Wow, 3 months has flown by. I have spent half of that time travelling overseas and the rest of the time I’ve been making gradual changes inside the house.
Recent news reports have warned of an El Niño weather event which leads to drier than usual conditions across Australia. Unfortunately, somebody forgot to tell Melbourne about this, and we’ve had lots of rain recently which has kept most of my home improvement activities indoors.
Overall, the house is looking good, at least inside. Due to me blowing funds on my holiday much of the interior decorating is likely to take far longer than originally anticipated, but I’m fine with that. My current coffee table is a wine box…
Henley ignores issues
As with earlier reports, my dealings with Henley continue to be difficult. In the 3 months since handover, I still do not have my air conditioner connected. The condenser is in place as is the plumbing, but they still need their contractor, All Air & Gas, to return to site to finish the job. I’ve emailed Henley about this and called AA&G too.
Not long after Henley handed over the keys the backlight in the heating/cooling controller stopped working. I contacted AA&G about the issue, and they logged a warranty claim with Brivis. Brivis fixed the problem in under a week.
Henley was also contacted in April about a plumbing fault with the hand basin in the powder room. As at the date of publication nobody has contacted me about fixing the issue.
During construction some brain surgeon installed a number of chrome taps where matt black should have been installed. Henley was notified of this issue in December 2022 and again during my handover inspection in early April 2023. Last month I again contacted Henley about this problem, it remains unresolved.
NBN success
In late June 2023, just after I returned from overseas, Exetel finally connected the house to the NBN. As you would have seen from the 1-month report, NBNco did not use the underground conduit I paid for during the build.
It only makes sense to pay Henley the $672 for NBN connectivity if your build is in an area with all services underground.
Henley don't care about quality
Still no response from Henley to my final inspection report, nor has there been any response to the items I identified in my handover inspection. I suspect I will only get a response to any of these if I decide to take Henley to VCAT. I’m still not decided whether I will do that.
The next six months
As the weather starts to warm up later in the year, I’m going to have my work cut out for me as I begin landscaping. For a start, I need to have 15-20 cubic meters of soil delivered and need to find a way to transport the enormous pile of dirt into my back yard.
On top of this I need to find a company pave my driveway. These guys, at least the good ones, are all flat out but I need it done. No easy task, but I’ll find a way.
As always, I’ll let you know how I go.