Monday 9 September 2013

Three months has come and gone

Eden brae sent us a letter the week our three months was up... We had been compiling a list of things we wanted rectified. It was really just cosmetic stuff.

We made the appointment for the maintenance  when it was convenient with our work. The guy didn't look at our list wanted to see all the things we listed no matter how trivial. We worked room by room. Whilst  pointed them out he took notes on his laptop and then took photos.

In our ensuite we have a semi frameless shower. There is a strip on the bottom so water doesn't come out of the shower... This is split. They never used to put this on the showers the man was saying but so many people complained about water escaping the semi frameless shower that Stegbar started putting these on. He will replace no worries.

There are some paint touch ups that we have since notice and when my range hood was flued post handover they didn't seal it around the gyprock, so that will also get done.

It was very efficient, allow for over an hour. At the end, you go through the report generated, use a stylus to sign on the screen. Our inspector emailed us later that night with the report and when I looked at the EB portal, it was updated with our jobs. EB don't actually do the maintenance, another company do, and they will contact is within ten days. I will let you know when this is... Hopefully by the end of this week.

Tuesday 23 July 2013

Landscaping nearly complete... Progress shots.

Our landscaper has been on site for just over a week, and it is now looking a big more like a garden I will enjoy. He has to come back tomorrow and finish the top of the letterbox, tidy up the pavers and do a general clean up. I can't wait to take more photos as the plants develop and grow and I add my own personal touches.
Front retaining wall and garden

Close up of garden bed with paver edge
Feature tree. Dwarf magnolia little gem. With feature lighting... It's the little silver light thing in front. The pipe behind it will be cut down to garden level. Its from the storm water, something or rather.

Lastly our clothesline is finally up, a slab for our shed in the corner, and some plants around the edges. I will take some photos of the paved areas later in the week.


Wednesday 17 July 2013

Landscaping commenced!

I was so excited this time last week to see our landscaping supplies arrive, but it has taken a week of preparation to see them laid and the beginning of what our end result will look like.
Pallet of 400x400 Adbri European Prague pavers

Pallet of front retaining blocks

And here is what they look like laid out front with our letterbox in progress. I am  still deciding what goes  on top... Slate look tile or sandstone.

Driveway getting extended... We should now fit our cars comfortably on the driveway.
Our alfresco paved and extended...








Wednesday 29 May 2013

NBN disaster

I feel my NBN was a big balls up with HSI.  There are cables in the garage connecting to the main hub located in my study. All other cabling runs from that point.

NBNco installed their equipment in the garage. The man who installed this equipment took out the cabling that the electricians installed for the connection to the street as it was not long enough. That was okay.

Telstra came and installed the home gateway in the garage as they install this with the NBN equipment.

We got Internet but not phone...so we organised a telstra technician to come out the next day as they thought it could be a fault as the light for phone wasn't lighting up. When we were trying to problem solve the fault, we plugged our phone into the phone socket directly with Telstra's home gateway and we had a phone dial tone. So Telstra deducted it wasn't a fault with their equipment but with our house wiring.

Now again, I will get on my bandwagon and shout...NBNco distributed a new information booklet in January 2013. I contacted HSI about this when I discovered that they prefer all equipment in the one spot. Ie. the house in an area out of the traffic zone, or like what HSI consult in the garage....but no! HSI have been told that NBNco want the equipment how they install it... NBNco equipment in the garage and everything else in the home. They want to know why I'm the only one of their clients who want it a different  setup. Can I add that masterton and jandson and Macquarie grove homes all in my street had it set up, the preferred NBNco way... My house is the only odd house... I called the after handover electricans to reconnect my wiring so that the data points and phone line in my home work. They werent talking to the telstra installed hime gateaway in my garage. They spent an hour and a half, reconnecting and checking connections in the house and the only way i can use my data and phone in my home is to move the home gateway unit into the study.  So in my study I have my home gateway from Telstra, with my phone connected to it, and four cables coming from this into the wall. It uses the only PowerPoint I have in that room. One that I dedicated for the use of my computer and printer... So it looks like along with these atrocious sight of wires coming out and into a box, I will have to have a Power board to go with this to use my computer. It wasn't my plan, and on the turnaround. The double power point in my garage that was included in the NBN upgrade for their equipment is left empty as there is no equipment there to plug in!  Can you tell I am not happy! I have sent off a strongly worded email to HSI and EB, as I raised some of these issues whilst in construction. What I can't fathom is M from HSI indicated having the NBN equipment would be untidy and unsightly in the home! Does the equipment I have in my study look better than the beige nicely compacted equipment I have in the upgraded comm box! Secondly, why do they say you are the only client who wants it a different way... I feel like they feel I am trying to cause them an inconvenience. As I said before my neighhbours all have it done the other way... It's just EB home builders who have it different! I will update my blog with a photo of the equipment in the house. Truly, I have been so annoyed about this since last Thursday when it was discovered that I needed the electricians back again cause Telstra's equipment wasn't talking to the upgrades we had made!

The untidy equipment in  my study using the only PowerPoint. All my neighbours have this in the included comm box in the garage!

Thursday 23 May 2013

Bathroom pics

We picked the same colours for bathroom and ensuite. Platinum micro for the benches and smoky sapelle for the cupboards. I love the standard inclusions with Eden brae.
Heater lights come standard as well as caroma basins, baths and toilets.

We upgrade our bath to the next length up... You can stretch out and soak... Best thing is we have two of them, one in the main bath and one in the ensuite. 

We also added the fluro bar light above the mirror to assist with shaving and applying make up.
We upgraded to floor to ceiling tiles in the shower. Niches are standard with Eden brae, and so is the hand held shower rail. We increased the height of the niche but not enough. I really wanted to put my pump size bottle of Pantene shampoo and conditioner in the 

Nearmap updated

Picture from last week
An older aerial pic of my estate! Look at the progress!


NBN working!

Woohoo! One week in our house and Telstra have connected  us to the NBN. It took 4 hours for it to come online... I checked it before dinner and we didn't have a signal. Picked up my iPad and saw a wifi network that was named something similar to the Telstra code we were given, and guess what?  It was ours!

Only thing is I can't get a telephone signal yet! They are booked to come out tomorrow morning. Hope it gets sorted then, my mobile phone usage is over $400 for two weeks. Mostly it is from ringing 13 numbers trying to organise Telstra. Lol.