29th September 2014

Well there has been a few things happening of late...

Pete finally got the chance to start work on our front garden retaining wall. It was getting pushed back every weekend due to all the rain we were getting. Hopefully this weekend will see the wall on the left side of driveway (looking out to the street) finished. Then we can bag and paint to match the facade or render it. Ideally I would like it rendered, but it won't match the facade and rendering the facade will be a way off yet. Then I can finally start work on the garden...yay :) I can't wait. Our facade looks so bland without any plants around it.

I've created a bit of a monster. Because our timber fence looks crap and is already bowing and fading in colour, I decided I would paint it, not only to make it look better, but because plants look so much nicer in front of a charcoal coloured fence. It makes the plants and green grass really pop. I decided to paint it Colourbond - Monument to match our roof and gutters and for contrast against the light grey bricks. Its coming along nicely, but the only thing I don't like about Monument, is that in certain light it gives off a blue tinge rather than a charcoal grey. Most of the fence will be covered with plants anyway, so no biggy. Stupid me didn't realise how big a job it was going to be. I reckon I have spent 3 x full days on it and its nowhere near finished :(

We also now have a footpath on our nature strip thanks to Blacktown Council. All they need to do is plant a tree apparently. I'm hoping its something decent. Ideally, I would like 2 x trees out the front.

I must call MJH and find our when the maintenance guy is going to come and finish off what didn't get done. I was told it would be a few weeks, which was 4 weeks ago now. Time to crack the whip! It's only been a year.

Some progress pics...

Jack helping daddy with the foundation!

The footpath contractors happened to be pouring concrete the same day we were pouring ours, so we asked the guys if there was leftover concrete we would have it...and they had some - perfect timing and saved us some coin.

Foundation poured!

First row of besser blocks!

First row of besser blocks!

First row of besser blocks!

Second row of besser blocks!

Second row of besser blocks!

The monster I created :(

The back fence is almost done!

New footpath left side!

New footpath right side!

2nd September 2014

Not much to report on, except that yesterday, Scott (MJH Maintenance Manager) popped in for a visit to review the work that was carried out recently. He is going to arrange for another guy to come out and fix everything that wasn't fixed and also get the painters back for some touch ups, which is fantastic.

Also really disappointed about the extra downlights we wanted installed. I ended up getting another Electricians opinion and it was all bad news due to restricted access. I've got my fingers cross that we could still somehow get a downlight in the hallway cutout. I'm determined to find a way. As for out the front, it's looking impossible. The only thing I could think of is when our gardens are done to put a heap of lighting in them and a feature spotlight in front of the right side window so it makes the house look more even in terms of lighting. At this stage only the left side of the house is lit up. I am planning on putting some kind of feature plant in front of the window anyway, so might shine a spotlight onto the house to help.

25th August 2014

We finally had our dining pendant light and the rest of our lights that needed to be installed last Thursday. I'm loving the dining pendant, but I'm not looking forward to having to keep it clean, as I hate dusting and am allergic to dust. I might have to make it a chore for the kids...lol

I am however disappointed that some of the lights that I wanted to install couldn't be installed due to access issues or gyprock/metal being in the way. There are a couple of lights that I desperately want to put in which I would like to get a second opinion on.

I've been told that some Electricians can be quite lazy and if it takes a bit of effort having to install a light, they don't want to bother and will tell you that its just too hard or access is an issue. An example would be the hallway cutout/niche. Niche's are put in certain places for a reason to display whether it be art or ornaments etc. But our electrician said it was too difficult, which I find bizarre as there is a downlight in the cutout in the display home and other Milano's that I have seen on blogs have downlights in them too. I really want to be able to display some art in the cutout. It would look silly without a light above it.

I also wanted up/down lights on our facade, but according to our Electrician that couldn't happen either. Every other house in our street has them, except ours. It makes our house look really bland with nothing on it. We were able to get 2 x downlights in the eaves above the garage, but not in front of the far right window, which again looks silly at night time, as only the left side of the house has lights on it.

If anyone can recommend an Electrician that will do these types of lights, please let me know.

On the weekend, Pete was able to chip away a little more at our retaining wall, but we had so much rain last week that the ground was just too wet. He spent most of the day trying to get clay off his boots. Hopefully we won't get too much rain this week, so the ground can dry out. I desperately want to get the retaining wall done so I can start on the gardens.

The Service & Warranty Manager from MJH will be calling in this week to look at the maintenance work that was carried out recently. I informed them of my disappointment with some of the work that was done, so hopefully those things will be rectified ASAP and we can move on.

Some pics of the dining pendant (I still need to play with the glass pieces and move them around a bit to make it perfectly round, so in some spots it might look a little odd - it took me a few hours to put them on - such a nightmare). It will look a lot nicer when we get a new dining table, as the one below is only temporary.

10th August 2014

Our electrician started on our lights this week. Really happy so far. There will be a little bit of patching to do which is a pain. Luckily Pete's brother is a gyprocker. We might have to ask him for a favour...hehe

There are only a few more lights to be installed inside. This Friday will see the rest of the lights installed. I still need to figure out what to do outside. I'm unsure about whether we should put downlights in our eaves yet or whether it will be overkill.

Pete started digging a trench last weekend out the front for our retaining wall. The poor thing has 'man flu' at the moment, so nothing got done this weekend unfortunately. Trying to source leftover bricks from other peoples builds at the moment to save us some money. If you have any spare bricks you want to get rid of, please let me know. We are going to need 1,000 bricks, otherwise I am thinking about buying besser blocks, as it will be quicker and easier to lay and we won't need anywhere near as much. Hopefully the weather will be good next weekend and Pete will be over his man flu, so we can get started on it.

Some pics (some of the house is still unfurnished...long way to go)...

24th July 2014

Got a nice email yesterday from the private certifier saying the driveway crossover had been approved. We also got our Final Occupation Certificate. I wasn't expecting to receive it so soon. They have such a quick turnaround time compared to council.

At this stage, I am waiting for quotes to come back for our lights to be installed and a retaining wall. I'm hanging to get stuck into the gardens. Some tradies are hopeless at getting back to you. Some don't even bother. Such a shame as its their loss.

23rd July 2014

Yesterday we received a surprise in our letterbox from Council saying our driveway had been approved, which was great news. So I got in contact with the private certifier yesterday to let them know, as this was the only thing outstanding for the issuing of our Final Occupation Certificate.

All I had to do was scan the Approval and email it to them. They emailed me back letting me know the fee for Final Occupation Certificate was $165, which was even better as the original letter said it was going to be $275, so that was nice. I paid straight away and got an email back saying they would email a copy of the certificate once finalised.

I wasn't expecting the process to that that easy. So hopefully in the next few days we will finally receive our certificate. Its only been 10 months...lol

All we need to do now is finish off the landscaping out the front, then we will be able to receive our Council bond back.

I had our bricklayer 'Marty' call in yesterday to give us a quote for a retaining wall out the front. Hopefully it will come back reasonable. He told us to dig the trench ourselves and try and get as many leftover bricks as we can from other builds in the estate to save some money. If any of you have any leftover bricks that you want to get rid of, please let me know, as I would be more than happy to take them off your hands. We need 1,200 bricks in total.

18th July 2014

Yeh, we finally have a driveway!

The driveway was sealed this afternoon and looks fantastic. The colour matches the roof, gutters and front windows, which is great. We are so happy with the job Fogolin & Sons did. We will finally be able to park our cars in the driveway from Sunday. Funny thing is that now that its finished, I don't really want to drive on it, because it will get dirty...lol

We also had Fred, the MJH maintenance guy back today to finish off some painting and brickwork repairs. There were a couple of things that seem to have gone missed, so I will let head office know next week. We may have to get him back one more time.

I am so excited about getting some gardens. I have started making enquiries online as to the cost of the types of plants I have in mind. There is a cheap place at Taren Point, which is a bit of a drive from here, but the savings will be worth the travel. If anyone can recommend somewhere close to the Hills District that would be great.

Some pics of the finished driveway!