Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Apr 25, 2008 7:03 pm Hi Everyone,
Builder has quoted us $15200 for site costs. It seems an awful lot, what do you think? The standard site costs is $11200 but they have added an extra $4000 because our house will be built close to an easement and they need to provide extra piering. Has anyone discussed with the builder and got them to reduce the site costs? Re: Site Costs 2Apr 26, 2008 1:55 am My uncle was charged $13500 for site costs which was fixed. This included slab, cut and fill, rock removal from ground and site, drainage around the house due to neighbours land has higher elevation, retaining wall etc
Not sure if you could reduce the site costs but you can ask. Hope this helps Re: Site Costs 3Apr 26, 2008 11:14 am Belgrave My uncle was charged $13500 for site costs which was fixed. This included slab, cut and fill, rock removal from ground and site, drainage around the house due to neighbours land has higher elevation, retaining wall etc Not sure if you could reduce the site costs but you can ask. Hope this helps Thanks will do Re: Site Costs 4Apr 26, 2008 11:31 am When you say "close to an easement" is your building line right against the easement.
Because if you are then they generally have to drop a concrete curtain wall down adjacent to the easement...,.look for a section on your foundation plan which will have a title like "Typical Footing Adjacent to Service Pipe Detail". This would account for greater than expected site costs. We built on an easement and they forgot to do it for our place. I saw they hadn't done it but waited until the building surveyor inspector checked out the slab reinforcement (prior to pouring) and noted it to him. Builder had to breakdown the reo, dig the trench, and put additional reo in. Wanted to charge me $3000 as a variation but didn't accept it. Told him pricing was on "building as drawn" and this detail was on the drawings. Won the argument....one for the little guy... ... Lesson for me.....study your drawings regularly, check and re-check ....they are your friend...! mmm....donuts Homer Simpson 1956- Links: Site Costs Ready Reckoner | H1 Addiction Medical Advice | Château TDL: The Backyard Re: Site Costs 5Apr 26, 2008 11:42 am to_do_list When you say "close to an easement" is your building line right against the easement. Because if you are then they generally have to drop a concrete curtain wall down adjacent to the easement...,.look for a section on your foundation plan which will have a title like "Typical Footing Adjacent to Service Pipe Detail". This would account for greater than expected site costs. We built on an easement and they forgot to do it for our place. I saw they hadn't done it but waited until the building surveyor inspector checked out the slab reinforcement (prior to pouring) and noted it to him. Builder had to breakdown the reo, dig the trench, and put additional reo in. Wanted to charge me $3000 as a variation but didn't accept it. Told him pricing was on "building as drawn" and this detail was on the drawings. Won the argument....one for the little guy... ... Lesson for me.....study your drawings regularly, check and re-check ....they are your friend...! I don't have the updated floorplans, by 'updated' i mean we made some changes to the standard floorplan, such as make windows bigger and close an opening on the outdoor room etc.. but when i asked the sales consultant for a revised floorplan, he said they would draw up the plans when we sign the preliminary contract. Is this right? I thought i would be able to check the floorplans before signing anything. Also, we have been asked to sign the quote (which on the document has the title 'Preliminary Contract' but i was told that we can still change our minds (therefore remove any extras or add more extras that will affect the quote) when we go to the colour studio to pick our colours and electricals. However, in the terms and conditions on 'preliminary contract' (which he says is just a preliminary quotation' he sent it says that we cannot make changes once we have signed except for colour and electricals. Sorry for the long essay.. It's our first time so we are not sure if this is normal or not.. Maybe he just wants us to sign so he gets his commission? BTW we have a 3 m easement at the back and there is a 3.18m space between our house and the end of the block, therefore only 18cms between our house and the easement..? Re: Site Costs 6Apr 26, 2008 1:59 pm I am currently at contract (preliminary) stage for my house which I had given to my lawyer to take a look. My sales consultant said the same thing, that changes can be made without variation fees charged, but in the contract it stipulate that fees are charge for variations. From my understanding, structural changes will incur variation fees. My opinion is to get what he said in writing e.g when asks for things email him, this way you have evidence of what he says.
Rule of thumb: Sales consultants will promise you the whole world but if it's not in writing than it's useless. Haven't asked my lawyer whether email correspondents can be use as legal documents but will ask when meet with her then let you know or some else on this forum can answer it. Hope this helps Re: Site Costs 7Apr 26, 2008 2:56 pm Belgrave I am currently at contract (preliminary) stage for my house which I had given to my lawyer to take a look. My sales consultant said the same thing, that changes can be made without variation fees charged, but in the contract it stipulate that fees are charge for variations. From my understanding, structural changes will incur variation fees. My opinion is to get what he said in writing e.g when asks for things email him, this way you have evidence of what he says. Rule of thumb: Sales consultants will promise you the whole world but if it's not in writing than it's useless. Haven't asked my lawyer whether email correspondents can be use as legal documents but will ask when meet with her then let you know or some else on this forum can answer it. Hope this helps Hi, just spoke to my solicitor about the very same thing this week. He said that any statements emailed by your builder, are legally binding. Oh and also make sure that when you are emailing the builder, make sure that the your email requires a return receipt, THat way they can't say " sorry we never got it ". Hope he's right. Built the Eden Brae Cambridge 34 Family with Boston Corner Facade Re: Site Costs 9Apr 26, 2008 10:34 pm dreamhome BTW we have a 3 m easement at the back and there is a 3.18m space between our house and the end of the block, therefore only 18cms between our house and the easement..? Sounds like the same thing I had...may be the reason for the greater than expected site costs. mmm....donuts Homer Simpson 1956- Links: Site Costs Ready Reckoner | H1 Addiction Medical Advice | Château TDL: The Backyard Re: Site Costs 10Apr 27, 2008 12:29 am Belgrave I am currently at contract (preliminary) stage for my house which I had given to my lawyer to take a look. My sales consultant said the same thing, that changes can be made without variation fees charged, but in the contract it stipulate that fees are charge for variations. From my understanding, structural changes will incur variation fees. My opinion is to get what he said in writing e.g when asks for things email him, this way you have evidence of what he says. Rule of thumb: Sales consultants will promise you the whole world but if it's not in writing than it's useless. Haven't asked my lawyer whether email correspondents can be use as legal documents but will ask when meet with her then let you know or some else on this forum can answer it. Hope this helps Hi, is your lawyer the same person as the conveyancer for the land? Or does it have to be a different type of lawyer. We don't have one to look at the prelim contract and contract for the house and we would like to see one. We only have a conveyancer for the land and she says that she doesn't look at building contracts.. Thanks Re: Site Costs 11Apr 27, 2008 2:32 am Hi,
Normally builders would know how much the site costs for the area (if they have built houses nearby) and perhaps you can negotiate with your builder to fix the site costs accordingly. In regards to whether emails are legally binding, etc... in my contract (which I believe, is based on a standard HIA contract), there is a clause that says "This contract is complete in itself and overrides any earlier agreement, whether made verbally or in writing". Reading this, I assume that all verbal/non-verbal agreements (incl. emails) would not be legally binding, would it? opinions anyone? Re: Site Costs 12Apr 27, 2008 3:38 am Dreamhome - My contract lawyer is also my land lawyer, but it doesn't have to be. It's just more convenient for me to get the same person to look at both contracts.
To be honest I don't think the lawyer can do much in changing the contract as the builder probably won't agree to the changes. The reason why I got my house contract look at is to hope that the lawyer will find out any ambigious clause and any other clause that is different to my interpretation. Meaning for peace of mind. My opion and my opinion only is that you probably don't need a lawyer for building contract maybe it is better to go to a building consultant who understands the building process more eg. site cost, drawings meeting the BCA standards etc. Most of the contracts are similiar either HIA or MBAV so if you have any concerns let me know and I see if I can help as I am in the process of seeing a lawyer and I can ask her for opinion etc. NGOTB - Not sure but will tell my lawyer to look at that part carefully. Thanks for raising it though. Re: Site Costs 13Apr 27, 2008 6:46 am Dreamhome, make sure you find a solicitor who is experienced in BUILDING contracts. To find one, ring your state Law Society & ask for one close to your area Built the Eden Brae Cambridge 34 Family with Boston Corner Facade Re: Site Costs 14Apr 27, 2008 10:55 am Belgrave maybe it is better to go to a building consultant who understands the building process more eg. site cost, drawings meeting the BCA standards etc. Most of the contracts are similiar either HIA or MBAV so if you have any concerns let me know and I see if I can help as I am in the process of seeing a lawyer and I can ask her for opinion etc. True.....most building contracts are either HIA or MBAV standards, but in each of those contracts there are clauses where you can select options (e.g. progress payments based on slab completion, frame stage, lockup, fixing, final versus percentage completion based payments) or periods (what time should porgress payments be paid after submission of the progress payments). Some of these sections will be "prefilled" by the builder and therefore not giving you the options that you may be entitled to. A building consultant/surveyor can help you "balance" the builder-centric contracts a bit more and perhaps avoid issues down the track...remember the organisation producing the contracts is the industry body for builders not consumers. I used a building consultant to review my contract and he suggested about a dozen changes...probably got through about eight or nine...incidentally the ones that didn't get through the BC said were ambit anyway. A building consultant will probably also charge less than a lawyer..... mmm....donuts Homer Simpson 1956- Links: Site Costs Ready Reckoner | H1 Addiction Medical Advice | Château TDL: The Backyard Re: Site Costs 15Apr 27, 2008 1:52 pm to_do_list Belgrave maybe it is better to go to a building consultant who understands the building process more eg. site cost, drawings meeting the BCA standards etc. Most of the contracts are similiar either HIA or MBAV so if you have any concerns let me know and I see if I can help as I am in the process of seeing a lawyer and I can ask her for opinion etc. True.....most building contracts are either HIA or MBAV standards, but in each of those contracts there are clauses where you can select options (e.g. progress payments based on slab completion, frame stage, lockup, fixing, final versus percentage completion based payments) or periods (what time should porgress payments be paid after submission of the progress payments). Some of these sections will be "prefilled" by the builder and therefore not giving you the options that you may be entitled to. A building consultant/surveyor can help you "balance" the builder-centric contracts a bit more and perhaps avoid issues down the track...remember the organisation producing the contracts is the industry body for builders not consumers. I used a building consultant to review my contract and he suggested about a dozen changes...probably got through about eight or nine...incidentally the ones that didn't get through the BC said were ambit anyway. A building consultant will probably also charge less than a lawyer..... Hi Mike, Do you know any good buidling consultant in melbourne that you would recommend? Are the building consultants have legal qualifications? Also, how much do they charge? At this stage the sales consultant (builder) has asked us to sign and initial the standard floorplans, upgrades list (with options we would like to add when we did the walkthrough in the display house), we also had to sign a request for preliminary contract which has all our contact details and expected land settlement date. We were granted a 2 months extension on top of the 150 days that everyone gets to lock in price and start building. But this is not stated anywhere on the document we have signed so far. The sales consultant says that he will be sending me the updated preliminary quote with the 2 months extension written on it (which has the title preliminary contract on it but sales consultant says they have had arguments with head office to change the wording as it is misleading when it is not a contract, just a quotation but head office does not want to change the word preliminary contract on that document. Is this all normal? I was told that the usual process is: 1. Preliminary quote (which reads prelim contract on the document) 2. Colour selection 3. Sign preliminary contract and make additional payment 4. Electricals selection 5. Final contract signed Until the final contract is signed, you can make any changes you like. Is this right? How can i tell if my contract is based on HIA or MBAV standards? Thanks Re: Site Costs 16Apr 29, 2008 2:03 am Hi Dreamhome,
Not building with Big M, so can't help you on their processes. Hopefully someone from this forum who has built or is currently building with them can assist you. Your contract should state whether it's HIA or MBAV on it eg. logo or heading. Get a copy of the Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 for some guidance also. You can get a copy at the Building Commission website. Hope this helps. I am not sure whether Perth has its own way of doing things in regards to this. Most of Perth has class A (sandy soil), except for some areas near rivers or hills. 2 8284 Is anyone building with Mojo and have a recent site cost tender 0 12280 Looking to tile the facade pillars rather than rendering. Builder is quoting 2500$ laying cost for upto 10msq. The 2 pillars come to be 16msq. So laying costs are 5000$… 0 3983 |