The back story - Construction: base stage

So, our site start was set for 25th February....not that we expected anything to happen on that day. A couple of weeks before, we're informed that our customer service girl is leaving, and that someone else will be taking over. I recall thinking that it was not great timing, as this was a pretty crucial point.

We're also informed that our bricks have been discontinued and I almost have a heart attack. Does the brick manufacturer not REALISE how difficult it is to choose a colour scheme? And now I have to go through all the drama AGAIN. Back to Craigieburn for more brick samples....

We also had all bathroom fittings and taps discontinued and replaced with items so similar I could barely tell the difference. Same with exterior door handles and deadlocks. I start to pray that my tiles don't get the chop before we get to the fixing stage....

The new girl rings to introduce herself, and asks whether we recieved the construction drawings. Er.... yes, some time ago. Oh, well could we please sign and return them, or our start might be delayed. Um... those were returned quite a while ago. Oh. We had several conversations along these lines over the next few days - obviously, our file wasn't exactly well organised. *sigh*

A few days before the 25th, we note that a water meter has appeared on our block. Excitement! After waiting for some action since the previous April, anything is exciting. Then we were pleasantly surprised to find when we got home from work on the 25th, that our site scrape had been done.

The under-slab drains go in, and we notice that the additional one in the garage (that we've paid extra for) seems to be missing. A quick phone call and that's sorted the following day. Within a few days we had a slab. Yippee!




No word from the site supervisor though, who according to standard procedure, was supposed to contact us prior to site start. We looked up his contact details online and called him, only to find that he'd left the company. Once again, I call our customer service contact, who is completely unaware of any change of supervisor.

Eventually, I get a call from the construction manager, who informs me that he is supervising until a new guy is appointed. Meanwhile, we pay the progress payment for the base stage and materials are delivered for the frame construction.

Things seem to be going along OK - a few minor bumps, but at least we're moving ahead as per the timeframes we were given. So far.