Browse Forums General Discussion Re: Water seeping through slab in a new house 41Mar 26, 2012 5:28 am Hi winner Do you really believe what builder is telling you? He thinks you are a pushover and will do as he likes until you get someone like me to crunch him. Then you will get a better job and more respect. Your call Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: Water seeping through slab in a new house 42Mar 29, 2012 8:31 pm building-expert Hi winner Do you really believe what builder is telling you? He thinks you are a pushover and will do as he likes until you get someone like me to crunch him. Then you will get a better job and more respect. Your call I must say building-expert that Im just a tad concerned about your real intentions with your posts - as has been mentioned before - you do appear to be scare mongering and trying to drum up a bit of extra business in the process. Re: Water seeping through slab in a new house 43Mar 29, 2012 8:59 pm building-expert Hi winner Do you really believe what builder is telling you? He thinks you are a pushover and will do as he likes until you get someone like me to crunch him. Then you will get a better job and more respect. Your call You see this is what irks me (ad I presume others) - you are only a private building inspector, not a government inspector, surveyor or representative of a builders' governing body. You have no real authority over a builder or site supervisor and thus you have no mandate to "crunch" them in any way, shape or form. The one thing you're failing to tell the OP and anyone else you have responded to is that the builder/SS does not have to pay attention to anything you say (which is common knowledge), although they will ignore anything that is spotted which is not built to code at their own peril (even then fear of retribution would not be from you, rather from the local building council or civil administration tribunal). At most your job would be to point out things that might potentially not be built to code and mention other issues which could be looked at, not get into a running war with the builder/SS (which would be counter-productive on all sorts of levels). Even in VCAT cases your role would be as a witness giving expert testimony - not as someone who influences the actions of the builder (only the VCAT magistrate can do that) and any attempt to try to do so during a VCAT hearing would get you thrown out on your backside. You are a building inspector who can advise customers and builders on potential issues - nothing more, nothing less. Stop pretending that you are something more. My private building inspector (Alex from Urban Property Inspections) is a friendly, laid back but professional fellow who usually fairly well booked out (mainly by word of mouth I suspect) and doesn't need to scare anyone into using his services. You could take a leaf out of his book I suspect. Some people apparently have nothing better to do than comment on other people's sigs. Re: Water seeping through slab in a new house 44Mar 29, 2012 9:28 pm cmhamilton building-expert Hi winner Do you really believe what builder is telling you? He thinks you are a pushover and will do as he likes until you get someone like me to crunch him. Then you will get a better job and more respect. Your call You see this is what irks me (ad I presume others) - you are only a private building inspector, not a government inspector, surveyor or representative of a builders' governing body. You have no real authority over a builder or site supervisor and thus you have no mandate to "crunch" them in any way, shape or form. The one thing you're failing to tell the OP and anyone else you have responded to is that the builder/SS does not have to pay attention to anything you say (which is common knowledge), although they will ignore anything that is spotted which is not built to code at their own peril (even then fear of retribution would not be from you, rather from the local building council or civil administration tribunal). At most your job would be to point out things that might potentially not be built to code and mention other issues which could be looked at, not get into a running war with the builder/SS (which would be counter-productive on all sorts of levels). Even in VCAT cases your role would be as a witness giving expert testimony - not as someone who influences the actions of the builder (only the VCAT magistrate can do that) and any attempt to try to do so during a VCAT hearing would get you thrown out on your backside. You are a building inspector who can advise customers and builders on potential issues - nothing more, nothing less. Stop pretending that you are something more. My private building inspector (Alex from Urban Property Inspections) is a friendly, laid back but professional fellow who usually fairly well booked out (mainly by word of mouth I suspect) and doesn't need to scare anyone into using his services. You could take a leaf out of his book I suspect. Well said. Re: Water seeping through slab in a new house 45Mar 30, 2012 7:49 am Hi cmhamilton! Beautifully said and almost impeccably reasoned. I almost liked it myself. Just a couple of minor points. I don't know where you get the idea that councils will get involved in a dispute between builder and the owner. I have never seen it. Perhaps your experience is different. The second point is that you neglected to mention a compulsory mediation which is usually a VCAT intermediate step before a full hearing (a last ditch effort to resolve a dispute). The difference is that in a hearing paramount duty of expert witness is to assist the tribunal but in a mediation the paramount duty is to assist the client( this is made possible by the fact that in an effort to resolve a dispute everything said and done is without prejudice). That means it's free for all ( just the way I like it) and given the favourable conditions a good outcome is possible for both parties, and will stop them from considerable further costs. However it's in the fifth paragraph that the point is missed entirely-KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. My power is not what I can do, it's what I do for the client. I give them knowledge, knowledge empowers them, empowerment gives them confidence and confidence gives them control over their investment and gets them builder's respect. I level the playing field, that's the "crunch", the message is in my signature. The message I am sending is be in control and avoid a dispute. Its better to prevent problems rather than having to fix them. Control means knowledge, monitoring critical points, feedback, communication and correction. It stands to reason that if the client has someone watching over their investment, potential problems are discovered and dealt with early in consultation with the builder (without a fight) How is that scaring anyone? Thanks for contributing to this communication exchange. Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: Water seeping through slab in a new house 46Mar 30, 2012 10:29 am building-expert Hi cmhamilton! I don't know where you get the idea that councils will get involved in a dispute between builder and the owner. I have never seen it. Perhaps your experience is different. By "local building council" I was referring to the local (state?) governing body for domestic construction. I could have used commission but at the time I wasn't sure if that was the moniker used for the aforementioned governing body in each state and territory, so I tried to throw out a more generalised term. You say potatoe, I say potato. building-expert The second point is that you neglected to mention a compulsory mediation which is usually a VCAT intermediate step before a full hearing (a last ditch effort to resolve a dispute). The point that you are refusing to acknowledge is that even in mediation you have no real mandate to "crunch" a builder - yes you can impart additional knowledge but in no way does that parlay into a guarantee that you can force the builder to comply with what you are telling them. You are an expert witness and customer advocate, not a lawyer or a magistrate. building-expert The difference is that in a hearing paramount duty of expert witness is to assist the tribunal but in a mediation the paramount duty is to assist the client( this is made possible by the fact that in an effort to resolve a dispute everything said and done is without prejudice). That means it's free for all ( just the way I like it) and given the favourable conditions a good outcome is possible for both parties, and will stop them from considerable further costs. This is a lot closer to the reality of it but again you are there to advise the customer and make recommendations to the builder - nothing you say is binding in any way, shape or form and indeed if you do take an overly combative stance then the builder is well within their rights to end said mediation and go to the tribunal on the grounds that you are not not conducting yourself (as the customer's representative) in an appropriate manner. building-expert However it's in the fifth paragraph that the point is missed entirely-KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. My power is not what I can do, it's what I do for the client. I give them knowledge, knowledge empowers them, empowerment gives them confidence and confidence gives them control over their investment and gets them builder's respect. I level the playing field, that's the "crunch", the message is in my signature. Yes, because the 2-3 spot inspections you would do at different stages of the build would really parlay themselves into you constantly monitoring a build and the builder doing everything you tell them to when you tell them to do it. Next. building-expert The message I am sending is be in control and avoid a dispute. Its better to prevent problems rather than having to fix them. Control means knowledge, monitoring critical points, feedback, communication and correction. Unfortunately this is not the message that you have been sending and it is entirely possible for a customer to be informed and abreast of any issues that may arise without having to hire a gung-ho "you'd better hire me or you'll be sorry" building inspector with no real authority over a build (indeed that is exactly what a resource like H1 is for). Your role during a build would be to do two or maybe three spot inspections and inform the customer of any issues you spot. The customer can then forward these issues to their site supervisor for consideration and that's where your involvement with the build process would end. If issues requiring VCAT mandated mediation or a tribunal hearing come into play then you have the scope to become more involved, but once again I'll state the fact (which you are trying your best not to acknowledge) that a builder/SS does not have to take anything you say on board during the build process as long as the house is built to code in the long run. You act as if nobody knows that you can get a private inspector in to examine a build and look for potential issues. News flash for you mate - people are aware that private building inspection businesses do exist and more to the point they also know how they work what they can (and more importantly can't) do. given your years of experience I'm kind of surprised that your name isn't one of the commonly mentioned ones on H1, but then again these forums aren't necessarily all-encompassing so I'm sure there are a lot of good building inspection services out there that haven't been mentioend here on H1. building-expert It stands to reason that if the client has someone watching over their investment, potential problems are discovered and dealt with early in consultation with the builder (without a fight) How is that scaring anyone? The manner in which you market yourself and comment on issues in on these forums by looking at a post with minimal detail and extrapolating it into worst case scenarios using examples you have seen and then saying "hire someone like me and this wont happen to you" (or words to that effect) is nothing more than pure scare mongering. It's certainly not the way I'd be trying to drum up more business - you'd go a lot further imo by gaining a good reputation for giving advice here and then having that parlay into H1 members patronising your services based on the good H1 reputation you have built up over time, as opposed to a blitzkrieg campaign of demonstrating the worst that can happen as justification for using your services. You also paint a picture that builders will try to get away with anything they can and wont rectify defects unless someone like you is pushing them - yes there are a small percentage of builders who make mistakes and don't necessarily rectify them in the manner that they should out there, but the picture you are trying to paint is far removed from the reality of the matter. All I've been trying to say all along is that perhaps you could adopt a more moderate stance and start handing out a bit more friendly advice and maybe a less of the doom and gloom "hire me or this will happen to you" predictions... I'm sure you have a ton of experience and knowledge that people on H1 would find immensely useful - you want a good example of an advertiser who goes about their business on H1 in a way that might be more conducive to furthering your interests? Take a look at how Ed from EcoClassic does it (mainly over in the windows and doors forum). That pretty much sums up my opinions and thoughts on the matter so I won't be replying to anything else you happen to post on H1 - hopefully you'll see the point I'm trying to get across. p.s. Before a forum mod steps in yes I know this is off topic and I am stepping back from this part of the discussion now that I've made my thoughts on the matter clear. Some people apparently have nothing better to do than comment on other people's sigs. Re: Water seeping through slab in a new house 47Mar 31, 2012 9:55 am Hi cmhamilton I have never claimed any special powers, magic, guarantee or to be able to force anyone to do anything. I don’t know where you get that. Have I used any terms such as ”enforcer”, ”police”, “terminator”, “superman” , fumigator” ? No! For you to imply anything other than what I said or what is on my web site or blogs is unfair. Instead you have misinterpreted metaphor “crunch”, did you really think I was going to punch the builder, or the judge or throw my weight around as if I own the court or VCAT? My business is selling expert knowledge to the client and that is the most effective and devastating weapon (much more effective than any law or regulation) that anyone can have. Knowledge unleashed is life changing. That can turn someone who has been ignored, belittled, intimidated, or abused or is simply outgunned into a confident and formidable (owner, tradie, builder) and a force to be respected and reckoned with (only if required) or it can simply give already confident client additional piece of mind. I have no power to do. It’s what I do with my client that’s powerful. Yes I have the power to level the playing field. My clients have the power to tilt it into their advantage if they wish. That’s the “crunch” you didn’t get. I think you are most unfair when you accuse me of scaremongering. There are over 20,000 builders in Victoria, never have I said they are all bad, they are not but some are and some are really bad. But then even good builders can have bad things happen through lapse of care. (see below) All the cases I listed are true. Dreams destroyed are true. I have had women and grown men cry in front of me, that’s true. That’s what I do. I deal with difficult cases. People come to me when they have wasted their time with vanilla inspectors or with Building Commission or when they simply want a piece of mind. Not only are you unfair but you are also disrespectful when you tell me how to run a business (have you ever run anything?) or when you tell me I should be like Alex or Ed (God bless them for I don’t know them). I would not be disrespectful to you. I like you just the way you are. I don’t act as if nobody knows about private inspections. The fact is many don’t. Since your last post I have inspected two houses post handover (not badly built actually) but with brickwork, drainage and wet areas leaking problems. Both of those clients did not know about independent pre final inspections that would have saved them the trouble they have now. I have joined H1 to enrich people with my experience and to be enriched with theirs . I am not your average vanilla inspector. Enjoy the ride! Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: Water seeping through slab in a new house 48Mar 31, 2012 10:18 am Sorry but after that I have a couple of final comments to add. If you want to take constructive feedback and positive suggestions as being disrespectful then that is your problem, not mine. I am not telling you how to run your business, but it is fairly clear that you are not even open to the idea that there might be a different (and maybe even better) way of getting what you want - your comment "have you ever run anything" (with the implied notion that I haven't and thus don't know what I'm talking about) is also far more disrespectful than anything I have said here (especially given that you don't know anything about me). Failing to address any of the concerns that have been raised and instead responding with hyperbole is also your perogative. You are missing the mark in terms of "enriching other's experiences" here on H1 so far imo, but again that is just one person's subjective opinion and others may feel differently. This debate is just going to keep going back and forth with no end in sight, so let's just agree to disagree and move on - it's time to get this thread back on topic as I mentioned above. Have a nice day. Some people apparently have nothing better to do than comment on other people's sigs. Re: Water seeping through slab in a new house 49Mar 31, 2012 9:04 pm I think at this point I must agree with Mr Hamilton. Having only joined on the 16th March, and now having 61 posts in that short time, I have yet to see one post that does not in effect state that, 'If having trouble with a builder, call me and I will solve it". There has been no offers of positive assistance, nearly all comments are of a negative nature. I think your aim should be to supply positive assistance to a problem rather than try and effectively do an "Ali" stating "I am the greatest" and try and solve the problem raised on the forum, rather than what I see as trying to promote your business in the manner in which you do. Settlement 1/2/12 New Shed 23/3/12 Slab poured 27/3/12 Frame complete 4/5/12 Roof complete 1/6/12 LOCKUP 29/6/12 Our new build blog http://kareenhillsownerbuild.blogspot.com/ Re: Water seeping through slab in a new house 50Apr 01, 2012 7:24 am I am here to help, you haven't asked. All you need to do is ask. Others already have with PM. Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: Water seeping through slab in a new house 52Apr 01, 2012 2:33 pm Thank you Casa2 Support from a Gold Member with over 4000 posts is greatly appreciated Cheers Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: Water seeping through slab in a new house 53Apr 01, 2012 5:10 pm Casa2 building-expert, it great to have your expertise here. Agreed wholeheartedly. Some people apparently have nothing better to do than comment on other people's sigs. Re: Water seeping through slab in a new house 54Apr 07, 2012 6:32 pm Quote: p.s. Before a forum mod steps in yes I know this is off topic and I am stepping back from this part of the discussion now that I've made my thoughts on the matter clear. Quote: Sorry but after that I have a couple of final comments to add. Quote: I am not telling you how to run your business Coulda fooled me! Epic fail - you lost all credibility, from content of your own posts - and thus the rest seems like an unwarranted attack on a knowledgeable poster! Just my 2c. Cheers! Re: Water seeping through slab in a new house 55Apr 07, 2012 7:26 pm Building-expert, nice to have your opinion on things here. You are giving your opinion/ advice free of charge and people should be thankful. I had to pay a building Consultant and Inspector $200 per hour for the honour! Re: Water seeping through slab in a new house 56Apr 08, 2012 9:43 am Thank you Ian Moone, thank you KAN It's people like you that make it a pleasure to post! Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: Water seeping through slab in a new house 58Apr 10, 2012 1:02 pm building-expert If it looks wrong, it is. If you think it should have been done better you are probably right. Believe your eyes, follow your gut, trust your judgment and don't let anyone talk you out of it. I kinda like this. In fact, I really do I don't understand why all the boo-hoo. More than anything, to me it looks like the B-E likes to play cautiously in the building game. Better safe than sorry. It's so easy to overlook what some seemingly innocent issues can cause or contribute to further down the track. And there is nothing wrong with voicing one's own opinion (especially if one has the privilege of paying for it ). I kinda don't appreciate traders/builders who play as if you (the owner) should sit back and take it easy or brush you off when you ask a question (and, very often along the way prove either their serious lack of care or lack of knowledge and understanding/rules/skills on a particular building issue). I doubt those people would have the same relaxed approach when building their own house. BTW, on an earlier post ... I'm sure I've seen quite a few pics of slabs / houses under construction sitting in pools of water during the construction months , while the 'responsible party' does nothing or brushes the concerned owner off with "oh, your landscaping will fix that, this is nothing". It all adds up. My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: Water seeping through slab in a new house 59Apr 10, 2012 1:27 pm Ian Moone Quote: p.s. Before a forum mod steps in yes I know this is off topic and I am stepping back from this part of the discussion now that I've made my thoughts on the matter clear. Quote: Sorry but after that I have a couple of final comments to add. Quote: I am not telling you how to run your business Coulda fooled me! Epic fail - you lost all credibility, from content of your own posts - and thus the rest seems like an unwarranted attack on a knowledgeable poster! Just my 2c. Cheers! Meh - who the hell are you to be judging anybody on credibility. (edited out as I went a bit too far here) I'm guessing you saw my objective observation of your latest rant about street numbers and letter boxes and came looking for a post of mine (which was dead and buried) to troll on. In light of that the epic fail appears to be all yours mate. I doubt you even read what I posted to be honest. They were valid concerns from my point of view but like I said I've moved on - nice job resurrecting that part of the "discussion" needlessly with a glib off-topic reply just to score a point though... As for the reference to "tall poppy syndrome" - don't make me laugh... p.s When it comes to B-E yes there was a difference of opinion between he and I (and possibly one or two others) because his posting style is a little "confronting" I guess, but since then I've enjoyed reading the advice he has been giving and have no issue with him at all now. Some people apparently have nothing better to do than comment on other people's sigs. Re: Water seeping through slab in a new house 60Apr 10, 2012 1:54 pm Lex building-expert If it looks wrong, it is. If you think it should have been done better you are probably right. Believe your eyes, follow your gut, trust your judgment and don't let anyone talk you out of it. I kinda like this. In fact, I really do I don't understand why all the boo-hoo. More than anything, to me it looks like the B-E likes to play cautiously in the building game. Better safe than sorry. It's so easy to overlook what some seemingly innocent issues can cause or contribute to further down the track. And there is nothing wrong with voicing one's own opinion (especially if one has the privilege of paying for it ). I kinda don't appreciate traders/builders who play as if you (the owner) should sit back and take it easy or brush you off when you ask a question (and, very often along the way prove either their serious lack of care or lack of knowledge and understanding/rules/skills on a particular building issue). I doubt those people would have the same relaxed approach when building their own house. BTW, on an earlier post ... I'm sure I've seen quite a few pics of slabs / houses under construction sitting in pools of water during the construction months , while the 'responsible party' does nothing or brushes the concerned owner off with "oh, your landscaping will fix that, this is nothing". It all adds up. Lex, I know myself and i'm sure I can speak for others who feel the same, we have no problem at all with b-e offering good sound advice. There is no doubt he has a wealth of knowledge and experience and it is fantastic he wants to share it. But it is posts like this one taken from the broken pipe thread, and others very similar that we have issue with. "This should not be happening, what else is he going to break? Broken drains are a major cause of foundation problems, see my blog http://www.buildingespert.net.au/blog. Can you really trust that the pipes will be fixed properly? Builder warrants to do work in a workmanlike manner with skill and care. Clearly that is not happening. Get an expert to look after your investment and put builder on notice." A brick delivery driver breaks a pipe and all of a sudden your builder is a shonk and if you dodnt call me your house is going to fall down. You can read into how you like but this is what I took from his post. Cheers Water this close to the slab edge or under the slab can cause slab heave or subsidence and is potentially a serious problem especially on highly reactive clay soils. Over… 6 2991 13 4649 if it's the look that you're not happy with, the easiest option would probably be to spray paint it all into the same color as the walls so it blends in. there might not… 3 3084 |