Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jul 15, 2013 9:50 am Hi everyone! I'm currently in the process of finalising my drawings with henley. One problem is that my garage wall is 150mm from the boundary which will be vermin nest in the near future. Note that my garage wall will be 150mm from my neighbour's garage wall. I asked Henley to build the wall on the boundary but is charged $6000!!! What do you think I should do or how can I convince Henley to bring the costing down?! thanks! Re: Building house on the boundary 2Jul 15, 2013 9:53 am Hey Mtz08, What justification did they give you for the price increase or suggested charge? Re: Building house on the boundary 3Jul 15, 2013 9:54 am I am having a front and rear garage on the boundary and the cost is more. I believe this is because the guttering and roof plumbing has to be different to contain run-off water, at least that was what was told to me. It does sound reasonable, you may be able to wiggle that price down a little as it does sound a little higher than mine. I would think the builder will simply make it up elsewhere unfortunately.... Re: Building house on the boundary 4Jul 15, 2013 10:04 am We were also going to be charged extra for different terminate protection as well as the different guttering with our original builder. I'd ask them to itemise the extra 6k, you might find once they have to explain it all, you can find a little wiggle room. Our extra charges for zero boundary we're under 2k i think. Re: Building house on the boundary 5Jul 15, 2013 10:10 am Thanks for the reply. My admin said it's because of difficulties in material handling work bricking and roofing. I did ask for a cost breakdown and all my admin replied is that "We pay the trades extra due to the difficulties they will experience. We don’t give out breakdowns of the charges." If it is indeed costing extra to build on the boundary, what is the reasonable cost for this? I really want to have it on the boundary but dont know where I can scrape an extra 6k for "only" this.. Re: Building house on the boundary 6Jul 15, 2013 11:06 am I think our costs to extend our garage to the boundary were about 2k for termite protection and the gutters being different. 6k definately sounds ridiculous to me but builder do not make these things easy, it's almost like 'if you want it you will have to deal with our charges' Good luck! Re: Building house on the boundary 7Jul 15, 2013 11:09 am thanks.. Henley wont reduce the price at all, so it's 6k! we decided not to do it as it is ridiculously expensive... Re: Building house on the boundary 8Jul 15, 2013 11:34 am Personally I would dispute the claim that moving a wall by 150mm will result in excessive material handling costs. Seriously - how much more difficult will it be - they will build it and store the bricks etc in exactly the same place and 150mm gap versus no gap won't make any difference to this. The only potential difference would be to roof and gutter design. Completed a knock down and rebuild in northern Melbourne. Handover completed 27/09/2013 and now moved in. Re: Building house on the boundary 9Jul 15, 2013 11:43 am The only extra I paid to have this done with PD was for the guttering (box gutters). That's it. Roughly $400. Admittedly there isn't a garage right up against me there but that still doesn't explain a $6k charge. The gap between fence and garage was such a sticking point for me that I would have walked away from the builder if they'd hit me with such a huge fee. It will look fine for the first year, but eventually you will have blown in debris, weeds and if your really unlucky ant hives and wasp nests. All of which you can't possibly reach. This trend of building 150mm away from an immovable object is ridiculous and screams laziness (on the part of the builder) to me. HD Re: Building house on the boundary 10Jul 15, 2013 11:45 am Hi Bluesuede, Deep down I agree with you. But i dont know how or what to tell my admin to dispute/fight it... I asked for a cost breakdown and she doesnt give it to me because of the reason I stated before... If you know how to handle this, can you shed some light? thanks. Hi Lurgen, thanks. But I am at dead end now that I dont know what to tell my admin. Re: Building house on the boundary 11Jul 15, 2013 11:59 am mtz08 Hi Bluesuede, Deep down I agree with you. But i dont know how or what to tell my admin to dispute/fight it... I asked for a cost breakdown and she doesnt give it to me because of the reason I stated before... If you know how to handle this, can you shed some light? thanks. It's a fob off from the admin. A vague undefined reason that they hope will just make you say "oh ok then" because you don't understand how the trades work. I would simply ask them to explain how handling costs increase so substantially by a 150mm move. What will they do differently? They no longer have to work with a narrow gap which actually makes it easier when you consider they can have the external face of the brickwork as sloppy as they like given its hard up against another wall. They can use chipped and damaged bricks they would otherwise have to toss. You are entitled to a breakdown of that figure. I would push the issue, but that's just me. Completed a knock down and rebuild in northern Melbourne. Handover completed 27/09/2013 and now moved in. Re: Building house on the boundary 12Jul 15, 2013 12:08 pm Hi bluesuede, Thanks. I am currently fighting it off with my admin. I will let you know the end of the discussion. i will also include your reasoning... Re: Building house on the boundary 13Jul 15, 2013 2:11 pm Personally, I believe they should be able to explain in detail where this additional cost is. Not wanting/being able to do it screams they are trying to hide a blatant profit grab at your expense. A builder knows how much things cost due to the materials required to do the job. This is why they have estimators. Out of curiousity I checked our contract because we also built on the boundary. We extended the garage out to the boundary by an additional 1320mm. This cost us an additional $3,850. This also included extra window to façade. To provide the parapet wall extension(required as it is on the boundary) including leaf/box gutter, rainhead and metal capping to side elevation, was another $675. So total an additional $4,525. BUT, we extended by 1320mm and you're extending by only 150mm!! Half the length of a ruler! (We built with M and this price is two years ago.) I would seriously ask for a "please explain". Re: Building house on the boundary 14Jul 15, 2013 2:22 pm Hi OurLindrum 52, Thanks for your reply. However, after fighting it of asking for explanation etc. My admin said the price comprises of gutter box and treatment on garage wall. When I told her that it doesnt make sense to be that expensive and I've asked around and everyone paid under 2k for building on the boundary, she basically told me "take it or leave it". it feels totally unfair. I'm now trying to get in touch with her manager but the manager is not in today. Re: Building house on the boundary 15Jul 15, 2013 2:25 pm ours was shifted over to comply with the estate and cost us $2800ish. I would walk away completely if told I had to have a stupid gap. I'd find another builder altogether. If they are that hard now, what will they be like when you want something else? ______________________________________________________________________ Signed up Jan 2013........Almost done! My thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65763 Re: Building house on the boundary 16Jul 15, 2013 2:35 pm Hi Di Nosaur, Problem is we have signed the contract. We asked to close this gap during sales and tender and was told that Henley cannot do it because of gutter etc etc, so we let it go. BUT! now that we saw a Henley house in our estate that is built on the boundary, we question them why we were told that we cannot have them on the boundary. After that, my admin said we can have it by paying 6k! WHAT?!! I asked my admin why she said we couldnt have it before and now we can by paying 6k - its unfair to us! She said its never recommended by henley blah blah blah and then basically told us it is what it is and the costing cannot go down "you take it or leave it"! we never thought about walking away since we love love love the house plan.. Honestly Henley has been great so far, this is the only dishonesty I found so far which is a shame. Re: Building house on the boundary 17Jul 15, 2013 3:43 pm You've signed the full contract before plans were finalised? Or have you just signed and paid for a deposit? Completed a knock down and rebuild in northern Melbourne. Handover completed 27/09/2013 and now moved in. Re: Building house on the boundary 18Jul 15, 2013 4:02 pm the final drawings are signed at contract. what havent been signed is the final construction drawing which is tentative to council and developer approval. Closing the 15cm gap was also requested by my land developer, but they cannot reject the siting as it is not stated in the estate guidelines. In a way, I have 'agreed' with the siting drawing because I didnt know that Henley could 'actually' build on the boundary. If I have known before, I wouldnt have signed until the drawing is fixed (unfortunately, I only know it yesterday when I saw a henley house built on the boundary). I think this is also the reason Henley allows me to change - because I found that house! Otherwise, they wont allow me to change as the contract has been signed, even as small as changing the size of my cabinet handles. Re: Building house on the boundary 19Jul 15, 2013 4:09 pm We signed the contract 2months ago, feeling happy with everything. Honestly, if I hadnt found that house being built on the boundary, I wouldnt do anything. But since I found the house, I feel disappointment rushing in because of their dishonesty. The problems here are: 1. Their dishonesty regarding their ability in building on the boundary 2. The price they charge for building on the boundary Re: Building house on the boundary 20Jul 15, 2013 8:24 pm mtz08 In a way, I have 'agreed' with the siting drawing because I didnt know that Henley could 'actually' build on the boundary. If I have known before, I wouldnt have signed until the drawing is fixed (unfortunately, I only know it yesterday when I saw a henley house built on the boundary). I think this is also the reason Henley allows me to change - because I found that house! Otherwise, they wont allow me to change as the contract has been signed, even as small as changing the size of my cabinet handles. In a way you have been deceived, and signed a contract based on false information. A lawyer might see this contract as non-binding, as it was based on misleading information. If you asked during tender and was told they do not do it, only to find this to be untrue, then you have every right to be displeased and to insist on proper remediation. Sure, they probably didn't deliberately mislead you, that'd be crazy. More likely their were either misinformed, lazy or mad a bad assumption. A house is a long-term investment, and not one where I'd recommend letting something like this drop. 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