Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Nov 05, 2018 12:12 pm Hi All - We will be building with Hickinbotham (signed all contracts and completed selections) next year in Two Wells. We are thinking of getting a staged building inspector to sign off each stage of the build and make sure everything is done correctly. Just wondering if anyone has used an external staged building inspector and if it was worth it? This is our second build and our long-term one at that. We are just wanting to make sure everything is done correctly. We have seen lots of Hickies/Statemen homes wrapped, insulated and gyprocked before even the bricks have started, is this normal and safe to do? It just seems very odd and not many other builders seem to do this? Thanks in advance for all your feedback Re: Building Inspectors 5Nov 05, 2018 2:58 pm jads88 Hi All - We will be building with Hickinbotham (signed all contracts and completed selections) next year in Two Wells. We are thinking of getting a staged building inspector to sign off each stage of the build and make sure everything is done correctly. Just wondering if anyone has used an external staged building inspector and if it was worth it? This is our second build and our long-term one at that. We are just wanting to make sure everything is done correctly. We have seen lots of Hickies/Statemen homes wrapped, insulated and gyprocked before even the bricks have started, is this normal and safe to do? It just seems very odd and not many other builders seem to do this? Thanks in advance for all your feedback Re: Building Inspectors 6Nov 05, 2018 2:59 pm kathysangel jads88 Hi All - We will be building with Hickinbotham (signed all contracts and completed selections) next year in Two Wells. We are thinking of getting a staged building inspector to sign off each stage of the build and make sure everything is done correctly. Just wondering if anyone has used an external staged building inspector and if it was worth it? This is our second build and our long-term one at that. We are just wanting to make sure everything is done correctly. We have seen lots of Hickies/Statemen homes wrapped, insulated and gyprocked before even the bricks have started, is this normal and safe to do? It just seems very odd and not many other builders seem to do this? Thanks in advance for all your feedback Re: Building Inspectors 7Nov 05, 2018 5:01 pm kathysangel jads88 Hi All - We will be building with Hickinbotham (signed all contracts and completed selections) next year in Two Wells. We are thinking of getting a staged building inspector to sign off each stage of the build and make sure everything is done correctly. Just wondering if anyone has used an external staged building inspector and if it was worth it? This is our second build and our long-term one at that. We are just wanting to make sure everything is done correctly. We have seen lots of Hickies/Statemen homes wrapped, insulated and gyprocked before even the bricks have started, is this normal and safe to do? It just seems very odd and not many other builders seem to do this? Thanks in advance for all your feedback Yep because there short of tradies it's happening here in Ballarat Vic That's crazy, in summer/spring I'm sure it's not so bad, but what about in winter with lots of rain and wind? Surely it can't be the best Re: Building Inspectors 8Nov 05, 2018 8:32 pm I was referring to building surveyor. The build permit needs to be obtained from a surveyor. This surveyor could be a council surveyor (this in other words known as council permit) or a Private Building Surveyor (PBS) who is a practicing surveyor. These are different from inspectors. A surveyor's permit is required to start a building construction. The builder obtains permit from a surveyor. He would obtain from a council surveyor or a PBS. All the volume builders do recommend (indirectly entice you) to appoint their preferred surveyor as the surveyor needs to verify at each checkpoint to ensure that the building construction is done as per the legislated requirements. Their preferred surveyor gives nod to everything, in some cases they don't even check at all. So do your research and appoint your own surveyor who has got a reputation for ensuring the compliance. An inspector is entirely different. You may appoint a separate independent Inspector at each stage to identify the defects. These defects are expected to be rectified, and in reality not all the builders are good at rectification. Re: Building Inspectors 9Nov 06, 2018 7:30 am When getting a 3rd party inspector in, I believe it's best if the builder knows up-front that you're going to do it. It makes sure that you resolve any arguments at the get-go, and NOT with the actual people who'll be building the house (eg. I'd rather annoy a salesperson than my site supervisor). Builders do have valid (from the buyer's point of view that is) reasons for not liking 3rd party inspectors, as well as invalid reasons. Inspectors do hold things up & can be picky about stuff that doesn't matter & make owners worried about stuff that doesn't matter; and on the other hand, builders frankly don't want the expense of fixing stuff their tradies have borked & inspectors make it harder to hide that stuff from owners … plus it's an indication of lack-of-trust for the builder (which IMHO is fair, as a buyer what chance is there you'll know a high-volume builder well enough to trust them? And even trying their hardest they make mistakes, and the people doing the work are often happy to hide substandard work). Re: Building Inspectors 10Nov 06, 2018 7:58 am Theres nothing wrong with having your own inspector alongside the one appointed by the builder. We used Houspect and found them really good (as did our site supervisor). Our house got wrapped/plastered before bricks started. Its called a reverse build and pretty common. Keeps things moving inside while they wait for bricklayers to be available. Re: Building Inspectors 11Nov 06, 2018 5:12 pm Thank you all for your replies I will definitely be letting the building company know we are going to use one. We have just finished our selections and getting our final copy of that and the master plans in about a weeks time. The land isn't ready until approx Feb/March next year (Stage 5 in Eden Two Wells) When would be a good time to let the builder know? And would I tell the initial sales consultant or selections staff that we are wanting to use our own? I will be saying this is our long-term/forever home and just want some peace of mind (as we are spending 300k on the build and 200k on the land, which is a development by the Builder we are using) so I would hope there is some sort of understanding from them? Thanks again! Re: Building Inspectors 12Nov 06, 2018 5:30 pm We let our build admin person and site supervisor know. They don't generally need to know this early. Re: Building Inspectors 13Nov 07, 2018 8:34 pm jads88 Thank you all for your replies I will definitely be letting the building company know we are going to use one. We have just finished our selections and getting our final copy of that and the master plans in about a weeks time. The land isn't ready until approx Feb/March next year (Stage 5 in Eden Two Wells) When would be a good time to let the builder know? And would I tell the initial sales consultant or selections staff that we are wanting to use our own? I will be saying this is our long-term/forever home and just want some peace of mind (as we are spending 300k on the build and 200k on the land, which is a development by the Builder we are using) so I would hope there is some sort of understanding from them? Thanks again! Work it out with your site supervisor and your inspector. Re: Building Inspectors 14Mar 21, 2019 12:32 pm The building company will build to the contract and invoice you for the stages. They have no obligation to consider the building inspectors reports, and probably won’t. If your inspector finds defects you will need to follow the notification and dispute process specified in the contract. Be wary of verbal assurances from site supervisors that will never happen! Do not think the builder will happily fix everything in the inspection report before PCI. Re: Building Inspectors 15Mar 21, 2019 7:02 pm Norfolk The building company will build to the contract and invoice you for the stages. They have no obligation to consider the building inspectors reports, and probably won’t. If your inspector finds defects you will need to follow the notification and dispute process specified in the contract. Be wary of verbal assurances from site supervisors that will never happen! Do not think the builder will happily fix everything in the inspection report before PCI. So if they don't fix the defects, they are in breach. Then you win. Re: Building Inspectors 16Mar 21, 2019 8:26 pm sweetswisssteel Norfolk The building company will build to the contract and invoice you for the stages. They have no obligation to consider the building inspectors reports, and probably won’t. If your inspector finds defects you will need to follow the notification and dispute process specified in the contract. Be wary of verbal assurances from site supervisors that will never happen! Do not think the builder will happily fix everything in the inspection report before PCI. What a load of rubbish. Metricon fixed every defect found from every stage inspection. A decent inspector will list the Defects and how they violate the building code. And guess what, your HIA contract specifies that the home must be built to comply to the building code of Australia. So if they don't fix the defects, they are in breach. Then you win. What does it cost you in time and money to "win" if the builder is in breach? Re: Building Inspectors 17Mar 21, 2019 10:28 pm Nothing, because my builder, Metricon fixed everything. Re: Building Inspectors 18Mar 22, 2019 7:33 am In my case the inspector and myself identified many defects which were reported to the builder. The builder ignored the report and sped up construction to claim the fixing stage complete and send their invoice with 5 day payment terms. I disputed this due to the defects. After all their verbal assurances that things would be fixed were not backed up by action and therefore not accepted by me they then slowed down. They even breached a government legal order. The reason they slowed down was to pressure me financially to accept the defective work. Like many other customers have had to. In the end the build was about 45 weeks delayed which cost me over $85,000 in rent, interest and legal fees. Other customers are living in homes with similar defects either knowingly or unaware. Building inspectiors do a good job however the ‘standard’ HIA contract that Metricon uses does not provide customers with protection when defects are identified. A liquidated damages amount of $30 per working day for delays allows Metricon to pressure customers to accept defective work when the actual costs of delays can be $250 per calendar day in rent and interest etc. Something to consider when assessing a Metricon contract. Do you want to rely on their good will to do the right thing? The state government agencies are not effective and legal action for breaches is very expensive. Check the various social media forums about this topic and Metricons recent behaviours and take care! That is a really good attitude Akin to you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. I do enjoy watching that tik tok inspector from Victoria but he does go a little… 12 82609 If you are in Victoria you have a statutory right to your own building inspector regardless of builder's consent. No negotiations are required. However the builder will… 1 3398 |