet put the silver strip along the edge though... Not sure why there's a peep hole in the base, but everyone's baths seem to have one when they're first put in...

Mirror in the bathroom!


Tiling in laundry is finished. Loving it :-) Looks much nicer going all the way across and will look even better once the washing machine sits under it.


Pantry shelves!!! It's huge; we could have a tea party in there! Our ss said lots of tradies have come to our house and noticed the difference between this and the standard Voyager and said how much they like it. Made me feel all warm and fuzzy when he said that. haha.

Toilet!! Just the one is in so far, the ensuite one.

Showerheads, taps and extra tiling

Showerhead and taps in the main bathroom are on. You can see the extra row of tiling above the shower.


Ensuite feature tile (close-up)


Ensuite shower taps. Very Arthritis friendly!


Ensuite tiling- extra row around the top and tiling on the pillar next to the shower. The whole wall will also be tiled around the mirror.

No grout in the top tiles yet.

Basins in bathrooms, bath in dining room

Robe in one of the minor bedrooms is fitted out.

Laundry sink is in. Tiling has not yet been finished in here.


A bath in the dining room. What luxury!


Sink and taps in the bathroom. They haven't had the plumbing connected yet.

Site meeting!

Was asked to meet our SS out at the house this morning to confirm all the tiles were ok, as they don't have a copy of the tile layout on site. As a result:

- Ensuite is going to have additional tiling (at no extra cost)- yay!!! I'll post pics when I can get back out there tomorrow; it should be done by then.

- Bathroom is having one row of additional tiles around the top of the shower, as where the top tile sits currently it is a fraction under the 2m minimum tiling height requirement. Glad we picked those big tiles even more now as we're getting lots more for free! Tiles will almost go to the ceiling.

- Laundry tiling will be added to, so that it extends all the way across under the overhead cupboards (as per the plans).

- Pantry did not have shelving next to the garage access door, but it is on the plan. It will be done today.

- Tiles in the entry that are crooked will be fixed/relaid today.

- Saggy fence will be fixed and paid for by Henley.

- Pile of concrete in front corner of yard will be removed with next site clean, not spread out and covered over.

AND, robes are nearly all fitted out!!

Plumbing, electrical, fitout etc is all booked in for the next 2 weeks. So is the arrival of the splashback :-) Was told we're looking at about 4 weeks until we go to handover. SO EXCITED.

Look at our beautiful bath! Well, sort of a bath... No grout yet, so the lines look dark. Think it will look good with the white grout in :-)

Shower in the bathroom is also tiled.


Ensuite shower is all tiled, including the base and the feature tile. It wasn't supposed to go in the middle but I much prefer it there now that it's in as if it was further to the left you wouldn't really see it unless you were standing right up at the vanity.


Laundry is tiled. The tiles should actually go all the way across underneath the overhead cupboards. Having a walk thru with the SS tomorrow morning so will ask him about this.

Floor tiling done!

Floor tiles are all done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In one day!!!!!

Here's the toilet. haha.


And the ensuite.


Hallway all floored :-)

Entry. Will have to have the tiles re done here. See how the tiles closest to the door are about 5cm thick on the left, and double that on the right? Tiler needs to be more consistent with the thickness of his grout lines and make sure they're straight!!

Click play to take a walk thru our pantry!