Counting down. Or.....not?

Since our practical completion inspection last Thursday, we've been expecting our house to be a hive of activity, with all hands on deck to meet our confirmed-in-writing handover date THIS COMING FRIDAY.

We left on Thursday arvo feeling reasonably hopeful that our nightmare was soon to end; almost cheerful in fact. On Friday morning, I looked up the street as I drove past on my way to do the school run....but there was no sign of anything happening. Oh well, it was only 8:00am. I was back just before lunch - still nobody there. Walked over later in the afternoon. Nope, all was quiet.

Saturday, nobody turned up. Sunday - bah! As if....! Today, I stopped on my way home from work, walked all around (in the mud) and peered in every window. The roof has not been fixed, the little red dots are still all over the place, exactly where they were on Thursday, and nothing, NOTHING has been done. Zero. Zilch. Zip. Three days completely wasted. Grrr.

Now they have three days left to complete everything before handover. What do you think the chances are of that happening?

I've busted my butt the past few days, organising insurance, gas and electricity accounts, blinds, steam cleaning (for the rental), all on the assumption that we would have possession at the end of this week. The flooring guy is booked for Monday to start on our floating floors, the carpet all organised for the week after, fences are going up and the concreter is ready to start the driveway any day. Just that one tiny detail to take care of....the keys?

We will not be handing over any money if the major things aren't completed, no matter how much pressure we may be under in terms of our housing situation. Call me cynical, but I think perhaps some large builders count on clients being in financial doo-doo, thanks to delays, and therefore being willing to settle for below-par work, just to get the keys.

Not us, nuh-uh. VCAT may be in our future yet....