Bloody Builder

Allyissia · Feb 11, 2008 11:24 am

Gah! The other day i was in our house doing some cleaning getting ready for us to move in and whilst rinsing out my dusty sponge in the ensuite basin noticed some marks in it.

After giving the basin a wash with the sponge i soon realized it was cracked. Now bear in mind we have only had two of our own contracters in since the handover... the sparky and the flooring installer. The flooring went in before i noticed the crack but they weren't laying anything anywhere near the ensuite (only in the family/living areas) and we noticed the crack before the sparky did any work in there. Everything else is exactly as the builder left it (including the spare door and the extra tiles etc)

So DH contacted our supervisor and told him and he flat out refused to replace the bowl. However, after some yelling the supervisor said he was going to see how much profit they made on the house to 'see' if they will consider replacing it.

I'm just shocked... we haven't been able to move in since the hand over because we were waiting for the builder to finish off things (phone lines, cupboard doors etc) so i'm really surprised at his response. Also i'm not sure where we stand on the subject... we did not notice the cracks when we did the hand over... but i'm concerned this may have happened when the builders contractors came in to fix up the things we discussed at handover (like the cupboard doors). I know we certainly didn't do it and neither did our two contractors...

Would anyone know if the builder is obliged to replace to bowl or where we would stand on the issue? I can't believe we would have to fork out more $$ for a basin we have never used!

bec · Feb 11, 2008 11:30 am

Quote:

So DH contacted our supervisor and told him and he flat out refused to replace the bowl. However, after some yelling the supervisor said he was going to see how much profit they made on the house to 'see' if they will consider replacing it

what a stupid comment
one would hope if they are decent builders they would have made more profit than that lol!

its possible to get cracks/chips repaired insitu if whole basin doesnt get replaced if its not porcelain (which it prob is

)

Michelle · Feb 11, 2008 12:11 pm

So if you have “Handover”…..where’s the house???? :shock:

I would imagine “Handover” means “Handover”!!!

So basically THEY still have the house :evil:

……their sink problem IMO!!
:evil:

Allyissia · Feb 11, 2008 12:25 pm

Michelle

So if you have “Handover”…..where’s the house???? :shock:

I would imagine “Handover” means “Handover”!!!

So basically THEY still have the house :evil:

……their sink problem IMO!!
:evil:

Well we were given the keys. Technically we could have moved in @ x-mas when we got the keys but i didn't see the point and wanted to wait till we were certain the phone line was working, the cupboard doors were on, the taps were fixed and a few other incidentals.

In the meantime we have had to race home from work/up early to let their tradies in to finish things off or get up at there early before going to work to let em in. (thats when they actually showed up at least)

Michelle · Feb 11, 2008 12:31 pm

I guess….the question here is?
Should people except Handover….until the house is fully finished?

My suggestion would be ….NO, you shouldn’t, it looks like they take too long coming back to finish the job.

Also with handover, does this mean the building company gets final payment???

Rodda · Feb 11, 2008 1:25 pm

1. Why did the builder believe he had any right to refuse to replace the basin? (Did he suggest you were responsible for the damage?)

2. Don't you have a 3 month maintenance period by which anything that needs fixing can be identified and addressed (either before or at 3 months)? I would think that, as long as the builder isn't trying to blame you completely for the crack in the basin, the basin would definitely be covered by this.

3. Don't let them get away with it! You paid them a shipload of money for everything that was agreed on when you agreed to let them build you a house and they agreed to take all of that money from you for the privelidge.

Allyissia · Feb 11, 2008 1:49 pm

The supervisors point i believe was that the crack 'wasn't' there when we did the hand over and now it is. As he felt we went over the place with in some detail and didn't spot the crack initially it didn't exist.. so in short yer he is blaming us for the damage

The fact that we have had our flooring done doesn't help as it seems he is trying to point the damage as having been caused by them...

Don't worry we will be doing all we can to not let them get away with it. However i'm not sure how we go about proving that we didn't do it

Perth_Euro · Feb 11, 2008 3:41 pm

When you have taken the keys (and I assume paid the final payment) you have efectively started your 3 month period.

In which time the builder can come back and do things such as the phone line, cupboards, repairs etc. That is how it normally works.

If the broken sink wasnt broken and therefore not on a maintanece sheet, when papers where signed and keys money exchanged then i think he is taking the line that "to bad you must have broke it".

I guess at handover there is a line drawn in the sand in terms of responsabilities for breakages etc. (eg if oven gets stolen between handover & you moving in) builder wont replace it

For example
if you got the keys, (and therefor possesion) and then you did break something, why should the builder be liable. (im not saying you did break sink, but thats what he would be thinking). If it was already broken at handover and noted, he would have no comeback.

Sad thing is at the end of the day, if its a standard sink, they are not that expensive (specially at his wholesale price) and he should replace it in goodwill.

Allyissia · Feb 11, 2008 4:17 pm

*nods* i can totally see his point of view. We also had our own benchtops/stove etc put in ourselves while in construction and were nervous about the contracters accidentally breaking/damaging things.. those of course would have been our responsibility & $$ had anything happened

And yes i know if it had been noted at handover there would have been no questions asked. The problem is it wasn't noted... i didn't notice the cracks untill the dirt i rinsed from my sponge got lodged in it. Of course when we did our walk through we didn't *think* to run our hands over the basin to feel for cracks.

Unfortunately its not a standard sink, its a Leda Vasque Inset basin, which we paid a fair bit for as an upgrade.

So it seems unless they feel like being nice we are going to have to wear the costs of fixing it ourselves

It kinda stinks because its really obvious we haven't been in those areas of the house since their contracters left. The stacks of tiles the tiler left behind are still in the same places.. the extra door is the same place (i have no idea why we have that??!) etc.

Anyhoo.. i guess we will just have to wait and see what they say...

kiwi056 · Feb 11, 2008 4:22 pm

I feel for you in this situation.

On the other hand why wasn’t the house cleaned before handover. Your house should have been spotless so these sorts of things would have been more obvious.

Perth_Euro · Feb 11, 2008 4:58 pm

Allyissia

*
Unfortunately its not a standard sink, its a Leda Vasque Inset basin, which we paid a fair bit for as an upgrade.

That is a very nice sink. Does it come with a warranty? You could maybe give that avenue a go if the builder doesnt come to the party.

ahuang · Feb 11, 2008 11:05 pm

It's going to be a tough one as you will need to prove that it's already cracked before the handover, not after....

Thanks for the information. I will be carrying my magnifying glass with me to check each and every inch of my benchtop, kitchen sink and bathroom bowls during my handover inspection....

3timesbuilda · Feb 12, 2008 11:38 am

Does it leak?

Just wondering as I would exect a leak and that should show up when first used?

piranha · Feb 12, 2008 6:29 pm

is it possible the tiler went in ther to wash his hands and maybe a tape measuer or something dropped out of his pocket and cracked the sink but he has said nothing about it or didnt noticed it cracked it.

I can understand the builders perspective as it should have been addressed at handover thats why you do the inspection beforehand, if you missed it then its on you.

Allyissia · Feb 20, 2008 11:42 am

Thanks for all your comments everyone

Just thought i would give y'all an update.

After the superviser did not get back to us regarding the outcome of speaking with his director we called the directior ourselves. Fortunately he had been our acting site supervisor whilst our regular supervisor was on holiday so we had is mobile details etc.

Anyhoo he said he wasn't aware of the issue and that he hadn't been contacted by our supervisor about it. We explained the issue and as expected he re-iterated that they were not obligated to fixed it as they/we didn't have any proof that of who caused it and it wasn't noticed at handover Totally understandable. Regardless he agreed to come out on site an take a look at it with us at a convenient date. So whilst the conversation wasn't nec positive we were pleased with the way it was handled (he certainly wasn't rude like our site manager)

The director was out on site with us this morning. He took one look at the bowl, touched the scratches/cracks a bit and said "we'll get that replaced for you". He is of the opinion that its a flaw/fault with the basin and caroma should replace it. He even said that even if caraoma don't agree that its a flaw, his company will still come out and replace it and has organised to call us this afternoon to let us know when it will be replaced.

So YAY a good outcome for us!!!

ausdesign · Feb 20, 2008 12:05 pm

I'd say that merits a mention of the builders name !