2 weeks on, Fences and Landscaping

Well it's been roughly to weeks since we moved in now and I have been very slack on putting up any updates! But as most people can understand there has been a lot going on since we moved in. Between organising furnishing the house to unpacking everything and finding places for things, understanding how all the new appliance work, organising the fences, then to the hard yakka that has been the landscaping.

So far we a re looking pretty good with all the fences up and just waiting for our custom aluminium slat gate to come (Hopefully this week sometime). With the addition of the fences and sleepers, this allowed us to get the landscaping going. So far the backyard has taken nearly 22.5t of Turf underlay to fill it up to a reasonable level. Both last weekend and the weeken before have been spent with myself and a few handy mates digging, barrowing, dumping, shifting, raking and rolling! In the meantime we decieded that doing a split level yard with a retaining wall was probably going to be the neatest way of addressing the fall accross the back of the block. So the wall was built this weekend and I finished turfing the yard yesterday afternoon. Has come up really good and I am very pleased with the result!

Next on the cards is to get some road base for down the side of the house as I want to compact this and then get some pebbles and stepping stones to go down there. I also have a mate that is digging my front yard down a bit today with a bobcat so as to allow me to easily topsoil it in preperation for turf and gardens.

Lastly, we finally have Opticomm coming out this Thursday to connect us up. So I have a mate coming to install some more TV points and am looking to buy a new router with a gigabit WAN port to take advantage of the fibre NTU.

At any rate, lots of progress so far!


Looking out the back

 New back fence

 New back fence before last panel was raised

New Side fence

 Dad and Steve helping first weekend

 Filling up the side

 Dropping dirt as had to wait for the fencer to come bac to raise the last fence panel before spreading

 Retaining wall blocks

 Retaining wall blocks (Charcoal colour)

 This is 10 tonnes... had another 12.5 tonnes this weekend just gone.

 Matt helping with the retaining wall, always happy for a photo...

Here you can see how much the level has been raised. Pete the greenkeeper.

 Retaining wall finished, Pete and Dad laying the turf

 Laying turf

 Upper level done!

Upper level done!

 Yesterday finished filling and turfing the lower level

Settlement!

Just another quick update, I spoke to Wayne the SS yesterday and he has organised for us to do the final inspection and settlement on Friday the 7th of September! Really looking forward to it! So providing all goes well at the inspection at 10am, we should be getting the keys to the house at about Midday on the 7th!

I've noticed not really much has happened at the house this week so I guess it will be all systems go over the next week. I've organised for the fencers (same that did the left side last week) to come out and quote for the other 2 sides + a side gate tomorrow afternoon, and will be going to speak to all the places we have layby's waiting about delivering now. Very happy indeed!

Looking out of Garage to Driveway

New side fence on left hand side

Practical Completion Inspection complete

I met with Wayne the SS this morning at 10am and went over the house for about 40mins. I was happy to see the front pillars had been completed in the Moroka finish and It seemed like cleaners and tradies had been in again bright and Early as some of the things I had been planning on talking about had already been fixed this morning (Tiles missing silicon beading along edges). The front door had also received it's first coat of varnish. The rest of the things I asked about he reassured me that he had already picked up on and that they would be fixed in the next couple of weeks. So, as of now we are waiting on

-  a couple of paint cleaning/touch up spots
- Front door needs to be re-varnished
- 2 of the back doors and ensuite window need rollers adjusted
- Main bathroom door stop needs replaced
- Another downpipe to Rainwater tank
- Flyscreens
- Up and Down lights in front pillars
- Outside ducted A/C unit
- Hotwater system
- Appliances

He said that it usually takes about 3 weeks from this point but could be faster or slower depending on all the processes. So as of now I am waiting for Eden Brae to send me their final invoice which I can send to Suncorp bank along with the Final draw request, a valuation request, a letter of satisfaction and a copy of Home and contents insurance policy (Haven't signed up with anyone yet, any ideas?). This should see a valuer out within 48hrs and should keep things moving nicely.

On a side note we are getting fences done on one side, and I will be looking to complete the other two sides just around the time we are moving in. At the moment it looks like all fences will have to be raised a bit so that I can build a retaining wall underneath them so as to fill the backyard a bit. I'm hoping to be able to do this myself, but may consider getting someone in to do it if the price isn't too bad.

Anyway, Wayne has told me that he should have a handover date for us next week!

PCI Inspection booked

Just a quick update, the SS Wayne rang me yesterday to organise our Practical completion inspection for next Monday the 20/8. He said that providing that there wasn't anything major, we should have the keys in about 3 weeks! Pretty chuffed I must say!

Driveway, carpet and site fence

Eden Brae haven't really stopped at all since the start of this build. After my last post, they finished off the tiling and hung the door the next day! I also noticed what appeared to have been cleaners going through the house as everything is now nice and clean and shiny.

So they started scraping the drive way 2 weeks ago and poured the slab about a week ago. The middle of last week saw the rainwater tank get plumbed up and by Friday just gone they had finished about 90% of the paving (As seen in the pictures). Upon entering the house, I also noticed that they had completed fitting out all the carpet as well!

This Saturday they removed the site fence which means we are nearing completion! So at this point in time I am waiting for a phone call about a practical completion inspection which cannot be far away. Hoping at this stage now that it will be a matter of weeks before we get the keys!

Changed front door hung

 Driveway scraped

 Driveway scraped

 From Garage looking out to street

 Tiling finished

 Driveway and footpath slab done

 Clean kitchen!

 Clean kitchen!

 Rainwater Tank plumbed

 Pavers started and nearly finished

 Carpet complete (Home theatre)

 Carpet complete (Master Bedroom)

 Carpet complete (Spare)

 Site fence removed

Tiling just about completed

So as per usual, Eden Brae have been busy again over the past couple of weeks. The brickwork on the side of the alfresco (Inbetween the slab) was completed 2 weekends ago, as was the electrical, door furniture, shelving and bathrooms. The major work last week consisted of the tiling in the main areas of the house. It seems there is a little bit left to go, but I think this may be because they need more tiles (Didn't see anymore laying around anywhere). Hoping that this will be completed this week. The new front door (correct pattern) also got delivered on Friday, so thinking that will also probably get hung this week.

Got a phone call from the site supervisor today too, telling me that the driveway will commence this week and they emailed me design specs again to confirm. Looks like we are definately on the home stretch now and we are really getting excited about our new home almost being finished!

Brickwork on side of alfresco

Front doorway

Kitchen

Main bathroom

Main bathroom

Vlux window in main bathroom

Shelving

Ensuite

Living area

Kitchen

Hall

New front door

Bathroom & Kitchen tiling, painting and Garage door

Well Eden Brae have been busy over the past couple of weeks completing the tiling in the two bathrooms, laundry and kitchen. They've also completed painting the house as well as having the automatic garage door installed. I've noticed already that the A/C outlets have been installed and I have been told to expect fitout of the bathrooms this week (Bath, Showers, toilets) Still moving along very well as we get closer and closer to practical completion. From what I can see after this week we will just have the finshing on a lot of small things as well as the electrical, then the floor coverings for the main areas and bedrooms. Still waiting on the correct front door, but I'm sure that this won't be far off. We've started ordering appliances and furniture now in anticipation of a completion timeframe similar to most furniture stores. Can't wait for it to be completed!


Ensuite

 Main Bathroom

 Main Shower

 Laundry

Double Garage

 Garage Door motor

 Double Garage

 Kitchen

 Ktichen

 Front of house just before garage door put on

 Front