September 2008
Monthly Archive
This post is actually a bit behind schedule. Thuy and I have both been a bit sick lately. I just got over one cold and jumped straight into another one. Thuy would yell at me if she knew I was even posting right now!
Well, let’s jump straight into the good news! We received an email from Urbanedge today letting us know that our first inspection date is on the 15th of October! The news was a great birthday present for Thuy! We figure we’ll be good to move in in the first week of November if all goes well! We’re definitely at the last mile now!
It’s good to have a time frame, as now we can finalise our fencing, drive way, decking and blinds! Yay!
I have some photos here from a few weeks ago, as well as some “through the window” photos taken over the weekend. As I said, I’ve been a bit slack at updating the blog lately!
Before the site cleanup 
Control for heating/cooling ducts
Our non-standard tapware (Thuy is very happy!)
And the most recent photos from last week (through the windows)
No more temporary fencing!
Through the back window to the lounge, waiting for carpet.
The big ensuite mirror installed! Looks awesome!
Whilst we’re still unsure about exactly when handover is, we know it is close! In the next week or so we’re hoping to hear when our first official inspection is. If all goes well, about 2 weeks after that we should have the keys to our new home!
It’s a difficult time because there is so much to do in so little time. Fortunately we’re not in a big hurry to move this time. Last time we moved we had only one week to clean the apartment we were moving to, move all our stuff in and clean the old place. To make matters worse, last time I had the flu as well! This time, however, we can take a bit more time. Obviously we don’t want the house sitting there unoccupied, so we’d like to be in fairly soon after handover. But it means we can take our time moving all the rest of the stuff over.
Other than the moving thing, we have some other big ticket items to pay for. We’ve gotten quotes for blinds ($7k), fences ($4k), driveway ($3k), decking ($4k) and moving ($3.5k)… and it’s actually a LOT of money..and money we don’t really have to go splurging. Needless to say, the new fridge, home theatre and car are well and truly OFF the list for now… especially given we have a kid on the way!
We’re probably going to move ourselves this time. It may take us a couple of trips, but it’s going to beat forking out $4k again like we did last year!
For blinds, we’re probably going to go with a combination of roman blinds with motorised roller blinds where appropriate. Down the track we may have to call in Mum to help us with some sheer light filtering stuff for behind the romans. We don’t have to funds to do it now… so we’re going to leave it.
We got a great quote from a guy for the decking, driveway and path… he’s basically ready to go, so now we’re just waiting for our handover date!
The fence place we got our quote from seem to be a bit confused. Firstly they sent has back a quote for a place in Point Cook, and then when they eventually sent us the correct one the measurements were wrong! So i don’t know what we’ll do there!
We also found out from our new neighbours (Hi Karen and Nik!) that we may not even be able to get the phone on until November! So that may slow down our moving in plans. No phone means no internet, and no internet means no work! EEK!
I really feel sorry for the guy who is doing the tiling in our house. Our tiles are 300mm square, and we have about 100sqm of tiled floor space. That works out to be over 1100 tiles throughout our house….not including showers and the like. The poor guy has been tiling for a week now, but he says he’s just about done…. but i tell you what…tough gig! Once he’s done with our place, he has to go off and tile Lot 1 and Lot 12! EEK!
I really have to hand it to these guys. They really do put in a lot of hard work. It’s easy to forget how much work goes into building a house. Especially when you’re just walking through or perhaps visiting a display. It’s been great each week to actually see these guys hard at it as it just helps you appreciate the attention and effort that goes into something which we usually take for granted every day we walk around our house.
We’re still waiting on a handover date… but we’re hoping it’s not too far away. We have fences, decks, curtains, blinds and a driveway we want to get moving on…but everyone always asks the same question…. “when is your handover date?”. BAH! Hopefully we’ll find out tomorrow, because then we can spend the weekend getting the rest of this stuff organised.
Photo time! It’s all looking a bit messy in the photos. A lot of dust and stuff everywhere…but once it is has had a bit of a spring clean it will look lovely!
kitchen looking proper flash
I can’t see clearly now, the entry’s gone,
I can’t get past obstacles in my way
Gone are the open windows that I had climbed
I wanna see the tiles (tiles), tiles (tiles)
New shiny tiles
I wanna see the paint (paint), paint (paint)
New shiny paint
Oh no I can’t make it now, the doors are locked
All of the openings have disappeared
Where is the door key I’ve been prayin’ for
I wanna see the lights (lights), lights (lights)
New shiny lights
Ahem….
The last few weeks we’ve been dropping by the house during the week so that we can get a sneak peek at our house while someone is there working. On weekends the place is locked up tight (which is nice I must say!) We occasionally swing by on the weekend still, but of course we can’t get in unless there is someone there which makes it a little frustrating to take photos! Still we managed to get a couple of happy snaps on the weekend of our tiles in progress and our shiny new garage door! I love it!
splashback tiles are done
Tiles are about half way there
Tiles through plastic covered windows
No house news today. But we have something far more exciting than that! A glimpse at our yet-to-be-named baby
Well the excitement never stops at Lot number 3! It’s hard to believe that we could be any more excited than we were last week…. but… we are!
We were lucky enough to drop in whilst our Site Supervisor was there… and even though we hadn’t made an appointment to see him (which we’re supposed to…sorry!) he was kind enough to show us a around the place and point out a few of the things that we may not have noticed that have been done. I must say, I’m very impressed with how thorough he is! He pointed out a number of things that he has personally seen to being changed and/or fixed. It’s nice to know that someone who has our best interests in mind is looking after our place! So a big thumbs up to him!
We had a couple of questions about some very minor issues, and he was more than happy to see to them being rectified. To be honest, it’s been pretty hard to find anything wrong with the place at all…..and believe me I’ve been trying!
So anyway… it’s hard to believe, but since last time we dropped by, the painter has finished, the tiler is in and tiling splash backs, the electician is in and doing power, lights, TV etc, our basins are installed, the stone benchtops have all been installed, the garage door to the backyard has had locks put on it, the render has had another coat and is ready for colour AND we now have a garage door!
All this since Saturday! There would be more photos, but we felt a bit too much like tourists with the site supervisor there 
Garage, now with rollerdoor
Freshly painted front door
ZOMG… it looks like a kitchen!
Ensuite basins and benches
Inside the much loved WIR
