This area is under construction - like our new house!!

We have chosen to build with McCarthy Homes, a Brisbane based building firm.  We hope the new house will look something like this!

We will be photographing the construction as it goes and keep things updated.

Well after a seriously delayed start due to a massive overrun in the removal of the old house we got a slab laid by the second week of March 2004.  Not bad considering we moved out in mid September 2003.

Day 1.

The slab laid bare until the 10th of May 2004.  The prefab framing and a good team of chippies meant progress at this point was pretty fast.  The pink framing is LOSP treatment of the pine which is a low pressure impregnation of an oil based termite chemical.

View from the street.

Day Two saw the start of the upper story with joists and flooring going down.  Hyne Beams don't instill much confidence but neither does green warped hardwood.  Apparently they're stronger but...

Day Three and we had most of the upper storey completed.  The real hard work was to come.

With all the hard work going on we took off for a weekend camping so didn't see anything happen until the second week (a short week due to the Queens Birthday holiday as well).

Week 2

Open wide come inside...the new doors

The end of the second week saw the chippies finished with the spa and main bath both fitted and all the doors and windows in as well.  The chippies really enjoyed working with the hardwood that supports the alfresco area NOT.  Their work though seems first rate and was certainly neat and tidy.

This rear shot shows the alfresco area on the left which is under the main roof structure.  The timber posts are 200mm square and 5.4 metres long which is quite an impressive feature up close.  The media room is the single storey structure to the right.

Week 3 & 4

Craig ran off to play with his mates however the roofers started before he left and the end result two weeks later was the roof on and the plumber having finished his rough in.

Note the bricks ready for the crew to start in the near future.

Week 5

This week saw the electrician in for his rough in.

Week 6

Well after a bit of a lay off for one reason or another the plumbing was mostly finished as was the electrician.  Nothing exciting about the photo's though.

Well it was the end of June before the brickies started.  They were actually on site for the best part of 3 weeks although they were there one day and gone for two etc.  Anyway this pic was one week.

Eventually the brickwork was done and it was looking more like a house.  They went in and bagged the house to finish 3 weeks after the start.  In the intervening period I had wired up the media room with the required speaker cable etc and also wired up for speakers outside and also in the dining and lounge rooms.

Midway through the week of the 16th of August 2004 saw the external sheeting commence.  At the same time we met with the cabinet maker who proceeded to lighten our bank account by another few grand...but granite benchtops are so nice (we hope).  Our time at colour selection was somewhat wasted as the cabinet maker explained quite a few home truths about what costs and what's included.  A shame this isn't explained first up as Marianna had to reverse a few selections and compromise on a few colour choices.  A bit like the tiles we wanted but I am sure it will look good when its all done.

The week following this and they have predominantly finished the external sheeting and should be ready to start on the surfeits.  The 24th also saw the internal sheeting commence.  And as I write on the 25th they have done the complete upstairs area.

As it looks currently (6-9-04).  Exterior is about 95% complete.  The glass panel over the entry door, the garage roller door and a few fiddly trims out the back are yet to be completed and of course the paint as well.  The plaster is fixed and the setting crew are in and have finished the lower level and expect to be finished late next week.  After that is cornicing and then the tiler and the chippies to fit the doors, moulding etc.  Its all coming together now and is probably 4-6 weeks from completion.

Can we recommend the cabinet maker.  Well at this point (6-9-04), given that we have not lived with them, yes.  Innovative Kitchens at Brendale (Santo was the owner) was very efficient and prices were in our opinion reliable.  When we asked what date the cabinets would be installed not only did he give a firm date, they actually ended up being installed a day early.  The cabinets look top quality for build and we are very happy with Marianna's choice in colours.  The granite benchtops are still 2 weeks away at the moment.

Laundry Pics

Powder Room Cabinet

Main Bathroom cabinet

Ensuite cabinet

Hi we're back.  Back from 4 weeks at Cape York that is :-)

Well we didn't miss out on much while we were gone.  The cornice went up as the plasters were almost finished setting the sheets when we left.  The other big change was the doors were hung, the skirts  and architraves were also put in and lastly the granite bench top was installed.

Not long after getting home we met with the tiler, Doug, and an enthusiastic guy to boot.  He has been helpful and gotten into the job with minimum fuss.  Wish we could say that about Uptiles (Strathpine).  Although they have $6000 of our money for tiles they have been less than enthusiastic on customer service, particularly when two of the feature tiles were chipped and we had a heck of problem having them replaced.  However, that would appear to have been solved now.  Other difficulties with them were failure to deliver the main bathroom floor tiles (3 weeks after the rest of the order), incorrect quantities of tiles and generally a lack of after sales service.

So anyway enough yarp here are some pics starting with the kitchen including the benchtop.

The ensuite has been a particular success in out opinion, the colours, tiles and the pebble features look great (hope its the same in 10 years!!).

The main bathroom is quite traditional but it looks okay as well.

The powder room downstairs is another one where the stone features have been used and hopefully everyone will like them as much as us.  We used large tiles in the smallest bathroom.