Were a little more settled in the house now and its starting to look like a home.
Glad to say the garage is mostly set up now with storage in and car lift operational.
Used my welder yesterday to weld a bbq for my next door neighbor. Still lots to do outside and the smart home set up including cameras and alarms.
Now we are finally getting to start the landscaping with the driveway and paths going in.
Things are going along well with PD fixing most the outstanding issues with lighting fixed, plastering done (awaiting painting) and silicon removed from tiles.
We feel more moved in with main lounge kitchen butlers pantry and dining table in place.
Work continues outside with the front part of the drive dug out ready for bitumen and the rear sunken garden dug and piping for water recovery system in place.
Today electrical post handover has been started. The chandelier we had put away for the bedroom needed to be rewired so my wife went to beacon lighting oakliegh as they are having a 50 % off floor stock and we have had this installed.
She also purchased this…
Very uber nordic dear….
You may notice our honeycombe blinds are all installed and look great both inside and out. They perfectly fit the windows.
We also had our fans installed.
Our deathstar bosch induction cooktop is in
But our oven isnt due to a gas pipe that we dont even need being in the way.
The dining room lights look great.
And my wife made sure the island stools were comfy.
Plus we have the offical documentation that Porter Davis needs to pay our cclaim from VCAT.
And between 4.30 and 7pm some muppet stole our eight dollar front tap.
Alot has been done in a week. I’m buggered.
Trench has been made to electric front gate.
Carpets and spotted gum flooring has been installed upstairs.
Concrete floors downstairs have been polished.
Half the skirting boards have been installed and most of them painted. Have to ask PD to deliver me another pack.
Sheer curtains installed with remaining blinds being installed tommorow.
Electrical appliances, lights and globes all purchased and placed in the rooms they will be installed in for electrician to start on tuesday.
And a lot of cleaning due to our land still looking like a building site until the lanscapings done after easter.
and we won a VCAT case against Porter Davis.
Our cealing to floor S fold curtains are in along with our carpet. I think my wife has done an excellent job with her choices. (I would hope so given she’s a textile teacher)
The spotted gum looks great against the white walls.
This will look great when its up above the stairs later in the week.
Left a window open for the smell of the paint and with all the dust on site and wind dust got into the top of the skirting boards whilst they were drying. Now ive got to sand them down and redo them.
All that work and it only took about 5 minutes to fill the trench in…..
Attended VCAT today for our court case around the goods stolen from my shed in the backyard.
Explained to the Judge that I did not want to be there and that I was only there as PD had only responded no to my claim without giving any explanation as to why and had not bothered to meet with me as part of a formal mediation process.
I argued that as Porter Davis had control the site and my shed was on their drawing they were responsible for the loss of my goods and should pay me for them.
Their argument is that I should have told them everything that was in the shed and by not doing so I was responsible for the loss.
We had a 5 minute discussion prior to hearing with the Judge and PD raised the fact that someone had a Porsche stolen from a building site and the builder was not deemed responsible as the owner had not informed the builder the porsche was there. I said that was nothing like my claim as I had a shed with tools that had been stolen and they should have expected me to have tools in a shed.
We agreed to disagree and let the Judge decide.
Porter Davis argued that I should have taken photos of all the items so that I could prove that I own them, they fought very hard and also said I had not raised the police report so then how could they claim on insurance. In a different sentence they said they never go through insurance as the excess is too expensive so they just pay their contractors out when items get stolen.
My argument was that if PD required to know everything in my shed they could have asked me to take photos and I would have done so. They never raised this and as they were taking over the site they should have.
PD also argued that only hand tools should be reasonably expected to be in a shed which I thought was ridiculous. They also said that someone would need a car to take all of those things to be moved off site. (I bit my lip because I so badly wanted to say with a double gate unlocked at the front as PD do,
you could get a friggin semi trailer in there)
PD argued that as I did not have receipts for each and every item then I should be able to claim a loss for them. Ridiculous as I have purchased or been given as presents those items over the last few years.
PD said they would never leave anything in a shed on one of their building sites. hmmmm
I argued that under clause 20 and 25 of the contract they were responsible for who came on site and they were responsible for site security. If their site was such a risk why didn’t they tell me to take everything out of the shed. I also argued that I had informed them of a previous break in and put a padlock on which they told me to remove. They then did not take any measures until much later to manage the theft problem (i.e. a camera on site)
The Judge asked a question which I thought was very relevant. I have a chook shed on my site and she asked if I left the chooks there what would I have expected to happen.
I answered ” If there were chooks on site I would have expected PD to ask why there are chooks on site and what was I doing about that” in the same was as they should have asked “what’s in the shed?”
PD also kept saying they had never received a list of the stolen items, to which I answered if they bothered showing up to mediation it was contained in the information I supplied to mediation months ago.
The Judge decided that clause 20 of the contract was unclear and vague so that PD did not have to indemnify me for the loss due to the contract but under clause 25 PD did manage the site and was aware of the risk and did nothing and that my items were considered as liens as clause 20 was vague.
In regards to which items were considered to be normal in a shed all handtools and power tools were considered to be normal. I had some specialist race car tools and these were considered not to be normally considered to be in a shed.
The Judge rules in my Favour for just over half the amount I was claiming, more importantly there is now a legal precedence that if you have normal items in your shed on a building site and they are stolen under the HIA standard agreement the builder is responsible for the theft.
Hopefully someone else does not have to go through this situation where the builder is trying to bully them out of a fair claim.
My trench digging continues today.
My hands are knackered as there very soft from my years behind a desk.
Comfy home have come good and the oddysey system has been installed. It looks great.
Concretefx continue to polish away with phil being the legend he is arriving on the very hot afternoon with beers for all his team and me. Now thats what I call a good suplier. Tanja also popped by to make sure I was happy with the progress. I am and have been amazed by thier neatness and lack of dust. I highly recommend concretefx to anyone considering any concrete treatment. ( not sure that after work beers are normal though)
Been another flat out day. Last night purchased a brand new monument 2000 lt slimline tank from gumtree for $400. (Worth 700)
Tree guys in to remove trees.
At A & L windows to get quote on flyscreens for sliding doors.
Concretefx in to start polishing. Due to PD leaving so much paint on the concrete they have had to regrind. Grrrr. Their comment was that PD have been fighting polished concrete all the way and if its my house I shold be able to do whatever I want post handover. I coudnt agree more.
I have been amazed how little dust has been made. They are very very clean. I dont know where the argument of dust and polished floors comes from. The PD tradies made more mess with thier dirty shoes and lunch left overs.
Still on the trench for the electrical cable. Our top soil is now a mix of building rubble and its like digging concrete.
Organised foxtel via satalight for 49 bucks a month for 2 foxtel units. Thats a great deal.
With the memory of last nights champagne its off to work.
Well its full steam ahead with a front handle put on for 8 bucks from bunnings. PD were looking for over $100 from memory.
Painter was in as promised touching up from the PC inspection and showers were siliconed as prommised.
Still trying to sort out the friggen bins so I called world of style who told my SS the wrong bin. Still following that one up.
Have been digging trenches for the rainwater recovery system I will install.
Tree down the side will be gone tommorow with tree company booked in.
Had to take all kitchen cupboards out as suggested by concretefx so theres no chance fo them to get damaged. Took a few other items apart to avoid potential damage.
Decided to bubble rap corners so during post hand over construction and move in paint doesnt get damaged.
Recovered the stairs with the stair cover left on site.
Met with the fence manufacture pinnacle fencing who is really helpful and came up with the suggestion of a slat fence 1.8m high at each side of the house in black.
Had techsmax come to the house and he was great making some excellent suggestions on an overall plan for our smart house. He has a great customer service mentallity I can appreciate.
Now a radox, dinner and bed as concrete polishing starts tommorow.
Hopefully I can also pick u p my long awaited race car tommorow.
In an almost counter climatical event was signed up for 3 months of racv home assist, passed over a bank cheque and have got the keys.
Interesting how the build keys work. Once you use your key it disables the construction key. I checked it and its correct.
Not to fussed with a couple of unfinished items.
Painters in tommorow to clean up overspray and touch up.
Renderes in tommorow to fix rear render.
Kitchen culture have once again delivered a different wrong bin.
Building the hoffman 