Not a lot of movement this past week

The scaffolding went up a week ago and we were very excited to see the commencment of the bricking of the first floor. Unfortunately there has been very little movement on site (sigh).

The only change I can see is that the bricking of the last remaining ground floor pillar has been done and there is a problem with that pillar!

Background, the pillar had not been done as they had to extend the conrete footing where this was to be placed. To do this they took down the support post (part of the frame) and did the concrete and were waiting for the concreting to dry before continuing.

The problem, they have now done the bricking for the pillar but forgot to reinstate the support post before doing the bricking (i.e. there is not support post in that pillar now.

I have raised the issue with my SS (he didn't know it had been removed) as I am concerned that the bricking won't take the load of the roof (hence why the support post was there). He is going to look at it with the brickie.

Scaffolding is going up

Today our scaffolding got delivered and the guys on site were hard at work setting it up and I think it should be finished tomorrow. I was also pleased to see that there was shade cloth us the full side of our neighbours house so it should be protected while they do our first floor bricking. I'm looking forward to seeing the fully bricked house in a few more weeks.

Brick work progressing

The weather has been better than forecast with dry weather through the day at least and the brick work is progressing along nicely. The ground floor is almost done and although I'm by no means an expert it looks like a good job to me!

The plumbing fit out has also been done and the concreters came back today and extended the slab for the rainwater tank.

Bricking

The bricking has started and slowly progressing. There is enough up now that we can start to see the look of the bricks.

What can I say.... I am SO glad that we upgraded our choice to these bricks. I am really happy with them (& so is hubby).

I also have to say that the bricky is doing a great job too!

Columns are to be bagged and painted in Wattyl Thunderbolt

Neighbour's property clean and repaired

Our SS was quick to act and I can happily report that the water damage on our neighbour's land has been repaired. Our excess fill has been removed and all rubbish removed. Has actually worked out well for our neighbour as it's a actually cleaner than pre-start of my build.

Now just to stay on top of our own build and make sure the frame overhang is rectified and other bits like the jabs and windows get fixed along the way

Why does it feel like there is a new problem each day?!

I spoke with hubby last night and discussed the inspection with him as he couldn't make it. He was concerned about the frame overhang on the slab so we did some research and found out that there is a tolerance for this of up to 10mm, unfortunately in the spot I found it's definitely more than this. Hubby decided to call SS today to follow up for a solution, SS has not returned the call yet.

Next problem, I get a call from our strata manager of the estate today, as I am on the executive committee I didn't think twice. Well there was a problem, there is a water leak on the lot next to us. When he rang the owner, the owner said that he believe it was from our builder using his lot (which they have but so have others). It is possible that our builders subbies are at fault. So now we'll have to deal with sortig this out. I wish that they'd just skip over me and sort out directly with the builder but I will have to get involved. Most frustrating part is that it apparently happened a month ago but they didn't both to say anything then so it's been leaking all this time.

Update on Meter box and rainwater tank

Hubby rang our SS and expressed our concerns that we didn't think that the rainwater tank would fit on the slab given that the electricty meter box had now been located directly on top of it.

Fortunately the SS was aware of the problem and said that they will be extending the slab so the rainwater tank will fit.

Walk through with SS and bricking started

Today I met the SS on site to have a walk through and see how things are going. I did find a few problems:

1) some over hang of the frame on the slab.
I bought this up with the SS and he said tha this was okay as in those areas the frame has been bolted down.

2) a jab missing and some nearby not in straight.
The SS said that this would be fixed when the guy is back to put in the eaves etc

and 3) windows on the top floor all along one side are not aligned and hence do not shut property
The SS said that they are not fixed in yet, that they may still be moved by the bricky and he also hasn't had the window guy in to do maintenance on the windows yet. I will being looking at each window with a fin tooth comb when PCI comes around.

On the plus side, the bricky started today. He is really nice and I also confirmed that they had got the right order instructions for ironed mortar joints.

I also asked the SS about getting addtional TV/Electrical points, he said that I can arrange this directly with the electrician. This is due to be done shortly after the roofing is done so I will get the electricians number then.