Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Aug 29, 2019 9:52 am Hi my partner and I were planning on building with G.J Gardner Homes. We chose our house design and we had paid for the $3000 Preliminary deposit and signed the 'Authority to proceed' letter. As part of the preliminary deposit they were to conduct contour survey, work drawings, engineering plans for the site, soil testing, drafting, basix and colour selections. As the long process started back on May 25th this year it is now August 29th and we are still waiting to get soil testing. We were quick to do our selections and even went into the local dealers and organised the selections in our own time. The selection process went well. When we got our site plans back with the house sited on the block plans we had a meeting (1 of many) to discuss placing of the clothesline and water tank. At this time we were unaware of council regulations for corner block site setbacks to front and side. The owner of the company (apparently also a builder) sat down with us for the second time to discuss tank and clothesline positionings. At this time we were discussing shifting the house further away from the neighbouring property to put the clothesline on the wall of that side. At this stage the house was 900mm from the neighbouring property and the other side of the house was 1500mm from the boundary facing the side road. We had been receiving large amounts of emails with the same questions we had already answered. Continuous backwards and forwards and multiple meetings and hadn't achieved anything. It was all becoming very frustrating. My partner works 8.30 to 5 Monday to Friday and me being a nurse I do shift work so finding time to meet with G.J was difficult so we were both there each time. We eventually started to look back at another builder to see if we'd be better off with them. When the other builder looked at our site plans they made a comment on how they were getting away with placement as there was not a 6m frontal setback as the plans had 4.5m and not being a 3m side setback as it only had 1.5m thus not meeting council regulations. When we found this out we emailed G.J to question if this was true. To which they replied that it was a small over site and that they'll apply for a council exemption. This was the final straw for us so we told them not to bother and in fact we had lost confidence with them and wish not to proceed any further as if council were to approve the exemption the house would look out of place to the rest of the community or if they were to decline it we would have to alter the plans which the plans are the main reason we chose to go with G.J in the first place. In the email we requested for a refund of the price for the soil testing and any other things they had not done which was a part of the $3000 and we are yet to hear back. I believe they've ignored our email. I had previously asked 3 times in writing for copies of our site contours and soil testing which they either ignored or told me the results weren't back yet. I also know they had not done anything for basix as when they handed us the variation for it they told us they didnt know pricing until everything was finalised. I don't understand how you can go to contract with variations in for site works and basix if they do not have the full details. I feel as though we should get a refund for the things they had not done. Seeing as the main reason we are no longer building with them is down to their own fault of not knowing council regulation with the setbacks. If we had of known the house wouldn't fit on the block initially we would have walked away then and there. It is the builders job to know council regulations not ours this is why we go with builders. We are just seeing what other people who are more experienced in this area think or if anyone has had this issue. If they were to provide us with everything they said they would we would not be asking for a refund. However they have not. Re: Preliminary deposit issues 2Aug 29, 2019 3:48 pm I am sorry that you are in this frustrating situation. We went to different builders i.e. Metricon, Brighton, Clarendon etc and eventually we chose Clarendon. Back in early July, a Metricon sales rep gave me a call to check in whether I made any progress with the build and I told her I went for Clarendon then the sales rep said that if I ever had any problems with Clarendon and wanted to change to Metricon, they can assist with that inquiry and potentially refund my deposit with Clarendon as well. It's not that I recommend you to go for Metricon as I don't them very well but obviously reimbursing deposit via switching builders is a thing. May be it's worth to talk to a different builder and see what they can do for you. Hope everything goes well for you. Re: Preliminary deposit issues 3Sep 07, 2019 7:12 pm tiquau May be it's worth to talk to a different builder and see what they can do for you. Thanks for your reply. We ended up going with Coral homes and they have given us a $1000 discount for swapping builders which was nice. It's been over 2 weeks now and have had no reply from GJ Gardner after we requested a refund. I think it will be unlikely we will be getting any money back from GJ themselves even though as part of a clause in there authorisation to proceed with site contours and soil testing form it states if we were not to go to contract any services which had not been conducted the price of these would be refunded back to us. Re: Preliminary deposit issues 5Sep 09, 2019 9:04 pm tiquau You can try productreview.com.au as they always have someone to monitor that account/email. Hopefully they will reply to you and escalate to senior management. All the best. Oh thank you for that advice we didn't know about product review.com.au Re: Preliminary deposit issues 6Sep 10, 2019 9:17 am As GJ Gardner is basically a franchise, you would need to navigate to your region and talk to the regional manager. GJ Gardner pay a lot of money to advertise their brand as "award winner" on productreview hence someone gotta look over the account for sure. Let me know how you go. Cheers, Re: Preliminary deposit issues 7Sep 25, 2019 6:23 pm I went through a near similar experience with Porter Davis. We threatened to go to QCAT (find something similar in your state) and had our deposit refunded. Technically they have to refund it if no work has been done. In NSW the maximum deposit for building work is 5% until the builder provides HBCF insurance 1 3281 Hi guys, Iām currently looking at a house i want to buy but the building inspection has picked up a number of issues with the brick piers under the house. I took a… 0 4470 Thanks for your reply. I will just wait and see I guess. Trying to get some more information from our builder. 9 11742 |