Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Sep 16, 2009 7:41 pm Sure, it's only a minor thing, relatively speaking, but it's not the point. I requested, and had in the contract, the laying of a conduit (90mm PVC pipe) under the driveway, near the top. I wanted to run irrigation pipe and electricals for garden lights through it. The tap is on the off side of the house, so anything I want to water on the other side of the house has to be run over the driveway. On Friday, they had dug out the driveway, so I should have known they were going to be doing the driveway soon. I saw it was boxed up on Monday and no conduit, so rang the builder and told him it needed to be remedied before the concrete was poured, he said "yup" and that was it. I even emailed him to remind him of what we had spoken of and to ensure there was a paper trail (and I got the read receipt confirming it being read). I went out today to see the tiler and the driveway is down and oh ho, no conduit. For the sake of a $15 piece of conduit, which I was charged $90 for, and even after being reminded to do, he still hasn't done it. Somehow, I don't think I'm going to win this argument either. I'm really kinda PO'd about this too. I'll be definitely be asking for a refund on the amount paid for the work that wasn't done. Re: Builders forgetting items 2Sep 16, 2009 7:46 pm Yes, well I can imagine that you would be annoyed and I would be too. I am sure this happens all the time. I have found that SOMETIMES as customers we mention these things in good faith, not to be annoying or pests, but to ensure that what we are paying for (our house) is built the way we expect it will be. The response is sometimes not what we would expect. Seems to be happening way too often, in my opinion. Makes you wonder if they really had the intention to do it in the first place? www.themaxbuild.blogspot.com forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=20717&start=300 www.leahspaperpassion.blogspot.com Re: Builders forgetting items 3Sep 16, 2009 8:18 pm I went in to the builder and requested something similar, that they run all the cables and pipework close to the house so that we can put in retaining walls afterwards. He drew the change on the plan and had me sign it.! So if they don't do it I will be very upset! Re: Builders forgetting items 4Sep 16, 2009 10:50 pm That is such a shame that is happened to you and I fully understand your frustration. If it was me, and you had it all in writing, i would push the issue, I don't think the $90 refund is worthy compensation. Or is there perhaps a mutual arrangement that both parties can work around the issue ie can they dig under the driveway and put a pipe in? I wish you the best of luck. Re: Builders forgetting items 5Sep 16, 2009 11:31 pm Getting your $90 back is not the way to go. Either the conduit is put in (drill under the driveway) or $900 compensation. If a builder forgets to do something and that happens is the cost is returned, what's the use of that. Imagine if they forgot wall insulation or sarking; getting the price back is irrelevant. Demolition August 2009, Construction Started September 2009, Completed December 2010 Re: Builders forgetting items 6Sep 22, 2009 9:16 pm I was out visiting the house today and noticed that the vanities and other sinks have been delivered. We knew our kitchen bench was going to be short on space so we replaced the double bowl sink with a single. The sink that is currently at the house is a double. By the time I got home, it was after 5 and the tiler said the carpenter will be starting in the morning. Good-o. I'll have to call the office in the morning and tell them to pull their thumb out and get the sink and the driveway fixed up. Re: Builders forgetting items 7Sep 22, 2009 11:21 pm OMG. I really wonder whether they read the contract specifications properly. Why should you have to double check everything? The more I read on this forum the more it amazes me as to how much re-work there is in the industry. People - just do it right the first time and it saves time/money & homeowner stress. Have a bit more care/attention and integrity in your work.......Best of luck with the phone call to SS tomorrow. Re: Builders forgetting items 8Sep 23, 2009 3:10 pm I spoke with the chickie in the office who is looking after the ordering etc and she said they know the sink is the wrong one and that we have a single bowl sink ordered for us. Sounds like some CYA going on there. If they had ordered a single, why was there a double in the house? Oh and lucky me. I'm going to get a call from the builder about the driveway! I think I may be waiting a while for that one. Re: Builders forgetting items 10Sep 25, 2009 3:49 pm The kitchen is mostly in and there is a single bowl sink sitting there, so that is a relief. But now they've bollocksed up the cavity sliding doors to the studio. They've put on Corinthian MIL104 instead of MIL04. They've also put in the wrong laundry tub too, the plastic one instead of the stainless steel one we paid for. The carpenter is there today, but he wasn't a chatty fellow, so I left him to his work and got on with taking pics. See Our Little Corner for lots of pics if you're interested. Re: Builders forgetting items 11Sep 29, 2009 12:26 am Makes us all wonder what a SS does? We all do their work for them. Re: Builders forgetting items 12Oct 04, 2009 1:11 pm I spoke with the builder on Friday and the tub is being fixed, the doors are on order and will be fixed, the kitchen sink is as requested (although, not as far along the bench as we asked, but what's 100mm between client and contractor?) but the driveway! Grrrr. He told me that by the time he had notified the people on site about the pipe, they had already started to pour. So he said he'll offer us some money back for that. I don't want money back, I want the job done! And to top it off, he is telling us, months after contracts and building, that the painter wants more money because we picked extra colours. According to the builder, the painters allow one colour for walls and doors, another colour for skirtings and frames and flat white for the ceiling. We've got one colour (Dulux Sarah's Place Low Sheen) for the walls, One colour for the doors (Dulux Sarah's Place Gloss), and one colour for the door frames and skirtings (Dulux Curd Quarter Gloss). I don't see what his problem is. It's not like this is an undiscovered cost here, like when digging up the block and finding rock. They had our selections at contract signing time so I'm of the opinion here they can go and suck on it. I'm not paying for extra paint colours, especially as at the time we handed over our selections to the sales people, they said it wasn't an issue. We had originally enquired about different colours and feature walls and were told that would incur extra, but our standard selections that we ended up with was fine. Although, I have a cunning plan m'lord. We'll see how much extra they painters want. And we'll see how much it will be to get the driveway fixed. Perhaps I'll tell them to call it even if the builder won't let it go. Re: Builders forgetting items 13Oct 04, 2009 3:28 pm Quote: Although, I have a cunning plan m'lord. We'll see how much extra they painters want. And we'll see how much it will be to get the driveway fixed. Perhaps I'll tell them to call it even if the builder won't let it go. Don't even think about calling it even. If the painter wants to charge more, they charge your builder not you. You have a signed contract, they can't increase the price now. Your builder will have to loose some of their profit margain. Get them to fix the driveway, even if that means ripping up the driveway and doing it again, legally this is what they have to do. Re: Builders forgetting items 14Oct 04, 2009 4:52 pm Hi, I have been following your thread with great interest...we are using the same builder! Stick to your guns with the driveway and the painting I say - that what he agreed to and thats what he should supply you with. The best advice is for you to get a competent building consultant to guide you through your build 7 4671 The significant date is when receive final payment invoice Check that section of contract Bit of fluff by builders prior to that 1 15914 Look at your bill from the electricity company. It should detail the charges. You will need to do some estimating and some calculations. Then charge the… 8 4194 |