Monday Monday....

Given that the spark does his final bits and pieces today, and we had to give the truck back, though we can get it back Saturday night.. We set the actual move in, stay over, sleep for the 1st time, day to Monday, a week or so late.
We only have a few large things to move on Sunday, as we've not really acquired that much while renting, just a small couch and large TV that won't fit in the car so we'll do that Sunday.

But we're not homeless so that's ok, Monday 9th is a good day. 

almost all the niggle jobs have been done, we do have minor snags to fix and we will find things as we live there.

Now we can move onto stages 2 and 3, the Thai kitchen, and the landscaping, not quite sure which is going to be which, as Jirawan bounces from garden to kitchen like an excited rubber ball..but we'll sit down and plan things soon....more expense, but the whole point was to spend what we had... so... we will spend it on the house.

There's still Solar to fit of course, the panels are up, but the battery and inverter are not yet installed, thats happening next week after we move in.. So we will get 1 electric bill for sure this month, but fingers crossed not so many after.....we hope!!!

Ahthankyew

Stop... hammertime

As suspected, they didn't quite manage to finish on the 31st... I would have been surprised if they did.. Though they certainly tried. But there are issues that were out of their control as well that contributed to a slight delay.

Electricity meter for example, only arrived yesterday (Nov2). Soil (or more correctly sub soil) levelling is still in progress, hopefully today. The granite tops for the kitchen and one vanity unit in the master bathroom also are down to us and have been delayed, but again, today..hopefully.

But there are issues that are still the builders responsibility, issues being a mite strong but things not yet completed, like, final painting, the gate motor, the bath, the boiler and of course a list of snag jobs that range from minor issues like a non working light switch to slightly more worrying issue with the entrance to the car drive being too steep and scraping our cars front as you go in.... solutions are being looked at.

Yesterday there was a clean up team in the house mopping and scrubbing to clean up all the dust and scrape paint from the tiles. The end result, made the whole place sparkly and clean and it does look amazing. I think there's another final clean today as well. 

Today is the 3rd, I think we'll get quite a few things done today which will give us a few more days till the weekend when I think we can start to transfer and set up our stuff. |

So yes, its delayed a few days, but we should be in by the weekend.... fingers crossed.




Ahthankyew

This weekend!!!

Well the builder is still confident they will hit their 31st Oct Deadline, but.... honestly I'm not, but I'm not massively worried, and for sure there's going to be a list of snagging jobs to fix that will need to be addressed next week, when in theory we will be in place.

The main issues at the moment are that the electrics are not yet in place and connected to the grid... and as a knock on effect, the solar is not fully installed, panels are up but the inverter and batteries are not in place yet....There's also a complication in that the power load in the kitchen was not properly set up to handle 3 ovens... despite me telling the spark we had 3 ovens and him even repositioning the sockets behind the ovens to make plugging them in easier... but all 3 socket were on a single circuit with a 16amp breaker... each oven take 12-15amps...ermmm yeah that was a strange mistake for an experienced spark to make.  A hasty rewire has been arranged to add 3  circuits to handle them.

Plumbing is also stalled, mainly due to some missing mixer taps. We changed our spec several months ago to add a hot water boiler to feed the 3 bathrooms on the right,  (east/west...no idea) side of the house, so instead of a single cold feed they now have hot and cold but for whatever reasons, no one prompted us to choose new taps to handle the dual water flow....And there's been a slightly mad delay  in getting those taps sorted resulting in a freeze on the plumbing work. Also hot water heaters for the guest room shower, were not in our contract, but again no one actually pointed it out.

Granite tops are also slightly delayed... won't be ready until Tuesday...hmmm means we can't really use the kitchen properly for a few days, but again... not really a biggie but annoying that we get told today, and not last Friday...cos we ordered it 3 or 4 Fridays ago.

Windows however, and the bedroom/balcony door are replacement in progress and looking 100% better than the cheap crap that was there before...Furniture is mostly in place, though still waiting some wardrobes and sideboards for the guest rooms... We fitted Index Wardrobes in the master bedroom...the fit isn't exact sadly, but it's close enough for jazz. We do still need to buy a coffee table, and a load of bedding.
 
Jobs still to do.
Fit cooker hood,

Kitchen backsplash tiles.
Fix PEA reported issues to allow us to get meter. (and the knock on, of solar, but that's not the builders issue)
Rewire power and install ovens.
Final outdoor clean down and painting
Seal and install locks on some windows.
Glaze the front window.

Several water faucets to be fitted to blue pipes (for example the washing machine point)
Change handle on front gate (which we really don't like and will point out during handover)
Install boiler/bath and bathroom sinks and a granite sink top in the master.(next Tuesday...grrr)
Finish spreading subsoil to level the ground
Fit heater to guest shower
Fit heater to kitchen sink
Install grease trap (and presumably sink?) may be delayed until the counter top is in place and sink installed. (which by the way I have not seen yet...)
 
Only today and tomorrow left to do these jobs.......though I can't hold them responsible for things delayed by granite... So overall I'm not confident, though I would not be surprised if the worker numbers double today and tomorrow to get these things done.
Hand over is scheduled on the 31st, which of course gives me a chance to point out issues, then they can
deal with snag list which already has a few issues like a light switch not working and some slightly wonky tiles on the kitchen counter.
We can also point out any other issues that might crop up for a year after handover.. so we're covered for any big or small issues.

On the plus side, we don't move out of the rental until the 18th, so if we need to stay here a few more days that's not a problem, we're not being chased down the street.. We will do a slow gentle transition..

Then stage 2 begins... Jirawan gets to design her fantasy Garden
 
Stage 3... Thai Kitchen, Laundry point and Patio..... Again Jirawan gets to have her choice of Thai kitchen, I'll help with sorting out the patio.

Phew, I have missed out some things for sure but that's where we are.... as far as I can remember

Ahthankyew

It's coming

Its been months in the calendar, but now we're down to the last week... The new house is almost ready.

There's a little stress, some issues still with windows, bedroom/balcony doors, solar waiting for PEA power to be turned on...but all will be fixed before the 31st... 

And then we have to work out how to make all the document changes I need as a foreigner living in Thailand.... what fun.

It really is very exciting though, for such a long time things have been disjointed and unclear, but these last couple of weeks we see things that were left hanging being finished and delivery of items/fittings in place.

The most exciting for me has been the new kitchen, and the final processing of the car port/drive. This week we will be able to park the cars/bikes on our drive.

We got an official address, though strangely we don't have a street name, which I am sure will make for a few deliveries going astray until google maps starts to take note that Brian and Jirawan live here....

Furniture deliveries also start this week, assuming they can find it. a bit too early for my liking but there wasn't anyway to stall them longer... some paintwork is still underway so lets hope we don't get splashes on our new couch/sideboard/table/bed etc...

One small luxury we have though is we have 18 days still on our rental lease, so we can move in over the course of a few days with not too much hassle, for sure some things like internet/TV won't be switched over at the flick of a switch, but we'll be able to time the final jump and a couple of truck loads of clothes and other things with relative ease

The only currently outstanding issue, is the wardrobes for the master bedroom, we were considering having the craftsman who made our kitchen do fitted robes, but the price was high...way over our budget, so we're going to have to do a quick rethink and get something more budget friendly from Ikea. But that will be after our move, rather than before... oh well.

Ahthankyew

Cold, Covid, man flu??

Must be a seasonal thing, around this time last year we were both struck down with a mega flu that took us off our feet, and its happened again!

Started with Jirawan having a bad cough, then getting more and more tired before developing a low grade fever. At which point I told her to get to bed and rest..I kept her pumped up with orange juice and light snacks and cold meds. She basically slept for 2 days... when her fever broke she was still tired and listless but improving.

At which point, Florence Nightingale here, started coughing and getting tired and developing a mild fever... I'm not blessed with Jirawans ability to nod off at the 1st opportunity but I certainly had to take a lot of paracetamol and cough mix...and stayed in bed as much as I was able.

We're over the worst, but as with all these respiratory virii,  the cough lingers and our ribs ache... we'll need a few more days.. of chilling.

But I still had to go to the house daily to take the update photo's and videos and progress is really accelerating in these last few weeks, maybe days even.. A couple of minor issues with the windows not being as we asked but an honourable compromise was reached.

We are on track.. Oct 31 is move in day..18 days.... exciting....and scary.. the costs ramp up..but we'll almost on budget...we will make it.

Ahthankyew

Spend spend spend

Or more accurately, try not to spend, spend, spend.

The hunt for bargains is ongoing, we're finding we can save quite a bit on things when we shop around. And also there's a temptation to spend big on things when we find really nice stuff.

The intention is to furnish the house as minimal as possible, at least to start, we can add things month by month as we go, but this rash of spending as we move in needs to have a hard limit....though don't ask me what the limit is, I was hoping 250K but 300K is probably closer. I will itemise things soon.

But we're doing ok, we've got beds sorted now, TV's, matresses, kitchen units, ovens, hob, hood, couch, Table, chairs, sideboards, units, wardrobes, and at least a couple of options on Fridges and freezers.

We overestimated on the garden, it will be around half what we expected, and we found good deals on a large table, matresses and ovens... as well as the kitchen units, saving us a pretty penny which allows me to get TV's and matresses on order before we move.

Jirawan gets to let her hair down on the garden now and stll keep a bit of cash in reserve for plants, or home gadgets.

We certainly overspent on hand made wardrobes... and one of the beds....But they were just too nice to not buy.

However... as far as we can see, we've got all the main things sorted out... and more or less under budget even if that budget is not totally fixed down, its not red....yet.

But now we have things like bedding, towels, crockery, pots, pans, storage bins, shelves, and things we've not thought of yet... But will discover we need the day after we move in.

There are still some final installments on the build to pay though, almost 1m baht in total, which leaves us with about 2m to fund these last few bits and feed ourselves for a year... its actually quite tight.

Lets hope we can pull this off..

Ahthankyew

Bugger...its fried

The phone is fried... there was water in it...probably from a showe accident where the shower was not pointing down and sprayed all over the bathroom sink...where I had my phone...

But bottom line its screwed, they can't fix it, it still works, and mobile seems to be ok, but wi-fi is dead.. so its kaput.. had to buy a new one.

11K ouch.... an Iphone 13, just 3 months after buying that iphone 12...grrr

But I have learned from this my bank and phone locks are now totally different codes.
5 hours or so later, the new phone is working ok. Lets hope I don't need to replace it in another 3 months.

Ahthankyew