Happy Days Are Here Again.....

If you go down to my house today you're in for a big surprise

If you go down to my house today you'll never believe your eyes

Coz my 3 brickies have worked real fast

They've built the walls of my garage at last

And I'm so happy, I want to throw a picnic!

(Sung to the tune of Teddy Bears Picnic, lyrics by Kylie Rolls (one of the girls on the avenue)



Now that's off white mortar!!





Very Noice!!!



Had a good chat to the brickies today about the events of the week, and they were cool with everything - even cooler now that they have a slab of VB from us!!  Big pile of demolished bricks at front of property.

Just beautiful

And look - my front windows now have the Edwardian Bars installed - I love them!! 

But wait, there's more.... while we were doing the rounds, checking out our neighbour's builds........... look what was being delivered and put in place...

Our Steel Lintels for the Garage - Woo Hoo!!!

Such a lot can happen in the space of a week, you go from highs to lows and back to highs again - personally lets just have the highs!!

Our chippie can now come back and put the roof trusses on the garage after tomorrow, coz the guys said they will finish my garage then - stay tuned for further updates!

Tear down those walls

Well, after my initial excitement about the start of bricklaying, how quickly that can turn into disappointment.
While we were at the house on Sunday, I commented that I hope the mortar lightens up when it is dry because it sure doesn't look off-white to me!!!

First thing Monday morning sent an email to our contact at Romeo just to make sure that the bricklayers knew they had to use off-white mortar.    24 hours later!!! This morning I received an email saying that they had made a mistake and it will be rectified ASAP.   

Went for my usual trip down today to see the two poor bricklayers starting to demolish all their hard work, I felt so sorry for them, and told them so.   They were ok about it and said they were glad they found out about it before the steel lintels were in place.   So its back to the beginning we go, and they start from scratch.

While I was there, A & L Windows turned up to put the Edwardian bars on my front windows.   I queried with them if this is usual, they said that it is usually done before the windows leave the factory, also asked about the missing window locks - they had ordered the wrong windows, but they can come out and fit new winders after the event.

All those wasted bricks!

Attention to detail, one thing I am a bit of a perfectionist about, also communication, if when I requested on Friday the site supervisor to call me, I probably would have reminded him about the off-white mortar then, and we wouldn't have lost 4 days.   David rang the office this arvo. and after a bit of a battle with them, has set up a meeting on Monday on-site to finally meet our SS.

I know its only a hiccup, and if that's all that goes wrong then we are lucky.   Oh well, hello brick envy, you're back.

Another brick in the wall

Yes, that's right, our bricklaying has begun!!!  No thanks to Romeo of course, after my telephone call on Friday to query progress (or lack of it) this week, the girls at the office informed me that my steel lintels will be delivered on Monday ready for the bricklayer.    Needless to say I was a little disappointed that another week has gone by with no progress on the build.

Thank god for neighbours!!!!  After having a bit of a rant on Tash's blog, she informed me that her partner had swung by our house on Friday and informed her that there is a brick wall there, then on Saturday other lovely neighbour Kylie smsd me to ask, did you know you have had some brickwork done, then Reinsey sent me a text on Saturday to say - have you visited your house today.    Talk about the jungle drums going, I reckon forget the girls in the office, the neighbourhood watch people are far better informed.



Inside of garage



Still have not even spoken to our Site Supervisor yet, the office girls tell me that he will ring me when he is ready to meet us when the frame is complete.    Hmmm sometimes, they forget who is the customer here, appreciate that they don't want people annoying them all the time, but surely a telephone call to introduce themselves wouldn't go astray.   Seeing I work in a customer service role, I believe its vital to keep the customers happy, don't you?



Anyway, we finally got down there today and I love the new bricks and our contrast bricks as well, here's the pictures. 



RHS Garage Pier showing contrast stripe



I will be back down on Tuesday to check progress, lets hope there's lots of it!!







I can see clearly now

Last Saturday we discovered pallets of the troublesome bricks had been delivered in anticipation of the brickies arrival this week, despite my midweek visits it was disappointing to see that nothing had been done onsite. 


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My lovely dining window



 The ritual of the Saturday visit was a ripper!!!!!!!!!  Lo and behold our chippy Scott was on deck installing our windows even though its the weekend!



Our great bi-parting Alfresco Door



But today, windows in and roof trusses on, all looks fabulous, and now with a big pile of sand ready for the brickies.

Today we also met our lovely across the road neighbours Nina & Louise AKA Louneen, they will be a welcome addition to the next "Girls on the Avenue" dinner.   So nice to know we are so lucky to have met so many nice neighbours already.

Starting to look like a house!!!



From Canterbury to Richmond, and I don't mean a train trip

Yesterday at 4.30 I received a call from Romeo Homes to tell me that my bricks have been discontinued, and what is worse, I needed to select another one by 10 am today to guarantee delivery on Tuesday next week so that the brickies can build our garage.

Canterbury

Well, shock, horror, bewilderment, anger, pi.....ed off and other expletives came to mind!!!   Thank god that I was dining with the girls last night, a very worthwhile distraction.  

After not very much sleep last night, I was down at Austral Bricks at 8.45 this morning to select another brick.   The rep there knew by the look on my face that I was not happy and asked if I was building with Romeo Homes!!!      



 Richmond

 He was very apologetic and said he had only found out about it himself this morning, anyway he showed me an alternative brick called the Richmond which was very similar to the Canterbury only a bit lighter.   I asked him what the price difference was and he assured me that they would be supplied at the same cost of the Canterbury.     The actual brick is not as bright as the photo shows, in fact there is very little difference at all in them.   The Richmond will still blend nicely with the black roof tiles and White Birch window frames.    As a long suffering tigers follower, how can I not love my new brick.

I called Romeo, then handed the phone over to him and he explained about the costing and placed the order for my bricks right in front of me for delivery next Tuesday - yay!!!!   So crisis averted, one happy lady here, and I found out that the Richmond is actually about $60/1000 dearer than the Canterbury - us ladies just love a bargain, easy to see its stocktake sale time!!!

                                                              

The Girls on the Avenue

What a terrific night, the first gathering of The Girls on the Avenue.   We all met for dinner at Ambrosia around the corner and even though we all come from different backgrounds and age groups, I believe we all got along like a house on fire!!!

So looking forward to when we all are at The Avenue at Casey!!!

Tash, Janine, Reinsey, Kylie & Deb

And if you want to sing along to our theme song, here it is:

Standing on the outside, looking in

Well, Melbourne has turned on its coldest day so far this Winter, the wind chill factor was freezing.
Did a quick drive by from a distance and saw our chippies were on site.   Went down to the local bakery and bought 2 cappuccinos and 2 buns.

Back to the site where I introduced myself to Scott (not Steve or Shane), our head chippie who had his dad helping him, coz it was too cold for the apprentice to bother to come to work!!!!

They were very appreciative of the morning tea I brought them on this freezing day.   Anyway Scott told me my outside frame is now finished, he wont be back till later in the week.   We should have some roof trusses delivered this week, and the brickies will need to build the garage so he can put the roof trusses on.
He has worked for Romeo Homes for around 10 years and has built The Jamieson many times, he even complimented me on our turning the bedroom 2 into a study with the cavity sliders, he thought that was a great idea!!

So happy that things are ticking along nicely.   Next door, the Henley house that only had its slab laid last Thursday, is almost at the same stage as ours is!!   On the other side of us, while I was there, their porta-loo and builders cage was delivered, so they must be starting any day now as well!!

Anyway here's some more pics:-

 This is our meals/dining area which will get all the northern sunlight.   I can see myself having a coffee with a book here!!

To the right is my wonderful walk-in pantry which will be accessible straight from the garage into the pantry.   We are having benches built-in so my Kitchenaid mixer can be mounted permanently!!   This room was one of the ones that sold me the house!

Looking from the back of the family room towards the kitchen/meals area.

This shows how big our Alfresco area is going to be which will all be under roofline.

Can't wait to be outside just soaking up the atmosphere!!



Until next time - that's all folks!!!

More frame

Megan standing in kitchen, study in background

Vistied on Friday afternoon and were amazed at how much more was done despite the dodgy Friday weather.   We now have the master bedroom, ensuite, study, bathroom & living room framed up.

David looking from kitchen stove through to lounge room pantry on his right

Can't wait to see what happens next week, please rain continue to stay away for us.

They've got the wood on us...

Framing wood, that is.  We were reliably informed on Monday that a big pile of wood had been delivered and was sitting on our slab.   David couldn't help himself and raced down after work to make sure it was still there!!

Yesterday, the power of neighbourhood watch struck again with information that there were two chippies on site working  (little happy dance done by Janine!!).   So excited and looking forward to my trip down there today to check things out, I arrived home after a long day in Library Land and checked my phone to see that he had done it again!!!  David decided to take a trip down to see for himself, and there they were, working away.


Megans Room

The master carpenter Shane introduced himself and told David that it will take around two weeks for our lovely frame to be constructed - I just love updates by the tradesmen.  He said he wouldn't be there today (Thursday) as he had to finish off another job, that's ok.

David and Deb had an interlude in their cars in the middle of the street to catch up on things, I just love neighbourhood watch!!!

I visited today and took these pics of our progress so far, the slab on the block next to us was being poured while I was there, so it will be interesting to watch what happens there.



Back of house showing two back bedrooms, laundry & start of bathroom



Stood in what will be our dining/meals area

and just soaked up the beautiful winter sunshine.

Can't wait until I can sit at the table with a coffee and

a book and just enjoy!