And we are POURING!

Waking up at 6am and going out to site to watch the pour can be exciting! Except when the pour has been delayed by another 1.5hrs! Not 7am now, rather 8.30am!
Tingmore structures was able to come out to assist with the pouring process. The foreman commented that not many structural engineers come out on site and that they should do more often! Thumbs up for Tingmore structures for sending someone out!
He's been on the concrete board of Victoria and he has worked on countless commercial projects. "Today is a perfect day for this pour" - Tingmore

The chairs have been finalised. 
Steel re-enforcements have been placed in right places and the membrane fixed! Procon, you're doing an excellent job!

Concrete will be poured and slab will be levelled and I'll have a slab by 5pm today!

Here are some of the photos from the morning:

Trucks arriving at 8.30am SHARP
Pump came earlier, 7.30am

Pouring commences

"this garage is HUGE" - Tradie

A relatively busy site

More updates later in the evening..

Final Inspect Photo 

Final Inspect Photo - looking at rear

Final Inspect Photo- Looking at Garage

Final Inspect Photo

Looking to front from rear

Garage wall

Garage wall

Master Ensuite 

Soaker Tub Ensuite

Soaker Tub Ensuite Outlet

Finished Boxing

I managed to meet Peter from Final Inspect out on site at about 2pm, and the boxing up is almost complete 70%. 
When we got out there, we were told that they'll probably get to it by the end of the day. 
So we decided to part ways and come back at 5.30pm to check on the work.

When we got there, Peter was able to highlight some areas which needed some repair in the membrane. He also ensured that the steel re-enforcements were laid in the right angle and correctly. Part of the garage has not been chaired as well. He immediately got on the phone with the supervisor in-charge of the slab and told him his concerns. He made sure that the concrete guys will be coming out BEFORE the pour to rectify these issues. 

Rear of the property. (Kitchen area)

A very complicated area of the house. Front porch area.

No chairs on waffles yet

Side of garage to neighbouring boundary

So this was the pipe with the pink ring on the OUTSIDE of the slab,
It is apparently the breather hole for the soaker tub which you can see is in
the slab.

Looks like its an early start for me tomorrow. 7am scheduled concrete pour!

Also, it appears that the tape and seals on some of the piping had been broken into. Hopefully no debris has fallen in. 

Box Box Boxing

Monday morning! Beautiful day today! 
Guess what, theres activity!

Final Inspect has managed to get in contact with our SS and found out that Procon is doing our whole concrete job. He has managed to find out who will be in charge at site for the concrete pour and set a time to meet them later in the afternoon. 

I managed to have a chat with the concreting tradies as I was dropping my children off at school and it appears that Procon cannot box up the garage area as our neighbour's fence is in the way. He's advised that it needs to come down before any boxing can start around that area. His supervisor Matt is on it and hopefully they can finish their task by late arvo, or else the pour will be pushed back again.

3.15pm

Got a call from our SS, and he's advised that Procon was NOT able to finish their work today. They will have to come back again tomorrow and push the concrete pour to Wednesday! 

Final Inspect has also rescheduled his appointment to meet these concrete guys tomorrow at 12pm.

Garage side engineering Retainer wall.
As you can see, right above it, our neighbour's
fence has been removed.

I went out to site to have a look at their work and realised that some of the pipe (could be drainage) are not within the boundary of the slab. Pink pipes are downpipes and they will be on the exterior of the slab box, but there was a single pipe which was outside of the slab. I believe it could be the ensuite bath's outlet.

Pipe with the pink ring around it is OUTSIDE of the slab. 

Waffles/Termite protection

Today our waffles have been delivered. 
Termite protection has also been competed.

Its been a busy week, and Im quite happy with how the whole slab process is coming along. 
We were meant to have some activity on site today. However due to the bad weather, the boxing has been post-phoned to Monday next week. Which means our slab pour will be also pushed back by a day to Tuesday. 

Waffles 

Steel reinforcements

Termite Protection

Doing some research on Homeone forums and those who have built with PD before, it appears that many use an independent inspector to check the work at major stages. 

We've decided that in order to have a peace of mind, we needed an inspector to do this for us. I enquired about New Homes Inspection and they've told me that they don't do slab inspections. I also enquired with Final Inspect, and Peter does slab inspections. However because I've contacted him so late, there was a sense of urgency to get documents/contacts to him if we engaged him.

However, he explained over the phone that his services are MUCH more experienced as he's inspected many new homes before including PD. He comes with a building regulations background and a law background, making his reports and findings more creditable compared to other inspection services which could be just ex-tradies having a good eye for things. 

During a span of 3 hrs, I engaged him and allowed him to start contacting our BC/SS to get the slab inspection ready by Monday before the pour on Tuesday. 

Peter will be conducting inspection on our SLAB/FRAME/FINAL HANDOVER

I will provide more updates on these reports and findings.

more site works

It seems like things are happening EVERYDAY! Can't wait for the site pour!

Levelled rear of the land

Further cut back on the garage side wall

Does anyone know what this is? I believe it could be an aggie pipe?

Not sure why did this pipe get removed.

Plumbing works

Things are really moving along quickly! 
Today plumbing have been completed - 4/9/12

I do believe the Pink pipes denotes Downpipes

Not sure why they have spray painted that box. Could it the storm pipe? 

Some of you may remember Melbourne's insane windy day.
I had to punch holes in the shade cloth so that it doesnt take off like a sail

Bore Piers

Today we've seen that bore piers have been drilled into our land. 
Im quite interested as to whether they follow the engineering drawings and ensure that all the bore piers in the drawings have been constructed. Its interesting how the waffle slab will just 'sit' on top of these piers! 
Wouldn't the whole slab just 'SLIDE' off the piers if there is a heavy rain pour? 

Engineering Drawing for Slab

View from the Garage

Garage and facing the master ensuite area

Left over concrete?

More Piers

Not sure why they haven't filled these holes

Piers on the boundary line (garage side)

Garage Engineering Retainer wall

Garage Engineering Retainer wall