A HIVE OF ACTIVITY

Rain water cups and downpipes to canopy

Water Tank

Coffee Machine and Plate warmer

Range Hood minus cowl

Range Hood fitted but needs raising to give more head room

Basins finally fitted as per manufacturers speci's

Hot Water control panel en suite

Hot Water control panel kitchen

Hot Water system

Intake vents

Air Con Installed

Air Con being installed

For the last couple of days there has been a hive of activity on site. Guess why? We had our final inspection yesterday and had told the builders that if all was not ship shape and Bristol fashion then there would be no settlement and no filthy lucre for them!!!

Arrived on site at 10am to find no less than 5 white vans & 3 Ute's parked at the site! We have never seen more than one trade on site at any one time over the last 15 months and yesterday we had Plumbers (gas fitters) Plumbers (Water tank installation) Plumbers (Spa pump installers) Electricians, Air Con installers, Renderers, Glaziers and site cleaners along with the SS and CS all madly beavering away to get things finished!

So how did it all turn out you may well ask? Well at 10am we could quite reasonably have turned around and gone home such was the bloody mess that greeted us. None of the 15 odd windows had been replaced as promised, no sign of any appliances, Water tank still being installed, rendering not finished, hot water system still being installed, electrics still being installed, downpipes to canopy not installed, rainwater cups not installed, mixer in en suite not refitted properly, shower not installed, missing one grab rail and two others installed were the wrong finish, front entrance not redone and numerous other items not done. In addition to all this our Air Con contractors were also on site installing their system!!

SS assured us that all was under control and that most of the items would be completed within hours he then went on to show how and at the end of our inspection we felt that although not everything would be right all the major items would be done by the end of the day and all outstanding issues had trades booked to fix within the next few days. We told him that provided this was the case and that appliances were installed we would settle, we then left him to it and went to the bank to get cheques for final payment and had lunch. Returned at 2pm to find nearly everything finished except for some electrics and the appliances which had arrived and were being installed. However after inspecting them we found they had the wrong range hood! More frantic calls by SS to supplier had the correct one on site an hour later.

We finally handed over our cheque at about 3.30pm and stayed on site till 6.30pm waiting for everyone to finish and clean up. There were still several items to be finished ie: range hood needs raising (to be done tomorrow) Ducted vacuum (done today) all other items are minor.

Why did we settle despite not being 100% satisfied? Economics! even if we pay extra to fix outstanding items ourselves it is still cheaper than the alternative of waiting for the builder and paying extra rent, storage and cattery fees!
Where to now? Well flooring prep was done today and Kandean flooring and carpets will all be done by next Tuesday along with all the window furnishings after which we will move in.