First Payment - HELP

i need some help again. i received my first invoice which is for slab down. so i got all excited thinking concrete was on and i can get some photos, took my drawings to check and so on. when i went there all it was just sand and nothing else. so you all can guess how i must have felt . what i want to know is, when they say slab down does it mean actual concrete poured or just scrap the land. these are the same guys who delayed the construction by about 6 weeks for no reason.

Slab down should mean that the slab has been poured. You shouldn't be getting an invoice if you don't have a slab.

^+1

Make sure you respond IN WRITING saying "The Invoice isn't due until the slab is completed"

slab down is exactly that. contact the builder and let them know that there is no slab ,
and payment will come when there is

thanks all. yes, i did e-mail them saying the invoice is invalid as there is no slab.

The insurance policy taken out by our builder with Building Ethics Australia which we are given a copy of clearly states

"Your builder will call inspections at the appropriate stages of the projet and prior to each progress payment. Each stage will be quality assessed by an independent Inspector appointed by BEA to make sure it has been performed to industry standards. When each stage has been approved, an Authority to Pay Certificate will be issued to you, informing you that the progresss payment can now be forwarded to your builder"

It then goes on to explain our builder has agreed NOT to recieve any payments without the BEA certifying the work is done and giving us this certificate.

I'd check your contract and see what you have signed up for but certainly don't pay for anything until at least you are happy it has been completed (not just started, but actually completed with nothing else to do).

If you are in Vic it is an offence and infringement of DBCA 1995 to claim payment for stage of work when incomplete. The definition is in your contract.
Contact Consumer Affairs

I'd like to think this is just an honest mistake by the builder :/ especially as they're the same as mine.
Although I think I may be quite hopeful.
Interested to hear their response.

yes even i hope it is an honest mistake. i just had enough of these guys, every time i needed something from them i had to send series of e-mails for them to respond but they send me an invoice without doing anything. it is another week of delay, land was in same state as it was last week.
my builder is just late late late....and i'm frustrated frustrated frustrated....hopefully this will end soon, had enough of building.

What was the result arayasam?

Yeah, have you got any response, arayasam?

sorry for late reply, i was away for a week.
Well its bit of a story...
I sent email on Saturday 6th that there was no slab
Monday 8th April i get a phone call from scheduler that there had been an issue with few of their jobs and so the delay and told me that Slab work will start immediately without any delay. then i spoke to my client liaison officer and she assured that slab will be poured either Monday or Tuesday.
Tuesday 9th i went to see if anything was done and guess what, NOTHING
So i decided to go and see the liaison officer and try and speak to them why the delay. Then liaison officer told me that the slab will be done this week and she will make sure everything goes fine.
On Saturday 13th i visit and the slab was poured. So i was expecting to receive an updated invoice with new due date. Nothing happens for a week and on Friday 19th i receive an email from accounts receivable officer responding to my email sent on 6th that i will be given a week for payment and the due date will be 26th.
Now, i sent another email that i was expecting 15 days for processing payment, so have to wait and see what the response will be.
Frustrating.....

now i found another issue. On my drawings it says that " Conduit to be placed in the footing under meter-box to center line of cavity" but where the conduit is placed in the footing is not where the meter box will be and not even close. i will have to speak with builder again and don't know what the solution will be.