SejaeD,when and if you have a minute,it would he very helpful to Many if you show if any the difference between how your first builder was selected and your second builder as you now seem to have a good builder,plenty have gone through similar and selected much better with their second builder,hoping it helps poor quality builders not get work.
Thanks for your message.
Below is my list of items I would check or do when selecting a builder in future, including mistakes that I personally made:
1.
Only choose a builder who has clean job sites. I really believe that builders who are well organised and clean demonstrate that they; care about presentation, are supervising your job properly and are using subcontractors who also have pride in their work
2.
Google research reviews, and dont dismiss negative feedback you find online by thinking "this will never happen to me as I will manage them better" in hindsight I had come across a lot of warning signs that I chose to ignore because i was in attached to the builder's design
3.
Do not pick a builder based on their design. Often we walk into a display village and fall in love with a design and then choose that builder. Pick a builder based on their quality and reputation and then get them to modify a design for you.
4.
Pay close attention to the quality of the finishes in the display homes, especially how they finish flooring around the kitchen benches ( ie how neat the tile cuts are) and other joins in architraves etc, have a look at how neat the skirtings finish on the floor and look closely for painting and timber defects. If they cant do a good job on their display home why would they bother on your house? in my case the first builder had terrible quality, but assured me that they would use different trades. I fell for this lie and ended up with the same terrible trades ( I actually have this in writing)
5.
In NSW you can check their license history and see if there has been any claims against them. So check how often they change their nominated supervisors ( you need one nominated supervisor to hold a building license and you can check this on the NSW fair trading website)
6.
Ask who your supervisor is and what qualifications they hold, ie are they a chippy, bricklayer or as in some cases have no qualifications whatsoever. The problem is that a building company doing 100 or even 500 homes a year only needs one qualified builder on staff and often your house is being supervised by someone who is totally unqualified ( this happened to me, my supervisor was a joiner by trade who had made his living doing office fit outs not building houses). On this point, if you get the name of your supervisor you can look them up on NSW Fair trading website under "licence check"
7.
Get a copy of their construction contract and if they use the HIA contract run for the hills ( my understanding which could be wrong is that this has been prepared by the association which represents builders). Only use the NSW fair trading contract which is fair on both parties and not heavily in favour of the builder.
I hope this list helps a few people. I could add more but then it would be too long.
If anyone ever needs advice PM me, happy to answer any questions