Forensic Extrapolation of Imperfections at Our Home

If you are wondering about the unusual title of my post, then you are not alone. It refers to the pre-plaster inspection from H & Ryan Associates in association with MBS Macro Building Solutions, whose proprietor is Howard Ryan’s son – Stephen Ryan – who carried out the inspection. Poor guy, it apparently took him 7 hours to reach our site last Friday owing to the terrible bush fires raging across NSW.

Now to the findings of the report:

The comments pertain to incomplete works (defined as “works that are yet to be completed as was originally intended and lacking in part”) to cladding, dutch gable, and roof, and other items that were not properly fixed. However, the report noted  that “…allocated Site Supervisors will most likely be aware of what we have listed in this report and if not are obligated to rectify under the Home Building Act”; thus, the works are “fixable” and therefore not “fatal flaws”.

Key observations:

Garage: Metal cross strap brace to rear wall of garage is to be re-installed as bottom of bracing is damaged. Ensure garage floor is kept clean to prevent damage to slab surface.

Entry Hall: Metal cross strap brace to left side of entry is loose and needs to be tightened. Ensure studs to right side of square set opening from entry are flush prior to linings.

Stairway / Hallway: Metal cross strap bracing is loose in areas and need to be tightened. Metal cross strap braces to rear wall of stairwell are loose and need to be tightened.

Roof Trusses Area: Top floor truss speed brace tails are yet to be wrapped around and nailed to the underside of top plates.

Bathroom: Floor drainage is incomplete; ensure safe-waste trays to floor wastes are completely recessed into flooring prior to installation of waterproofing.

Master bedroom: Speed bracing to external wall within robe is yet to be wrapped around and nailed to underside of top plate. Wall noggins are incomplete in areas.

Ensuite: Floor drainage is incomplete; ensure safe-waste trays to floor wastes are completely recessed into flooring prior to installation of waterproofing,

Balcony: Incomplete

Other bedrooms: Wall noggins are incomplete in areas. Speed bracing to external wall is yet to be wrapped around and nailed to underside of top plate.

Sliding units need their base sill tracks covered and protected during this construction process to prevent construction damage, which may hinder the sill and doors intended operation.

Electrical works are incomplete. Plumbing and drainage are incomplete. Once drainage has been done, ensure safe-waste trays to floor wastes are completely recessed into flooring prior to waterproofing.

Over the past week, work undertaken included the installation of (1) sliding doors, fascia, gutter, eaves and roof tiles on the dining and outdoor room extensions, (2) fascia and gutter to the garage elevation, (3) flat tray deck roof at 2 degree pitch over part of garage (see photos of inside and outside of garage), front entry door, and (5) and some clearing of rubbish inside the house.

The next week should see electrical rough-ins, flashing on the roof, cladding work and painting/render.

Eaves Painted...eventually

The past week saw a series of phone calls between us and SS, me and construction manager (CM), and CM and SS to move the build forward. The problematic painter was eventually replaced by a new one, who completed the painting of the eaves (in Hogbristle Quarter), and subsequently, the scaffolding was brought down at the rear of the house.

Yesterday, the carpenters put up the roof trusses on the Dining and Outdoor room extensions. Cavity door frames were installed in all the places where sliding doors are meant to be: Sitting room, Study, Laundry, Ensuite and Main Bathroom WC. The Balcony door frames, along with windows were installed too. In the photo below, you can see the sliding door frames of our Study. You can also see a number of round downpipes, close fitted to the house, although they have not yet been fully installed.

Thus, there was progress in the build; however, it is nowhere close to where they are meant to be in terms of schedule, considering that other Metricon customers who had built larger homes than ours (Phoenix 38 with extensions, Nolan 45 with extensions, Whittaker 45) have had their outdoor room roofs, cladding at the rear, electrical rough-ins, insulation, plastering, gables, and even partial installation of stairs and bench tops in kitchen by Day 125 (Week 18) since site start.

Here are the blogs of other Metricon customers who have had much more progress than ours:

http://metriconphoenix38.blogspot.com.au/#!/2013/02/day-119-fixing.html

http://thespadabuild.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/day-122-plaster-it-up.html

http://themetriconadventure.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/100-days.html

http://ournolan.wordpress.com/2013/03/

http://tim-and-tina.blogspot.com.au/2010_04_01_archive.html

Bristle Coal Roof Tiles On

We have a hat! Our roof covering on the upper floor is mostly complete; some tiling on the front elevation next to balcony can be completed only after a part of the scaffolding comes down. Also, roof pointing is yet to commence. There appears to be some broken tiles, which I suppose will be addressed eventually.

More plumbing work was completed last week.

Overall, a productive week, but only after a dramatic event – Our Site Manager, Josh C left the company we are building with – I heard he landed a commercial job…A great bloke, and will be missed professionally.

We got an email from our Construction Support Coordinator reassuring us that there would be minimum delay and disruption, and advised the appointment of new Site Manager, Greg KP. I caught up with Greg on the phone the day he got appointed as well as a few days later, and he appears to be well experienced on the building front, although he says that he is yet to become completely familiar with Metricon building process and formalities. Greg assured us that he would call us every Tuesday to update us on the build – time will tell whether he keeps up his word. He also advised us that we can visit the site only under his supervision – so, I suppose this is the end of all those sneaky photos. But at the same time, he wants to take care of the site and advised us he is going after a pad lock to secure the building site.

Windows, Fascia & Gutter Installed; Hebel Almost Complete; Plumbing Started

With the completion of installation of roof trusses, windows on the upper floor and paperbark-coloured fascia and gutter, part of the scaffolding came down to make way for installation of Hebel panels on the upper floor. You can see from the pictures that Hebel on upper floor is almost complete, considering that tradespeople moved the panels upstairs on Thursday to commence work, only to abandon the site early afternoon owing to the constant showers.

The remainder of the upper floor (sections where Hebel are not installed) would have lightweight cladding, the materials for which are yet to be delivered on site.

Notice in the below picture how wide our extended eaves would look (600 mm), which we will have on the entire upper floor, and above outdoor and dining room on the ground floor. They are not only functional (block summer sun; reduce the need for mechanical cooling; shield furnishings), but also aesthetically pleasing (a grander look).

Today was also the first opportunity for me to see work-in-progress on upper level, as the chippies' ladder was available to climb up. All room sizes look reasonable, except one, where our baby son would sleep. However, it is bigger than the room he currently sleeps in the rental property we live now; so, I suppose, it is ok. 

Below is the picture of our Leisure room and the view as seen from the Leisure room window.

Our roof tiles were also delivered – Bristle Yeoman Shingle Coal – ready for installation next week.

Here is a sneak peek of the view from our Balcony

The plumbers also rocked up on Saturday to commence plumbing work and got heaps done – a few pictures below to checkout the kind of work they did.

Plumbing work for the double vanity in our Ensuite;
Immediately behind is our adult study room, and beyond that is our toddler son's room

Further Roofing Consideration

My Mrs has second thoughts about Bristle Coal. Her reservation is that it looks ‘hazy’ ‘dirty’ when viewing especially the competitor's display home (see photo in the previous post). My Mrs still prefers Charcoal Grey that has a Bluish tinge to it; however, the approximate price to upgrade Coal (Category 2) to Charcoal Grey (Category 4) is 2K. We decided that we would rather spend that amount on something other than roof. So, we tried to find a tile that resembles Charcoal Grey (although I admit that Charcoal Grey with striated lines and a colour-through feature is special). We determined Bristle Classic Gun Metal to be the closest match to Charcoal Grey (the first picture is Gun Metal and the second picture is Charcoal Grey) and will stick with it (until at least my Mrs changes her mind!).

Source:

http://dunk8it.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/roof-tiles-bristile-or-boral.html

The one on the left is Coal and the one on the right is Gun Metal (on a sunny afternoon)

We also flicked an email to our Design Manager answering some of his questions regarding restrictions on the use of land (Draft 88 B instrument); providing him with bushfire and geotechnical report forwarded by Stockland, and seeking clarification to some questions. There were a few other items that Metricon asked us to provide (exact locations of service connection points – water, sewer, electricity pit etc) and we advised that we would provide those details as soon as we have the relevant information. The Design manager responded on the same day and also confirmed our appointment for Contract discussion and external colour selection.

Did I mention that soon after our Tender Presentation, we were provided with a nice looking folio and bag to carry the pile of brochures?

Another Visit to Freemans Ridge Metricon Display Homes

We recently visited the Metricon display homes in Freemans Ridge to observe a number of things. The two hours I spent there just vanished, although I took some notes.

Here is a picture of Bristle Classic Coal (not on Metricon, but Fowler Homes) – it is about three years old, and therefore, the slightly weathered and faded appearance, but now, at least I know, how Bristle Classic Coal tiles really looks like (I still prefer Monier Horizon Barramundi!).

Bristle Classic Coal @ Fowler Homes

Roofing Considerations-1

Metricon, as part of its Imagine Promotion, offers Hebel render (I will explain this in a separate post) or Colorbond roofing at no additional charge. We are keen on Hebel, so decided to accept roof tiles that comes as standard. Although I like Colourbond, concrete tiles comes with its own set of advantages such as (1) high mass that reduces sound entering through the roofline, (2) strong and dense that ensures roofing tiles are waterproof and long-lasting, and (3) warrantied product and service (Bristle offers a 50 year product warranty and 10 year installation warranty). However, a disadvantage of tiles compared to Colorbond is that the colour coating in tiles is purely decorative and therefore would fade and weather over time, in addition to becoming mossy, and therefore requires cleaning using a high pressure water cleaner and suitable cleaning agent.

(http://www.monier.com.au/RoofingExpertise/FAQs/Default.aspx)

My Mrs initially preferred light-coloured tiles, but I managed to demonstrate that darker ones look modern. I love Monier’s Barramundi (which has a blue tinge to its dark grey colour); however, Metricon’s roofing supplier in NSW is Bristle Roofing. Last week, we visited Bristle Roofing Design Centre at Albion Park Rail and looked at various tiles.

There are three ranges of tiles that Metricon offers as standard: Traditional (which was a no no for my Mrs), Designer (only Browns and Creams) and Classic. Amongst the dark toned Classic range of tiles, I like Charcoal Grey, but it is a Category 4 tile (meaning we would have to pay a higher price). My Mrs and I decided to stick with the standard tiles, which meant we had to choose Luna Eclipse (too dark for our liking – it was almost Black) or Coal. Both my Mrs and I was OK with Coal, although we would have loved it if it came with a blue tinge and a striated ‘shake’ finish; however, Coal neither had a Blue tinge to it nor was available in ‘shake’ finish. So, for now, it is Bristle Classic Coal with a Yeoman (flat) profile, featuring a plain ‘Shingle’ finish – see pictures below. 

We also plan to include roof sarking under tiles (not standard with Metricon) for its benefits: weather protection, dust protection, increased energy efficiency, bushfire protection and reducing the need for artificial heating and cooling.

Bristle Coal

Bristle Coal Tiles

Picture taken at the Design Centre (the one on the left is Coal)

                                    Source: http://www.bristileroofing.com/au/Projects-Gallery.aspx  

Same source as above; however the Coal coloured seems to have a Blue tinge

(I need to visit a display house with Coal roof and check out myself)