Floorboards Are Laid, Tiling Soon

Since the article about Zuccala Homes appeared in the Herald-Sun, I've experienced a mixture of emotions. Sadness, regret, nervousness, agitation, anger, etc. On the plus side, I've connected with several Zuccala homeowners, including Deb from the article and Lyn who commented on the blog (Hi Deb & Lyn!!!).

Such is the power of the 'interwebs'... it allows previous, current and future Zuccala customers to connect with each other and share experiences. And this has been invaluable for me and given me some insights as to what to look out for in my house before I accept handover.

One thing is for sure, when I eventually move in to my house, I'm going to throw a massive party for all Zuccala Studio/Vogue owners and we're all going to get extremely DRUNK... and play naked 'Twister'... LOL

So... back to the house... I had a meeting on-site with my Site Supervisor and we went through my concerns one-by-one. He was quite good about it all and gave me some reassurance. I'm leaving my trust in Zuccala at this point that they've learnt from previous mistakes and will move forward in a positive way.

Got a phone call today to let me know they were installing my floorboards. I'm not so sure this was a good idea, as the interior hasn't been completely finished yet and I don't want them to get damaged with tradesmen scratching them up. But, they've assured me they'll cover them up. I'll have to trust that Zuccala know what they're doing :-)

Good news... they've moved the door to Bedroom 2, so the stairs don't protrude into the doorway anymore. Vanity units in bathroom/ensuite have also been replaced with the correct units. Oh, and the benchtop in the kitchen is gone ready for a replacement with correct DiamondGloss edging and waterfall bench end.

About the floorboards - they are Trueloc 6000 series in Messmate with 14cm wide planks. When I saw them installed on Friday evening, I actually grinned and giggled - the colour and texture variations between each board look great. I love them sooooooo much!!!

Here's the pikkies. Sorry for the bad quality images - the house is locked-up and I had to take photos through the windows.

^ Above: View from dining room window looking towards front door

^ Above: Door to Bedroom 2 moved a bit to the right

^ Above: Benchtop in kitchen is gone and awaiting replacement

^ Above: Vanity unit in bathroom replaced with semi-floating unit

^ Above: Floorboards in Master Bedroom (looking through ensuite window)

^ Above: Tiles delivered and sitting in ensuite

Herald Sun Article on Zuccala Homes - 'Heartbreak Homes'

This is an article that appeared on Page 41 of today's Sunday Herald Sun, entitled 'Heartbreak Homes' written by Property Editor 'Caroline James'.

The houses in this article are all 'Studio Four' designs by 'Zuccala Homes' - the SAME houses that are being built in my street (Applewood Way). Looking at the quality of my house and others in my street so far, it's likely that Applewood Way will end up the same as the houses in Thirlestane Place mentioned in the article. Yep, I'm screwed.

Shabby: Faults in new homes in Thirlestane Place include uneven brickwork, gaps between walls and floors and mortar stains on walls.

I remember visiting Thirlestane Place after I first signed my contract with Zuccala Homes. I was looking for render colour ideas. I spoke to several residents who all had problems - and that was back in December 2008. After a year, it seems Zuccala Homes still hasn't fixed their issues. Sigh :-(

I'm quickly losing faith that my house will be built to a decent standard after reading this.

Here's a scanned copy of the article. Click to enlarge:

Front Door, Painting & Stairs

The painters have been working away inside the house and most of it is finished. It's standard white paint throughout for the time being. After handover, I'll hire a Dulux Colour Consultant to come up with an internal colour scheme.

The front door has been hung and has even had its first coat of Wattyl 'Really Orange' paint. And it's starting to look... um... really orange! Can't wait to see it finished :-)

I also have my solar panel installed on the roof. It's for the solar-boosted gas hot water system. Speaking of hot water, my bath is now sitting in its hob waiting for tiling.

But most exciting is my new stairs. They're an open-tread design with stainless-steel balustrades and they look pretty cool. There is a couple of 'wonky' stairs that don't quite sit straight and some of the stairs have a bit of movement, but I'm assuming they'll be straightened and tightened soon.

However I'm quite concerned about the bottom stair tread, which protrudes into the doorway of Bedroom 2 by about 10 centimeters. That doesn't seem normal to me and didn't happen in the display home, so I'm not sure what's going on there. I hope they fix it (or move the door) because my shin is going to suffer a lot of bruising if it stays the way it is.

On the subject of 'wonky' things, my wardrobe doors are extremely wonky with uneven gaps from top to bottom. In fact, the doors don't even cover the entire wardrobe. I think they've probably ordered the wrong size doors and will replace them... I hope.

Oh, no progress yet on the changes required to the kitchen or bathrooom/ensuite vanities :-(

^ Above: First coat of Wattyl 'Really Orange' on the front door

Above: Solar panel on the roof

Above: Bath in the hob

^ Above: I finally have stairs!

^ Above: There is about 4 of these 'wonky' stairs which don't quite sit straight

^ Above: Bottom stair tread protruding into the doorway of Bedroom 2

^ Above: Looking towards the front door

^ Above: Wardrobe FAIL. Is the wardrobe wonky, or the wall? Who knows!

^ Above: Pet peeve #1 - Expansion boards in void area

^ Above: Pet peeve #2 - Expansion boards in stairwell

A Fail... And A Couple Of Wins

The internal expansion boards I ranted about in my previous blog post are staying! There's not much I can do about it. I met the Site Supervisor at the house during the week and he explained why they did it. He was very polite and even printed out the Gyprock Residential Installation Guide to show me evidence.

Oh well, the other neighbour who had them installed just had their house painted... and it doesn't look as bad once they're the same colour as the walls. I'm still not happy about it, but at least Zuccala have explained why they've done it.

So that's my FAIL for the week. But on a positive note, I had a couple of WINS.....

• Current bathroom & ensuite vanities will be replaced with the semi-floating units
• Current white kickboards in kitchen will be replaced with stainless steel look
• Current 2-piece awkward corner cabinet in kitchen will be replaced with a 1-piece cabinet and double-hinged door
• Current open shelves above fridge in kitchen will have doors installed
• Current benchtop in kitchen will be replaced to include proper DiamondGloss acrylic edging (to minimise black edges) and proper waterfall bench-end.

Oh, and I've got a new Contract Administrator named "S". He's a true champ and very friendly. Quick to answer emails and keep me up-to-date with progress. Even though he gave me some bad news about the internal expansion boards, that's OK, because he was prompt, courteous and professional.

If my Site Supervisor and/or Contract Administrator is reading this blog... thanks for putting up with my hysterical rants this week and for being so nice and professional about it :-)

^ Above: A diagram from the Gyprock Residential Installation Guide that explains the reason for the expansion boards

^ Above: The painted expansion boards in my neighbour's Studio Four.2

^ Above: Current bathroom & ensuite vanities will be replaced with the semi-floating units

^ Above: Current white kickboards in kitchen will be replaced with stainless steel look

^ Above: Current 2-piece awkward corner cabinet in kitchen will be replaced with a 1-piece cabinet and double-hinged door

^ Above: Current open shelves above fridge in kitchen will have doors installed

^ Above: Current benchtop in kitchen will be replaced to include proper DiamondGloss acrylic edging (to minimise black edge lines) and proper waterfall bench-end

Internal Expansion Boards? WTF?

I just got back from the house to discover that Zuccala Homes had installed "expansion boards" in the open void area (separating downstairs from upstairs). I noticed that they did the same thing in a neighbour's house the other week and promptly sent them an email saying I did not want it installed.

The display home had flush plaster, as well as all the other Studio Four.2 homes I walked through during construction. The first time Zuccala Homes have installed this is in my street and I don't know why. I rang the Construction Manager and he said they were "internal expansion boards" and that all houses had them. I beg to differ.

I also sent an email to the Site Supervisor. But this is not his fault as he really can't do much about it. It's a decision made by the Zuccala office.

Below you'll see a photo of my house and a photo of the display home. I'm sure anyone reading this blog can clearly see the difference between having visible wooden expansion boards in my house and the flush plaster in the display home. It makes a huge difference to the feeling of space in the void area and stairwell.

It's not in my floorplans, not in my contract, not in my elevations, and not in the display home.

It's a matter of personal opinion. My mother (for example) really likes the boards. But she won't be living in it or paying the mortgage. I absolutely hate it and it's going to give me the shits every single time I look at it.

So if anyone in the Zuccala office is reading this..... get rid of the damn expansion boards and provide me with the same finish shown in the display home. Or provide me with evidence that other Studio Four.2 houses without the expansion boards have had issues with cracked plaster. Grrrrrrrr..... Rant over.

^ Above: My void area - with internal expansion boards

^ Above: The display home's void area - with flush plaster

Lock-Up Stage Complete

It's official, lock-up stage is complete! I've received the invoice!

I know, Zuccala have already started fitting out the house and that technically shouldn't happen before lock-up, but I think there was a delay with the ColourBond cladding at the rear of the house, and that HAD to be done before they could officially send me the invoice. And of course, work had to continue inside the house in the meantime because the clock is ticking...

So that's done... and a couple of other things too. Most of the internal doors have been hung and the robes in the master bedroom have been installed. So hooray!!!

I still haven't heard back from my Site Supervisor regarding the wrong vanity units and other issues I raised last week. I'll have to chase him up this week and find out what's happening.

And on a much lighter note, I noticed that the kitchen sink is a different brand than specified on my contract. It was supposed to be a 'Brewers Prelude', but they've installed a 'Everhard Milan' instead. It's got a giant 'EVERHARD' logo emblazoned on it.... LOL.... I'm so immature :-)

^ Above: Rear ColorBond Surfmist vertical miniorb cladding is done

^ Above: Internal doors are hung

^ Above: Sliding robe doors in master bedroom

^ Above: The very-hard-to-miss EVERHARD logo on my kitchen sink :-)

Kitchen, Laundry & Bathroom Cabinetry Installed

Zuccala Homes are still working at an unbelievably quick pace this week. The plastering is completed and smoothed out, the Colorbond has been installed in the porch area, and today the cabinetry was installed for the kitchen, laundry, bathroom and ensuite.

I've got a feeling they want to get me in my house before Christmas, as the official handover date is 2nd February 2010, which doesn't give the tradies much time after their Christmas holidays. So if they get me in before the tradies take off for summer break, it will be one less thing on their "to-do" list when they get back.

I'm extremely happy with the the colour combination in the kitchen. The white and dark laminates look great together and I'm LOVING the DiamondGloss benchtop. A couple of small issues - the open shelves above the fridge space are supposed to have doors, and the kickpanel should be a stainless-steel look (not white).

Whilst I also love the Laminex Alaskan vanity units in the bathroom and ensuite, it appears the wrong vanity was installed. These units look fairy 'standard', but my elevations and the display home indicate they should be a semi-floating unit with tiled kickers underneath (see the final photo at the bottom of this post).

Relatively minor issues - probably a clerical error when ordering the cabinets. I'll speak with the Site Supervisor on Monday and let him know. Hopefully, it's not too hard to correct these small issues.

Meanwhile, here's some photographic eye candy. As usual, click the photo to enlarge...

^ Above: Colorbond vertical miniorb cladding (Surfmist) in the porch area

^ Above: Pipes ready for the roof-mounted solar panels

^ Above: Kitchen (Laminex Polar White & Laminex Licorice Linea cupboards with Laminex DiamondGloss benchtops in Pure Mineralstone)

^ Above: Closer view of DiamondGloss benchtops with protective wrap removed

^ Above: Another view of the kitchen with cavity for single DishDrawer

^ Above: Laundry cabinets & benchtops (Laminex Alaskan)

^ Above: Bathroom vanity & benchtop (Laminex Alaskan)

^ Above: Ensuite vanity & benchtop (Laminex Alaskan)

^ Above: This photo is from the display home which shows how the semi-floating vanities are supposed to look like

I'm Plastered... and Wired For Sound

As mentioned in my previous blog post, I received a phone call from my Site Supervisor last week to let me know he was ordering the insulation and plaster. Cool... I rang my electrician to organise the installation of my speaker pre-wiring for the BOSE speaker system I recently purchased. Excellent... all booked in for Wednesday after work.

I dropped by the house on Tuesday evening to find the insulation had been installed and the plaster delivered and sitting on the living room floor. I semi-freaked out, because once the plaster sheets are up, I wouldn't be able to pre-wire my speakers :-(

But c'mon, there was no way they would start plastering the very next day, right?... WRONG. The Zuccala tradies were working their little butts off this week and had started plastering on Wednesday. Lucky for me, they started with the ceiling and didn't do the walls. Phew... so my speaker wiring went in without any problems. Just in the nick of time too, because the rest of the plastering (including the walls) was finished Thursday. Go Zuccala!

The only part not plastered is the ceiling in the master bedroom, but my Site Supervisor explained that the solar panel will be installed on the roof above the bedroom, and until it's mounted, they can't plaster the ceiling underneath. Sounds very reasonable to me :-)

Gotta say, I'm EXTREMELY happy with Zuccala at the moment!

^ Above: Looking from the front door to the dining room at the end

^ Above: Space for the future stairwell

^ Above: Looking from the living room through to the kitchen & dining

^ Above: Upstairs mezzanine bedroom

^ Above: No time for lunch... the tradies were working too hard this week to finish their Salami, Cheese & Tomato Roll

^ Above: The BOSE Acoustimass 15 speaker system (waaaaaay overpriced, but so damn cute!)

Upstairs Cladding and Friendly Zuccala People

It was an interesting week indeed! I received a call from my Site Supervisor, telling me that he was ordering the insulation and plaster, so that should be completed in the next few weeks. He also mentioned the powerpoints that required moving had been done. Then he said he would be calling me regularly to keep me up-to-date with the house progress. And he was very friendly and polite.

I also rang my Contracts Administrator and asked her if I could delete the standard white soap holders from my bathroom & ensuite showers. I've decided to install glass shelves myself after handover. She was fantastic - answered my email the same day and was extremely polite telling me it would not be a problem.

Wowsers - I'm blown away. Maybe someone from Zuccala Homes is reading my blog and saw my last post about the difficulties I was experiencing with people from their office. Or maybe I was just unlucky on previous occasions. Whatever the reason, I'm very happy with Zuccala Homes this week, and I hope our new-found respect for each other continues until the end of the build process.

Anyway, visited the house today. The upstairs Colorbond cladding has been installed, so that house is beginning to look like a real house! Still waiting on the Vertical MiniOrb cladding for the lower parts, but I'm sure that's not too far away. Oh, the front brickwork is now completely finished and I also have a gas pipe.

^ Above: Close-up of upstairs Colorbond cladding (Surfmist) with Colorbond gutters and capping (Paperbark)

^ Above: Colorbond Vertical MiniOrb (Surmist) will fill in the missing gaps around the doors

^ Above: Starting to look like a real house. Front brickwork is now finished and ready for the feature render

^ Above: This is my rear courtyard - a massive 6.0 x 6.4 metres !!!

^ Above: Gas pipe ready for a gas meter

My Experiences with Zuccala Homes So Far

I'm half-way through my house build - my contract states the house takes 270 days to build. So I think I'm about half-way there!

I receive a few private messages via the Homeone forum, as well as people contacting me via this blog, asking about Zuccala Homes and what they are like to build with. So I think this is a perfect time to give you a rundown on my experiences so far....

House selection process

This was fantastic. I immediately fell in love with the display house and the Zuccala Customer Service Rep was the BEST! She was friendly, knowledgeable, approachable and went out of her way to ensure my needs were met and my questions answered. She no longer works for Zuccala Homes, which is a shame because she was a real credit to the company. Keep in mind, my house is a 'budget-house' in the overall scheme of things. Yet she made me feel like the most important person in the world.

Contract signing

I paid the deposit for the House & Land Package in July 2008, so the ball was then in Zuccala's court to organise contracts. Because the land wasn't going to settle until December 2008, I was in no hurry. Contracts were eventually ready for signing in November 2008, which worked out perfectly as I was then eligible for the just-increased First Home Grant & Boost of $26K.

Colour selection

Absolutely disgraceful. Zuccala were apparently in the process of building a new colour selection centre that was about a week from opening. However, they flatly refused to allow me to wait and visit the new colour selection centre. Instead, I had an appointment in a disused display home. No electricity, no coffee, no tea, no lights, etc. I could have a glass of water if I didn't mind drinking directly from the kitchen tap because there were no cups or glasses. Most of the Laminex samples were missing and years out of date, no floorboard samples were available, no paint samples, and about 3 tiles to look at (which she got from the boot of her car). I had no idea what fixtures I was getting because all the photos and samples were at the new colour selection centre - which I was not allowed to visit. I ended up stating "To Be Advised" for almost everything and visited all the suppliers myself to work out choices. I managed to choose everything myself later, but I have no idea about paint. I was promised a follow-up appointment to help me choose paint colours, but it never eventuated and I got sick of asking. So I'm getting 'Standard White' and hiring a Dulux Colour Consultant myself after handover.

Site start

Land settled in December 2008 as scheduled. I was verbally told my house should start in February 2009 and, although the contract states 270 days build time, in reality I should be in by July/August 2009. The start date was delayed until May 2009. Zuccala said this was due to complications with council approval. I also believe that it will take the full 270 days after seeing my progress... in fact I'm certain it will take longer.

Progress & Quality

Arrggghhhh, it seems to be taking forever! I need to keep in mind that all 10 houses in the street are being built by Zuccala Homes - as part of a 'Studio Four' streetscape. Although I think my house is taking a long time, my progress is ahead of most of my neighbours - some of the houses have just had their slabs laid - last week! And their land settled at the same time mine did. So I feel bad for the owners of those places. But I'm mostly happy with the quality of the build so far. Remember, this is not a $1 Million palace so I don't expect the world.

Site Supervisor

I've had some fairly bad dealings with my Site Supervisor so far. He seems rather gruff. Maybe I've caught him while he's in a really bad mood... I'm not sure. Fortunately, I have more self-respect than that, and I've refused to deal with him any further. And I'm not the first person in my street to have the same experience. So I now put all communication in an email and send it to the Zuccala office instead.

Contract Administrator

My first and second Contract Administrator were both gems. If I had a question, I could call and get an answer quickly. When I wanted to change my exterior Colorbond colours, it was organised quickly and without fuss. And both had quirky senses of humour, while still being extremely professional. But then came the third Contract Administrator. She's an interesting one. Unhelpful and bordering on rude. Doesn't return phone calls and is hardly ever in the office. I prefer not to deal with her either. Emails go direct to the Zuccala office instead.

Conclusion

Every home builder will have good stories and bad stories. It doesn't matter whether it's Simonds, Metricon, Porter Davis, Henley, Orbit, whatever. I've had both good and bad experiences with Zuccala Homes. In the end, I love the design of my house. It's unique and it suits me perfectly. Once it's finished, I won't have to deal with the people I'm having problems with now. I just need to grit my teeth and wait it out.

If I could go back in time and do it all again, I'd still sign with Zuccala Homes. I'm confident that the house will (eventually) be built to a good standard. Maybe the delays I'm experiencing are limited to this particular house design and the fact they have to build ten homes in the same street at the same time.

Zuccala Homes' mission statement states that they treat each customer as if he or she was a family member ensuring an individual and attentive service beyond their expectations and a quality built home that Zuccala themselves would be proud to live in.

I'm hoping they deliver on that promise.