Bricks finished and plaster started

The brick layers put the final brick in place today 28/05/2013 and have packed up and gone! They've done the two pillars either side of the front door and they are going to render the pillars in about 6 weeks so they don't get damaged in the mean time. The trenches have been dug ready for the water to be connected to the house.

The pillars either side of the front door and the trench
for the water to be connected to the house.

The plasterers started putting up the sheets yesterday lunch time and by tonight 28/5 they had all the ceiling up and half of the walls done as well.

This is looking toward the kitchen on the left 28/05/2013

We had to make the final decision on the kitchen earlier this week. There was no laundry cupboards or bench  in our quote so we decided to get the place where our kitchen is getting made to also make the laundry for us. The colour we choose for the laundry and bathroom was not available and we had to choose another colour which worked out well in the end because we weren't sure we really like the first colour we choose!

The bricks are nearly done

Since my last post nearly 3 weeks ago the brick layer is nearly finished. We thought that the garage looked quite low and on measuring it found out our van wouldn't fit in the garage, but not by much. On our contract the height was supposed to be 2.4 metres and it was only just over 2 metres so we asked the builder if it could be changed so our van could fit it. It worked out that only 1 row of bricks would need to be removed and we decided we wanted it done so the builders pulled down the top of the garage so that the lintel could be taken out and moved up one brick

The bricks nearly done 19/5/2013

The roof was finished last week and looks really good.The electricians have put in all the wires for the lights and power points and the plumber has nearly finished the internal plumbing. There's been a hole cut into the slab so that the toilet pipe can be put in the right place!

Down the bottom is where the pipe was put but it is supposed
to be at the top of the picture.

We have organised the air conditioner ourselves and that has already been put into the roof, we decided on a Brivis ducted air conditioner. There is a bit of a hold up on the plasterer so the builders have put all the battens up ready for the plaster to be screwed to and also they've just about got all the insulation in as well.

This is looking towards the kitchen and our bedroom 20/05/2013

Our block has gone from very dry to very wet in a couple of weeks! Today we've got the 1st of 3 trucks loads of road base going in, its a expense we really didn't need right now but it had to be done. On the good side our sheep are finally seeing some green grass!

Our twin sheep, Timmy and Tommy!

We've had to choose the colours for the kitchen and tiles. Its a process we haven't liked much and we were scared to make a decision. We went to Geelong on the week-end and looked in quite a few display homes so that helped. One decision was did we want shiny cupboards or matte. A lot of people said shiny is just too glaringly bright but we like the look of it in the display homes, so shiny it is.

The bricks have started.

We had quite a bit of progress in the past week. The roof is nearly finished, just a couple of small pieces to go on.

The roof nearly done 

The builders have been working on the front portico and installing the cavity doors for the games room and theatre room.

The front portico

And the brick layers have started. We had a hard time choosing the brick we wanted and we still weren't sure and hoped we made the right decision, but we are really happy with how the bricks look. The brick layer said between him and the person helping him it will take 3 to 4 weeks to finish. We are really pleased with the job he is doing and have been told by quite a few people that he is the best brick layer in Hamilton!

The bricks starting to go up on Friday 26/4/13

You can see from the below picture how long the house is. It was taken from the garage and the window down the end is our bedroom window.

Taken from the garage