Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Apr 30, 2014 11:35 pm Also posted under build a new house but thought I would post here also. Looking for some advice from anyone who may know or has had a similar experience. We are seeking compensation/damages from our builder because of the atrocious timeline that has gone on during our build with the most recent events pushing us over the edge. April 2013 - signed PPA with builder June 2013 - planning application submitted Aug 2013 - contracts signed September 2013 - planning application rejected October 2013 - prestart December 2013 - planning application resubmitted February 2014 - planning application approved 25 March 2014 - prestart variations finally signed (since October prestart variations have gone back and forth with items being incorrect, this did include a plan redraw as per new planning application) 03 April 2014 - building application submitted 17 April 2014 - called council and was told building licence application wasn't submitted with all the information needed and they had to request more information 30 April 2014 - called council again and was told application was sent back and was still incorrect and another letter has been sent requesting more information. We have not been contacted by the builder since 3 April when they said the application was sent to council and that we would hear back in 2 weeks. We also have a problem as we are still waiting for finance approval to come through from the bank as they made an error in our valuation and we couldn't submit our finance application until the end of March while we were waiting for correct working drawings and prestart costs etc. We feel this timeline is so far beyond acceptable from a builder especially after the incidents with the building licence as this is a part of the foundation of their business. We are building in WA with a large commercial builders residential builder. A part of the reason for the first request for information from council was because the planning application that was approved was slightly different to the final plan as we upgraded to longer stacking doors - we asked for this to be included on the plans sent to council but the builder wouldn't as it was a prestart upgrade that hadn't been signed off yet. This has only infuriated us more. Sorry for the rant but we are at our wits end with what to do as this keeps costing us money as our block settled 14 months ago. Any help is so much appreciated. Thanks Re: Compensation from builder for delays?? 2May 01, 2014 1:33 am I am in the same situation. The only thing to to is walk away but you will lose your deposit. There is also the chance that the next builder suffers the same delays. This was why I have not bothered sinking more time into it. I have had building approval for six months now and we are still going back and forth on the variations costs. It really does your head in. Mine plan had to be resubmitted because they took one course out without telling me and that was approved by council. Then the plans had to be changed and resubmitted. ggrrrr Re: Compensation from builder for delays?? 3May 01, 2014 1:43 am We can't walk away because it will cost too much not only the deposit but the money we have had to fork out for rent during this time and land mortgage payments. I don't understand how builders are allowed to get away with this though. It's peoples lives and their welfare. We only decided to build to be better off and the whole process is taking 18 months longer than we expected. It's so unfair there should be rules and dates they need to meet and then we charge them penalties. I know with my OH as sparkie on site if he is a day late they will try charge us penalties for it, should go both ways shouldn't it? H1 Thread - viewtopic.php?f=31&t=61557 Re: Compensation from builder for delays?? 4May 01, 2014 6:43 pm When you say contracts signed in Aug 2013, do you mean the contract covering the whole build? There certainly is instances where liquidated damages need to be paid by a builder, But I don't see anything that immediately places this upon the builder. What contract did you exactly sign? Re: Compensation from builder for delays?? 5May 01, 2014 6:49 pm We signed a standard HIA contract that most builders have and full working drawings. We then signed all prestart variations and final plans in March after waiting 9 weeks for the correct prestart selections. H1 Thread - viewtopic.php?f=31&t=61557 Re: Compensation from builder for delays?? 6May 02, 2014 2:19 pm I am not sure about compensation from builders but we are definitely looking into it ourselves. We signed with a 'reputable' WA building in Feb 13, and have only just reached slab stage. Our keys dates are: Feb 13 PCC Signed with Builder Apr 13 Title Issued May 13 Schedule of Particulars signed Jul 13 Pre start Oct 13 Final Plans signed. At this stage the builder tried to charge us a few thousand $$ for the house price increase since the PCC expired in Aug 13. I wrote to the CEO of the company explaining that the fault for the delay in contract was that of the builder as it took them until Oct 13 to provide contracts free from errors from pre-start and not because of any delay by us. They dropped the price but we were still left to pay them $$ for delays. (there's another story for later) Dec 13 Council Approval Mar 14 Slab down Apr 14 Brick work commenced. I have asked the builder to provide us with the dates in which the Schedule of Particulars commence (ie. 45 for commencement of work and 180 to completion). I asked them for this a few weeks ago but they are still 'looking into it'. The builder has already shown their true colours in charging us extra for delays not within our control so we will be keeping a close eye on their timings and possibly seeking legal advice on how to charge them for their delays. We will keep you updated if we find out anything that will assist you. I hope your build starts moving forward soon. Re: Compensation from builder for delays?? 7May 02, 2014 2:23 pm Hi Ginga, Thanks that would be so helpful. We also had constant variations in prestart charging us extra for an air con install now even though they have had the air con ducts etc on the plans since day one but now it costs more. Same for other things that now cost more and need finalizing when we have sent the information 3 times already. We even had a 3 week delay because our prestart consultant was away and the person we sent out signed variations to didn't put them in the file for her reference so they asked us to send them again - can they forward internal emails??? It's beyond frustrating. I hope construction is a smooth, painless process for yourselves. Re: Compensation from builder for delays?? 8May 14, 2014 9:28 pm Here is the truth... Building companies, particularly the bigger one's use the council approval process to step out jobs so they can schedule them to suit their staff and contractors. The first way is to send different plans to planning and building departments. Obviously they refuse or request further information and under the HIA act they have 2 weeks to show evidence that they met the request of the council involved. The second and the all time fav of the builders is to have it approved but only after the indemnity insurance certificate has been forwarded as part of the application. They will be sent a request and allowed 30 days to deliver to council. The fact is that they can make many deliberate mistakes to slow down an approval, and even if it is all considered good, they can buy another 30 days. Don't forget the price rises in the mean time. Being a builder myself, and after dealing with Summit homes in Perth, I can truly state the above is very true. My advice is to get the facts from the council in writing of which they will happily do, and pending the facts, lodge it with the BDT, Building Disputes Tribunal. You can win this. It's not that hard. steve@everlastpatios.com.au www.everlastpatios.com.au Re: Compensation from builder for delays?? 9Aug 08, 2014 1:02 am Wow. It's taken us almost 2 years from buying our land in Oct 2012 to signing the contract with our builder tonight. We've had the plans done by an architect & a draftsman and I submitted the DA to council myself (we have approval). Although it's taken a long time, at least we got the right plans approved without mistakes or changes by the builder. I'm amazed at how long everything takes. I naively thought we'd be in a new house 1 yr after buying the land. I feel your pain! Re: Compensation from builder for delays?? 10Aug 08, 2014 1:41 am I am curious, who are you guys building with? I am building with the volume builder (psss... Plantation Homes AKA Henley) and we are almost finished after less than a year. We started looking for a piece of land about this time last year, bought and settled around middle of November, started looking for builder and started what we thought was a protracted process of getting the contract, which after many MANY going back and forth, finally got it signed on beginning of february, and then various haggling over details and post contract variation for another 2 months and finally started building around beginning of April, and now it is August and our 2 storey house is almost finished! While there are various issues along the way we are not exactly happy with - I have got to say seeing what you guys going through made me think we got it lucky. I definitely cannot imagine taking on the cost of delay (that would bankrupt us). For Plantation Homes AKA Henley - the Late completion compensation is $15 a day (see viewtopic.php?f=31&t=69262), which works out to be $105 a week - less than a quarter of what we pay every week for our rent. I think you are not going to get much more than that - I heard most building only pay $1 a day! And most of them have an "escape clause" to help them dodge responsibility of paying you if you got into protracted issues. "Occam's Razor. The simplest explanation is almost always somebody screwed up." Just to makea point about this, an approach that some people have found sucessful in negotiating these rises down, Is to provide some workings to the builder, specifying… 4 81718 In fairness nobody gave a crap about the ACCC and the gag clauses continued in the pro forma templates of a few other builders after the ACCC took on Wisdom, and more… 19 73480 While i was across this behavior's pre appointing my (the builders) surveyor, I did tell the builder i was aware what they were doing and while i disagreed with it, they… 13 14590 |