After what has seemed like an eternity, we finally picked up our keys from Plantation on Thursday morning. The painter was on-site ready to make the final touch ups we identified, which disappointingly was ALOT!! However, I can't really blame Plantation too much given it was the Cleaners who were there that morning seemed to have made quite a mess of the skirtings and walls with their vacuum hoses.
Overall, the finish is great! There are still some "annoyances" however these have been duly noted on our Final Inspection Checklist (and maybe a follow up email or two to our Administrator to tack on a few more) and these will be rectified by Plantation over the course of the next 14 days.
The only "major" issues were:
- Ensuite shower screen still not installed - happening Tuesday 28/1
- Chip in kitchen cabinetry
- Exterior painting very ordinary (seems to have been done in a huge rush on the day before handover)
We also had OptiComm (the Fibre Internet company) come visit on Thursday afternoon to run the fibre in to the home from the pit in the footpath. However we were quickly advised that it could not be connected as Plantation had not run the conduit to their connection point. After talking to Luke, it was revealed that OptiComm actually buggered up the pit installation and didn't run the connection point in to our boundary, hence Plantation couldn't connect to it. OptiComm now have to come out and rectify the error before they can connect the fibre to the home - a process that may take up to 28 days! Looks like I will have to be patient for our super-fast internet!!
Getting straight in to the swing of things on Friday, Dad & I completed the tiling of our Alfresco area, which has come up a treat!! It just needs to be grouted and the TermiMesh cut down - which we will be doing on Monday.
Whilst in the middle of tiling on Friday, I received a call from our timber flooring installer to advise that his job for Friday and Saturday had been cancelled so was available to start on our place earlier than expected. He came around briefly Friday afternoon to check the levels of our slab and was back again today to do the floor preparation (grinding of high points; filling of low points). Much to our surprise, when we returned this afternoon he had already started putting down the timber flooring and has so far completed the Theatre & Living Room. IT LOOKS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!! We couldn't be happier with how all our colours have come together given we selected all of them from 5cm x 5cm samples!!
The best news is that our flooring man also mentioned he may look to come back Monday "if the weather is bad" - further questioning revealed he owns a boat so if the weather is bad, he won't be able to go out on the water. Here's hoping the weather is truly miserable!! Nonetheless, we are at least a day ahead on the flooring given he had to do some preparations that weren't budgeted or allowed for.
Other tid-bits happening next week:
- Dad & I are installing our rangehood on Monday;
- Our driveway is booked in for Tuesday morning, and we will be able to walk on by Wednesday afternoon;
- Our TV Antenna installation is also booked in for Tuesday morning;
- Our carpets are confirmed for Thursday;
- Our gas-fitter & plumber is confirmed for Friday morning (gas cooker, dishwasher & BBQ)
And then the big day is Friday - when we start moving in to our home!!! By Saturday night, we will be going to bed in our very own "home sweet home" - CAN'T WAIT!!
A few photos below :)
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| Down the side of the Garage after the site clean up - much neater! |
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| Pantry doors stained!! |
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| Ensuite with mirror installed |
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| Our front facade has been stained |
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| So has our front door! |
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| Alfresco area (before tiling) |
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| Alfresco area (before tiling) |
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| Alfresco area (before tiling) |
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| Alfresco area (after tiling) |
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| Alfresco area (after tiling) |
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| Alfresco area (after tiling) |
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| Timber flooring delivered |
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| Living area with floors completed |
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| Looking across the Dining Room - you can see they had to "fill" along the stacker doors |
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| Our Theatre also has flooring!! |
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| Another view of the Theatre (and our wheelie bins!) |
Hi, the floors looks great. I've read through your blog and it's a great help as I'm just about to sign on with plantation (Carmelle Q1). I was wondering if you could help me out with the timber flooring. Plantation have allowed $6250 for the standard range from Cosham Studios, which there are a couple of products that I like. Did you do the floors in your place to save money or because you found a better product? And how much did the flooring cost with supply, install and floor leveling etc etc.
ReplyDeleteHi again :) Plantation use Carpet Call for their flooring (timber & carpets) and the timber flooring we chose (Parador Classic 1050 in Wideplank Walnut) was part of their "standard" flooring range. We visited Carpet Call to have a look at the full carpet range and got them to quote individually of Plantation. Carpet Call quoted $10,000 supply & install for timber & carpets - Plantation quoted $15,000 and that was for lower quality carpet. Hence we went with Carpet Call directly to save money given we were getting the same timber product and better carpet and underlay. Our floor preparation cost $380 - so "nothing" in the wider scheme of things :) Hope that answers all your questions.
DeleteThanks very much for the reply, great advice. And the brickwork looks great as well! I agree about the carpet range, plantations is ok, but not great. I think I'll be doing the same and having it done after handover. One last question... With the timber flooring, did you bother leaving the skirting off to avoid the quad/scotia board or were you not to bothered about that?
ReplyDeleteThanks again. Tony
Ah yes, the skirting dilemma......I really wanted to have the timber flooring go under the skirting so we didn't need quad/scotia edging and if we went through Plantation, this would have been easily achieved (although they were also going to charge an additional $1,300 for that privilege making the total cost of their flooring much more expensive!!). Plantation did offer to leave the skirting off, however it would have been left in large, unpainted strips in the Garage and I would have had to arrange for it to be installed & painted after the flooring was done, and even though Plantation were going to charge to do the skirting after the flooring (if we did the flooring through them), they weren't going to give us a credit for leaving the skirting off either, so I came to the conclusion that it was too much hassle and just went with the quadding.
DeleteYeah there is no logic to the builders charges/credits sometimes. I am not against the quad board I just think the flooring looks better without it. But yours is a very common situation and I think to avoid the quad board is just too much of an issue, especially when there is landscaping and driveways etc etc to be dealing with. I'll be visiting carpet call on Tuesday then sending back my signed Tender to plantation. Contracts and Colour are booked for February.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for your time, you've been really helpful. Happy Australia Day.
I agree - I much prefer the "without quad ding" look as well but as you said, just too much hassle at the end of the day. Good luck with everything - if you have any other questions, feel free to ask :)
DeleteHi BandK. How much did it cost just for timber flooring? And is it a laminate timber flooring?
ReplyDeleteOur color theme are very much like yours and also thinking of doing timber flooring.
Hi Nikki, it is timber laminate flooring from Carpet Call. I don't have a breakdown of cost between our timber and carpet but I believe it was around $6,500 all up for just the timber portion.
DeleteThis is really pretty cool place I like it because it has everything I want more on this blog soon.
ReplyDeletenell justin