Update

I have been busy with work and away overseas so updates have been non existent. So I will try and cover off some things that have happened. There have been some issues or minor problems. They have either been sorted out or will be soon but explaining them might help others.

So just before Christmas we received the frame invoice. I dropped by and had a look around and noticed a few things that didn't seem right.

On all the door frames they use a ply wood that is much stronger than normal wood. I kinda thought everyone knew this but speaking to a few male friends they had no idea what I was talking about so I will explain it just in case.

Normal wood is strong against the grain and weak down the grain. which is why you can split fire wood only one way. With ply wood they slice up the wood in thin strips and glue them all together crossing the grain of the wood over back and forth, which makes the wood strong in all directions and much stronger than a natural piece of wood the same thickness.  here is a picture

The two pieces on the left are normal wood and the piece on the right is ply wood, which you attach the door to. 

I noticed that this ply wood was on all door frames except one bedroom. 

The second thing I noticed was that half the garage frame wasn't done and a few other areas didn't seem finished either. 

I rang the SS and asked about the ply wood missing and he gave me alot of engineering jargon before he realised I knew what I was talking about and then informed me the frame wasn't actually finished after all and would be finished in the next few days. 

He also said that the way that garage connects to the house the rest of the frame needs to be done , hebel put on and then  the rest of the frame of the garage will be completed. That all made sense to me and wasn't an issue (except for the fact that I turned up yesterday and that part of the frame is now complete without any hebel going on, so not sure that was true either)

We got an email asking why we hadn't paid and i informed them that the frame wasn't finished and i wasn't paying until it was actually finished. its seems as if the frame is now finished (we were told it was finished on the 8th January)  and the ply wood issue has been fixed on that door. All the bits that looked unfinished seems to be finished now. 

Roof frame up

Looks so much better with the roof frame on. Reduces the box shape a little bit

Wow! The house looks enormous!! We definitely wanted to have a big house but I am astounded by the size of it. Too think we were concerned when we had to reduce the house length by a metre because the council knocked back our 6 meter setback request.

The builders left their ladder their so i took the opportunity to walk around the top floor, which of course I'm not supposed to but it was was too tempting.

As usual the fence was left unlocked (although shut over) but considering the builders drill was lying around amongst other things I'm really surprised its not locked up.

Frame going well

The first floor is pretty much complete and looks amazing! Wrapped with the high ceilings in the living areas and the 3 steps down which was forced upon us because of the slope of the block is actually something that we would have chosen even without the slope, Separates the living/kitchen area really nicely.

Hopefully 2nd story will start today

Ground Floor frame almost done

Frame is going up quickly and is looking good. No way the roof will be on before Christmas but hopefully if the weather is good the frame will get finished.

There seems to be a water pipe where our island bench should be and we are definitely not having a sink or any running water so not quite sure what thats all about but will wait and see. Everyone has told me the rooms look small when it is just the frame. They look pretty big too me so with any luck they might look even bigger once the plaster is done.

The steel and the amount of posi struts being used looks really solid, which is good.

Frame going up

Well by the looks of the site there is not much pre made off site so far. Not sure if that will change with the second story. One thing that we mentioned to the SS was the gates to the site being not only unlocked but left open often.  Once again last night one of the gates was wide open, so I shut it over, so at least it looked like it was locked up. Not sure if people would bother stealing wood or steel but surely you don't wont to risk it

Rain :(

Well the wood and steel got delivered nice and early on Monday but alas it rained consistently all day, so nothing got done. So much for summer. I was under the impression that the frames were all constructed off site and that's why they are so quick to put them up. Nothing that was delivered is pre-made however, so I presume that a lot of the work is being done onsite after all. I was also surprised at how much steel was delivered. Not that I am a building expert but it just makes you feel better about the strength of the house when you that much steel.

Nice weather today and supposedly for the rest of the week so hopefully we might see some progress soon