PCI Completed - Hand over delayed...

Today was our scheduled PCI date. We got up nice and early for an 8 AM start and went in with some Croissants :)

Getting on-site we were surprised to see that Darren from Darbecca and our SS were already on-site ready to go!

In general, all went quite smoothly. The SS was quite open to any issues we had and touch-ups that we wanted marked. He pretty much let us go nuts with the stickers... Don't ask how many we used!

Comments from our independent included: Great brick work, one of the best roof insulation jobs he has seen and unfortunately... a very average paint job. I agree with him on all points.

Pretty much 90% of our door and window architraves are showing the nails used to fix them and are so obvious in any light. Fortunately, PD have agreed to sand them all back and re-paint. 

Out of respect for our SS and PD I will not share the more serious items (only 2) raised by our independent. They have agreed to rectify them of course.

Finally, we only managed to snap up a few photos for family more than anything but will share below. The red dots are ours. 

Meeting with Independent Inspector and Site Supervisor

Our independent lock-up inspection was booked in for today. Fortunately, I was able to meet both our independent and supervisor on-site.

There is A LOT happening on our site at the moment.

- Bricking
- Lock-up crew
- Electricians
- Data rough in (Argus)
- Framer

It seems they are all hands on deck to progress our house towards lock-up this week. They are also rectifying all the issues BSS 'Independent' inspection raised. And by all I mean MANY.

There are too many issues to list at the moment. Most are small and can be rectified easily. However, site drainage has been raised again by our independent and he will be personally calling PD management to get it resolved.

Without going into too much detail, AGI drains are required to both front sides of the house and a retaining wall to the right hand side.

The slab supervisor has told me previosuly that the 2x AGI drains and retaining wall are not required which is incorrect.

Some good news though, the independent has praised the brick layers work and said it was of high standard. I agree with him and can't wait to see it all complete!

It's going to be an interesting few weeks...

Frame inspection - Not impressed!

It all started with one email, advising us that our frame had been completed and to pay up. I immediately responded and advised that as with the base stage payment, we will not be making any payments until all issues (specifically defects that don't mean the BCA guidelines) are resolved.

Porter Davis staff were very hesitant at accepting this and said they will discuss it with management. The response was "We can't accept payments to be held because of MINOR issues". Minor you say...? I don't think so!

Luckily I stuck to my guns, as yesterday I got a call from a very concerned Independent Inspector which was followed by a frame/slab stage report that took away all the excitement from the progress on our build.

The report is too long and has too much confidential information to post on the blog but here is a summary of the defects picked up:

• Number of intersecting wall block connections not nailed off - Apparently a common one for Porter Davis

• H2 rated timber installed to the front of the garage. It will be below FGL (Finished Ground Level) so needs to be H4 timber. 
• Timber sheet bracing defective as it does not meet the requirement of being secured at a maximum of 150 mm centres. 

• Slab to the front right hand corner of the house has been damaged and 'broken away'. It will not support the weight of the bricks and needs to be rectified. Engineering needs to be done, site surveyor has to be sent this documentation and he/she must witness the opening and closing of the slab edge.

• RHS of the porch still needs the concrete 'refilled' 

• Bath void still has a hole exposing the foam pods and therefore is a termite barrier issue
• The timber to the porch need to be H3 hazard rated. Only H2 rated timber installed. 
• Windows above 1800 mm in height must be secured at a minimum of 3 points to the frame and supported in the frame via packets. This is specified by the manufacturer of the windows. The installation does not meet this requirement. 
• Extra support required for the alcove in the study wall due to length being over 1800 mm

• Gang nails universal brackets not secured sufficiently. Missing nails.

• Some trusses installed the wrong way around! 

• Over 10 trusses out of plumb. They are installed at a greater than 50 mm out of plumb, especially to the rear of the house.

I am not sure how they managed to get our frame 'signed off'' with defects such as these. I have a sent a very serious email to our BC with the required parties CC'ed requesting the defects to be rectified before any further progress to our build. I have also (once again) made it very clear that I will not authorise any payments until we have supporting evidence in writing that the defects have been attended too. 

We will most likely get our independent inspector back out to re-check all these defects have been resolved as requested before going any further. Even though this will cost us even more, I think it's value added considering the situation we are faced with. 

Thanks for reading the super long post! 

Foundation Inspection

This afternoon @ 3 pm we had our 'pre-pour/foundation' inspection conducted by Darren from Darbecca Pty Ltd.

When we arrived, the slab team were still completing the final touches. The inspector went ahead to inspect the works that have been completed so far. Communication from the Slab Supervisor was very poor. I had text him photos of the damaged pipes this morning and no response. Fortunately, the drain for the laundry that was broken had been temporarily repaired by a plumber as it would have held up the pour. The broken downpipe drain is still to be repaired and the inspector picked up on that and marked it. 

Even though most issues were rectified on the spot as the inspector pointed them out (nothing major), we still received a full report from him.

Rememberer my concern about the reduced FL of the house and site drainage? Turns out I was right! Here is what the inspector had to say in the report. 

Finally, the exciting part.... Some more photos, enjoy :)

Phone call with our slab supervisor

After heading out to our site yesterday and seeing that they had begun works, I decided to make a call to our Slab Supervisor.

Being used to the lack of communication from previous PD staff I have dealt with (our first Building Co-ordinator) I was expecting a short conversation and to be 'snubbed off'. Boy was I wrong!

He (Slab supervisor) was very helpful and took as much time as required to answer all my questions and concerns. Here are some of the questions/concerns I had and the answers I was given:

1. Foundation quality of work: I was assured that he has selection of contractors that he has worked with closely before and only accepts high quality of work from them. He also explained that the slab built by PD uses almost 9 tonne of steel instead of the minimum requirement of 6 tonne for a similar build to mine. 

2. Slab heave: He told me that he has had lots of experience with slab heave (even with his personal property) and that he believes that there are many factors to the cause of this. The factors he raised were site drainage (tick!), quality of foundation work (tick!) and correct design of slab including reinforcement amount (tick!). He has ensured me that all pre-cautions will be taken to build a high quality foundation for our home with correct site drainage. 

3. Slab pour date/pre-pour inspection: He was more than happy for me to pass his details to our Independent Inspector (Darbecca) for them to co-ordinate the pre-pour inspection without me being a 'messenger boy'. The slab pour date is expected on 03/03/2015.

I must say, I was quite impressed and relieved after this conversation. Of course I couldn't note down the entire ~30mins phone call but the above points cover the most important topics. 

Here's hoping that all goes well with our foundation work and slab pour. After all, it is the most important part of the house.

Official Site Start

It's official! The count down begins...

Went to have a look at the block again today and to my surprise there was a truck and excavator working away at it.

It's a huge difference between the progress we saw during all the paperwork stages. They really don't muck around once they go to site! I  really hope that's the case for the rest of it.

I've started a countdown of 168 days. I know this isn't very accurate but hey it's exciting times for us and anything to track progress is a good addition.

Only disappointing part is that I still haven't received a call from the Slab Supervisor. I guess there is still time between now and pre-pour but will need to arrange our Independent Inspector to come out.

Thanks for reading :)

Independent inspector appointed...

Finally decided which company to use for our inspections. My top two choices were:

1. Darbecca
2. Building Expert

I decided to go with Darbecca as they seemed much more helpful over the phone and spent some time answering all of my questions.

After hearing all the defects other forum members had been finding with PD (and many other builders) throughout their builds, I thought it would be best to have someone that can monitor and check all the work being completed that is completely independent to Porter Davis.