It's been 18 months...

Well, I was slightly remiss in not putting a final post after we moved in! We finally achieved handover in late Jan 2011, so we've been in Eynesbury over 18 months. We LOVE living here. It's blissfully quiet and peaceful, all of the neighbours (and that includes anyone and everyone who lives here - it's becoming a wonderfully friendly tight knit community) are lovely, and truly there is no other place like it in Melbourne. If you're thinking of moving out here, I can assure you it's a special place.

We often see kangaroos in the paddock behind our house (if we're up early enough), and will always run into a mob on a walk through the forest. The birdlife is amazing - myriad brightly coloured parrots, galahs, cockatoos and a whole bunch I don't know the names of. And, we have had one official koala spotting! (And of course the bunnies are very cute, although occasionally destructive of gardens and golf courses.)

As for the house - well, 18 months on, and we still haven't had the (admittedly minor) repairs completed from our 3 month inspection checklist. Greybox have ignored our phone calls, emails, visits in person. Amazing. Although every builder will have their share of clients with horror stories and 'things gone wrong' (the process is always fraught with difficulties and potential for misunderstandings and delays)... Greybox Homes has got to be one of the worst of the lot. I think we've met/heard of 2 families who were happy they built with them (and both had built within the first 12 months of Greybox building at Eynesbury, so when they were only building 12-15 houses a year). The rest (15? at least) have a million nightmare stories. If you're considering building with them - don't!

Other than that, we are so happy to live in a place where I am content for the kids to go for a walk or ride their bike around the neighbourhood without the usual worries, or less so anyway. It feels like being a bit on vacation when we're walking around, and it's lovely to have a coffee or dinner out so close to home (at the homestead).

We love Eynesbury!

NOT nearing handover... of course!

Well, it came as little surprise that despite our supervisor's assurances, we have not yet received handover. In fact, we do not yet have a final invoice, nor have we been taken on a final walk through.
However, the temporary fences have been removed around our house, leaving us feeling a bit 'naked'.
Perhaps the fact that Greybox are accruing delay damages at $150 a week will motivate them to rectify the final building defects and help us move in mid-Jan. We hope!

Nearing handover?

First of all, let me say that we really enjoyed the community event at Eynesbury on Saturday. It was very low key, but really solidifies our sense that we will be joining a community of real neighbours. Speaking of which, I was too shy to go up and introduce myself to anyone, so only spoke to our neighbours, who we've already met... but I'll get there!
It seems as if we may be nearing handover. We received our Certificate of Occupancy, and the temporary fencing has been removed. I asked Greybox for a reconciliation of: post contract variation costs, provisional sum allowances used, and confirmation of the start date and length of the building period.
They think that work commenced on 14/3/10, and the building period was 261 days.
We might need to talk about this!
I am weary, I must say, of this process!
We also walked around (of our own accord) and made a list of 'final defects' that need to be rectified before we make the final payment, and Tony went through this today with Anthony. The list is a page and a half, and includes re-doing the cement floor in the garage (AGAIN) because the top of it is sandy, and disintegrates when you rub your feet on it. Apparently there was too much water / not enough cement in the mix. Nice!
Anyway, here are some recent photos, which are much more exciting than the above.
BTW, we are also at the point of selecting curtains and blinds... and totally forgot that they cannot be made instananeously, and that everything shuts over Christmas. So we're looking at early-mid Feb before we'd have them. So looks like it's the glamourous sheets on windows look for us!

ensuite shower

ensuite 

main bathroom

beautiful pink feature wall in Bed 3

 beautiful red feature wall in Bed 4

Do builders keep an ongoing file on your house?!

Not sure if they do. Lucky we're there to ensure that the process is following our original specs and plan.
Visited the house last week (Tony is still finishing up the painting, so he's been there, but I only get out there about once a week). The incorrect kitchen sink had been delivered (the one we selected back in Sept 09, but changed in March '10 and reconfirmed in May '10). So way back last year we had selected the Clark Advance Double bowl from Reece, but upon reconsideration changed that to the Oliveri NuPetite NP653 with accessories (colander, chopping board). It's still a double sink, but has larger / deeper bowls. And our mixer is Oliveri, so I thought they'd make a nice little kitchen family together ;). Anyway, the Clark was delivered, fortunately I spotted it before it was installed, so Greybox is getting it changed. You'd think that the supervisor (or the plumber) would have a list of our specs and check things off as they arrived...
In trying to sort that out, I started to get worried that Greybox hadn't ordered our carpet, and since we're trying to get in before Christmas, didn't want any further delays. So I called Carpet Court Melton, where we had done our selection... lo and behold, they didn't have our spec on file (even though I left them a copy of our plan, with the spec written on it!). And of course Greybox doesn't have the spec either! Funny.
Anyway, I had it written down on a sample of the carpet at home, Oyster Bay 'Natural'. It's a solution dyed nylon, rated for commercial wear, but still has a 'soft' feel about it. The colour is a cool beige-y, with a hint of grey in it. It's funny, I asked the guy at Carpet Court when Greybox generally puts the orders in for carpet... knowing that our tiles are being done this week, and that carpets are next... and he said 'They used to be pretty good, putting their orders in a month or so before, but now they only give us a week or two notice. I think they have some new people in the office who don't quite know what they're doing yet." Not the first supplier or subbie I've heard this from!
Greybox also let me know, subtly, that they no longer have my colour selection for the glass splashback, so I have to go in and reselect it. Not a great use of my time. I also distinctly remember the day that I had to go in late to work because I had to go select it 'urgently' back in May. Anyway! I'm going to see if I posted the colour here on the blog somewhere, because I don't have it written down at home anywhere.
Note to anyone else who's building, particularly with Greybox:

• Keep your own record of all of your colour selections and other specifications.
• Keep your own mental timetable of 'what should happen next', and keep on top of Greybox (the office in particular) to make sure they put their orders in, in a timely manner, and to ensure their orders are correct.
• Don't take Greybox's word for anything... they often say things to cover up their own oversights... try (if you can) to get things in writing, but in the end, double check everything yourself!

The kitchen is in... but we're bullied over the tiles

The photo to the left is the doorway to our ensuite- there will be double sliders there. The double vanity will be where those tap hole things are!

My husband started painting today (Greybox allowed us to do some of the trades... apparently now they only allow owners to do one of their own trades). BTW, we chose Dulux Lexicon half for the walls (a very white white, with a tinge of cool grey) and Lexicon full for the door frames, etc. Anthony (our supervisor) had advised that he wants to get the tiler in as soon as possible (thank you, Anthony, for keeping things moving!), so he told Tony to go in and paint the wet areas first. Tony mentioned that the kitchen cupboards and bathroom vanities are in, and the internal doors. That's the good news.
The not so good news? In no particular order:
The slider from the living area to the rear hallway is supposed to be timber and glass... it's just a normal door. The laundry door and rear garage doors are supposed to have glass panels. They don't.
We finally got a copy of our 'final' electrical plan (apparently drafted in March, but never forwarded to us), and there are some mistakes. Greybox customer relations has advised that they don't want to correct it, as the electrician was given a copy of the *hand drawn* rough-in a year ago, and apparently he doesn't need the final plan! The rough-in is missing the microwave provision powerpoint, and the rear floodlight. The 'final plan' is missing several powerpoints.
I asked if we could add a powerpoint to the living room, and, given the fact that we never saw the final plan, and it had to be amended, perhaps Greybox would be kind enough not to charge us $250 for the variation. Apparently not!
Greybox also advised the following yesterday regarding our tiles...

Hi Tony & Carolyn,

I have been inform that you recently visited Dave from Westile to reselect the tiles for your ensuite, ensuite toilet and bathroom. It has been brought to my attention that you would like to extend the tiling to these areas to the ceiling. I have had the estimating team work out the added cost for this and I have sent this as a variation in the mail for you this afternoon.

Until we have confirmation from yourself regarding the acceptance the variation for the extension of the tiling or keeping it as per standard, your home will be placed on hold.

Following this I have also asked management regarding your request for an extra power point. All electrical items have been roughed in according to the original draw plans which I have attached for your convenience. The discrepancies on final plans would not have affected the rough in as the electrician received the original drawn plan.

Any further questions please feel free to contact me.

My reply:

Hi Vanessa,

Thanks for your email.

David from Westile informed Jessica back in last October that we wanted our tiles in the ensuite and main bathroom to go to the ceiling. I confirmed this in writing to Jessica, who responded that Brett would quote the 'non-standard' height, on Sept 10th 2009, prior to us signing the contract, so the price of tiling to the ceiling should be included in our contract price. I've copied the text from this email below - Jessica's response to my question is in blue. (BTW, the tiles in both toilets they are standard height, eg. one row of tiles up the wall.) 

From: Jessica Gatt [mailto:jessica@greyboxhomes.com.au] Sent: Thursday, September 10, 2009 4:13 PMTo: Carolyn UzelacSubject: RE: Lot 1068 Tooronga Rd DE05

HI Carolyn,

·         Re: tiling - David at Westile said that he won’t actually quote anything beyond what’s “standard”, and gave us the impression that nothing ‘non-standard’ will appear in our building contract price. (Which seemed weird.) Specifically, we wanted all the walls in the ensuite and main bath tiled (floor to ceiling), but David said he would only quote ‘standard heights’ and ‘standard tiles’ ($27.50/sqm) until we had signed the contract and gotten our loan approval. I wasn’t clear then how we would account for anything non-standard in the contract price. It kind of confused me. We will have to discuss this in our next meeting as we do not tile to the ceiling as standard so I will need to get Brett to work this out.

Given that Greybox were informed of the need for tiling up to the ceiling in both bathrooms almost a year ago, they could have been included in any of our previous variation forms, or indeed, as an update to our specifications.

When we asked David about the extra potential cost (as both the height, and tiles we chose, were upgrades from the builder's standard), he noted the following:

a) since we were making our selection so far in advance of installation, he couldn't confirm that the tiles we wanted would be in stock

b) new tiles come out all the time, and closer to installation we might want to choose something else

c) he would advise us of the cost difference when it came time to ordering

Dave asked us to come back over a month ago to confirm our tile selection. He showed us a new tile, included in the builder's standard range, and we chose it.

Considering that David advised Greybox a month ago of our selection, and re-contacted Greybox a week ago to chase up the order, it seems a bit ridiculous that three days prior to the day the tiler's been booked in (Friday), you advise that we need a variation form, and that our home is 'on hold' until we approve it.

Also, previous variation forms have been emailed or faxed to us, preventing any additional delay.

We will review the variation form when we receive it (hopefully tomorrow), and bring it into the office. Given that David has 150sqm of the tile we selected in his warehouse in Campbellfield, and can deliver the following day, if you forward the order for our tiles to him on the day you receive it, the tiler can still start on Friday as Anthony advised us.

Regarding the electrical plan, as I noted earlier:

We never received a copy of the drawn up version of the 'final' plan, so we had nothing to check to see whether or not all of our requirements were met.

The original drawn plan does not indicate a powerpoint where the microwave provision is, nor does it indicate the location of the rear access floodlight. Nor does it indicate the position of the light switches. It does however indicate a double power point next to the ensuite vanity, and one at the end of the kitchen bench, neither of which are on the final plan. I'm imagining at some point the electrician would double check he's got everything right by checking the final plan, not the rough-in that was hand drawn a year ago. And I'd assume that as a builder, Greybox would want the final plans to be correct.

We look forward to receiving the confirmation of our tiling requirements.

cheers,

Carolyn

The lack of attention to detail is astonishing! Check, double check and check again!

Progress too slow to write about

 Tony, standing in front of the doorway to the front hall and the pantry. You can see the entry to the rear hallway to the left.

The kitchen. The living room.

T

My dad, standing in the front door.

Hi! The progress thus far has been so slow, and so painful, that I couldn't even bear writing about it. However, having been inspired reading 'Building the Dream in Eynesbury', I thought I'd give everyone an update.
Let's see. We have a frame, roof, bricks. We have plaster (done by our brother-in-law, in less than a week.) We have timber floors (130mm Blackbutt, acclimatised about 2 weeks on site, installed in one week by our flooring contractor, as at the time of signing contracts Greybox told us they no longer installed timber floors. They've since changed their position on this!). We have scribbles on the ceiling where most of our downlights are (still missing some marks). We also JUST RECEIVED a copy of our final electrical plan, which was missing several powerpoints that we had requested (including one near the vanity in the ensuite, an obvious one!), and at the end of the island bench. Also, the elec plan doesn't currently include the locations of the light switches. And, the IXLtastic noted for the ensuite lists a two-light fan, not a four light. Well, considering the size of our ensuite, you would have thought a four light would again be obvious. I've checked our specs, and all it says is 'required', so I'm sure we're going to have a fight on our hands.
We had a similar situation with the front door, which has four glass panels in it, and the front sidelight, both of which are clear. As you'd expect, we asked for frosted. (Who wants clear glass in their front door!?) However, silly us, all it says on our specifications is "required", so it's their word against ours. And in that situation, guess who wins? Not us!
Other issues? When the 'building designer', Tony from Acquire Designs, drew up our plans, he neglected to factor the brick count in to the placement of the windows, front door, and rear doors. So, in order to avoid some ugly brick cuts, the brickie 'spaced out' the bricks, meaning way more mortar between each brick. Looks very yucky. In addition, the brick joints (mortar) on the rear of the garage are rolled (a groove in them), not flush, as we requested. Why? Someone from Greybox told the brickie to ignore what was written on the plans, because 'Greybox does them all rolled now'. Thanks for that. Fortunately Tony (my husband) visited the site when the brickie was completing the garage, and BEFORE he started on the rest of the house, so he instructed him to do the rest of the house with flush joints.
Oh, and we also had yet another issue with the order for our plumbing fixtures (taps and spouts), (we had several mix ups to begin with) that required me taking another day off work, and two more trips to Reece, before we got it all sorted out.
Now, on to the serious oversight, that makes me question Greybox's competency. About three weeks ago, we visited the site to find that the brickie had cleaned the bricks... all good... until we went into the garage and discovered a huge pool of water at the back, seeping into the rear wall where plaster will be installed. Yes, the garage slab has been installed with a 'negative' slope, towards the back wall! A particularly amazing feat, especially given that our block actually has a 600mm fall from the front of the block to the rear, meaning that it would have been no effort at all to actually make the slab 'fall' towards the garage door, so any water could drain properly. After 3 weeks of chasing Anthony, he's let us know that the garage slab will have to be dug up and replaced. Nice.
AND, last but not least, he doesn't think we'll be in before Christmas! He's blaming this on the fact that we did our own plastering, flooring, and painting, however, by our estimation this would have only added two weeks to the length of the job. What happened to the Oct 2nd completion date? Well, since neither the start date nor completion date have ever been confirmed in writing (despite repeated written requests), guess no one actually knows when our house is officially supposed to be completed! Is this conducting work in "a competent manner and to a professional standard" (as per the Building Commission's requirements? I think not! We'll see what BACV has to say. Blah!
By the way, if anyone wants to call me directly and chat about my experiences with Greybox, and some things to look out for, feel free: Carolyn @ 0417 346 847.

The house is taking shape

We visited the block over the weekend- the front timber windows have been installed, and the roof trusses are in. Unfortunately, the window frames (sashes) are not as wide as we would have liked, despite providing Greybox with measurements, photos of similarly wide-sashed frames, and having a thicker sash indicated on the plans. Note to anyone building: if it's not on the list of specifications included with your contract, or as a post-contract variation, technically, the builder is not obligated to build it! Even if it's on the plans, the specs in the contract take precedence. (Trust me, I've had many lengthy convos with Building Advice and Conciliation Victoria!)
(Sorry about the shadows in the photos, not ideal for viewing!)

More photos of the frame...

Read the post before this as well. Here are some more groovy photos...
David the carpenter, in the family room, looking over rear alfresco area. (L) Dining room window (R)

above: the laundry (L) and looking out to what will be the garage/back hallway (R)

rear towards alfresco

side rear angled towards alfresco

And next comes the roof trusses, tomorrow!

Taking shape!

dining room window

It's beginning to take shape! I visited the site today, met the carpenters (and brought them some refreshments, non-alcoholic of course!), and walked through the framed house. Oddly enough, the rooms actually *do* feel larger now that the frame is there, and you get a sense of proportion of the rooms. Everything feels pretty good, except: the main toilet, which seems to be about the size of a shoebox, and the 'tv nook', which is large enough to contain a few bunk beds. And a tv. Gladly enough, the toilet in the ensuite is big-ola. I think I'll be spending a lot of time in there... lol. Some of our timber windows were there too, and they are gorgeous. That's something I forgot to mention- the window sizes. The holes in the walls for them are HUGE. That should be pretty nice- lots of light. Lucky Tony is a window cleaner!
family room / dining room - side of house

Framed Photos

OK, not so clever title! Here are the photos of the slab with the frame 'mapped out'. You can see photos of the timber and trusses required. These will form the skeleton of our house. Standing inside the wooden 2x4s and 2x10s, the rooms still feel small to me. But Tony feels they're pretty big! (The old glass half full, half empty phenomenon I guess.) Here are some photos of our continued progress. Looking forward to enjoying these sunsets from our front verandah!

Abi's room (photo to left).   In the bathroom.

 That's Tony, standing in the study.