How long still do you think?

I know this forum is for renovations but I have a question about our house that we are building. So this is for everyone who has already built. Our builders are obviously trying to protect themselves and I don't believe them when they say that our house will be ready Mid to End of April. Currently they are passed lock up stage. The kitchen cupboards are in, tiles done, first coat of paint is on, paving is done so they don't have that much to do. Bath and showers are in too. Can it really take another ten weeks to finish off the house?

I have heard that a general rule of thumb is 10 weeks from lockup. They are probably protecting themselves in case some tradies are unavailable.

The homeone website is an awesome resource for all things building and renovation related

Hi Miss H. Just wondering how it's all going for you? Have you been given any closer dates yet? And what stage are they up to now?

It's so exciting watching and hearing of these house builds. Our own has just reached lockup (yesterday), and the kitchen was delivered at the same time (it should be installed next week). So I LOVE seeing the progress of other builds. If they're ahead of mine it's kind of like looking into the future and seeing what we have to look forward to. If they're behind, it reminds me of the excitement we had at those stages =)

Hi SW

They are estimating the end of March. We live a good 60km away so we don't get to look very often. The girls get very upset travelling so far to look at a house and then back again! We had a look last weekend and they have just the following left to do:

garage door, door handles, shower doors, finish painting (undercoats done), tile kitchen floor, put walls up, grass down, paint render in front, put in stove and hob, carpets, flyscreens and blinds.

Everything else is done - plumbing, electrical, paving etc. We don't think there is so much to be done if all the tradies work together but I suppose that is not how it is done.

The problem is that DH is going overseas from the end of the month for a month so if they finish after that, he won't be here to sign for the last payment. Does he have to sign do you know? He said he is happy with me doing the inspection but I don't know if the bank will allow just one signature. So if they don't, then we will have to wait until he is back and then another 2 weeks for the bank to pay so we can get the keys. Aaaargh! I hate waiting, I just want to be in!

Usually it is fine (i'm thinking in normal pre-built house sales at least) that it is ok for you to sign (as long as you are on the original contract) and that you act as garuantor of DH. then when he gets back you can transfer it back across or if you prefer have him added.

End of March is so soon!! Wow =)) You'll be in your shiny new house before you know it =)

I think you should be able to speak to you bank about your situation re. DH and work. If there is anything that I have learned in my lifetime, it is that somebody (or a lot of somebodies) have probably been there and done that long before me, so it's worth checking and saving reinventing the wheel (so to speak). You will probably find that your bank has processes in place to cover exactly what you're facing - be it DH signing forms or something giving you complete power of attourney in his absense, or even him signing his portion of the final funds release statements and then you signing closer to the date (or both signing but ensuring that the funds are not released until a certain date). There will be *something* that they can do. You should ask them before he leaves, though, just in case they need him to do something. Most people run into problems when they leave it until too late and find that they physically cannot perform the required tasks.

Having said all of that, here's hoping that you have handover before your DH leaves. THAT is something worth celebrating together =)))

Do you have a blog or anything that you are willing to share that shows the progress of your house?

Hi SW

Yes, it would be really amazing if they would finish soon. I really want to be in before term 2 starts so that my daughter can start all the new things from the beginning of the term i.e. playgroup, dancing classes, Kindy etc.

I don't blog but I can keep you updated. We will only go again next weekend to see how far they are again so I will let you know. What type of house are you building? Ours is a three bedroom, 2 bath with under cover alfresco. They started building mid November and our contract says they have 12 months to complete but it looks as they they will never reach that!

They will be finished in 2 weeks! We got the word today from the builder that they will be finished by the end of the month. So excited! I can't wait to move into our new house,

SW - how is your house going?

YAY!!! Grats =) I love it when it all comes together =))) So excited for you!

We've had a few frustrations over our kitchen in the past few days, hopefully it will be sorted out soon... The most recent being "you can't have that much overhang, so we either need to cut back your breakfast bar or fill it in with something at your cost to reduce the overhang" - and you couldn't work this out this time last year when we were doing selections?!? To reduce the overhang now would look ridiculous as the rest of the kitchen has been designed around the size of the breakfast bar. Not happy...

We're waiting on second fix carpentry to begin - they were supposed to be onsite Monday but still no sign of them. There are a few fixes need doing that will add delays, so we're very much looking like going over the contracted period - which sucks as we don't have any penalty clauses so there is no reason for the builder to make efforts to come in on time or shortly thereafter.

It will all be worth the wait in the end =)

I missed your last post where you asked about what we are building. DH and I both work from home, so we needed to build something a little bigger to allow for two home offices and a machine room for all the computers. Effectively it turns out to be 4 bed, 3 living and a study. Realistically it is 3 bed, machine room, 2 offices, 1 living and a play room for Alyssa. We've taken great pains to build a sustainable home that should require very little energy to run (apart from all the computers).

We have a blog at http://house.yeoh.info if you're interested.

Wow! What a gorgeous house! It is going to look stunning. You must be sooooo excited!

I gave notice on our rental today so it is starting to feel real. I'm wishing the next 2 weeks away so that we can sign off on practical completion. I've even started packing!

How exciting for you MissH!

Our building is about to commence in approx 4 weeks and I can't wait. The builder said it would take 6-7 months to build so we're looking at moving in around October/November. It's been a really long process with all the approvals and selections though!

Yay on rental notice! That would help to make it feel real!! So have you made you VERY LAST rental payment yet? That would be cause for celebration =))))

thx re. The house! We love it. Would love it more if we could move in ;)

GG - good luck with your build! If you haven't already, I'd recommend getting onto the homeone website. They have an awesome building forum with lots of great ideas and experience. All the best! =)

argh!

latest blog post goes into details on why I am completely #$%^&* off with the kitchen supply company right now... Needless to say, "we" (meaning they) have come to an agreement that doesn't meet my requirements, but anything else and they were going to charge like a wounded bull...

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Oh no. shame, that is really horrible. We also had problems with our kitchen. They were completely done with it when we had a chance to go look and they had done them in the wrong wood and wrong colour completely. I told my husband I could live with it but we made them change it anyway. At least we got what we wanted in the end but it must have cost them a fortune to change it.

I hope you can live with it the way it is now.

:

---

Oh no. shame, that is really horrible. We also had problems with our kitchen. They were completely done with it when we had a chance to go look and they had done them in the wrong wood and wrong colour completely. I told my husband I could live with it but we made them change it anyway. At least we got what we wanted in the end but it must have cost them a fortune to change it.

I hope you can live with it the way it is now.

---

wow - it amazes me how they can really get things so wrong!!

Yeah, we can definitely live with it... It's still a pretty amazing kitchen. It just spoils some of the future plans. It annoys me most that we did our selections on the 30th of March last year - in 11 days that will be a whole year - and they didn't figure this stuff out until now? They're meant to be the kitchen experts - why should my plans be ruined because they couldn't do their jobs properly and find out that my kitchen couldn't be the way that we had designed it to be? Sot only has it taken them almost a full year to make this discovery, but the entire kitchen has been installed with the exception of the stone benchtop (and had been for over a week) when they made the discovery.

Seriously - if ALL you do is cabinetry you should KNOW your product. Urgh

:wall: :wall: :wall: :wall: :wall: :wall: :wall:

Just a little frustrated ;)

MissH how goes the wait? You must be getting SO excited by now!! =))

OMG!!

It took us 10 days from Lock-Up inspection to handover!!

Why the wait?? If you find something wrong during hte final inspection, they will fix it (by law) but it shoudn't have taken anywhere near that long!

Hope you got your kichen in the end - never accept anything that is wrong according to the plan/contract you signed for adn make sure your inspection is thorough - the doors close and fit properly, the windows are set square in the wall (sounds stupid but some of ours aren't) the lights are wired correctly and the pipes t the dishwasher are hot not cold..(der!! But the builder screwed that up too!!)
Anyway, hope you have your house intact, on time, and on plan very soon!!

They said the end of this month but with the big storm that hit they have had to move their contractors to other sites to fix damage. I don't see why though as all they have to do in our house is grass, carpets, blinds and garage door. All they did in 1 week is fit the flyscreens. We gave notice on our rental so now I am sitting on edge hoping they finish. The manager did say they will finish the first week of April. I hope they don't do only 1 thing a week again!

Keystart says they take 5 working days to pay so hopefully they do.

How is your building going?

With Keystart, when you do get the call from the builder to say you can come and hand over, call Keystart and let them know. Tell them you want to come and collect the final payment cheque directly - you need to into the office in StGeorge's Tce and collect it - so you can take it directly to the builder (Are you using Homebuyers?). Then take the final payment straight to your builder, sign the handover and take your keys - all in one day. Otherwise the post it between each other and it is a whole big waste of time - especially if you need to be out ouf your rental. :)

We moved into the house last June.

Sorry, I mmisunderstood your earlier post - it did take 3 weeks from memory from lock up to practical completion. Then 10 days from our final inspection to handover.

Hoping you're in your lovely new home miss h!! Looking forward to an update =)))

As for us, looking more and more like it will be one delay after another... Our contracted completion date is in 29 days, but the second fix carpenter said he'd estimate >3 months given the current backload of work and the unfixed errors in our build. Feeling like I've had the wind knocked out of me a bit today!

On a happy note, my stone benchtops were installed today! Yay =)))))

GG - shouldn't be long until your site start now!!

Hi SW. We were told they would be finished the end of last month but they still haven't put the carpets and blinds in and there are some small things they need to fix in the house. The landscaping is going to take much longer still. Our lease is finished on the 19th so we are going to move in finished or not. They say the house will be finished by then except the lanscaping but we will have to live with sand for a while. I need to submit the final paperwork to Keystart today in order for them to pay by the 19th so I'm really on edge. I don't want to live on the street for a few weeks! Our contracted date is only in October so we don't really have a leg to stand on as they actualy went much faster than they had to. I hope your things get sorted out quickly and YAY! for stone benchtops!

Wow, that really sucks. Will your rental agent allow you to extend a week or two?

Really sorry that they're doing that to you. Hope you get handover really quickly

Hoping hoping hoping that everything went well for you guys, miss h...

Hi

We moved in last Tuesday, without Keystart paying! The builders let us move in before payment was made as they had messed up. The window coverings only came in on Wednesday and the bank would not pay until they were in. So we are living for free ATM. No rent and no bond as they still have not paid. There were still a few small things to fix when we moved in but they were done the next day. How has it been going your side?

YAY!!!!! Congrats!!! =))) What a massive relief for you =)

Ours has all but come to a complete halt. I suspect that our site supervisor is doing it deliberately to $%^&* me off. I made (yet another) official complaint against him after he physically assaulted one of the contractors onsite at my house!! There are so many choice words that I could use to describe the man, none of them are forum-friendly. So yeah, I think we're still a few months off. Our contracted completion date is in 8 days - no chance.

So... Come on then... Since I can't live the excitement you'll have to share yours ;) How does it feel? =)))) SO rapt for you!