29 days to go

Yep, you read right. We've been guaranteed to be in by the end of this month (or else!!!!).

It's been a whole month since my last blog and every time I go to sit down and write a new entry it feels like a massive task...but here it is. Here's what's happened over the last four weeks...

Week 1
Weather: mostly fine
Trades on site: 1/2 day of brick cleaning
Result: we issued a Notice of Default and a Notice of Dispute to the Builder concerning variations made without permission / not meeting the contract completion date / failure to communicate on these items as is specified in the building contract.
Update: urgent mediation meeting requested by Builder where all outstanding items were discussed. Promises were made on completion dates / items to be fixed / more progress to be made / amendment to contract.

Week 2
Weather: some showers, mostly fine
Trades onsite: 1 day for plumber to fix-up botched job (you wouldn't believe me if I told you). 2 days of concrete cutting and remedial work on slab. 2 hours of labour on house frame.
Result: house failed Council inspection (again). Turned away insulation installation due to inspection failure.
Update: email to Builder on failure to deliver on last week's promises. Sent email list of all items to be completed (again).

Week 3
Weather: some showers, mostly fine
Trades onsite: 2 days of brick cleaning. 1 day of house frame work. Completion of slab cutting. 1 day of insulation installation on lower level (as the installer doesn't 'do' ladders). 2 days of insulation installation by us to finish the job. Waterproofing of all wet areas. 2 days of gyprocking. Some cladding fix-ups.
Result: Council inspection passed. Another meeting onsite with the Project Manager.  More excuses why delays have occurred. More promises on future trades. Finally we now have a completion date. WOO HOO!
Update: we are producing a near-daily list of all items that require attention before the house can progress to next stage (and the next progress payment can be made). Yes, I know this is the Project Manager's job...it's just that he's only here once a week for an hour. Therefore, it's become ours.
We also found a crack in the slab from the cutting. It's only tiny but it's below the most load-bearing wall of the house. F%&K!!!!

Week 4
Weather: rain pretty-much every day
Trades onsite: 3 days of gyprocking. Shadow-line cornice installation (by us). 1/2 day of wet area screeding. Garage door installed.
Result: Council inspection of waterproofing (passed). 2nd mediation meeting with the Builder to cover the remaining issues (it's still quite a big list). Still no amendment to the contract.
Update: the required time frame for the Builder to respond to the Notice of Default has expired. We are now in the position where we can exit the contract, engage a new builder and the old builder must pay any financial difference incurred to complete the job.On the flip side, we are now 4 weeks to getting into our new house...what to do?

Do we persist with the goal posts in sight? Or do we cut him off before anything else goes wrong (incurring further delays to find a new Builder)? Oh, and our lease expires on the handover date...guess we're sticking with him for now...