It's been a while since the last update - sorry about that! Lots has happened since the last update. A few dramas but generally all has gone well. The following is now done:
Fireplace / TV niches
We mentioned the issues in the last post. A month on and it's still not resolved but we think it's now close. They ended up having to moving the fireplace out and down, and build the wall out so that the cavity is wider... this meant we lost some space in the rumpus room which wasn't great.
Speaking with the site supervisor it was clear that the communication was poor from the main office and that Alkira seemed to have never had to install the set up we asked for in any other house. Bear in mind that the set up we asked for is on display at Kellyville and you can understand our frustration.
Kitchen issue
Not so much of a big deal but frustrating. We specifically asked that we have a deep drawer under the bench so that we could fit a few bins in it.... we didn't want our bins out in the open and we previously lived in a property where they were concealed within a deep drawer until - it worked really well that way.
Anyway, they told us during the design phase that they'd be in touch nearer the time to discuss the design if they encountered any problems with it. You've guessed it... they didn't contact us and went ahead with fitting in out without designing it how we specified. We now have a strange 'U' shaped deep drawer which you can't really use for anything. We've requested they fix things up and we need to meet them on site shortly to discuss... more to come later.
Door issue
Again, not a big one but another thing to have to work through... during design with home option gallery we selected our internal doors. We chose a sliding cavity door for one of the doors because we didn't want it opening outwards in to the hallway, and it couldn't open inwards due to the interior design. We were told by home options gallery that the internal doors we selected couldn't be used for a sliding door, so we had to select a plain door as a compromise.
Fast forward to now - we're told by the carpenters on site that there's nothing wrong with selecting the matching internal door and that it could be fitted as a sliding door. We say great and ask them to fit it. We're then told it'd cost $240 for the new door... a whopping $180 increase on the $60 / door upgrade cost from the time of selections. We're advised the increase is due to 'admin costs' and because they'd already purchased the other door. We argue that we received incorrect advice from home options gallery. We're then told that Alkira no longer uses home options gallery (for these type of reasons) and after some negotiation we ended up paying $180 for the matching door. We could/maybe should've fought it harded because Alkira is ultimately responsible for the companies they chose to outsource to, but decided to focus on the fireplace and kitchen issues and pay the extra $120...
We're told that the tiling isn't too far off now. The site supervisor is now a bit more chatty with us which is great so we're getting much better information and guidance and we now tend to avoid the construction office. We still think February is an achievable move in date, although March is looking more realistic due to the stupid 5 week shutdown (wish I had 5 weeks off!!).
- interior walls and insulation
- ceilings
- internal and external doors (one issue here)
- architraves
- waterproofing in and around wet areas
- garage door
- guts of the kitchen (one problem encountered), including all carpentry (no bench tops / appliances etc yet)
- carpentry in bathrooms
- Bathtub in main bathroom
- Guts of the aircon throughout
- fireplace has been installed (a few times, see below)
Fireplace / TV niches
We mentioned the issues in the last post. A month on and it's still not resolved but we think it's now close. They ended up having to moving the fireplace out and down, and build the wall out so that the cavity is wider... this meant we lost some space in the rumpus room which wasn't great.
Speaking with the site supervisor it was clear that the communication was poor from the main office and that Alkira seemed to have never had to install the set up we asked for in any other house. Bear in mind that the set up we asked for is on display at Kellyville and you can understand our frustration.
Kitchen issue
Not so much of a big deal but frustrating. We specifically asked that we have a deep drawer under the bench so that we could fit a few bins in it.... we didn't want our bins out in the open and we previously lived in a property where they were concealed within a deep drawer until - it worked really well that way.
Anyway, they told us during the design phase that they'd be in touch nearer the time to discuss the design if they encountered any problems with it. You've guessed it... they didn't contact us and went ahead with fitting in out without designing it how we specified. We now have a strange 'U' shaped deep drawer which you can't really use for anything. We've requested they fix things up and we need to meet them on site shortly to discuss... more to come later.
Door issue
Again, not a big one but another thing to have to work through... during design with home option gallery we selected our internal doors. We chose a sliding cavity door for one of the doors because we didn't want it opening outwards in to the hallway, and it couldn't open inwards due to the interior design. We were told by home options gallery that the internal doors we selected couldn't be used for a sliding door, so we had to select a plain door as a compromise.
Fast forward to now - we're told by the carpenters on site that there's nothing wrong with selecting the matching internal door and that it could be fitted as a sliding door. We say great and ask them to fit it. We're then told it'd cost $240 for the new door... a whopping $180 increase on the $60 / door upgrade cost from the time of selections. We're advised the increase is due to 'admin costs' and because they'd already purchased the other door. We argue that we received incorrect advice from home options gallery. We're then told that Alkira no longer uses home options gallery (for these type of reasons) and after some negotiation we ended up paying $180 for the matching door. We could/maybe should've fought it harded because Alkira is ultimately responsible for the companies they chose to outsource to, but decided to focus on the fireplace and kitchen issues and pay the extra $120...
We're told that the tiling isn't too far off now. The site supervisor is now a bit more chatty with us which is great so we're getting much better information and guidance and we now tend to avoid the construction office. We still think February is an achievable move in date, although March is looking more realistic due to the stupid 5 week shutdown (wish I had 5 weeks off!!).
