Building Contract and Upgrades

Hi all,

Does anybody have experience with when upgrades are priced in terms of a building contract?

We have done a preliminary agreement with the builder and the drafting has all been done and submitted to council (which is going to take bloody months).

We want quite a few upgrades done during the build and tried to get as much of it as we could priced up in the PCQ, but after we had the interior design consultation we have decided on a few more things we would really like to have. However, the builder has basically said that they won't price anything up until after the contract is signed and we're at pre-start.

I am struggling to understand how it is normal (or even legal) to essentially have clients go shopping for fixtures for their home without being told the prices. The second we sign the contract, we are committed to the deposit (which is quite a lot of money at 6.5% of a roughly $400k build) and doesn't this basically give the builder license to charge whatever they like for the upgrades since we are locked in at that point?

I am worried that if I sign up on their terms I will be left with a choice between paying significantly more than I should be for a handful of upgrades, or sacrificing the quality of some items in the home which I really want to have.

Should I insist that they price up everything and threaten to walk away if they refuse or do I have to just suck it up?

Thanks for advice!

That's not how we did it with Metricon. We have almost finished our colour and electrical selections, after they are signed off, then that get added to the preliminary contract, where we can do a final check before we sign the final contract next month. Once you sign a final contract, any changes will incur a variation fee!

We will be given a "draft contract" on July 27th, and if there is something that needs changing, then we can do it then (assuming a cost involved?). Still triple checking what we already selected to make sure we didn't miss anything! By the time we get to contract I will know these plans inside out! lol

Can I upgrade a solar system from 3.5 kw to 6.5 kw after I have signed a contract

Legally No, you have a Contract. Your Contract may have exit clauses. have a look.

However, Your solar installer will likely want to upgrade you, because they will make more money.

Speak to them about what you want and they will price the upgrade for you. 3.5kw seems like a really small system in this day and age, so there may be limitations to your roof or something.