post-handover

by Cory 02:32:00 1 comments

Handover was ~2 weeks ago and we are now settled into our new home.
When we arrived at our handover meeting, there was still blue tape marked throughout our home and a number of issues that hadn't been rectified.
On the assurance they would be taken care of prior to handover, we booked removalists, took extra time off work, arranged furniture delivery, etc., and at the time it all seemed easier to move in and have the problems rectified in the coming weeks.

What a mistake.

I don't mean to vent, but as a precaution to anyone in a similar situation, I advise you NOT to accept the keys to your home until absolutely every little thing is done. I'm starting to think nothing I raised at handover will be fixed until (maybe) the 3 month period has finished...

This is just a small selection of things we found unfinished or not-to-spec:

• Painters were scheduled over the weekend but never showed up. The tiled skirting in the bathroom, toilet and ensuite has been painted really inconsistently - take a look at the pic below:

Left skirting unpainted. Right skirting painted.

• Every corner in the hallway has been scraped or scratched - metal brackets are visible through the plaster and/or need touching up.
• Paint to the skirting and cornices is very uneven - the grey wall colour we chose makes this very noticeable, even from a distance. Skirting paint colour is on the wall, and vice versa.
• There was never a light fitting installed in the bathroom. We swapped the light from the laundry but how is it acceptable to handover a new home without all the lightbulbs? Another LED in the kitchen doesn't work - we were told it was replaced, and if that's true, I worry about what kind of faulty wiring might be in the roof that's caused two bulbs to break already....
• We are missing a pane of safety glass next to our bathtub. A&L sent an apologetic letter to us, and a gift card, but I'm still waiting for it to be replaced.

• A&L are also responsible for refitting 3 fly screens that do not fix properly - they are so loose you can slide them from side to side with space to fit your fingers in the gap. They rattle in the wind and will no doubt allow bugs to get inside - we haven't opened those particular windows as a precaution, thankfully it hasn't been warm enough!
• A&L also didn't service our triple-stacker door - it's scratched, speckled with paint and is dented along the track. It now opens smoothly but at the expense of someone grinding the inside of the track.

• Cabinetry in the kitchen was adjusted at PCI but they missed the most obvious door under the sink.

• The biggest annoyance is that our front door doesn't seal shut and needs to be forcefully pulled or pushed to lock. It makes an annoying whistle every time the wind picks up and wakes us from our sleep at night. Not sure how this meets the 6-star energy rating.....

I hope these issues can be rectified soon, especially since a number of them were pointed out at PCI and should have been fixed prior to handover. We didn't have much choice to move in when we did, there certainly was pressure from PD to get it over with, but I wish we had assessed the cost of rescheduling our move first. In the long run it would have been better for us for peace of mind knowing our house was completely built to specification. We're sort-of in limbo at the moment, unsure if or when these issues will be fixed.

For anyone interested to see the list of defects I sent to my builder the day after handover please comment/message me.