Re-bricking continues

Last weekend we took some more photos of the re-bricking. It's coming along slowly. Unfortunately there is dried mortar all over the gas meter, electricity meter box and Telstra phone connection cover. We're hopeful they'll fix these issues without intervention from us.

Unfortunately, the sparky installed some lower power heat/exhaust fans (and hence cheaper) than we specified in the bathrooms. We've reported the "mistake" and are awaiting the result.

Here are some photos of the re-bricking and the kitchen glass splashback that has been installed:

The front of the house protected from the elements with Enviroseal. Good idea considering the weather this week. The fascia board still hasn't been replaced and now has "Dune" roof capping.

The side of the garage up to the side door has been done.

The alfresco area and rumpus room are coming along

We asked for Clipsal 375W heat/fans and these are HPM 275W heat/fans (you can see the HPM logo if you look closely)

The kitchen splashback has been installed. The photo doesn't really do it justice.

Slowly getting closer but a bit of a struggle

We haven't updated for a while because not a lot of things changed and there were quite a few issues which we were chasing up the builder for. Fair dinkum, the owner needs to know more than the builder.

One thing that came up recently was the venting of the rangehood. Our site supervisor tried to tell us it was OK to vent into the ceiling and that's generally what they do. However, this practice is illegal and a fire hazard (and has been for some time) and we're surprised Eden Brae would condone this practice.

Here are some pictures of some of the issues we've had:

Skirting not matching the wall - fortunately this issue is the only problem the fixer has caused and it's pretty minor.

We asked for this roller lock on our front door because roller locks work well with pull handle door furniture and below, what we were given (not a roller lock)

This lock may be part of the temporary door furniture, so we'll give them the benefit of the doubt here.

Oops, the gas point doesn't allow the kitchen drawer to shut properly.

The basins were supposed to be supplied with chrome accessories, not the cheap white plastic shown here. Perhaps the chrome ones are being kept off site.

All these issues and more have been communicated to the builder in writing with references to the contract specifications but the response has been silence. I guess we'll wait and see.

On a more positive note, here are some pictures of the kitchen and some of the painting (though most is just undercoat we think):New pantry doors and the bulkhead that was forgotten originally.

The kitchen has the benchtops and sink installed. A glass splashback will go behind the cooktop.

Another view of the kitchen. The cabinetmaker's work is very nice.

The Essa Stone waterfall edge in the kitchen.

The ensuite cabinets and basins.

Main bathroom cabinetry and basin. The basin is inset because children might struggle with a higher basin like the ensuite.

Laundry overhead cupboards with drying line


Laundry cupboard. A laundry tub and mixer will go into the benchtop.

Laundry broom cupboard

Looking through to the kitchen and family area, so of the walls, skirting and architraves have been painted but obviously there is more to go.

Tiling pics

The tiling in the ensuite and main bathroom started this week. Unfortunately, the photos don't do the tiles justice. The tiling is very nice.


Unfortunately, there was some pretty ordinary brickwork again on the front elevation:

The slab will need to be extended to support this brick and the ones above it. The limit, according to the building code of Australia is 15mm (about the width of a fingertip).

Some progress, but we stepped in to save the day

After deliberating today, Eden Brae admitted they'd made a serious mistake with the bench depth. In doing them a favour, we switched the cooktop over and they agreed to fix the kitchen pantry doors, which we believe they would have to do anyway.

Let's hope this goodwill gesture, combined with other goodwill gestures after they made stuff-ups will be remembered.

Major issues with the kitchen

We have major issues with the kitchen. Eden Brae rushed the specs through and didn't finish them sufficiently for the pantry doors and are now trying to blame us for the wrong doors. They have an email from us stating we wanted the Cuprum pantry doors (the lighter colour), but the spec only says quote 2 x 360 pantry doors.

We've told them it's not our fault they didn't finish the spec and didn't ask what colour we wanted but they're refusing to accept responsibility. This issue may end up at the building tribunal.

The bigger issue we have is that we specified our appliances up front when the kitchen was being designed. We supplied all the dimensions and so forth. These appliances were all specified in the contract, even though we were supplying them. Now we find out the benchtop is 100mm too shallow for the cooktop. Now, the benchtop is in line with the pantry, which means the pantry would have to move to match the benchtop and then the oven tower as well....and so on.

We could change our cooktop, but why should we, considering they're already trying to blame us for their own mistakes with the pantry doors?

Kitchen and Bathroom cupboards added

This week, internal lining and brickwork rectification continued. Our kitchen and bathroom cupboards were also installed. Here are some pictures:

The kitchen - the chocolate colour is Laminex Mocha and the orangey colour is called Laminex Cuprum. The pantry doors are supposed to be Cuprum as well but someone made a mistake.

Another view of the kitchen showing more of the oven/microwave tower

The ensuite cabinets, Mocha again.

The main bathroom vanity - Laminex Pesto Linea

Plastering and floorboards - a few positives and many negatives

First the positives. Plastering has started along with some of rectification work for the brickwork problems identified earlier.

Alfresco brickwork stripped out for rectification above window

Now for a lot of negatives.

Numerous issues, such as stormwater drains being blocked, lots of cracked bricks, incompletely sealed windows, leaking taps and so on keep coming up and hopefully these issues will be sorted out.

Brickwork that was supposed to be rectification work, but still has not sealed the window sufficiently

Stormwater pipe blocked with clay

Our flooring went in this week, Blackbutt from Sydney Flooring. Unfortunately, the painter and site supervisor are intending on treating our timber floor as if it doesn't exist. Dropping paint all over it, not using drop sheets and so on.

Eden Brae advised us to install timber flooring at this stage and then sand and finish after settlement. Our contract says Eden Brae will take all care will be taken to protect the floor from any damage but apparently to these guys, all care means no care. Apparently, 5 minutes to put some drop sheets down is too much work and is somehow providing over and above "all care". However, the site supervisor did tell me they would use dropsheets to protect the kitchen if it were installed, because Eden Brae provide the kitchen. They just won't use dropsheets to protect anything not provided by them. Considering their advice their initial advice and the contract, you can make your mind up on that sort of form! We even have to mask the edges of our skirting ourselves because in the painters own words "he doesn't get paid enough to not treat the floor as if it were going to be covered".

Floors, skirting and plasterboard. You can see the masking around the skirting for the painter.

From unhappy to happy in 24 hours

Today, we had a call from Eden Brae's Construction Manager saying that they would not only fix all the issues mentioned in the inspection report, but would fix some additional issues they found themselves and then meet with the inspector onsite to make sure the additional issues are documented and that the quality of the fixes are satisfactory.

As you can imagine, we're much happier. All builders make mistakes but it's how they respond to their mistakes that makes the difference.

Site Supervisor vs Defect Report

Well, we had a meeting with our site supervisor to run through the defect report. The site supervisor agreed to fix probably 3/4 of the issues. The issues they disagreed with, when checked with Howard Ryan, were actually building code violations and we've told Eden Brae in writing we still need the other issues rectified.

The construction manager is now meeting with the site supervisor onsite to run through the other problems, so fingers crossed this issue doesn't need to get escalated further.

This experience is our first genuinely unhappy experience with Eden Brae.

Independent Inspection!

Howard Ryan, from www.hnkryan.com, did an inspection for us this week, checking the brickwork, roof, plumbing, slab and frame. Howard is very professional and excellent value.

Howard's report indicated there were a few minor issues with the frame, one leaking water tap and a bit of flashing that wasn't complete on the roof (the site supervisor is still waiting on a part for the roof). Some of the brickwork was problematic as expected from our previous posts.

The good news is that we are meeting with our site supervisor next week to go through the defect report and get them rectified as soon as possible.

More progress but still issues with brickwork

Over Christmas, it appears the roof has been concreted, some eave lining has been done and the cement renderer has done most of their work.

Unfortunately, some of the eave lining will have to be ripped out to fix the bricks mentioned in the earlier post. The site supervisor is on leave until Monday so we're not sure when these bricks will get fixed. Here are some photos:Most of the front facade has been rendered. The area above the front door (obscured by the shade) still needs to be done. The final colour is Dulux Slate - much lighter than the colour of the cement.


Close up of the misaligned bricks with the eave lining. The cause of the misalignment at the articulation joint appears to be that extra thick mortar layer beneath the bricks on the left. The three courses above the alfresco on the left do not line up properly with each other either.

Roof on....sort of!

The tap was fixed last week fairly promptly.

The roof tiles, guttering and sarking went on this week because the weather has been wet in Sydney and is expected to continue. There is still some brickwork outstanding though. Some window sills and the pillars for the front facade, particularly the front porch, are still outstanding and these things should be done early in the new year. Hoepfully, some of the brickwork issues shown in the following pictures will be fixed as well:

Alfresco area - the guttering is Dune colour

The front facade - the "lighter" bricks will be rendered over.

I've never seen this before. The weepholes go up the wall and then across.

Some misaligned bricks above the alfresco - to be fair these bricks were done quickly to avoid more weather delays so the roof could go on. However, it is still unacceptable. We'll be employing an inspector to formalise this issue as well as inspect the rest of the home.

This picture shows a missing brick in the bottom right hand corner of the wall near where the the stormwater pipe is. I assume this brick will be replaced!!

Brickwork about 85% complete, but with a leaking tap

This week, it was clear the brickwork is nearing completion. The brickie said he still had to do the window sills, the pillars at the front for the entry and southern side and to finish the fireplace.

Unfortunately, we have a leaking tap - leaking for the last two weeks. We've left messages and emails with Eden Brae (who were re-locating last week), but the leak is still there. We'll see what happens this week.

Here are some photos:

The front walls are almost complete

The southern wall is now complete apart from the window sills

The top on the fireplace still needs to be done.


The leaking tap (with the hose attached). It's hard to see in the picture but it's dripping at the rate of a drop every 2 seconds. The pool of water is related to both the leak and a savage storm the day before.

A little bit of progress

There was a day or so of rain this week so only a bit of progress was made on the brickwork. Most of the progress was on the Southern and front walls:

Front elevation - the wall with the two windows will be rendered.


It's difficult to tell but most of the Sourthern wall is complete to the rear of the laundry door.

Brickwork 1/2 complete

Last week's photos corrupted, but as this week's photos show, the brickwork is about half done. The brickwork progress claim arrived in the mail last Monday - a fair bit early. A quick phone call to the accounts section and everything was sorted.

Here are the photos:The front

The southern boundary


The outside of the living room with the fireplace

The alfresco

Taps fixed and frame pretty much complete

The windows for the front facade have been installed and the taps have been relocated to the correct location. Brickwork was expected to start during the previous week but has obviously been put off for a week.

Front facade with the windows installed.


No taps between rumpus windows anymore.


Taps are now located between these two windows. It's hard to see from the photo, but they are there.