Building with Wisdom Homes

peterJess Based on the picture taken by your SS of the solar panels installed on your roof posted on 31 January, it appears your frame, roof and brickwork have been completed for at least a couple of months. Correct? Internal pre lining works such as electrical and plumbing rough-in are not normally dependent on the weather and these should take, at most, 5 working days given the sub contractors’ other jobs call ups and scheduling etc. The NSW residential building market is currently slow (down about 25%) therefore there should not be any issue with availability of plumbing and electrical trades to WisdomHomes . In the times noted your site was being worked on, what things were they actually doing? Did your Wisdom Homes SS provide you with updates about the specific work they completed on the 2-3 schedules worked per week over the past 2 months? What does your SS mean by contractors ”taking their time improving on the quality”? Did he provide some examples of this? This is not the normal behavior for these types of volume builder focussed contractors. Has something changed at Wisdom regarding this? Were there any significant problems, defects or errors identified they needed to fix in the past 2 months that took more time? Why has Wisdom Homes claimed rain day extensions if their contractors were working dry inside under your roof? What jobs has Wisdom Homes SS advised you they will be working on over the next 2 weeks before your pre lining inspection?

ok you win, must be terrible to get so close then the slow down. Hope you can get the keys soon!

sv_reddy have you received a response from Wisdom Homes SS after he contacted the concrete company about the defects?

Hi all,
Been a long time since I’ve been on here.
We built the majestic 35 and had handover late 2018. This was our second build with wisdom and had a great experience with our first home.
Unfortunately it hasn’t been the same experience this time. We seem to have an ever growing list of problems with this house and the maintenance team are hopeless. Emails are regularly left without response or they say things will get done but nothing happens. When things finally start getting fixed they are left half done by trades with no date for them to return and finish.

We are constantly finding cracked tiles in our bathrooms, laundry, front porch and balcony and think the tiles haven’t been laid properly.

Our en-suite shower has been left half fixed for six weeks now and no one can tell me when they are coming back to fix it

We had our garage ceiling collapse flooding our garage after the down pipe from the second story was installed the wrong way forcing all the water up under the flashing.

The underlay under the carpet has gaps of up to 2 1/2 inches between pieces. We have had 2 rooms relaid but are noticing it all over the house and in order for wisdom to fix it they require us to move all the furniture.

When we had the big rain the carpet in our down stairs office was soaking wet but nothing upstairs was wet from a leak and we had no flooding around our house. So are very concerned that it could have been come from under the slab.

We really just want these problems addressed and fixed. This was meant to be our forever home but now considering selling and building with another builder.
Has anyone else had problems with wisdom and what action did you take?
We don’t want to give wisdom a bad name as we had a great experience with our first build but are sick of constantly having to chase wisdom to try and get things fixed.

You can always ask for a quote during the appointment on the appliances you want and see what the price comes back with. After receiving the quotes, it's just a matter of YES or NO if you want to proceed with them. The kitchen install is non negotiable as it would be part of the minimum that Wisdom has to do as part of the build. The only major thing you can do post hand over for them to credit you is the flooring except for the wet areas.

Wow, I'm sorry to hear and see the quality of workmanship here. Is the cracked tiles due to poor laying or do you think it's the quality of the tiles?

Not sure but we’re worried this is going to be a continuing problem after our warranty is finished. So really want wisdom to address the underlying problem here.

The very first cracked tile DeLorenzo came to fix we had a fantastic tiler. He came to get me to show me that under the cracked tile it was pooling with water and that the base was crumbling and falling apart. He told us that he thought that something was wrong with the base under the tiles. He took video and reported it to wisdom but nothing happen about it.

Hi All,
I think we should follow every development in this case very closely. This will show us all how things are at the moment, on Wisdom customer care as well as quality of the build.

This is of particular importance to us who are about to start the build. I'm not trying to build paranoid here but it is certainly a concern as it is at the core of the build process. If there's a structure failure, why wasn't detected on time and of the same importance, how this problem will be solved.

alce4463 it will be great if you can provide information (when possible) as to how the process of solving this is going, how diligent Wisdom is on making the repairs and your overall experience.

Cheers

Can someone suggest on the driveway please? We got a quote that says colour sealing and fleck spray which are quite expensive from what was initially told. What are these and are they helpful?

alce4463 Regarding your comment on 12/3/20 “The underlay under the carpet has gaps of up to 2 1/2 inches between pieces. We have had 2 rooms relaid but are noticing it all over the house and in order for wisdom to fix it they require us to move all the furniture.” - Wisdom Homes is required by law to fix this defect, and to pay the the full costs of the repairs including project coordination, packing your things, moving and storing your furniture, placing it back, and any other associated costs such as your temporary accomodation and meals if your home is unusable whilst they are replacing the carpet underlay. Don’t accept their fob off that you need to move the furniture yourself. This is Just their tactic to avoid rectifying this defect. Wisdom should be able to ‘back charge’ their carpet layer for all the costs of your rectification works.

We are having a lot of trouble with our build. I'm fed up and will be sharing all on here very soon if we don't see real progress and responses from leadership this week.

teezed I have sent you a PM

alce4463 regarding your comment on 12/3/20: When we had the big rain the carpet in our down stairs office was soaking wet but nothing upstairs was wet from a leak and we had no flooding around our house. So are very concerned that it could have been come from under the slab". Wisdom Homes needs to investigate and identify the cause of water ingress and advise their plan to fix it as well as rectify the damage caused such as mould - which is potential health risk. Have you asked Wisdom to do this with urgency? What's their response?

m4bath Tiles have very strong compressive strength but limited tensile strength. This means they can't bend or stretch. They crack when the base they are stuck too moves. Its unlikely to be poor laying or the poor quality of the tiles. Possibly its some structural movement. Wisdom Homes per, their warranty and mandatory consumer guarantee, needs to properly investigate and identify the root cause of the widespread cracking, then provide a time bound plan to fix it.

Can anybody shed any light on this requirement for interim occupancy we have just been notified of (by our CSR):

Traffic Control Devices - The internal road network, pedestrian facilities and parking facilities (including visitor parking and employee parking) shall be designated and line marked in accordance with Australian Standard - AS1742, Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices. If an exit from car park utilises a pedestrian footpath, then a warning system such as flashing light and/or ‘alarm sound’ must be installed on the subject property to alert pedestrians of vehicles exiting the car park. The Alarm System must be designed and installed in accordance with AS2890.1 -2004.

No other driveways in our local area have traffic control devices.....we are totally confused. We are definitely building a house in a normal residential area.....not a block of units or business with a parking facility.

becks81 This requirement is not applicable for standalone houses. The CSR has made an error.

norfolk This is all we have received from wisdom in regards to this issue

We acknowledge your inquiry following the recent extreme storm weather event in February 2020.

Please be advised that we are currently reviewing and assessing all cases to determine any incidents where a building defect is at fault as opposed to storm damage. If you believe your home may have incurred damage as a result of the storm, we advise you to contact your Insurer as soon as possible for their assessment and to process a claim.

Where it is apparent that a building defect is at fault, a Wisdom representative will be in contact with you as soon as possible to schedule an inspection.

Thank you for your patience.



We are getting increasingly frustrated with Wisdom Homes.
If you call head office they will not put you through to maintenance only take a message but no one ever calls you back.
We email at least twice a week with no response.

alce4463 FYI Below is the advice that the Housing Industry Association (HIA) has provided to its members about water leaks and damage. The HIA is a peak body that represents very well the financial interests of its volume builder members such as Wisdom Homes. It is not a government organisation or regulatory authority.

Based on your post 12/3/2020, there is a very high possibility that the cause of your leak under the carpet in the downstairs office may be a structural defect. Not the one-off event the result of very heavy or wind driven rain on the roof or windows etc. Given these indications, in your particular circumstance, its not appropriate that Wisdom Homes seeks to avoid their warranty responsibility and just fob you off to insurance to waste both yours and the insurance company's time and money. I wonder what the insurance industry makes of this tactic? Wisdom needs to come and inspect ASAP. Insurance companies will not pay out claims for defective workmanship. Its notable that Wisdom will not even investigate or even speak with you, or it seems based on their standard written response, to any other customers with leaks and water damage.

(HIA advice to members) “Water Ingress from Extreme Weather:
In the past few weeks Australia has experienced some severe weather conditions including high winds and heavy rainfall. HIA has received numerous enquiries seeking assistance on water ingress to buildings. These weather events and other similar events that have occurred in recent years, can at times be so severe that they exceed the Building Code of Australia (BCA) design benchmarks for homes constructed within Australia.
In such extreme weather conditions rain water can be forced through closed windows and sprayed up rooves in a manner which homes aren't designed for and therefore it's not surprising that water entered some homes.
The resulting water ingress may have caused damage to the dwelling, often this damage may only be of a minor nature, but can still cause considerable stress to the home owners.
When these severe weather events happen most owners contact the builder of the home to request an inspection or even rectification to the damaged parts. As a result HIA receives countless calls from members wanting to clarify their statutory warranty obligations on homes they've only recently built.
The advice to members, generally as follows:
• Each case should be judged on its individual merits but in the majority of cases where the weather event has been so severe that it exceeds the BCA design benchmarks i.e. water ingress through closed windows and sprayed up rooves the home owner should be advised that they will need to contact their insurer and lodge a claim for the water damage on their home insurance.
• If the insurer inspects the building and reports that the water penetration into the home is a result of defective building work, then the builder should immediately organise an inspection of the home to verify this claim.
• On inspection if the builder believes the water penetration into the home is a result of defective work, then they will need to attend to the issue.
• On inspection, if the builder doesn't believe the water penetration into the home is a result of defective work, the builder should state in writing that there is no defective work and suggest what they believe caused the problem, i.e. weather event beyond the minimum BCA design benchmark, debris blocking drainage or lack of maintenance including a build-up of leaves in gutters.
However, if a home under warranty has water ingress problems every time there is rain, the builder will need to be more proactive in ensuring the problem is not a workmanship issue in which the builder would be considered responsible.
The other problem many builders are facing is attending to house inspections after the weather events and consequential workplace health and safety concerns for workers accessing wet rooves for example.”

alce4463 In addition to your emails and calls you may try sending a polite request to WisdomHomes Give them another opportunity to appropriately address your concerns.

Quick advise needed in terms of the current COVID 19 atmosphere:

Our house build is meant to complete in May/June and we were looking at ordering plantation shutters and blinds for the house.

I have got the quotes but the supplier is asking me to pay approx. $7000 as a 50% deposit as the shutters come from China. In terms of a risk factor not sure if I should pay the deposit with uncertainty as to when the materials will be delivered. Or even on a worse consideration that due to job cuts etc. the supplier may shut down or go bankrupt???