Hi everyone, again another post where I start off saying 'Sorry it has been so long'.
When I look back at my last post, not much has happened since then, other than settling in to my lovely home.
Only 2 things have happened.
First and most important, my lovely boyfriend has moved in. I love having him here when I get home from work. He is wonderful and very helpful, cooking tea most nights and hanging out and bringing in the washing. I have a need to be organised and he helps me do that even on the toughest of days at work. He is so caring too!
Anyway, back to the house stuff.
The second thing is that I've had my 3 month inspection. Over the first 3 months in my house I wrote a list of things that needed fixing, that weren't right and that were missing. This list looked very long. Although, now I wish I had of added more, like the carpet flattening in walking paths, the state of the yard after handover and the amount of rubbish buried under the soil, the crack in the front footpath left by their trucks.
Being the organise freak that I am, I make copies of the house plan and marked on them where paint defects were, where cracks/gaps were appearing, where nail heads were showing, etc. I also colour coded the different heights (near floor, on wall and near/on ceiling. By now I hope you understand why I used the word 'freak'. But if I still haven't convinced you, I also wrote down descriptions of where the paint defected were and kept that for my reference (eg knee height, chest height, etc).
The Inspector, Rowan, came about 2 weeks after I handed in my 3 page list and maps. He commented on how detailed I was. We went through the list and I showed him around the house pointing defects out. He stayed for about an hour, although he only stayed for about 20mins for the people across the road. He managed to reduce my list down to 2 pages by adding all the paint defects together. He said the Site Manager would come around and we could go through all the paint issues including corner cracks in architraves, skirting boards and corners of walls. He did dismiss a few things with excuses. One thing he dismissed was the water pressure in the bathroom shower saying that the flow was within the standard. After his inspection, I had a guy come over and test the shower flow and commented that it was better that any water saver on offer, so something else may be wrong. I then called the Simonds Ballarat office and got onto my Inspection Case Manager, Nicole. She was very helpful and added it to my list of things to fix (thank goodness).
Just pausing briefly, I'd like to mention that I wouldn't have Nicole's job for the world. Imagine all the complaints and anger customers she would deal with... Wow. Therefore, knowing that the defects in my house are not her fault, I made it my mission to be myself and not the Housezilla (instead of Bridezilla) that she normally deals with. In fact, I decided to not let myself get upset and stressed about the whole house thing. My philosophy was 'As long as it will be fix and I don't have to pay, we're good'.
Anyway, back to it...
So after the 3 month inspection in JANUARY, I waited... and waited... and waited. I finally called to see when things would be organise and fix, remembering my philosophy and staying calm. Nicole and I orgainsed a few times and dates for things to get fixed.
First the carpet guy came and fixed the nails in the carpet. He was also meant to fix the wooden floor but couldn't so he organise another guy to come and glue the wooden floor back down.
The other items were organised for my next lot of holidays in April. The site Manager, Martin, came and looked at the things that needed fixing. He started fixing nails in the roof and organised a painter to come the next day. The painter, Yardly, has been wonderful. He began fixing all of the issues I had on my list.
In the meantime, we found out that a tile had not been secured properly and water had been getting into the roof, creating a bulge above the kitchen sink (breathe and remember to the philosophy). Thank goodness I had marked that there was a defect in the paint above the sink. I didn't realise that it was a bulge until the ceiling had been repainted. Martin fixed the tiles and called a plumber in to check the air conditioner and the solar panels. Then Martin told me that part of the ceiling will need to be replaced. I handled that very well!
The only thing that has made me stress has been the state of the house after Martin cancelled the painter until the Plasterers have finished. Poor Yardly had to leave the mess he had made (plaster dust mainly). The furniture in the lounge and study is pulled away from the walls, and their is no point putting it back because I'll just have to move it again for Yardly to finish. My boyfriend reminded me there is nothing to stress about; things will get fixed and better their be a little bit of mess for a short time than a collapsed ceiling in the future. I love Mick!
The Plasterers are due on the 11th of May, which can't come soon enough. I cleaned up as best I could, trying not to vacuum the plaster dust up (but 2 weeks later, the vacuum was out and the dust was gone. I can't wait and look at that mess).
Now, looking back at all the things that have happened, it is a lot and there is still a lot of things on my list that needs fixing. And the saga continues...
