Site Works

Hi Everyone, My partner and I just bought a block of land in the hills just outside Perth,After 6 monyhs of looking at display houses,we found a farm house design we both liked,then doing some changes to the plan, so all the living areas facing north,and bedrooms on the south and very little change to the price of the house.
Then they gave me a quote for site works,I had a pretty good idea how much the site works was going to cost,so $40,000 was set aside to cover this,and they quoted an estimate of $65,000. When questioned them about the price they said that was what other people in that area paid for there site works,unfortunately I had already signed preperation of plans agreement,thinking that i could do my own site works through a contractor,
Had a quote done from the contractor that work in the area,nearly had a heart attack in what the contractor quoted in the site works,and the extra`s the builder quoted,I showed the builder why do i have to pay for all these as an extra when it was already in the quote,Asked him to redo your quote or i will go ahead and do my own site works,that`s when they said you can not do your own site works as we will not build on it.That was about 2 weeks ago every time i ask them if they done a new price and sit down and talk buisness they seem to be stalling and up to something.
So yesterday went up the block happen to see a mob on the block doing a quote up for the builder,but these guys don`t usally do any work up that area,so I can not do any site works with some one who specialized in the area,and they can get any joe blow off the streets and do it.
My worry is that preperation of plans agreement I signed that the monies already paid will not be refunded which is ok only put a deposit of $500.00,it is the additional sum that may come up with if the agreemeent does not proceed,the way I see it, it is not me that does not want to continue,but they are the ones that don`t want to build if i do my own site works and that i should not own them any more money.
Any advice or information will be greatly appreciated

Thanks
Rac[/b]

Why does this agreement oblige you to build? To actually build then you need to sign a building contract.

Be careful here as they may have you over a barrel once they start. You may need to get legal advice if they are building on your land without your consent!!

Am I reading this correctly?

Hey there

I can't offer you any sound advice, only tell you about my situation

We have an acre of land just out of Melbourne on a 1:6 fall (1 metre fall for every 6 metres) so were looking at around 3m fall overall

We had intended on doing a cut and fill as we wanted the house to stay level with the land, turns out the costs involved varied from builder to builder, at first we only went with volume builders and they all basically asked us to sign up and pay a deposit first, before commiting on the price.

Anyway the only decent builder who'd tell us what the price was before us committing money was AVJennings (can't recommend them enough), in the end they couldn't build for us due to the house not being right for the land but quoted around 25k for a cut and fill of a house that's say 300m2. In fact Jennings had originally suggested we build on stumps but we had asked for cut/fill quote, it turns out now that we will probably be building on stumps after all as this is a more cost effective idea.

Generally to warranty the building the builder will need to do the cut and fill themselves (as I understand it)

Don't worry too much about the 500 bucks, it's better to lose that now than to pay the full price of the cut and fill they are suggesting to you.

If I can make a suggestion, we have been through the BS of the builders no wanting to commit to prices until we paid around 4k (2k for site survey and then 2k for a contract/price),which of course we haven't paid as we just can't afford it, I think you are getting out of it lightly.

You aren't actually obligated to a 'pre-contract' (i.e. initial quote etc) only to a contract (before build), so you can walk away at any time. You should also demand your money back as they mis-represented themselves to you by not giving you an indication of site costs.

I would defiantly threaten legal action with these guys!

Even if you don’t go ahead it…it will tell them you mean business.
Look into the company see what you can find out about them and arm yourself with info about them.
In NSW and in my line of work we have a nick name for people like this “Cow Boys”
They rely on the “so called knowledge” that their clients know nothing and they have you all over a barrel.

Good luck, stand firm on what you want.