Miraz Jordan

Well, we're moved in! 🏡

Another very big milestone with our new house today. 🏡 At 11 am the building inspector visited for the final inspection and by 2.30 pm we had the Code of Compliance certificate.

Next, of course, we received our final invoice from the building company, and now we're fully paid up.

🥳

We weren't expecting these landscaping rocks in the garden, but they're a very nice addition. 🏡

We're also taking up a couple of bags of pumice and a few small bits of driftwood collected over the years from Waikawa Beach.

I wonder how they curve that wooden edging?

Our new house is nearly done. 🏡 Just as well since we move in soon. 😆

The deal included basic landscaping. We've started with privacy panels across the front.

We expect grass to be planted in the new layer of topsoil.

We need bushy, 'soft' plants to counteract all the severe straight lines too.

We decided to go upmarket on the light over the kitchen island in our new build. 🏡

Months ago a lighting shop had a big sale and we bought this flash lamp.

So pleasing to see it in place.

Hmmm, the builder's photo of the Family Room on our new build is interesting. The space is 3.6 metres wide. 🏡

I'm incapable of visualising how our 3-seater sofa, couple of chairs and some side tables can be arranged in any useful way.

Things are coming together very quickly as our new house is in the final stages of being built. 🏡

The builder hadn't specifically mentioned adding a load of topsoil to the property, but it seems that's happening. And presumably it'll be grassed once the soil has been smoothed off.

I've been watching videos about food forests on the YouTube channel Byron Grows.

We're going to have an approx 15 m² food forest at our new place. 🏡 That's rather exciting.

A food forest, also called a forest garden, is a diverse planting of edible plants that attempts to mimic the ecosystems and patterns found in nature.

More photos from the builder, who tells us carpet is going in next week. We have a fancy letterbox, and fans in some rooms. 🏡

Our new house has a posh al fresco area on the east and north corner. 🏡

I digitally removed a worker in this photo from the builder.

Looks like at 2 pm in winter there's still plenty of sun to enjoy.

One of the things we're really looking forward to in our new house is the pantry with plenty of shelves for our food, crockery etc. 🏡

Looks like these are adjustable too.

The builder sent us a swag of exciting photos today as our house nears completion. 🏡

The kitchen isn't quite finished yet, but it's looking so good. It even has a warning to the builders not to put their gear on the surfaces.

Last week the tilers were busy working on our new bathrooms. 🏡

This photo was slightly surprising. Those are the tiles we chose months ago. Because our friends have black tiles in their bathroom I kept thinking ours would be black too …

Our new build in Ruakākā is nearly done. This week the kitchen's going in, electricians are doing lights etc, tiling is starting on the bathrooms and outside more concrete is being poured. 🏡

The builder sent photos of bathrooms and a pile of kitchen cabinets. The walls shouldn't look quite so green.

The fence on the south side of our new house has been finished. 🏡

There will eventually be one on the east side too (there's already one on the north) but not while the land behind is not yet even for sale.

It's an optical illusion that the fence appears to take a turn in front of the house.

An enormous loss when we move will be the (lack of) views. 🏡

Here we look over paddocks or greenery to the hills, or barely visible neighbours. Every window has a view.

In the new place there will be a 1.8 metre wooden fence only a short distance away.

The painters have been at work inside our new build at Ruakākā. 🏡 This photo from the builder puzzled me until I worked out the painters have stood up some internal doors in the main living area, presumably to make painting easier.

Meanwhile our designer sent me this photo of a worker starting to erect the fence on the south side.

The lot next door is on the market too.

LOL, our builder said the painters are working on the inside of our new house and wouldn't let him in because he'd track in dirt and muck. I'm glad they want their work to be best quality. 🏡

Meanwhile, someone from the firm who stays at a nearby house sent me this photo of the windows all screened off. Apparently the painters spray these days rather than brush or roll.

Also, the temporary fence has been taken down.

Luckily before we firmed up dates with the moving company we checked with the builder for our new house. Seems our moving in date is some 2 weeks later than we expected. 🏡

Oh, well, our tidying and sorting and disposing of no longer useful items continues.

In the southeast corner of our new property is an attenuation tank 🏡 :

Stormwater attenuation is the storage of excess stormwater during the peak of a storm, followed by controlled release of the stored water.

The rate of release is designed to be lower than the rate of runoff from a site prior to development, effectively mimicking the natural flows from the site.

Our new house build is inspected at certain progress points. Yesterday was drainage. The report we received contains this: Your next inspection will be: Final. Woohoo! 🏡

The builder sent us 19 photos yesterday.

Heavy edits on this photo from the builder of our new home. I lightened shadows, straightened the image, and casually 'magic-removed' two workers from the left side, so the post looks a bit odd. 🏡

This is the main bedroom with gib stopping complete. This will roughly be the view from the bed.

Another build update for our new house. 🏡

I think the photo from the builder shows Gib stopping and plastering progress.

With the door at the end slid back and 'doubled up' it really shows the effect of having tinted windows.

We get to see a bit of greenery around the place too, with trees nearby.

The builder on our new house tells us: 🏡

This week all the Gib fixing has been completed and now the guys have started Plastering. [After the plaster dries, the workers] will start the Finishing Lines and Hanging Interior Doors.

Apparently, Finishing Lines are the Architraves around the door frames and the Skirting around the floor.

The builder's photo shows a bathroom.

OMG: we're going to have a house! That we'll live in! It's getting real.

Looks like the builders have put up all the gib on our new build. 🏡 Photo by the builder, as usual.

Next up, plastering:

The Plastering will take approx 1.5 weeks, now the temperature has cooled down the Plaster takes a bit longer to dry between coats, if you add another coat too early it can cause shrinkage.