And they're off...

The plastering crew were in today to start on the façade and the western elevation. They got right into it and have left their mark. All the old quoins are gone already! The council were in for a meeting at 8:15am just to get the run down with the plasterers, and say that all is OK with the development to go ahead. Full steam ahead I say!

Getting on with it

Quotations, quotations....

We have quotes in for the rest of the work that needs to be done to complete, and time-scales as to when it can be done as well. Reverse cycle air conditioning is a must have here in Adelaide..it doesn't get that cold here but it does get bloody hot, so that will take care of that nicely. I've had a few quotations in, but there is one guy that seems to be on the money as far as I'm concerned anyway. He came recommended from our friends at Bici Patisserie around the corner on Hutt Street (plug plug plug...gorgeous coffee and cakes), and he seems very knowledgeable, and does his own installations too. Then there's the solar system to help pay for it running 24/7/365. I have a few quotes out there for a 10KW system, and talked to heritage about where we can have the system set upon the roof and where we cant have panels, and we have enough space to do that with ease.. 

I've had quotes in for supply of beds and furniture for the rooms, were going to go with king size singles for a bit more room for the clients. Carpet has been quoted for the rear counselling room, and the new kitchen and laundry non slip floor goes in tomorrow. Rugs for the rooms and runners for the hall are being looked at later this week.

 

That took up a whole day with a gaggle of people coming in to sort that out at various times, so I am glad that most of that is done. The quotes that have been requested so far should all start to hit my in-box this week. The plastering work to the façade of the building starts this morning, and will be three weeks before it is finished. Then the pointers and the painters will be in to finish that all off after that. All the relevant development applications and heritage funding applications are in. Site meeting with the council and the plasterers this morning, and then I can scurry off to college to finish a unit of my Counselling Diploma. Phew! 

Security cams...

Security you can monitor from your iPhone. Remote pan, tilt and zoom, motion sense trigger record, movie file upload to web server, all in HD. Perfect. :-) Snaps taken earlier....

Hallway...

and the office. More to follow....

Plasterers at last

I have finally managed to get hold of a good bunch to do the pointing and the plastering. They have a three week window before their next job, and are reasonably priced too. Better than that, known to the Council as good operators. Now I just pray that when I call the council tomorrow, they allow me to piggy back this work to our existing application for development rather than go through another application process again. That would take 2 weeks, and then they won't be able to do it. All prayers gratefully received for this to go ahead, and then we will be all done by the end of August. Painting and coating quotation tomorrow from a good friend of mine, and that final bit can all be done in a week to 10 days max. Then we could start to look at getting people in to open.

I got the security cameras mounted on the ceilings today, and the last two doors varnished and ready for Steve to come and fit next week when he finishes off his carpentry. The ZipTap (constant boiling water and filtered cold water) is being installed in the end of August too. One day at a time.... 

  I can see you....

over here too...

Now that was a long day...

What a day that was. I had the plumber in to fit the client bathrooms out with new taps and showers, sinks and toilets today. What a palava that was! The sinks were a nightmare to fit on both sides, and required lots of setting up and taking off and getting level and elongating holes in the porcelain where they hadn't been cast properly, and back on  the wall and off again. And so on and so on into the night. Eventually at 8:20pm, they were both done, and without cracking them. 13 1/2 hours later. Still they look like bathrooms now. I have a guy coming to quote for frameless glass surrounds for the showers too next week, so we will see what they come in at. Should look great in  both of them.

I think I have finally found Heritage plasterers to start work on the façade. All the guys that know how to do this are busy, so getting hold of one that could do the job was nearly impossible within the time scale we need. I had one guy say 8 weeks before he could start, only to ring me and cancel and say that he had a bigger job to go to instead. The best I can get is to start in 4 weeks (end of August). One could start in 3 weeks but his price was DOUBLE and then some of the other quotations. How can you justify that? Anyway, with any luck, we can finally get moving on the last parts of the work on the front. Oh....and then there's the external painting to be done too.....! (Did I say painting?) Like my mum says, it will be ready to open when its ready, and not a day before. Then we'll be busy if we ever thought we weren't before...

LHS bathroom before (RHS was similar!)....

RHS bathroom after. Far more respectable

Doors varnished and hung

Managed to get the doors all finished and hung on Monday. Big day tomorrow, with a sparky coming in to finish powering up places for the rest of the security cameras yet to be installed, our plumber fitting the new toilets and basins in the client bathrooms, and the carpenter fitting the door handles and the dining room cabinets. 

I will be fitting two fireplaces tomorrow, and arranging for a plasterer to come in and finish off the plastering around the chimney breasts, so they can be painted and finished. A busy day indeed. The carpet that will be going into the rear counselling room has been selected. Goes well with the colours we have in there, commercial grade as well.

 

3500 views and counting

Wow. Things have ramped up a bit. 500 views in 10 days. Awesome, and thank you again. I carried on with the doors today, getting a second coat on one side of them. They are starting to look really nice now, a good finish, but I am thinking they could do with a third coat for that really shiny glossy look. We shall see what tomorrow brings....I'm getting to the end of my days painting though!

Nice and glossy....