Day 15 - another week

OK, time to update again 29th May 2009

Keep calling SS about the phone conduit and the rangehood, they told me that the electrican would be fixing the phone conduit on Tues, but no one shown up, then promised on Wed and again, no one turned up, so called SS again on Thurs (yesterday), he said it should be done by the end of this week.. and today it is finally done (after a week of chasing up)

And for the rangehood, SS said that he has placed the purchase order already, so should be coming to my house very soon - i really hope so

I then mention to him about the new problem - water pipe leak in the kitchen.  Well, they acted quite fast this time, i have a plumber into my house in 3 hours and problem fixed

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Unfortunately, today i have a new problem.

I tried to wash clothes, turned on the tap and the machine as usual, heard the water coming down from the tap through the pipe, then a few seconds later, my lanudry is flooding with water... argh.. not sure if this is plumbing problem or just my machine (i hope that the machine was not damage during the move)

Also today, i have been told by the plumbing company that Simonds still haven't sent the required document for them to do the connection for the solar panel (for the HWS).. argh, they asked me to follow up with SS if i want that done.. WHY i need to do this????  

Probably need to call SS again on Monday, i think he is a bit sick of hearing from me.. and me too, i really don't want to call them but have to

Day 8 after handover

Yesterday i was at the house from 7.30am, waiting for appliances to be delivered and installed.  Can't understand why they can't call you before they come, so i don't need to wait there for a whole day  

Never mind, the whole day was full of drama

First, the rangehood guy didn't know that he needed to duct to the ceiling, so he didn't prepare the tool, also there was no order from Simonds that he needed to do the ducting to ceiling, so he has to ask SS to send him a purchase order first then he can come back next week  i told SS a number of times that i need the ducting to outside (and in fact i have paid for it and it is on contract), but still.... argh  

Second, the location of my hot water system is facing the garage wall of my neighboure house. This morning, the bricke were there and doing bricking for my neighboure house, and they started from the garage side  . As you can imagine they put all the ladders and bricks there and blocked the whole area so that my plumber could not get in and install the hot water system... My neighboure is also building with Simonds, so clearly there is no communication internally otherwise they should know that i have applicances installed today. And today, all Simonds SS were attending a conference meeting and not reachable, so i couldn't reach my or their SS either..
Finally we worked with the brickes and they promised to finish the garage side in 2 hours (which they did), so that my plumber could install the HWS, the plumber wasn't happy but he waited, better than coming back next week.. so overall the plumber was at my house for nearly 4 hours...

Third, more problem..... argh, the phone conduit has gone missing, couldn't find it, called my CSR who need to follow with SS on Monday (because of the bloody conference).. So my electrican (also onsite today) couldn't complete the wiring for me...

I suspected that the bricke next door has broken it, but can't be sure, so i went home and gone through all the photos, i realised that the conduit was already missing since the brick time.. so???? look like they hide the conduit inside the brick.. argh, why i never noticed during inspection...

Forth, they put my garden tap on the side of the house... i told them i need it at the back of the house and they still  ... they just did it while i was talking to the electrican... @#$$@#@  

Fifth, once they tested everything and left, the oven fan off... i asked myself, is this a joke???? It worked when they were here and once they left.. WT???  

So overall, i was at the house from 7.30am and i am not home until 5pm... a whole day has gone with appliances installed but too many outstanding issues, I, now, just don't want to think about Monday because i will need to make a lot of @%$#@# phone calls, i feel very tired, when this can be over??

The only good thing is - i sold my house yesterday, although still waiting for the process to complete, but it is in writing.. this is a relieved.. 

7 days after handover

A week has gone and i have just cleaned the house.. But we shall start moving a few things today.

Bad news is i may not get internet connection once i move.. Originally Opticomm said that they can do the installation at any time so i can call them a week before I move in and organise the installation. Once the installation complete i can then call any prefer supplier for boardband/phone connection.. but when i called again this morning, they said there is no fabic available, and properly won't be available until the end of this month.. argh, why they give me conflicting information, it seems that i just can't get everything done smoothly, there must be something not going right and worrying me... argh...

Anyway.. just want all appliances installed ok, have been scheduled for tomorrow.. and the heater commissioning is scheduled on Monday...

When i called the heating company, the receptionist tried to talk me out not doing commissioning, she said there is no need but i am not convinced.. SS did say that Simonds has paied them to come and they have to come.. so instead talking to the receptionist, i called again and talked to the service department and they arrange it straight away... wonderful..

Day 5 after handover

Its been a busy few days..

Handover completed last Thursday, but we didn’t do much to the house on Fri and Sat (only shopping, yeah)…

Sunday, spent most of the afternoon cleaning, but still not completed…

Last night, we went to the house again and put up curtain (we only managed to put up one rod for one sliding door), so have to put rediblind for the rest of the house..

I will start my annual leave tomorrow, can’t wait for more cleaning and moving..

Just a bit sad that i saw some damage to the floor, didn’t see it during final handover, properly cover by duct.. argh…

Finally, hadnover is done!!

The house is finally mine.. It is a very long journey, everything run smooty up until the final stage, the most stress stage... I have been so stress in the last few days/weeks and now it is almost over...

hahaa, have to say 'almost', not 'all', because still no sign of the mortar re-colouring warranty certificate, and still need to chase up... but i want the key and now i have it now.. I think i can finally sleep well tonight.. and finally can concentrate of organising things for the house, for the move...

Ohhhhhh Noooooo

I called the finance department today and advised that i would go to their head office and pay the final payment (all fixing has been done). Then when i asked about who i pick up the keys from, they said your house does not have Certificate of Occupancy yet, so you can’t have the key… Ohhhhhhhhh NOOOOOOOOO

When i had the third walkthrough with SS (nearly 2 weeks ago), he did tell me that i have COO already… so WT?????

The finance lady said she will follow up for me today… so i told her that i need it urgently since i was told that it is done, i have now organised the removalist and everything else… I really need to move in..

I then called my CSR who said that it is not her role to follow this up??????? @#$@##$# but she later on saying that she will do her best to follow up for me… argh…

I then rang the council who advised that they are not doing the COO for me, because Simonds is using a private surveyor called NorthPoint… so i found their number on whitepage and called them

They advised me that they did the inspection a few weeks back, but they are waiting for information from Simonds (such as Plumbing certificate, energy rating report….etc) before they can release the COO…. So i called SS again and asked him if he can follow up with the plumber of what’s holding up the certificate…

Argh, i feel so tired of this.. why i have to do the chasing up.. i thought everything has been organised and now, in the very last minutes… ohhhhhhhh

Shopping Time

Never thought that a custom made rod need 4 weeks to complete and deliver (although the price is similar to readymade)

This properly is my fault, i never look at rod seriously, i always thought that i can get a ready made quickly, but look like one of the sliding door need custom made…

Arghhhh…

Except for curtain company, I have tried bunning yesterday too, which they have the size i am looking for listed in their store, but i couldn’t find it, tried to get someone helping, but they were too busy (i guess its because of Mother day)
So i bought some redishade instead.. properly i need to use it for a while before i can get a rod installed (i already have curtain)

I don’t have a key yet but already thinking of moving and buying things… hahahaa just can’t stop thinking about the house

Update for today

OK – quick update

Meeting was at 10am this morning, SS shown me around the house, all the internal are done and house inside is cleaned

There are a few outside items still being worked on, and SS has spent the whole morning fixing it (rather than getting tradies to do it, he just do it himself, well done). He assured me that everything will be done by the end of today, so i am happy to sign off… I know that I should sign off after all are completed, but i think it is just about trust, and i trust him.. so i signed off but i won’t pay until he confirm all items are done. And he is fine with it.

There are only 2 items outstanding and will leave it post handover

– 1. provide me the warranty certificate for the mortar re-colouring, and

– 2. monitoring the mortar color through maintenance period
This is tricky. They have done the mortar re-colouring a while ago, and now because Kevin has identified some brickwork issue during PCI, so the brickie has to come and fix, however the mortar color look a lot lighter, I nearly had a heart attack when i saw it.
But SS assured me that it is the same color, it is just because it is not fully dry and still new, so the color not quite blend with the rest of the house. He is also happy to put in writing, if the color is still not settled at the end of the maintenance period, he would come back and fix it
To be honest, the color looks slightly better than a few days ago, so may be true that it is too early to judge the color, so I let it go as long as we have that in writing

So hopefully this is it… All the appliances have booked in and will deliver in 2 weeks times…

Later in the afternoon, SS called and confirmed that everything has been done except for the acid clean for the driveway/garage floor, and it will be done on Monday. I just went to the house and checked, everything are there and only the acid clean remaining, i am quite happy with it… Look like i can finally settle my house on Monday… yeahhhh

This weekend, shopping time… hehehe.. i need to buy some rob to hang my curtains, also need some roller blinds, need to hang them up first so that i can start moving things in…

It is so close but still.....

Thanks for the comments.. but i don't have the house yet. SS called 15mins before the meeting start, he wanted to reschedule to today, but i couldn't make it, so it will be tomorrow, at 10am...

I kind of expected it, i actually don't think everything can be fixed by Wed, so asked for Friday handover, but he sound so confident last week, and now turn up $@$@#$%

I still went to the house on Wed, a lot of things have been done and thats good

However i saw a new problem, look like the brickie who tried to fix the brick issue (identified by my inspector) but using the wrong mortar color 'again'..... i am so p@ss.. because this happened to my house before and they did the mortar re-colouring already, and now again????? what the brickie thinking????? although it is not a big area, but just annoying, why can't they finish the job and finish it well, so doesn't need to come back again?????

I will go back and check again tomorrow... I hope it is just because the mortar not dry yet (let's pretend that)... i am not sure if i should settle, I am totally confused... NOT HAPPY AT ALL

06May is our handover date

Should have this updated last week but been busy, there are quite a few things happening for the new house:

Last Friday was my third walkthrough with SS after the PCI, most items have been fixed which i was pleased, however there are still outstanding items – such as water pipe brick work, some paint touch up, gas pipe UV spray, driveway/garage floor cleanup, toilet flyscreen, IXL fan light is still wrong…etc… so still a fair bit of works required

But SS was confident that they can all be fixed by 06May which is tomorrow… let’s hope so.. He also confirmed that the Occupancy of Certificate has been issued, so we should be able to do a handover tomorrow

Last Friday after the site meeting, I also called the bank and organise the final payment. I am quite worried because they need to do an inspection before giving me a cheque, but surprisingly the bank called me in the early morning today and confirmed that the inspection has passed and the cheque is available in 30mins in the brand that i nominee.. woo, how wonderful…

Also called my loan manager today who organise the house insurance for me, done straight through no issue at all

So look like i have what i need for tomorrow, let’s see if they really fix everything..

I just place online order 2 pendants lights and 1 wall light for my dinning/kitchen and lounge room, so happy for it… my annual leave has been approved and removalist has also been booked.. wooo bring on the move as i am soooooooooo excited…