Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Aug 15, 2014 4:25 pm Hi all We are in the early days of planning a KDR. I'm generally very leery of building (& always said I'd never build!!!) so I'm not looking forward to the whole adventure Just wanted to ask some advice on two issues A) is there insurance you can take out to cover you in case the builders go under? This happened to a family member who was covered by insurance (still a long drawn-out nightmare regardless) and I'm not sure if it was standard insurance or something she took out personally? B)I have yet to see our contract but presuming it is a standard HIA contract can you vary the penalty rates per days that they go over their maximum build time? Have people had success doing this with big project builders or are they just told no variations to contract are accepted by the builder C) we already have the funds for the build in our offset account so the banks won't be involved in authorising the various payment stages. Any pitfalls we need to know about with this strategy? Do we need to put in the contract (& can we!) that we are planning to have an independent building inspector sign off on construction before each payment is authorised??? Sorry I'm generally both clueless but also highly suspicious of being fleeced! Any advice appreciated. Re: Insurance whilst building & variations to standard contr 2Aug 15, 2014 4:45 pm I believe that the insurance comes under the builder through Builders Warranty Insurance, although i guess you could contact an insurance broker to see if there is something else available you could have as well. The problem with the AU builders warranty is that it only assists owners if the builder goes insolvent, is suspended (license for building), dies or "disappears". If you google the term you will get lots of useful information about it. If a builder goes over the completion time builders warranty insurance is not applicable (happy to be proved wrong about that though). Problems with the build ie going over the completion date, defective work etc go through your state or territory's consumer court ie in Victoria it is VCAT. Your Department of Fair Trading or Consumer Affairs should have information on their websites about starting building projects ie contract information. Having an understanding of consumer law might be useful too. Yes, you can negotiate conditions in your contract but if you want to change the penalty rate for the builder going over the completion date that should be in the contract when you sign, not as a variation afterwards. Changes made to the contract at the time of signing are not - in my opinion - variations per say. You can make any condition or change to the contract but that does not mean a builder will accept them so have a chat with the builder beforehand. Having a lawyer look over the contract might be helpful. It seems very clear to me that your contract states that a security account does NOT need to be established so the answer to the builder is NO. If in doubt find a contract… 1 8473 So AFAIk the outcomes of the BAL ratings form part of a clause that allows them to pass these costs on to you. However the more relevant detail is how did it go from 19… 1 9107 Hi All, I just wanted to close this topic out with an update. So we ended up agreeing to a number with the insurance company, and after an extensive amount of hand… 8 23348 |