Inspection List Being Made for Practical Completion

One thing that still puzzles me is the question: "What is practical completion?" 

From what I had been told, 

• there will be no appliances (to minimise theft) 
• possibility that electricals will not be finalised 
• no need to bring ladder and light bulbs (how do I check electrical fittings and which switch, etc.) 
• no need for tools (e.g., spirit level, measuring tape) 
• I'm still bringing them just in case 
• paint touch ups will still need to be done (this I can understand) 

The site supervisor will be walking with us through the house on 1-Sep and hopefully find everything that needs fixing. I have also acquired help from an independent inspector to see the workmanship of the place and to help spot things that I am not trained to do (and that will be most). 

I am compiling a list of things to look out for on a per room basis. It's about 8 pages now and I have only covered 5 out of about 20 spaces. It is going to be a long list from what I can estimate so far. I hope that the inspection remains exciting for us and that it doesn't become chore-like and tedious. Like my mum said, we should go through the whole process like it is an adventure. 

It's pretty late here now and I have a packed Friday and Weekend. I hope I can squeeze some time before Monday to finish this whole list. I also hope that it actually is useful for the inspection. 

As We Approach Practical Completion

We are nearing final completion. This means we will be walking through the house with the site supervisor soon to look for things that are not quite right. After that, we will be invoiced for the final payment. 

I am charged with preparing a room by room check list as we have specified with our builder on the building contract. This should also include the variations that we have added. I am hoping that I can do a complete job so that my list is consistent with the original contract. Otherwise, there will be traceability issues that the builder might then say my listing is unreliable. 

A little bit is troubling me about how we will be forced to pay for the final invoice even before we start claiming for warranty or the maintenance repairs. Once we pay, we will have no more "dangling carrot" powers over the builder. I have to admit that the service we have received has been pretty good. The process is coming to a crunch and perhaps this is why I am feeling a little anxious. 

This is our first build and is a new experience. Like any new experience, there will be unknowns. I hope we have researched enough to discover these unknowns and manage the risks involved with them. I hope that there are no problems with the build that will surface after 5-10 years (especially after 7 when the warranty runs out). 

I have contacted most of the utilities that we have at are current house. Most of them gave a notification lead time of about 2 to 4 weeks. Sydney Water told me that their arrangements will most likely be covered by our solicitor on the contract of sale. They cannot disconnect the service so it will just be a matter of who will start paying after we've settled on the sale and when that new arrangement will start. 

I was appalled with the pricing difference of Telstra for their Broadband offering. 200 GB for $93.00. Good heavens!! That's about $1200 per year as opposed to about $72 now that I pay for both line rental and broadband that I am paying now. This offering is for NBN services which should push up the speed of the link. The only other place I am looking at is Exetel. For now we will most likely sign up for the 25 Mbps link.