It's coming together

Hi all,

Just a quick update to say that all is going well.

The Gib plastering was completed and the painters were in this week. They have also painted the bedrooms so we have a consistent look throughout the place. The painters did this for an additional cost to us of $600.

The Kitchen is progressing and should be ready for installation in approximately 10 days.

Finally the carpet has been sorted. Stephen asked about whether the colour (Sultana) might possibly fade in the sunlight. We had asked this question of Carpet Court and they said this would be the same whichever colour we chose.

We are also looking at some curtains which will replace the existing ones. These will be covered under our existing budget for 07/08.

Finally, the insurance company will only cover the cost of carpet replacement for the room downstairs and the stairs/landing. They will not cover the bedrooms. The carpets will therefore be quite mismatched given the different colours. Carpet Court have quoted us $1870.00 to complete the carpeting throughout the house. We'd like to be able to do this but feel this should be put to the vote.

Please let us know your preference by the end of this week - Sunday 19th August.

Thanks

An update

Hi all,

Things have been a little slow to progress over the last few weeks due to the weather - it's been a bit cold and people's frozen pipes have apparently been taking priority.

I travelled down to Queenstown last weekend to view progress and meet with a variety of tradespeople working on the house. Here's the update:

Plumbing:

• This work has now been completed and all pipes have been replaced
  
• They have also fixed the Hot Water Cylinder and the permit is currently with the Queenstown Lakes District Council for approval
  
• The guys did a great job

Builder:

• With the piping in, the gib has been put up on all walls


• The gib stopper was due there this week
  

Kitchen:

• The kitchen is all designed and the benchtop has been ordered (click here to see the details of the kitchen)


• The cost for the original finish on the cupboard doors (the country style with grooves) was too much and so we will be going with a plain finish to the doors


• This should be ready to install in about two weeks

Carpet:

• As we said, the carpet needs to be replaced and we have finally received the quote from Carpet Court


• Given I was in Queenstown, I also took the opportunity to visit Carpet Court and get more information


• The carpet is from Cavalier Bremworth's Knightsbridge range and we have chosen the colour Sultana


• This will be confirmed with Carpet Court this week but will take up to a month to go down due to their workload


• Here is a picture of the carpet

Lighting:

• While in Queenstown, I also met with the electrician
  
• With no ceiling in the Kitchen, he took the opportunity to re-wire the lights and as a result we will be having four halogen spots around the kitchen and two above the breakfast bar
  
• He is also providing a quote to replace the brass light fittings in the lounge

Paint:

• We are able to have two coats of paint right throughout the downstairs and up the stairs and into the landing (right to the high stud)


• We have asked for half spanish white on the walls and ceilings and quarter pearl lusta on the skirting boards


• Unfortunately, these images downloaded from the internet, do not do the colours justice. Suggest you check out a Resene colour chart to see the true colours

Half spanish white

Quarter pearl lusta

• The painter should be able to go in next week (after gib stopping completed)
  
• I met with him last week and he will give us a quote for doing the final three rooms (bedrooms and upstairs toilet)

Appliances:

• The fridge is also not working and the assessor is sending someone to see it to see whether both the fridge and oven need to be replaced
  

Finally, the house is still uninhabitable. We will let you know when it is available for visiting again.

That's about it...

Things are progressing

There has been some progress over the last couple of weeks:

Plumbing

• Donald Ward and Graeme (Master Plumber friend) managed to get down to Queenstown two weeks ago and remove all the piping from the house
• They also noticed that the Hot Water Cylinder is not compliant (never has been)
• They have found a solution and when they go back in the house to fit the pipes, they will correct this
• They couldn't get back to the house last weekend due to the extremely bad weather!
• They hoped to get there this weekend - we'll update you next week

Builder

• John Cameron, our builder, went in last week and did all the work to the internal walls that was required
• Once Donald has been back in to fit the pipes, they will do the gib work

Kitchen

• Designs for the new kitchen have been recieved (much the same as the previous kitchen)
• We haven't heard what any costs involved will be
• I will update soon

Carpet

• Jae's Carpet Services have advised that the carpet is unable to be cleaned and will therefore be replaced
• The Insurance Assessor has asked Carpet Court in Queenstown to measure the place up, look at the existing carpet and provide a quote to replace
• They will only replace up to the front door - not the stairs etc
• We'd like to propose that we continue the carpeting up to at least the bedrooms and if not too expensive, replace the bedroom carpet also
• We'll be in touch once we have any costs
• Once we have the quote from Carpet Court, we are free to investigate if we could get better value for money from a different carpet store

That's all for now...will be in touch soon

This week's update

Hi all,

Here's this week's update:

• We had asked for a breakdown of the costs from the plumber but had not heard anything. Donald Ward's friend, a master plumber, has offered to do the job for $3000 plus GST and they have started that work yesterday.
• That means that the builder can go in and start on the interior from Thursday.
• We are still waiting to hear from the joiner on the additional costs of using the kitchen joinery we have requested.
• The carpet is sitting rolled up in the cleaner's garage - apparently it's dry but we don't know if it's able to be cleaned. We have asked the builder (who is acting as the project manager) to get him to clean so we can see if it needs to be replaced.
• We have received a quote from the builder for the work required to get the house up to legal requirements
• The interior work will cost us $4462 (incl GST) and can be done straight away (they start Thursday)
• The exterior work will require major heavy landscaping work and leaving the walls exposed so the builder will not be able to do this until the Spring. He has told us it will cost approximately $14,175 but they won't know how much it will cost exactly until they dig it out and see the damage.
• These additional (non-insurance) costs are due directly to previous work not being completed correctly which is very frustrating

That's pretty much it for this week. We'll update you again next week.

Cheers

It gets better

So things have gone a bit pear shaped this week. Have decided to break down the updates via the following:

• Plumbing
• Kitchen
• Bathroom
• Carpet
• Insurance
• Engineer
• Other

So updates will come one at a time. We'll try to update more regularly.

OK here goes...

The plumber

We have received a quote from Plumber. Costs will be $3671 excl GST
This includes:

• all new hot and cold pipes
• lagging new connections to sink, toilet basins and bath etc
• new valve set to hot water heater
• new stop tap to unit
• labour

I have asked for a full breakdown of costs but have not received it

This is the first job that needs to be done so work can't commence until we have this

The kitchen

• The choices we have made on the kitchen are outside the insurance allocation
• We have asked for the additional price before downgrading as we may look at adding funds to get this joinery
• The kitchen joinery will be made offsite and moved in once the plumbing, lining etc is done