Contract vs Actual Completion Dates

Just wondering how genuine the date of completion based on the contract is. The builder stipulates 240 days from the official start date, which would place it at the end of November for me (we started on the 30th March). However, I have read threads in here where people's homes have completed in 3-4 months. Is it fairly common? I mean should I anticipate and plan for a completion ahead of the contract date?

Sorry for the newbie questions.

Houses certainly can be built in 3-4 months and are probably been built quicker now than a couple of years ago in Victoria. Because the amount of new house starts has dropped there is less waiting for tradies than in previous years.

One way to get an idea is look at the liquidated damages section of the contract. If the amount is low say $10 a week ther eis not a lot of pressure on the builder. If its $250 then there is more pressure to finish early so the damages will not need to be paid

Usually the "days to complete construction" is in working days, so if your builder is running with that usual format you will actually find it is closer to a year that they are allowing if they have stipulated 240 days.

It would be really unusual for construction go anywhere near the date, because obviously builders do need to pay penalties if they go over this date so they aren't going to choose a number of days that would see them paying out to most clients. They generally pick a number of working days that allows for unusual circumstances coming up, ie. if there are unforeseen issues on site that will mean construction takes longer than usual.

The construction time would also depend on what state in Aus you are in - from a quick ask around my industry buddies in WA, the general consensus for a standard 4x2 with a project builder is between 6 - 8 months for construction.

Thanks for the replies!

Agreed damages are $250 pw. The 240 days includes 76 non-working days (weekends, holidays) and 21 days "That are reasonable having regard for the work" as well as 8 days for weather. It can, of course, be extended by unforseen events (such as industrial action.. I'm looking at you Baillieu).

However, I am really just trying to get an idea of whether it is common for house construction to run all the way to the contract date or if they commonly complete much earlier if things go smoothly. Wondering if anyone has an idea of the difference between the average build time and the build time stipulated in the contract.

We're in Victoria. Builder is Bentley.

We're looking at 3 or 4 of those little beauties

Our contract is 210 days and we are around 3 & 1/2 weeks over that with handover imminent.

Yeah, my contract ended last Thursday and I'm getting handover sometime next week, so I should get about $500 back Wee

My house is coming in about 2 months early. Woo! Just luck with tradies being available etc.



Hope that it is, but whatever you do don't lock anything down until you have the keys. I was talking to my builder about this, asking if I was right to give notice on my rental property etc. He warned me not too. Even though everything was looking good, and we only had a few weeks left, it only takes a 1 trade to be booked out / sick / injured / on holidays, and your left treading water. He also told me about one horror story where a family was booked in to settle their house the next week, so they gave their landlord notice etc. the night before settlement, some wankers broke into the new house and trashed it. Smashed up the walls, broke tiles, urinated in the carpet etc. It took the builder 3 months to get the tradies back in to fix it up. In the mean time the family had no where to live, as the landlord had already signed a new lease with someone else. Its probably not a true story, but it could happen.

Milesy

Our contract was 270 days, we had handover 2 weeks short of that. So basically 8 1/2 month build.

Ours is 220 and we are looking at just that, we are painting/rendering/main floor tiles after handover and they are letting them fit into their build schedule which has delayed their guys a little bit so even if they go over I can't complain it was my fault!

Dr Matt, ours was built 5 months way before our contract days. See if you can find other Bentley clients on here and ask how long they take to build, it really does seem to depend on the builder and then down to particular supervisors that run the jobs in particular areas. I'm pretty sure I have seen other ppl building with Bentley on here.

Holy cow!



I have done a little digging. The consensus seems to be 5 - 7 months when nothing goes wrong.



The reason for my interest is that the 240 day contract date lands 6 days before my current rental lease ends. It might be very tight. I'm hoping that we're finished in the 5-7 month period so I won't be faced with that situation

Talk to the agent and ask if you do go over if the owner is happy for you to go periodical

I think I'll have that conversation in about 5 - 7 months time

Dr Matt, look at Poochey's thread, she also build with Bentley and Lostris, their homes were built very quickly and the way ours is going I don't think it will be anywhere near the contracts end dates, much quicker. I can't imagine them getting to lock up in six weeks on ours and then taking another 6 months or more to fit it out. Honestly they are flying, my Sister's friends was also built in around four months.

Our contract states 260 days which puts us at the end of October, however we are already at lockup (started 2 months ago) and the painters are on-site at the moment. Don't know what that means in terms of how long on average we have to go, but we're looking at earlier than Oct.

Our admin has actually confirmed it will be finished prior to October - she's said in a couple of weeks the SS will be able to give her a date and she'll let us know. We are optimistically hoping that they want it done prior to end of financial year but I think realistically we are looking July/August. Fingers crossed, though

Contract was 206 days for us (included 28 days for christmas) - took 252 days

Alex, your house is flying along to, you must be happy with that. The rain is heading this way for a couple of weeks, at least most of the work now is inside. Good luck with your build.

My slab is due to be poured on Tuesday. That's looking decidedly unlikely now.

We need a drumming fingers smilie.

Dr Matt, hopefully the rain holds off. You wouldn't believe that it is going to be so wet, after a day like today.