Found out raised bathroom at completion stage.

I’m so angry to find out that all 3 bathrooms of my new built has a step to them. No one explained to me it will be raised because when I see the display home there were no steps. So I think it is a standard. Then the supervisor told me when they tiling that it is a must to avoid water coming out. But until I saw a thread in this forum and said it should be prepare at the slab stage and doable. I am so angry and frustrated. What can I do at this stage now? I want them to be fixed. Or I get a compensation.

What do the plans say? Any notes?

Builder ?

Plans? Difficult to confirm without knowing these details.

Hobbless bathrooms are not standard inclusions anyways

Majority of Builders Do Not recess their slabs to accommodate a flush finish to wet areas unless the customer upgrades for this. A small step up is a standard feature on most builders houses.

Display homes are always fitted out with extras & upgrades and nothing should be assumed to be included. The contract and plans are what you are buying not the Display home unless your contract states as per display. Contracts of all nature should be read and understood to avoid issues like this.

To try and rectify this would be a complete strip out cut down the slab and more than likely you will hit metal mesh which will than need to get fixed and reengineered.

If the Builder has said or promised it anywhere you will need to provide proof so check all emails, texts and paperwork to see if they have put it in writing as this will go a way to help you resolve this, Good luck

Anywhere else, this would be misleading advertising. The display should be what they are selling. They should have to put red stickers throughout display homes to show what is not standard and won't be included in the base model. Gees even on a packet of cornflakes it has in red "serving suggestion" and that's for a $5 box of cereal not a $500k house. You are buying because of what is advertised in the display, and the builders should be the ones advising consumers as they are the "experts".

It was Gj Gardner at the start then they quit the franchise and become a private builder (LTK HOME). GJ Gardner do not have many display homes and they don’t have the floor plan that we build at the moment. So we just went to the closest one. And they divide them in different region. So my builder is looking after south Sydney region, and we needed to go to see the other display home out of the area. The reason we chose it because they have good reviews.

I search through our contract and did not have a word mentioning about the bathroom would have a step or recessed.

And when we have the meeting to go through the floor plan, the staff did not mention anything about that at all. And later we find out she is not a builder or an architect. She is just an administrator and she is a one man show. I just feel that these things need to be raised to the customer because I am not a builder. I don’t know what is standard and what’s not.

Yea and the problem is we don’t have a full upgraded list that we can choose from. I am not sure with a bigger project home, if this thing will be provide at the beginning. I did not choose any kitchen, bathroom or other upgrades after I put the floor plan through council.

Later I find out I did not receive any window schedule plan when we deciding on the floor plan. I found out because my friend is building with other builder. And no wonder my windows height are all wrong.

As a consumer and not a builder I just feel the stand of the build has not been explained to me properly. I don’t know if this will ground the rectifying. And I wonder how much would it cost and how long it takes? I did think about sharing half the cost with the builder.

I find that all Franchise Style Building companies like GJ Gardner, Hotondo etc always have good and many reviews on all these sites compared to any other stand alone Builders as they are just Marketing Companies at the end of the day, thats just my personal opinion.

😩 so you know if there’s stand of the height of the step? I realised the laundry floor step and the bathroom step, their heights are so different. One is around 1cm only. So Inconsistent. But same style of tiles in both rooms.

Also if I want it fixed. How much do you think it’s going to cost?

A cheaper option to fix the steps into the wet areas is to ramp up the floors leading into them gradually if practical.

The reason for the different heights is probably the room design and the gradient of falls, but most would use the same height angle as doorways regardless of design.

Cost to fix the issue in the wet areas would be massive as you would need to redo the whole process of wet areas along with removal of existing and the modifications and inspections required to resolve the issue.

To make all floor areas to be level throughout the house takes a lot of planning and needs to be done from the initial stages. Material choices need to be finalised prior to the final drafting plans for the build.

I wish I knew that before the build. They did not let us choose the materials before the DA approval. They initiated all the flooring plan before internal designing choices. We are thinking to raise the whole floor up and change the doors, may be a cheaper method.

If your window head heights don't match from room to room, or on one side of the house, then there is an error. They can't say that a bathroom has a raised floor and not adjust the window height to suit. So one of the other should be fixed.

Agree with you completely Splashers. Add Smith & Sons Extensions and Renovations to the list. It is no unheard of for franchisees to give 5 star reviews of other franchisees without explaining any commercial or business relationship that may represent a conflict of interest.
There has also been a very high turnover of franchisees of Smith and Sons in the melbourne metropolitan area in recent years. Many of those departures who were registered builders during their time as a Smith and Sons franchisee, are no longer registered. There were also franchisee owners who were never registered builders (as per VBA) to begin with.

Many companies including builders pay online freelancers and template based review writing services for 'packages' of 5 star reviews. These are usually pretty easy to identify. 'Verified customer' assurance is misleading. Aggregate '4.8' scores are therefore irrelevant. The 1 and 2 star reviews are more likely to be genuine (though not always) because no one is paying for them!

Yes this is a big and organised industry these days which means that we can't trust most on line reviews. Might be worthy of a brand new thread.

i always look at reviews
most people will post if unhappy, some will post if happy
if too many positive i assume they are false and wont deal with that company especially every review 4 star or higher, i dont believe that
i have tried to leave negative reviews and many sites wont accept them

doro, what do your plans and elevations say about FFL - Finished Floor Level? If only one level is notated on the plans then that should be the finished level for ALL rooms whether it is carpet, tile or timber.
Any variation in the final floor heights, then that should have been on the original drawings. If not, then they haven't built it to the plans.

Stewie

Stewie. FFL denotes top of concrete any carpet, tiles or flooring is in top of the FFL.
What you want to see is a note on the plan specifying a recessed slab in the wet areas with a detail in the plans.

Must be my Kiwi heritage!
FFL was always finished floor level that you walk on, not what is under it.
I've specified the FFL of our lounge at RL 53830 which is top of the 19mm timber floorboards , which are on 50mm hardwood battens. That's close to 70mm difference. The FFFL of the tiled bathroom and laundry, plus bedroom downstairs are also at RL 53830. A seamless transition from timber floorboards to tiles to carpet - all at the same finished level. Underneath that though the concrete slab is three different heights for those given floor finishes.

Stewie