Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Mar 22, 2013 3:41 am Hi All. It is 2am but I cannot fall asleep as it looks like I have a serious problem here. 3 days ago I found out that I have a water leak. The water meter is running when all the taps and toilets in the house are shut down. By all the symptoms it is a leak in the water line which is running in front of my house. Most likely it is with 2 or 3 meters from the foundation and in a close proximity to other services (e.g. electricity, telephone line, etc). Access to the water pipe is a bit difficult as it is under paving. Amount of water wasted is approximately 4 cubical meter a day. As the house was built four and a half years ago I still have builder's warranty for the plumbing (which lasts for 5 years). I called the building company. They sent their construction consultant to the site. He said that I need to remove pavers around an entry point, dig in and find the water pipe. Then it should be cut off and a pressure test to be done. After that I need to advise them on the results of the test and they will decide what they can do. From my perspective, it will incur unnecessary hassles and costs to me, and all those activities is a part of fault fixing, and thus should be covered by builder's warranty. I am wondering what I should do in this situation ? I already called Office of Consumer Affairs yesterday. They suggested I should try to settle down this issue with the builder. So, I plan to send an electronic letter to the builder tomorrow morning, saying that it is an urgent matter, and the plumbing should be fixed as soon as possible without any delays from their side. My biggest concern is that if they refuse to come (using all kind of lame excuses, as it is what they have done so far), it may take some time to get it done. Meanwhile, my water bill is increasing at ~$20 a day, and as I mentioned before other service may get damaged as well (and it is not too good for house foundation and paving strip around the house either). Thank you. Re: How to get a water leak fixed by builder (under warranty 2Mar 22, 2013 4:23 am If it was me I would be getting it fixed first but keeping good records including lots of photos The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: How to get a water leak fixed by builder (under warranty 3Mar 22, 2013 5:58 am Agree - it must be fixed. Then argue the case. Waiting is money ! Re: How to get a water leak fixed by builder (under warranty 5Mar 22, 2013 2:26 pm I would be shutting off the water meter overnight or when no one is home to save some money let alone what damage it is doing. It sounds like your builder is waiting out your warranty time. By rights its their plumber's stuff up, provided your paver didn't damage the service when preparing the site, and you shouldn't have to do anything. Pressure testing by their plumber will tell of any leak, but finding it is the real test of skill. Consumer Affairs are as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike and rarely get involved as they are a toothless tiger -- and builders know it. I would warn the builder if he doesn't act soon you will get it repaired (expect high $$ outlay) and send them the bill adding you will erect a large sign on your property telling the world how the builder left you in the lurch Arfur Re: How to get a water leak fixed by builder (under warranty 6Mar 22, 2013 9:31 pm I tried to get the leak fixed by the builder. They say I need to get it fixed by myself. A plumber will write a report (at my cost), which should be forwarded to the builder. Then the builder will decide if it was their fault. If so, they will compensate my expenses. It sounds to me like giving a criminal court case to criminals themselves and letting them decide if they are guilty or not. Re: How to get a water leak fixed by builder (under warranty 7Mar 23, 2013 11:06 pm Hi Foma22, Sending a registered letter with your issue and intention to have this covered by their warranty period should cover the 5 year dead line. Consumer Affairs should clarify this though. Secondly, keep a record of all of your emails/ letter and keep a written log of your conversations and with whom (summarised of course). If the builder has mentioned that you are to fix and then seek compensation, you might just have to do that. Chance could be that they will reject your claim or pay a portion of which at that point you will need to call in lawyers. All in all, prepare yourself for a battle.But, try and get some assistance from your states Building Commission and or Plumbing Commission even. Best of luck. Re: How to get a water leak fixed by builder (under warranty 8May 10, 2013 3:40 pm the licensed plumber who carried out the work for the builder has liability insurance he is also listed with the waterboard or department of fairtrading,as he would have submitted a final inspection for your job get his details from them or the builder and ask him to repair the fault=if he finds that the fault was caused by others he can take it up with the builder Re: How to get a water leak fixed by builder (under warranty 9Apr 23, 2014 10:37 pm Hi everyone. I've just saved some information for my record from this thread in my memo file. If anyone is interested I can provide a quick update on what happened soon after the last post. I had to remove pavers and dig out till I found a coupler that was leaking badly. Apparently it was leaking for quite a while as a small peach tree located 2 meters away managed to develop roots all the way to this coupler. When I called the builder they said that it was leaking due to roots got into the coupler. But even idiots know that if it did not leak from the first place, roots would not get in there. Anyway it was impossible to prove anything at leas without a good and expensive lawyer. So, I just gave up. I mean I have fixed the problem and did a proper connection. That's it. Re: How to get a water leak fixed by builder (under warranty 10Apr 23, 2014 11:33 pm From what you have posted, you should have gone to your State's plumbing regulator to get the plumber to fix it. Did you try doing this? You also did the right thing in notifying the builder as major underground leaks can have serious consequences later on. 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using syphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost syphonic eaves gutter overflow solution. Re: How to get a water leak fixed by builder (under warranty 11Apr 24, 2014 4:04 pm We are currently dealer with Consumer Affairs and the Building Commission and I have to admit they seem useless. Due to our numerous issues with our builder - some of which clearly and openly defy everything the HIA contract says - we had to go thru a number of steps to get anywhere. These steps first state sending a registered posts letter, even though we had sent the exact same letter by email AND he had responded (providing proof he had received it) and waiting out the suggested time frame. Next we have to complete their form and attached a ridiculous amount of paperwork (possibly because we have so many complaints) we will then have to wait about 2 weeks for an officer to be given to our case. They say after this the will mediate between us to come to an agreement is reached, if now agreement is reached we will have to go to VCAT or take legal action It really does seems that the odds are stacked against the purchasers and are very much in favour of the builder. Part of the issue we have is the builder charging us for something (Provisional Cost) without providing invoices for these costs, given that works were done at the start of the build - last May - I can not see any reason why he hasn't got these invoices (didn't stop him charging the full provisional cost). He was legally meant to hand them over with the Final Invoice given to us a month ago. Given that we have sent him an email, sent the registered letter, waiting out the time, now applying to Consumer Affairs - it is clear the builder is just stuffing us around. Good luck getting the builder to do anything, it really does seems they have a law of their own Re: How to get a water leak fixed by builder (under warranty 12Apr 24, 2014 6:00 pm The system, when translated into practice, seems to have been designed to work against the consumer. Good that you provided the update! Whereabouts was the leak? Under the actual house slab, or under some surounding concrete paving?? My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: How to get a water leak fixed by builder (under warranty 13Jan 09, 2016 10:28 am Hi everyone. Just a quick update on what I've done more than a year ago. As I said above I had to dig next to the high pressure pipe entrance point. Got it fixed installing a new coupler, dug a green box so that a coupler itself is nit surrounded by the soil and no roots can make their way into it even if it will start dripping. Paved the area back with a bit of help of a rubber hammer as the last brick did not want to fit it. Re: How to get a water leak fixed by builder (under warranty 14Jan 09, 2016 10:35 am Agape We are currently dealer with Consumer Affairs and the Building Commission and I have to admit they seem useless. ... Good luck getting the builder to do anything, it really does seems they have a law of their own Last week I had a chat with my friend's brother. He lives in Canada. From what he said I can say that in Canada they have a much better consumer protection. If you make sure all taps inside and out are turned off, what does the water meter show if you leave it for a while. 2 20226 Hi all, I am hoping someone has some ideas as to what is causing my bathroom leak. The leaking appears to mainly happen when we turn the sink basins on. It takes a while… 0 5073 DIY, Home Maintenance & Repair Are you doing this with a building permit? Conversion of a non habitable room into a habitable room requires building permit. 3 17290 |