Leaking

Around 15 months after completion, we're still chasing up incomplete items on our 3 month maintenance inspection. Eden Brae were relatively good during the build, but our experience of their processes in resolving post build issues is nothing short of woeful. After identifying a leaking balcony at the 3 month inspection, not surprisingly the quick "bodgy" fix didn't work, and it's continued to leak through, now making the gyprock mouldy. We've chased them up a few times since, and are yet to hear of a resolution. We had some other dodgy fixes. Patched gyprock that looks at least as bad as what they were attempting to fix to begin with, and a damaged skirting board from where the carpet layer hammered a tac in to pin the carpet down. We also have an unpainted bathroom ceiling from after the patching. Score for satisfaction on the post build maintenace, 1 out of 10.

Blessed with a rather large deck!!

I spent a very worthwhile 5 days over the Christmas break constructing a deck to extend the alfresco area. It extends it outwards by 1 and a half metres and adds a 3m by 1.8 m BBQ area to the side. I've also decked around the side of the house so that the french doors open up onto it.

All up, it cost somewhere around $2.5K to construct. The bulk of that went on the boards which are white mahogany. They were $1500 delivered for 460 lm, from Windsor auctions, less than half the price from the local wood yards. The lengths were a bit irregular, but it's great quality, and it worked out fine, with limited waste.
It makes the alfresco area much more useable, and means that we're no longer cramped in the original smaller space. I've got some trimming up to do around the edges, and staining to complete, but i'll leave that until the blisters have healed. It's solid as a rock, thanks to the 30 odd bags of concrete used. It's probably over engineered, but it should last. The dogs are happy with it anyway. They now have a new favourite spot.

More pics

And a few more pics.

Finished the garden

Well, close enough anyway. We've got a few more projects down the track, like a deck, and a vegetable patch, but for now, the garden's pretty much done, for the time being.

We added some mop tops, a gardenia, star jasmine, liriopes, a crepe myrtle, some lilli pillis, some red cordylines, and more viburnum.

Hopefully by the end of next spring, the virburnums will start to form a hedge.

Path

Not overly exciting, but it's another job ticked off towards our final occupancy certificate. We used crushed granite and hired a compacter from Bunnings, (about half the price of Kennards)to finish the path up the side of the house. On reflection, the brown looks a lot like dirt. If I were to do it again, I'd probably go with the sandy colour, but it's tidy enough, and whilst it's a bit up and down in places, it does the job.

Garden beds

We've finished some garden beds down the narrow side of the house. It's small area, but we wanted something other than the fence to look at out of our kitchen window, so we've planted some left over bromeliads, clivias, birdsnests and Aloe vera. We're hoping the weather will be good next week so that we can get some crushed granite in, to finish off the pathway.

Landscaping

After hours spent getting the edging down, and preparing the garden beds, the planting was pretty quick. Finally starting to look more like a garden. Still plenty to do, but it's a start. Hopefully the pine bark mulch will keep most of the weeds away. We ended up getting larger, more established plants than was on our landscaping plan. A bit more expensive, but hopefully they'll hedge up a bit faster.