Delays... hmmm

We have had no work on our house for the last three weeks. Last week we found out why. The builder hadn't recieved the third payment (for lockup) and so our contract was extended by 14 days. The reason it wasn't paid was:

1. I was away when the email was sent in JULY and didn't know anything about it until early August
2. Hubby doesn't check his emails anywhere near as often as he should :S We also thought it wasn't at lockup when it was as the front door wasn't on. The plaster was the next stage, so that's when the lockup money was due.
3. When I gave the release form to the SS he held onto it for a week not knowing what to do with it as the Builder was away in Perth for a month.
4. The bank held onto the form for another week before they processed it.

We are very lucky that the builder didn't charge interest on the money - as they are entitled to this according to the contract :S

So the GOOD news is that the drama is all sorted, the builders will be back to work next week :D, the front door needs to be reordered (which means i can now upgrade to wood stain, something i was going to pass off if they already had it ordered) and the tilers will be coming soon :)

I think the delay actually helped in a way, as it meant they could catch up on all their other work. So *hopefully* they will now have some more time working on ours :)

The builder also said that we were lucky that our slab went down when it did, as they have another house that has been waiting 6 WEEKS for good enough weather to get the slad done :S

We also got to decide on our cupboard set out while we were there.

So back on track and hopefully lots of progress soon :)

KITCHEN!!! Garage door & front door :D

Hi everyone, sorry for the lack of update as i've been away for the weekend.

We now have a kitchen! We think it was installed last thursday, around the same time the garage and front door went up :)

I LOOOVE  the kitchen! The colours have come together really well, maybe even better than i expected. Everyone else seems to go with black and white but there was no way we were having that in our kitchen, It would feel depressing to me for some reason (oh, and black gloss benches are a NIGHTMARE to clean, trust me) The only complaint is the size of the kitchen itself, i really wish we could have somehow made it a bit bigger. Oh well, we will make it work :)

Things i love:
The diamond gloss bench top (Lunar Stone)
The pot drawers
The touch-catch door under the breakfast bar
The overall colour scheme and how it's come together :)
ALL OF IT!!! : D : D

I should also mention that i love the look of the garage door, and the remote that comes with it! The front door is actually the wrong one so we will have to get it changed.

As you'll see in the photos the shower tap fittings have been changed to a mixer :D and are now awaiting the gyprock.

Onward to the photos!

duckboards and wading pools at the front step/garage (It was flooding in Tamworth)

wading pool!, post on stilts wating for concrete and a plop of mortar left from the brickies

Swimming pool in background, anyone?! You can just make out a line of floodwater in the distance.

Ooh a tap! Two actually, and they even work!

Front of the house today after we found an unlocked window to climb through! We'd been locked out for a week now.

Internal doors ready to go

Remote controlled door :D

Here it is! :) Top cupboards and kick board -peruvian clay, Bottom cupboards -Pumice, Bench - lunar stone diamond gloss (covered by cardboard). All laminex selections. Handles are slim bow handle in satin chrome, also by laminex

Loving the drawers! Dishwasher space

Oven space and gas cooktop space above it covered by cardboard

Top cupboards with room for exhaust fan and fridge space

The best shot i could get of the sink under the cardboard

The offcut from the gas cooktop space - we scabbed it out of their bin along with the one from the sink space! If we can find edges for them we might be able to make a little movable trolley or something to match the bench. It's a shame to waste such beautiful glossy bench top!

Yes! please be careful and look after our lovely kitchen!

Skirting boards ready to go in

The offending shower pipes have now been changed and we have our mixer tap installed. I wonder how cranky they were having to re-do it??

The view out of our bedroom window, this will eventually all be built out :(

Close-up of bench top and breakfast bar

Best shot i have of the touch-catch cupboard door at the back of the breakfast bench

Taken through the window when we were locked out - the best colour indication of the top cupboards plus the pantry and linen in background

The first drama of the build...

Today i went to see our SS to check on a few things. It turns out the tap fittings are wrong in the shower, and for the vanity :( The only way to have mixers is to pull off the gyprock and re-do the plumbing. The builder went off the original plans as we hadn't told him we were having mixers. We had assumed that the people we got the taps from would have told him or he would have seen it on the quote and when he ordered them. That's ok, it was a mixup and probably mostly our fault.

I told them not to worry, we'll just have normal taps. When i told DH he had other ideas and insisted we get the mixers, so back to the builder i went to say we did want it fixed. Problem is 1. We have to foot the $500 bill to change it and 2. They have to have the mixer tap to install into the wall when they do the plumbing. So off i went to the shop to find out where our order was at... and the lady couldn't find our order!

So now we need to wait for them to find out where our order is (arrived, on order or lost in the abyss) so that we can take the mixers so that the plumber and plasterer can be booked to change the plumbing and re-do the wall again!

It's going to be one expensive mixer by the time we are done!