Browse Forums General Discussion Re: Fixing defects and final bill 21Apr 05, 2012 10:11 am Another fantastic example of a builder entering into an agreement and only upholding their parts and rely on the owner to accept the bullocks they come up with. All in all, Practical Completion Inspection is a trick the builders use to skip around the contract and secondly, yes payment cannot be withheld throughout the build until final handover at which point you hold THEM finally at ransom. Re: Fixing defects and final bill 22Apr 06, 2012 7:01 pm I can only draw on my own experience which I am thankfully coming to the end of. I was issued my occupancy certificate and final invoice back in November 2011 and I am still not in!!!. Our standard HIA contract states that we CANNOT withhold a progress payment EXCEPT the final payment which we are entitled to withhold until the house is completed as per contract. We have had nothing but trouble through the entire build and we have had outstanding repairs since November 2011, so we have refused to settle until we are happy. This stance has even dragged us beyond our build time as per contract so now we are in liquidated damages. Stick to your guns and make sure your builder knows the stance you are taking loud and clear!! I told my builder the house could sit there until kingdom come as far as I am concerned and so it has for 5 months. Finally we are settling 11/04/2012. As my experience would suggest you can withhold final payment in Vic at least, then again I would not have cared if they wanted to have it heard in VCAT, I would have gone all the way. Stuff em, you should get what you paid for! Re: Fixing defects and final bill 23Apr 07, 2012 7:47 pm It is a shame that this kind of behaviour is so common. Terrible to have to fight and argue. They told us we were being too picky and expecting to much. Then when we said we were not paying until everything was fixed they were threatening to charge us interest and the meeting kinda ended abruptly. I don't think they are going to drag it out, they really want their final payment They were just very rude to us, basically laughed at us, huffed and puffed over everything and said repeatedly "why should we fix something we don't see anything wrong with". k Re: Fixing defects and final bill 24Apr 08, 2012 11:11 am I have to disagree with akashra again Firstly, there is no such things as "penalties" in a contract. I think you are referring to interest for late payment. My clients have never paid it because builder is not entitled to it until all works are complete (that includes fixing of defects) and they should not be (many are) bluffed about it. In vast majority of cases builders are not finished and there are defects or failure to comply and or because builder has infringed on Domestic Contracts Building Act 1995 by claiming payment before stage is complete (infringement is a penalty under the Act). Once infringement is mentioned it usually sends builder into a reverse on late payment interest. Secondly, solicitors have nothing to do with administration of building control, the Building Act 1993 leaves that to the building surveyors. It's their job to interpret and ensure building work complies. Therefore if you want interpretation you can ask building surveyor. You can ask solicitor of course so long as you understand he does not (most don't) have technical knowledge and will in any case be relying on building expert and so long as you take a bag of money with you. For the record I am not a building surveyor but have diploma in building surveying and additional subjects of construction regulations from Melbourne University. That qualifies me to interpret and have an opinion. Getting back to the subject of OP it is regrettable that the relationship between owner and the builder has broken down, it happens all the time, therefore I stress again that it is less likely to happen if the owner gets professional help and support during construction. The best building problems are the ones avoided or dealt with early and neutralised. All an owner wants to do is build their dream, pay for it and enjoy the experience. That it does not happen is usually builder's fault. They can be their worst enemy with lack of communication, lack of care, lack of professionalism and lack of respect. Very rarely do I find owners unreasonable and expecting too much and when I do, I dress down their expectations with reasoning and they are fine with that. Many times I have found owners generous with builders when they have done a pleasing job, letting them off on minor items. 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: Fixing defects and final bill 25Apr 08, 2012 1:27 pm HI, I agree it is a shame that relations break down. We put up up with a lot early on and did not complain, but things were repeatedly being done wrong or in a very poor manner and there was no quality control at all that we ended up paying for an independent inspector to go through the house three times.
Unfortunately our builder chose not to fix numerous things listed as defects in the inspection reports and thus in the end there are quite a few issues that had not been fixed. In reality some were minor and could have been fixed easily but they keep trying to avoid doing it. On one defect found by our inspector that the paint was too light the site supervisor told us they chose not to paint it again because they asked their painter and he did not see anything wrong with it! That is the kinda response we get, that they do not see anything wrong so why fix it. Re: Fixing defects and final bill 26Apr 08, 2012 3:28 pm This is a real shame, you have done everything right, gone into expense of your own private inspector and still a bad result, unfortunately that can still happen. I hope at least you don't have major issues, painting can be easily fixed. 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 The significant date is when receive final payment invoice Check that section of contract Bit of fluff by builders prior to that 1 15913 Thanks for much mate. I see that you do cabinets before flooring. For timber flooring, for most parts it's fine because it's got base plates, and for door jabs you can… 7 11551 Hi All, I engaged a tradie to install concrete retaining wall 600-800mm high over 32 meters in Victoria. Sleepers are 200*75*2000 mm installed over 17 steel posts. I… 0 6889 |