Garage Door is in...

I went pass the house and saw that the garage door is finally installed. I believe the wardrobe is currently being worked on.

No dates on the lock-up stage. Still patiently waiting.

Too long.....

The contract was signed on 27 May 2010 and it's been 9 months now, and the house is still not finished. The building process is very slow for us. The kids have moved schools close to our new house because we are anticipating that the house will be finished by February 2011. It's a logistics nightmare for us and I feel sorry for the kids because they don't get enough rest in the afternoon after school because of travel time.

2011... here we come

During the break, we managed to make our skirting and internal door selection. We chose a skirting design outside the standard builder's selection... and...at no extra cost! This is another example where the builder (CBD) is not charging us extra if his supplier is not charging him anything. Because he knows for the fact that we are in a very tight budget, he's quite considerate about our cost. We also upgraded 7 internal doors for a very minimal cost.

We also went to the builder's tiles supplier showroom to select our bathroom and kitchen tiles. It was both very exciting and educational. We found lightweight alternative stacker stones we can use for our facade. We also learned about timber-feel and looking tiles. We are thinking of using it to our alfresco and front porch. We have to crunch up the number to see if we can afford it... we're still discussing it..

It's shaping up...

Scaffoldings were removed last week and they've completed the gyprock work. We also met the kitchen maker last week. It's shaping up.... I believe the builder has ordered the stairs as well..

We're hoping to have a full inspection in the coming weeks when the tradies come back.

..

Backyard and Alfresco

Here are some photos of the alfresco and backyard. As you can see the backyard is pretty levelled with the alfresco, which is exactly what we wanted.

Roof tiles and cladding

The weather has become friendly to us again. Roof tiles and claddings were done (finally). They also managed to paint the eaves. We've also put in our selections for balustrades, aircon vent, cladding colour and kitchen appliance. We decided to go with Bosch for 90cm cooktop and oven. A bit pricier than the standard builder selection, but our decision on the kitchen appliance was based on future value, usage and quality. I must say.... one thing we like about our builder is that although he may seem to have the same "additional cost for upgrade" type of policy like any other project builders, at least he gives us the option to shop around and compare prices. It gives us the power to choose whether to get them from him or not. Of course, he only warrants his supplies and workmanship which is understandable.

Kitchen ideas

Very exciting!!!! We went to Harvey Norman today to have some kitchen ideas. It was mouth watering! Very beautiful kitchens. It was a very pleasant experience and it gave us ideas on the colour scheme and benchtops. We're meeting the kitchen maker in the next coming weeks.