Customer Service 1 - The Reply

I received a reply to my email to SPH:

" A***** is aware of this and will be contacting National Steel to swap this around. The wrong frames were delivered (twice) ,this (SPH must mean bricking in a door frame even though it's wrong) is a standard building practice to keep things moving (But the bricklayers have a heap of work to do elsewhere), He will let you know when things are rectified . "

So SPH can talk the talk, hopefully they can walk the walk!
(These are my comments)

Taking Shape

The house is really starting to take shape right now, there is a little more work to do with the exterior but most of the internal walls are finished. At the front of the house the bricklayers have yet to finish (or even start) the portico, so things look a little 'flat' there.


There used to be external bricks where that pole is, was about 12 courses high. A couple of the bricks were a little wonky, nothing that anybody else would notice, but it would just bug me because I knew the brickwork wasn't right. I was not going to bother calling SPH and ask for it to fixed, it was only minor and besides, two wonky bricks out of around seventeen thousand is not a bad effort. Well, the bricklayers forgot to put this pole in and the existing work had to be removed. So, in a way I had the problem fixed without even having to ask. :)


The view across what will become the al fresco area into the Dining Room / Kitchen. Or, the other side of the pole :)


Looking into the powder room. Yes, that is the door in question. As you can see from the picture, the door will open into the middle of the room. Not something that would make getting to the toilet easy.


The view from my 'computer room'. The gap on the left is the passage leading to the entry, the door fram is for the linen cupboard, which is where I will be keeping a lot of my IT and network gear. The door right in front leads into Bedroom 4. On the right are the doorways for the Bathroom and Bedroom 3.


The ensuite begins to look more the way it should. This is where the vanity will go, the bath is opposite this, to the right of the photo.

Customer Service 1

Rayleen and I are about to find out how SPH deals with rectifying mistakes.

While wandering from room to room this morning , oohing and ahhing over what has been done this week, we noticed the frame for the powder room door has the hinges on the left, not on the right as is on the plans. The door is meant to open against a wall.

Will email SPH later tonight, so I have proof that I alerted them to the issue, then phone early Monday morning. The wall this door is in, isn't completed yet, so getting in early means less fix-it work for the bricklayers.

It needs to be fixed as the way it is now would make getting into and leaving the powder room a pain in the b*tt!

Views

Just a couple of shots showing the outlook from one of the windows in Bedroom 4.

Looking to the north:

The view south:


Standing on the bridge, which you can barely make out in the previous two pics, looking up and down the 'feature waterway'.

Bricklaying - Part I

The bricklaying started early July, although it has been hampered by the rains we have had this Winter. These shots were taken on the 5th of July.

Standing at the front of where the garage will be looking throught the house to the main bedroom.

At the front door (that's it laying on the concrete in the foreground) looking towards the rear of the house.

Details of how we have decorated the Master Bedroom - we are trying to get the 'under construction' look, and I think it's worked.

The south wall, the frames are (from the front) window for the bathroom, sliding door for the laundry, window for Bedroom 2, dresser window, window for the wc (not installed in this pic), window over the bath and then around the corner to the frame for the sliding doors in the Main Bedroom.

Famous (by) Design

The display home Rayleen and I have fallen for is an entrant in the 2009 Master Builders Bankwest Housing Excellence Awards (that will need a large trophy to fit it all on!). It featured on pages six and seven of "Home" - a supplement to the Sunday Times over here in WA.

It's also appeared on the interweb here:
http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,,24033957-5013243,00.html

The House in Question

Rayleen and I have decided upon a design called "The Sovereign" by Scott Park Homes, a West Australian builder. A company who incidently built the home we are in at the moment and built my nephew's and his wife's current home for them. So, from what we have learnt, it should be a good build - but will keep my fingers crossed.



The dotted areas are where we have up-specced to high ceilings, 31 course instead of the usual 28 (I think)