We have the keys!!!!

We can excitedly shout "we have the keys" and boy oh boy it's such a wonderful, fantastic, amazing feeling to walk into a house that you can call your own!!!!!
We have had such a hassle free build with McDonald Jones Homes and all the staff (Suzzanne, Wayne, Peter, Christine and Craig) have answered all our questions and provided great customer service. Also, thanks to everyone else on blogger and HomeOne forums for your advice.


The finished product of our home is of high standards with inclusion of the impressions package and a handful of special upgrades which gives our house that extra WOW factor!!!


We had the pleasure of showing friends and family through our newly built house and they were all very impressed (and jealous!) of our beautiful house.  The floor plan is perfect and will compliment the exterior.


Check out the lovely hamper we received off our builder to congratulate us!

Still waiting for the handover…..

We had our 3 hour post completion inspection on Monday….there were only a few defects recorded to be fixed yet we are still waiting eagerly for the announcement of handover and each day we're delayed is becoming painful.

We have our driveway, floors and fence ready to be installed but haven't been able to proceed with this until the keys are handed over :-(  

I'm on holidays now & waiting waiting waiting for the official handover date.  It feels like we're never going to move in.  We have everything packed ready to go and can't wait to move but looks like it'll be another week or 2 before that happens.

Waiting Game for PCI

Well everything is done now except installation of our kitchen electrical appliances and rendering of the brick pillars out front.


We are now just waiting for the day to receive the keys and officially walk into our brand new McDonald Jones Home - The Havana


It's certainly a juggle organising the driveway, fence and inside flooring to be done immediately after our handover inspection…..the quicker these tasks are complete, the quick we move in!!!


We're 50% packed and ready to call in some amazing friends to help us move!
Hoping this all happens before end of the month and then it's party time.  What a shame it's already freezing LOL…. our house warming won't be very warm :-)

Painting complete and lots more!

I've been extremely busy at work lately which explains why I haven't regularly updated my building blog.


Well all I can say at the moment is OMG!!!!  We're about 2 weeks away from getting our keys.  As soon as we have them we'll have the tiler and carpet layer come in and do their thing so we can move in :-)


I stopped by our house tonight (it was almost dark so couldn't see much) and WOW the ducted aircon has been installed and so have shower screens, toilets, gas points, light fittings.  We also received a message from MJH letting us know that the painting is complete.


We have officially ordered our tiles and carpet so now it's all systems go and a very big reminder that we need to pull our finger out and start packing/sorting out all our junk so it's less we move to our brand new amazing home!!!

Loving the inside!

Hi everyone, it's been ages since I updated my building blog.  Work has been really hectic, giving me less time to keep tracking the progress of our house.
The last 2 weeks has seen some exciting progress on our home. Here's a list of what has been done lately:

• Tiling completed in the laundry
• Tiling completed in the ensuite and main bathroom
• Bathroom vanities installed
• Kitchen bench installed - can't see it yet though because of the protective cover
• Skirting boards done
• Front door installed & stained
• Merbau posts out the front stained
• 1st coat of painting complete

We ordered our carpet yesterday from Carpet Court - City Secrets Galleria colour!

I'd say we have about 3 and a bit weeks to go before the inspection and then we can arrange for our flooring to be done.  We've decided on 600x600 stone mocha ceramic tiles throughout main living areas.

Only 3 words to shout………LOVING OUR HOUSE!!!!

Doors and Walls

We are really pleased with the progress of our home so far!  We've seen a lot happen on site in 1 week and have officially reached lock out stage!  The front door (MJD trilock), garage door (coaba), all internal doors are done (linear & sorrento) - and look fantastic!  The plastering is complete and so is the 4 step cornice.  The waterproofing is done in our wet areas and the rainwater tank is fully installed!

Outside done….now it's all about the inside!

A lot of progress has been made since I last updated our blog:

• Eaves 
• Downpipes
• Portico brick piers
• Merbau timber posts
• Electrical roughing
• Wall insulation
• Gyprock walls & ceiling
• Sound proofing

We had our 1st inspection with our site supervisor last week. We are very happy with the progress so far and excitedly are on the countdown now that the inside has started!  We asked how much longer we've got before completion and were advised approx 8 weeks!

OMG that's not long at all and I've got a lot of packing to do :-)

We also made our first purchase of new furniture last week at Ikea :-) Gosh I love that shop!

Tiles Tiles Tiles - we're do we begin!  The 600 x 600 tiles we were going to get have proved too much of a headache.  Every tiler we speak to says screeding is a must.  The problem is that the kitchen is already manufactured (being installed next week) and the height provisions for the bench and all internal doors can't be changed.  Our SS advised that it's best to leave the skirting off & unpainted.

To cut a long story short….we've decided to go with a 300 x 600 tile - which means all hassles above can be forgotten!  Apparently the new modern look for these tiles is to have them laid in a 'brick' pattern rather than standard square look.

We also chose the carpet colour for the bedrooms!  Our home is coming together really quickly and we love every visit to our block!  Expect to see the front door and garage door installed in the next week and also the kitchen cabinetry take shape!

Our roof is on and so is the rain!

Bricks were finalised on Monday 30th Jan and the Roof & Insulation was done the very next day Tuesday 31st Jan!  We are very happy with how our home is taking shape and visit nearly every day to see the progress.
The front posts are bricked ready for installation of the 3 x Merbau timber posts which were delivered today as well as the eaves.
We had a call from SS asking if we knew how to get rid of the rain LOL No more work can be done outside until the super wet mud pit dries up.
Next week we'll hopefully see the giprocking commence inside….woohoo!!!
Now - if only we knew how to clear away the rain….oh that's right Stockland have planned an outdoor event so of course it's going to rain AGAIN! :-)
On another note, we've been checking out ikea and furniture shops getting ready for a shopping spree when it's time to move in……I seriously can't wait!

Fascia & Gutters installed

Went for a look today to see the bricks at 99% completion!  We are extremely happy with the workmanship and love love love our brick choice!  The fascia & gutters are also up and look fantastic :-)  The roof and insulation has also been delivered on site today so we should see the roof go up over the next few days!
McDonald Jones & our SS are doing such a great job of making sure everything is happening when it should!

1 by 1 the brickies make our house!

The hardworking brickies started work today!  In the space of a few hours they've started with the alfresco and back walls and one third of the laundry side.  We are so pleased with our choice of Symmetry Earth and look forward to the end result.

Progress made the following day……

Bricks almost 100% complete, fascia & gutters arrive

It's a new year and our builder is moving things along quickly!

Happy New Year everyone! This year is going to bring a lot of joy to those building in Glenmore Ridge!  Our builder McDonald Jones are back from their christmas break and are full steam ahead thanks boys & girls (oh and thanks to this wonderful sunshine)!

The roof trusses were finished on Monday 9/1 and the plumber was also kept busy installing all the copper pipes for town & tank water + the gas mains.

Our Austral Symmetry Earth bricks were delivered Tues 10/1 and sand has taken residence in preparation for the brickies to endure the hard labour!  The next couple of weeks will be exciting for us as we watch our house transform into something we've only dreamt about for so long!!!!  I'm so happy with everything MDJ have done so far and our SS Peter is great :-)