Batch Variation

I have very little enthusiasm left for this house and it's dissipating very quickly, especially with my latest findings... I won't go into the whole saga of how I discovered it BUT I must say this has been the most disappointing thing that has happened to date. My favourite thing I picked for the house were the semi-polished porcelain tiles for the whole house. The one thing which I based the rest of the house on - this one tile. I picked the colour of the bifold doors, the house paint, the benchtops and the carpet.

So I find out that the tiles which have been laid in my house, bear only a slight resemblance to the sample tile which I had and the sample tile which they have displayed in the showroom. Apparently the tile in the showroom is from a 2005 batch and it seems like the only thing in common between these two tiles is the name -Rex concreate in Mud. I understand that there will be variations between each batch but there are huge differences. I wanted a semi-polished look and what I got is a very highly polished look so much so that light reflects from it. I didn't want the tile to be slippery but being so polished it doesn't have the same feel. What I also liked about this tile were the flecks of grey in the tile but sadly the tiles I have do not have this variegation. This was the whole point of getting this type of tile - to get this variegation, it adds depth to the tile.

What's really annoying is that the tiles in the powder room and laundry are not from the same batch as the rest of the house. They are supposed to be the same tiles only different sizes. The tiles in the powder room and laundry are closer to the sample tiles, so maybe they had leftovers from this 2005 batch??? who knows???

But when you have paid good money for these tiles - there are certain expectations which you expect to be met....these tiles were not cheap and we sacrified having our bathrooms tiled to the ceiling to get these tiles...so I'm just over it really.

There is no point asking DL to rip out the tiles and get a new batch closer to the sample tiles as they have no control over what they get...maybe because this is a project home it's been done a bit differently but you would expect DL to check if the batch of tiles are remotely similar to the sample tile as this is what you would be expecting them to look like and if they are very different then speak to the client; instead of hiding behind the excuse of batch variation....

We have voiced our disappointment with DL and are waiting on their reply.

What next?

PS. No activity at the house today

All hands on deck

Last week seemed very quiet compared to today, the electrician and tilers are back today finishing of the splashback in the bathrooms and replacing the downlights with brushed aluminium instead of white.

I think the driveway is getting finished this week also...the concrete was poured last Thursday so it's ready for the pavers to go on.

I'm hoping to see the house this week and see the tiles finished, would also like to be there after they sand the floors and before they lay the carpet so we can check for squeaky floor boards.

Driveway

I thought I'd go for a walk this morning and check out my new neighbourhood. I thought these trees looked spectcular, just love deciduous trees.

Last week I saw the downlights getting done - not sure if they've completed all the electricals. The colour of the downlights put in were incorrect but I knew this was going to be a problem as they didn't change the colour on the plan but just added this to the front of the schedule as a changed item; I guess the electrician didn't get this front copy??? I did ask about this at the time I got the plan amended. I think there is some issue between the home option gallery - head office - and construction in terms of co-ordinating information. I've found this a problem through out the whole process. They need to fine tune this process some more.

The tilers must have finished the ground floor on Wed, I don't think they've done the splashback as I saw Casa Marble at the site today, so they must have been adjusting the benchtops - maybe the tiles didn't fit behind the basin??? no idea what's happening these days - just a flurry of activities.

The termite barrier was installed yesterday - not sure if this is completed but apparently the driveway was suppose to get started today, maybe tomorrow???

According to my fellow blogger 'The Southies" they are hoping to finish by the end of May, so using that deduction we should be in the house in two weeks!!!! Will have to keep guessing as my SS won't give me a timeframe. He did say 'a couple of weeks' today...

Slight hiccup today, the mirrors were installed before the splashback and were placed well below were the tiles were going - so the tiler would have had to cut the tiles around the mirror - would not have been a pretty site; plus we're paying extra for the tiles to be 1.2m - did not really want this cut around...did not make sense anyhooo this is getting sorted thanks to the CM who was very accommodating to sorting this out; The mirrors will need to be moved up above the tiling.

The bed light switches have been sorted too, measured them today as we had no idea where they were being placed - all is ok, not exactly the right spots but at least the switches won't be behind the bed.

There was also a slight hiccup regarding the painting of the woodwork last week, as we wanted the woodwork around the windows a different colour to the internal wall which we specified in our final variation as Crisp White, but for some reason my SS didn't have this variation in his system. I'm very happy that my CSR sorted this out straight away and rectified the issue.

The internal painting still to be completed, the gloss have not been applied; would probably need touch ups also after the powerpoints and switches have been put in.

The tilers were in Mon and should finish tomorrow, can't wait to see my floor tiles and splashback.

EDIT: I thought the electricals had to be done first as they've marked on the floor where things were?? now they're getting covered up because of the tiling? how does that work? I noticed too that the aircon vents have been installed.

Moving

I'm so tired today, huge weekend moving boxes but this is only the preliminary move with the removalist coming next Sat to move the big items. So more packing this week. Our new rental is sooo close to the new house, it had our names written all over it. The New House site has the 'old house' still on it. Our new house is further to the front and side boundaries so we have more backyard and the new house has a smaller foot print.

The fittings are getting done this week as well as the electricals;

I'm hoping we are not going to have another drama regarding some bed side light switches, lets see how EB deals with this as we have voiced our concern to the CM regarding this matter.