First days of framing!

True to form, the day after the first timber had been delivered, the framers started.

They did not muck around.

I spoke to the framer in charge. A young guy. He was happy to talk to us, for 5-10 minutes, but beyond that, he got itchy and wanted to get on with the job. He told us that we were one of the very few who actually got out of our cars and actually spoke to them. Most take pictures from their cars, some get out to take pictures and even fewer still talk to them. I was really surprised by this. They were even more surprised when we dropped off a carton of beers that night to them. "No one does that anymore!" They were happy enough to receive them, and personally, I don't think that it hurts to treat them as people.

I informed him that we'd be getting an independent inspector to review every stage of the build. His response was interesting: "I'm glad you told me. Now I have to do everything properly." (well, I've paraphrased his response to clean it up). Clearly he was not happy at the prospect of having his work critically examined. I asked the obvious question: "well, given the amount we are spending, shouldn't you be doing it right anyway?" That question went unanswered... He did whine a bit about "having to do it right" and that the inspectors "always pick up on bits that are not important" [to him at least]. Evidently he had a different opinion on the interpretation of the Australian Building Standards with respect to straps, tie downs and bracing. I'm glad that the independent inspector and our site supervisor sees things differently "code is code, and that's how it will be done".

10am 16th April 2015

10am 16th April 2015

8:45am 17th April 2015

10am 17th April 2015

It took them only an hour to add the frame for the dining room and alfresco!

By the end of the second day, even though it had rained, they had accomplished a lot.

4pm 17th April 2015

4pm 17th April 2015

4pm 17th April 2015

4pm 17th April 2015

4pm 17th April 2015

4pm 17th April 2015

Skipping ahead to the end of the frame stage, post frame inspection report: Yep. As expected, the issues that the framer whinged about were indeed what the inspector did pick up on. Our site supervisor made sure that they were rectified. I spoke to him about the issues that he was fixing. Whilst he was going to fix them, he did say "I was never taught this way of doing things...". Clearly the thought that he'd possibly been taught incorrectly had never crossed his mind. Although, I do wonder if it had been done deliberately, as an act of defiance.

Anyway, it is certainly not something that we have gotten stressed over. There is a good relationship between our site supervisor and our inspector, so I trust them to deliver what is needed. Our overall mandate to our site supervisor: we are not in a rush for this house, just do it right.