PCI

Yesterday we finally had our Practical Completion Inspection (PCI).  It went reasonably well; our private inspector also attended and found no major problems.  I have made a separate post which details the progress since the last time we were in the house here.

The inspector's list of defaults (summarised):

• Concrete floor of the garage dirty (paint stains, blobs of mortar and plaster etc)
• No draught weather seals to the front door
• Door handles on the bi-fold doors scratched and acid stained
• Outer edge of the timber door sill between the garage and house was chipped
• East side of the capping at the top of the rendered column at the front porch was not fully painted
• Paint on the aluminium in-fill above the bi-fold doors was scratched
• Paint on the glass panels of the front door
• Down pipe on the south-east corner is dented
• Surplus mortar on the brick sills on the west side of the house
• Holes around waste pipes in the ensuite vanity were not completely covered
• Gap between laundry trough cabinet has not been caulked
• Dents in laminate of laundry cabinet
• Laundry cabinet doors not flush
• Sliding wardrobe doors not fitted
• Mark in vanity shelf in ensuite
• Joins in largest pantry shelf not flush
• Interface between toilet and floor tiles in the ensuite has not been caulked
• Painting: general paint touch ups required

Additional things that we spotted:

• Missing power point for alarm box
• Alarm keypad in the wrong place
• Missing roller bolt from front door*
• Missing solar panel
• Kitchen drawers out of alignment
• Bedroom wardrobe door runner needs replacing (this is why the inspector had cause to note that the wardrobe door was not fitted)
• Lots of paint touch ups
• Meter box wrong colour

All of the above are going to be addressed.  Estimated handover is next Wednesday, the 24th of October!  The site supervisor expects that everything will be done by Monday except for the bifold door hande (which will need to be replaced) as the manufacturer's maintenance department is typically a bit slow.

*We were pretty keen on the roller bolt for the front door; basically we wanted something to hold the door shut if we just run out to the letterbox without having to lock the door, as there is no latch (just a pull handle and a deadbolt).  We pushed for it at contract, and were told that we were definitely getting something to that effect, but it was written into the contract for our peace of mind.  At the time we were skeptical that the person we were dealing with really understood what we meant or what was involved, but as long as it was in the contract we were happy.  Of course, there is no roller bolt on the door, but as it is written in the contract they need to work something out for us.

Part two of what we wanted for the door was a hydraulic closer, as it is a very heavy door and we have little fingers in the house.  We were told that although the door supplier does make one for our door, it was not an option with Porter Davis.  We resigned ourselves to adding something after handover, which won't look as nice as the integrated option (and we'll have to organise it ourselves) but will have the same effect.    What does this have to do with PCI?

Our supervisor says that a roller bolt isn't a good option for us, as it will need a large striker plate that will extend past the edge of the door.  However, a hydraulic closer may provide the resistence we are after for the door.  So the supervisor is going to look in to our options in that regard.