Brickwork being pulled out and redone

Our brickwork is so bad the builder is pulling all the brickwork down and re-doing it. While we appreciate the builder did not force us to go the Fair Trading to rectify the brickwork, we had to go up the management chain at Eden Brae towards the end of the project to get them to address the brickwork. The site supervisor did a poor job there. The house is pretty much done apart from some minor faults and some painting, but now we have to wait a few weeks for all the brickwork to be done.

Our bulkhead above the kitchen will not fit our rangehood despite the rangehood model being specified in the contract up front, drawings provided and so on. Again, another kitchen stuff-up. We're going to have to figure out some compromise there. The builder wants us to wear the insurance risk on the rangehood because they might have to install it before settlement. The answer as far as we are concerned is NO WAY!!

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.