Risk of signing contract before soil test

Bk3064 · May 18, 2024 10:40 pm

Hello Everyone

we are planning to do a knockdown rebuild in Brisbane city council area and finalized a builder and paid prelim deposit for plans and finalized them with builder before demolition of existing house

Bank requires finalized plans and contract for valuation to approve for demolition

is there any risk of signing contract without soil test , we did a contour survey with house in place and builder has done plans according to that , builder has included H1 slab and 15k of piering allowance . do you think its a good idea or demolish the house and complete soil test and sign contract?

Also builder want us to sign contract before selections is that normal process ? they included allowances for electrical and plumbing upgrades . They are smallish builders who have almost everything we want as part of standard inclusions

can you please guide me here

Thanks

Bimbob · May 20, 2024 8:59 am

Ive been out of the contracts part for a while but his is how I remember it to work. People, please correct me if I am incorrect.

Selections are part of the contract which should be selected prior to the contract so that they are captured with in it.

Allowances are separate to selections. If they are Provisional Sums the amount can be spent anywhere within the build, if they are Prome sums thay must be spent on what they are for, i.e, plumbing, electrical.

Most building contracts have clauses for site works incase of overspends. If your contract states this you can then expect variations to the siteworks costs should the costs exceed the contract value regardless of when you sign the contract.

BuildingandLegal · May 20, 2024 11:53 pm

The QBCC Act states if the builder elects to go to contract prior to undertaking site investigations, then they do so at their own risk. They are unable to rely upon Provisional Allowances or Sums. The site works must be fixed-price! They can not come back to you with extras for unforeseeable eg Rock, underground springs, fill/uncontrolled fill, piering etc etc. Essentially if they take the risk of entering into a contract without investigating the site it's on them!

Bimbob · May 21, 2024 6:02 am

BuildingandLegal

The QBCC Act states if the builder elects to go to contract prior to undertaking site investigations, then they do so at their own risk. They are unable to rely upon Provisional Allowances or Sums. The site works must be fixed-price! They can not come back to you with extras for unforeseeable eg Rock, underground springs, fill/uncontrolled fill, piering etc etc. Essentially if they take the risk of entering into a contract without investigating the site it's on them!

thank you

building-expert · May 25, 2024 10:05 am

Bk3064

Hello Everyone

we are planning to do a knockdown rebuild in Brisbane city council area and finalized a builder and paid prelim deposit for plans and finalized them with builder before demolition of existing house

Bank requires finalized plans and contract for valuation to approve for demolition

is there any risk of signing contract without soil test , we did a contour survey with house in place and builder has done plans according to that , builder has included H1 slab and 15k of piering allowance . do you think its a good idea or demolish the house and complete soil test and sign contract?

Also builder want us to sign contract before selections is that normal process ? they included allowances for electrical and plumbing upgrades . They are smallish builders who have almost everything we want as part of standard inclusions

can you please guide me here

Thanks

Its never a good idea to sign a building contract without making sure everything is selected, soil test is done Is are dotted and Ts are crossed and without independent pre contract review.

CallyNoon · Jun 08, 2024 5:06 pm

Whats the hurry? I just had soil tests done, along with surveyor and I can't remember off the top of my head what else, it was done in no time. I think the whole lot was done in a couple of weeks.
Seems like a bit of a red flag that they aren't proactive about this.

Bk3064 · Jun 09, 2024 10:17 am

CallyNoon

Whats the hurry? I just had soil tests done, along with surveyor and I can't remember off the top of my head what else, it was done in no time. I think the whole lot was done in a couple of weeks.
Seems like a bit of a red flag that they aren't proactive about this.

No builder is not pushing , but for bank to approve demolition they want contract, anyway I finally managed to convince the builder to give me draft contract with allowance for slab and piering so bank can approve demolition. So currently house is demolished and builder is doing final soil test to lick those final numbers in

CallyNoon · Jun 09, 2024 4:34 pm

Bk3064

CallyNoon

Whats the hurry? I just had soil tests done, along with surveyor and I can't remember off the top of my head what else, it was done in no time. I think the whole lot was done in a couple of weeks.
Seems like a bit of a red flag that they aren't proactive about this.

No builder is not pushing , but for bank to approve demolition they want contract, anyway I finally managed to convince the builder to give me draft contract with allowance for slab and piering so bank can approve demolition. So currently house is demolished and builder is doing final soil test to lick those final numbers in

Oh ok, we had soil test done before demolition.

Bk3064 · Jun 21, 2024 10:51 am

CallyNoon

Bk3064

CallyNoon

Whats the hurry? I just had soil tests done, along with surveyor and I can't remember off the top of my head what else, it was done in no time. I think the whole lot was done in a couple of weeks.
Seems like a bit of a red flag that they aren't proactive about this.

No builder is not pushing , but for bank to approve demolition they want contract, anyway I finally managed to convince the builder to give me draft contract with allowance for slab and piering so bank can approve demolition. So currently house is demolished and builder is doing final soil test to lick those final numbers in

Oh ok, we had soil test done before demolition.

did your builder accepted that for final design ? our builder want to do final soil test after demolition as soil gets disturbed , pre demolition we got P with H1 but post demolition its P with H2 as some roots got pulled out and soil was disturbed