At 2.30pm today, we have an appointment with our builder for the house inspection. It is our first house inspection to check and point out things that need to be fix, making sure the house is all good before handover. After today, the builder will then have a maximum of two weeks to fix all the things, clean up the mess and get the house ready for handover.

Hubby monkey has been doing many research online, reading forums and asking friends about their house inspection experiences. We have learned so much about what to prepare for it – stuffs like what tools to bring, what things are a must to check in details and how to deal with the inspector.

After weeks of preparation, here are the checklists that we have prepared for today:

• Ladder
• Measuring tape
• Red dots stickers
• Torchlight
• Light bulb
• Wipe cloth
• Pen and notepads
• Camera
• …and two pairs of big and wide eyes!

We are very excited about today but we are so thrilled about the day of handover!

Our home is looking very good. The house is now at the final stages of completion!

Since the lock-up stage, the building progress has since been really slow. We could no longer sneak inside to check on the progress. Sometimes, we were lucky to be able to get into the house when they were working or when they had forgotten to lock the door. But, most of the times, all we could do was to peek through the windows.

The kitchen has come into good shapes and we are really happy with the Laminate Timber flooring

The double sinks in the ensuite

Our cool shower with dark tiles

The house is very near completion yet we do not know the exact date of when can we move in. The feeling of waiting unknowingly is very annoying, but there is nothing we can do.

We are now waiting for our supervisor to be in contact over the next 1-2 weeks for an inspection. Our dream home is on our doorstep!

In the past four weeks, we have been seeing three constructors stacking up the bricks of our house, piece by piece, as if they were playing the tetris game. It looks fun. As fun as playing tetris!

I was wondering how many pieces of bricks they need for the whole house. But, no, I am not curious enough to count the total number of the bricks.

Front right view of the house

Back left view of the house

The bricks are looking good. They blend in well with the colour of the roof tiles. We are again happy with our choice!

After the bricks are complete, we are now on the lock-up stage. Meaning, we can no longer sneak in to our house to check on the progress of the house because the doors and windows will be all locked! Unless we made an appointment with the builder, for now, we could only see the house from the outside.

The main reason we bought the land and built our first home at Saltwater Coast among the other estates in Point Cook, is the lifestyle, facilities and living environment that they offered.

It has a 50-hectares of pristine park and wetlands around the estate. It is like a residential estate comes a holiday resort.

The pristine park and wetlands you would see as you drive into the estate

I love the design of the estate itself that reflects a balance of urban, natural coastal and rural residential themes.

Coastal influence parks

On the park, there are a number of BBQ/Picnic spots with kids playground. It is a great place for family to enjoy outdoor activities or to catch up with friends and neighbours.

Kids Playground

BBQ/Picnic Area

Another plus point is the Lifestyle Centre featuring sports and recreational facilities. A place for us to be actively fit and stay healthy.

Architecturally designed Lifestyle Centre

At Saltwater Coast, it all points to a better life.

Since the past two weekends, we had been expecting for the bricks to be completed but apparently they have yet to start working on the bricks at all. Instead, they have been working on the inside of the house after the roof tiles.

They have added a pink colour cotton-like padding in between the frames, which is the insulation.

The insulation in master bedroom

The ducted heating pipes were seen hanging on the roof.

Ducted Heating

We saw a number of electrical power point spots and pink colour markings on the floor around the house.

Markings for TV and Power Points in the living area

Markings in the kitchen area

Markings in the bathroom and the frame for bath spa

The house were in a mess when the plaster were being installed but glad they cleaned it up after they had finished with the job.

The mess for installing the plaster

The bricks were already on the building site for 2 weeks and were waiting to be dismantled and get worked on.

Austral Bricks - Nougat colour

Just like us, we are also waiting for the bricks updates.

Two years ago today, we exchanged our vows in Singapore. Tonight, we celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary at the Anchorage Restaurant, Williamstown.

It was a beautiful place by the pier, overlooking the sea and the WestGate Bridge. We arrived just on time to see the sunset before we enjoyed our dinner.

A toast to celebrate a romantic night *love*

We sat by the window and had the Seafood Platter!

The platter was huge, really huge. They served seasonal seafood – a dozen of oysters, a half dozen of scallops, prawns, calamari, grilled salmon fillet, salmon sashimi, a crab and a lobster!

A close up look to see how huge is the platter

A dessert to end the beautiful night

Yesterday, we did our weekly visit to our house to check on the construction update for the week, which we were told the roof tiles and the bricks.

Before we turned to the right into our street, we could already see the roof of the house were covered with Bristile Designer roof tiles. They looked awesome and yay, we picked the right colour! We are happy with the colour selected, which is Parchment colour.

As we reached to the front of the house, we were a little disappointed to found out the bricks weren’t anywhere to be seen yet. Nonetheless, we were still very excited with the roof and did the tour around the house again.

Parchment Colour Roof Tiles, manufactured by Bristile

We found a few holes on the roof as we were walking inside the house. The roof was incomplete, still.

One of the missing roof area

At the front and at the back of the house, we saw two piles of broken roof tile pieces. So many! And to not waste them, hubby monkey took a piece of the broken roof tile to keep as a souvenir.

This was the reason the roof were still incomplete

Besides the roof tiles, they had also laid the pipes around the house for water and gas.

The water pipes in the bathroom

That’s all for this week…till next weekend!

Flashing back to a couple weeks ago, we were anticipating for the house construction to begin and today, we can already see the house coming to shape. The construction progress is speeding up!

In the middle of each week, hubby monkey will receive an email from the builder for the construction update of the week, then we get very excited for the weekend where we can visit the house and check on the progress.

This week, we can already see the gutter and fascia. In addition to that, all windows around the house and the sliding doors to the alfresco had also been installed!

The Gutter and Fascia - we picked the right colour - it's Dune, love them!

Dark Oak sliding doors and White Birch aluminium windows

Yeah! It’s only been one week since the base slab was completed and now the frame of the house is up! We can finally see our first home coming to shape.

Today, we did our first tour into each and every corner of the house. Let’s sneak peek into our home again.

Skeleton of the house

The porch

The entrance to the house

The master bedroom

The walk-in robe

The ensuite

The laundry room

The sitting area

The open kitchen with the butler's pantry - my favourite space in the house!

The living room and the dining area

The entrance to the back of the house that leads to bedroom 2, 3 & 4, rumpus, toilet and bathroom

The double garage

The left-side view of the house that somehow looks like a miniature project

We are looking forward to the next weekend for more updates.

Last week, we were very overwhelmed with the construction update from our builder, especially hubby monkey. For almost every day, he would asked me if we could go to the land and check. And so we went for the first time on last Saturday evening.

No slab, yet, just fences all around our land. A little disappointed, we quickly snapped some pictures and left.

Fences all around our block of land

On Monday evening after work, hubby monkey wanted to see the land again and so for the second time in a week, we went to see the land. Still, no slab yet, we were disappointed twice.

Tuesday…Wednesday…no news, nothing happened.

On Thursday, the builder left a message on hubby monkey’s mailbox saying that the slab will be poured on the next day and this time it is for real! Yesterday, we visited the land and saw the slab on it, finally!

We were smiling widely from ear to ear. Quickly, we got off the car and sneaked in through the fences and walked around on the slab.

Sneaked in through from the back of the house

As we walked through the slab, we were imagining the floor plan of the house. The porch, the entrance to the house, the garage, the laundry, the bedrooms, the bathrooms, the kitchen, the dining area, the living room, the work space, the rumpus, the alfresco. We were having an imaginary slab party going through our head. Very excited!

The slab is freezing cold!

Now, we are looking forward to the coming Tuesday as the frame of the house will be built.