Finally....some photos :)

Driveway ready to be poured

Hello driveway!!

We managed to get away with no drain as it slopes ever so gently down to the footpath :)

Before......

Excavation started for retaining wall

And excavation complete!

Compacting the base of the retaining wall and getting our levels right

First course down....

Finished height at the corner end (it is 1 block higher than the other end as the block slopes away....)

The innovative solution to the sewer inspection plate - thank god for hollow blocks :)

Our sexy letterbox - colour matched to the house!

Retaining wall complete with Capping Blocks

Theatre Panel Glide blinds

First set of timber venetians installed in Lounge Room

Panel Glide blinds on our stacker doors - love them!

And the undersoil starts for our turf!

Turf delivered

Front of house after Day 2

Side of house

Our lovely security screen doors have been installed to the back of the garage, theatre and laundry

All of the back is done! Looks so good!

Rangehood and cooker looking lovely!

Dishwasher :)

A very quick and belated update!

Sorry to anyone who has been waiting to see how things have been progressing since the last update - things have been so hectic organising all the post-Plantation items. I don't have any photos I can upload at the moment (as we don't yet have internet connected and I am typing this from my iPad!) but a brief update of what has been taking place (in no particular order...):

  #  Our flooring is all done - timber & carpets and looks awesome!!
  #  Dishwasher and Cooker installed in kitchen!
  #  The driveway has been laid and we can finally drive on it now!
  #  We had an excavator around last week to dig out the spot for our retaining wall at the back...and...
  #  The retaining wall has now been built (with some much needed assistance from my uncle-in-law and mother & father-in-law!!!)
  #  Karlee's uncle has also kindly built us a letterbox out the front!
  #  We have also moved in and are gradually unpacking and organising everything into all this space we suddenly have!
  #  Side gates have been ordered - pending delivery
  #  Security doors to Laundry, Theatre & rear of Garage have been ordered - pending delivery
  #  1st set of Panel Glide blinds installed - they look awesome!!
  #  Ongoing dealings with Plantation over some warranty issues and items outstanding from our handover checklist

Coming up:
  #  Finish backfilling retaining walls
  #  Turfing starts Tuesday - pending us completing the retaining walls tomorrow/Monday....
  #  Driveway being sealed on Monday

All that leaves us is putting up our timber blinds (when they arrive) and our remaining Panel glide blinds and putting some gravel down the side of our house.

In terms of Plantation After-Sales Service, it has been quite good. Both our Administrator and Site Supervisor have both been very proactive in getting things sorted as quickly as they possibly can for us - only a few things left outstanding now which should mostly be sorted by the end of next week!

I will update with some photos as soon as our internet is connected mid next week.

More flooring done & rangehood installed!

I was very happy to get a phone call yesterday from Harry, our flooring man, to let me know he was going to come and continue work at our place on Monday. After a solid 6 hours, we now have timber floors from the Entry through to the Living Area (excluding Kitchen). He is coming back tomorrow to finish the flooring and will then spend Wednesday finishing off the quadding around the skirts.

We also managed to install our rangehood today - which took much longer than anticipated as the installation measurements in the instruction manual were incorrect. But with some initial help from my Dad and some afternoon assistance from my father-in-law, the rangehood was conquered and it looks AMAZING!

I haven't managed to grout the Alfresco area as yet as the flooring man has been using it as his "prep" area - no hurry though - I will be endeavouring to finish next Sunday.

Tomorrow, the fun begins with the driveway being boxed up and poured and our TV Antenna is being installed.

The view from the Kitchen

Looking towards the front door

Hallway to Kids Retreat area

From the Front Door

Kitchen with the rangehood installed

We have keys!!!!!

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 :)

Down the side of the Garage after the site clean up - much neater!

Pantry doors stained!!

Ensuite with mirror installed

Our front facade has been stained

So has our front door!

Alfresco area (before tiling)

Alfresco area (before tiling)

Alfresco area (before tiling)

Alfresco area (after tiling)

Alfresco area (after tiling)

Alfresco area (after tiling)

Timber flooring delivered

Living area with floors completed

Looking across the Dining Room - you can see they had to "fill" along the stacker doors

Our Theatre also has flooring!!

Another view of the Theatre (and our wheelie bins!)