Browse Forums General Discussion Re: Worst thing the builder said to you !!! 41Mar 05, 2010 5:01 pm And another one ........ We asked why was the main bedroom wall wobby, we could have pushed it over. It was extremely unsafe. We were advised by builder "impact damge" .... what the?????? Turned out they forgot to put in steel structural supports .. whole wall had to be knocked down and built again. Re: Worst thing the builder said to you !!! 44Mar 07, 2010 5:03 pm Prominent Tiling Shop in Perth - I'm ready to pay the balance of Tiles on Deposit, $7K Balance to pay Me: I'm here to pay for my Tiles about $7K. Store: Just looking it up... $7K balance, how will you be paying for that? Me: Credit Card okay? Store: We actively discourage it Me: Hmm, you are going to charge me for a Credt Card Surcharge? Store: No Me: (bewildered) So... you aren't going to charge me Credit Card Surcharge and yet you want me to pay cash? Store: Yes Me: So if I pay cash, what discount are you going to give me? Store: None, it's a against store policy, regardless of how its paid Me: (really puzzled) Okay.. so if i pay via Credit Card its' worth $50 in vouchers to me, it'll cost you 1.5% in Merchant Fees which is roughly $100. So what you are telling me is that common sense won't prevail and you won't give me a discount of around $100 if I give you cash. Have I got that right? Store: That is correct Sir Me: (smug look on my face): Rightio then, please swipe my Credit Card. Re: Worst thing the builder said to you !!! 45Mar 08, 2010 11:48 pm lands1, I've had the same thing in lots of places. Me: Can i pay by ccard. Them: We prefer cash Me: is there a fee to pay by ccard? Them: No Me: is there a discount for cash? Them: no Me: Here's my ccard... A timber shutter supplier last week to me: Them: The person coming out to quote tomorrow can no longer come. His next free apt is in 3 weeks Me: So can I reschedule with someone else for sooner than that? Them: Yes, just call back when you want to make an appointment Me: Now would be good Them: Oh, well you'll have to call back tomorrow and speak to xxxx who isn't here. I don't do appointments. Funnily...I decided to call a DIFFERENT shutter place and get them to come in the timeslot that was now free. Built Liberty 42 - Handover 26th Feb 2010 forum thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=17243 Re: Worst thing the builder said to you !!! 47Mar 12, 2010 11:37 pm OMG, this thread is hillarious! Keep it coming OK, here's one from us: Me (looking at a steel post, a good part of which was sitting on air): "This doesn't look right to me." SS: "Oh, it will look all right once it's plastered, you won't even see it!" My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: Worst thing the builder said to you !!! 48Mar 13, 2010 12:05 am A number of things at our colours appointment, our consultant kept saying that whatever option we wanted wasn't in the computer. It reminded of some skit from some show that I don't remember where the receptionist kept saying 'computer says nooooo' Re: Worst thing the builder said to you !!! 50Mar 13, 2010 10:48 am love em, these are classic, and unfortunately have heard alot of them myself. When whole back corner of house started sinking and couldn't open/close french doors as a result after only being in the house 6 months SS walks in, walks around the house, then tells us, not there problem, we've watered our lawn too much and we should have a protective barrier with paths around the house. Us - "Well, what do you call that thing you just walked around the entire house on... it wouldn't be a metre wide concrete path would it?" SS - "yeah, but you've still watered your lawn to much, it's squishy" We then called engineers in, who told us it had nothing to do with lawn, and that these engineers actually did our site compation survey, and that corner of the house had problems in the sand pad and was meant to have been re-done. Looks like they got away with not doing it somehow, but no idea on how to fix the problem. We still have that house, and they ripped down the bricks in that section and "straightened" the door frame (actually made it unstraightened) and then covered up the gaps where the door frame now didn't meet the walls properly with wood pieces!! Cracks keep appearing on the inside wall, and we keep patching them, but they keep appearing. There is so much movement in the whole house, that after 4 years you'd think would have settled, but no, we are still having to get doors shaved and cracks patched, and "apparently" there is nothing they can do about it!! Was suppose to be my family home for years, but I couldn't stand the constant anger I felt in that house, it is now a rental. (rant over) ps, that ss still to this day says he doesn't agree with the engineers, and that we watered our lawn to much Re: Worst thing the builder said to you !!! 51Mar 13, 2010 11:45 am Wow, this is sad. So, the part that is sinking, is it on fill or cut? Or is it all level? What's your site classification? Are you in sandy soil? By SS saying you watered too much, I'd say you are in sandy soil? How much do you know about your piers, eg. how deep they were, especially in that section? Actually, what else do you know about that section? I think you have a pretty good case for Fair Trading, especially if you have some of the things in writing, and also some receipts or documentation about that path you put in after h/over ... For them to reveal that thing about str. eng's to you - it means they must have it somewhere on record (or the engineers shoould have it). My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: Worst thing the builder said to you !!! 52Mar 13, 2010 1:29 pm Lex, we fought for over 18 months just to get them to eventually come out and try to fix it up. We were wanting to sell at that stage, and there was no way we could due to the problem. We actually contacted the builders tribunal, only to be told they weren't due in that town for another 12 months, so the fight just got too much in the end for us. We ended up not being able to sell by the time it was fixed as that's when the economy went downhill, so we have rented it to the government for employees housing for 5 years and I guess we'll look at it again when we sell after that. Lifetime structural warranty, plus the repairs are supposedly warrented for 7 years, so we'll see. I know it's not nice to sell it on to someone else in that condition, but i can't fight it anymore, the whole thing ended with me on Anti depressants as I'd just had DS2 and I ended up very post natal. I can't remember the site classification, I'd have to dig out the paperwork, but apparently it was clay? I know nothing about the piers and such. Yeh, the engineers have it all on record as they bought the paperwork with them when they first came to look at the problem. (yes, I'm crazy for building again, but this time we've gone with a decent builder!) Re: Worst thing the builder said to you !!! 53Mar 13, 2010 1:46 pm Rizzo, I can understand how you feel! That's terrible, anyone would like to sell just to save their health. So, how level is the block? If it's not level, did they do any cut and fill (fill is when they push the soil onto the lower side). Do you have a waffle pod slab? I am still surprised that the SS said - for clay soil - that you watered too much and that was the reason it sank - !??!? If anything, it would have risen, not sank, if you "watered too much". I think it depends if the sinking area is on the cut or on the fill ... My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: Worst thing the builder said to you !!! 54Mar 13, 2010 2:05 pm The site was completely level, no fill, and not a waffle pad. We did remember driving past the site once and noticing they had flattened that area of the sand pad, and we weren't sure why. Apparently they were supposed to bring in more sand for the sand pad and re-do it, but we drove past every day, and there was never any extra sand delivered. The owner of the building company tried to then tell us that it was the developers fault as "apparently" the fill they used was crap. Thing is, we knew most of the neigbours, and funnily, no one else had any problems, and no one else used that builder. The ss was sly and went and checked our retic timer, but it was only set to our watering times (twice a week) and 10 minutes each station and that was all we watered. That was actually the second house we built with that company, and the first time was a great experience, hence we built with them again, but by then, they changed ownership and we ended up with a new ss halfway through, and everything went downhill fast. Unfortunately, we had no choice but to move on as we were leaving town and had to either sell it or rent it to be able to afford to have a roof over our heads too. We put off the move for 12 months because of it, but we couldn't afford to stay and keep fighting either as we had other financial comitments. Re: Worst thing the builder said to you !!! 55Mar 13, 2010 3:16 pm Oh .... sorry to hear of these troubles! That is probably a stiffened raft slab, the one with bedding sand. I cannot understand how it could sink in the area where they apparently removed the sand from. My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: Worst thing the builder said to you !!! 56Mar 13, 2010 4:19 pm sorry Lex, I forgot (it was a couple of years ago now, and another baby since, so forgive my memory), but I recall the engineers thinking it was the footings that had sunk and possibly separated from the slab, but the only way of checking would have been to dig up a 12x6m patio! Re: Worst thing the builder said to you !!! 57Mar 13, 2010 4:21 pm AT the walk through before handover he told me that the vent in the ceiling of the Dining Room was "unfortunate" and it came from the toilet above.......... Then he laughed. . . I could have smacked him one. He also told me that the water pipe from the water tanks that were jutting out in front of the window of the bedroom, "that's just how they are meant to bë", but I had my info from my friends at H1 and I KNEW that was wrong. I dug my heels in and in a 10 miunte job by the plumbers/tank guys, it was moved and much improved edit- so many typos www.themaxbuild.blogspot.com forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=20717&start=300 www.leahspaperpassion.blogspot.com Re: Worst thing the builder said to you !!! 59Mar 15, 2010 5:35 pm Phone coversation with some manager Us: "why has extending garage come back $500 more than originally told, sales guy went through exact calculating process so we could know for sure" Stupid builder rep: "those prices are never set in stone" Us: "we are not paying more than was quoted" Stupid builder rep: "the problem is that the sales guy has forgotten to include double garage door in the price" Us: "oh well your stuff up you fix it" Stupid builder rep: "we cant change the price but what we can do is give you a single garage door on the double garage" - we left this builder as we didnt want to be in it together with this a$$hole. Moved In!!! Next up Landscaping! Our Build thread https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=29127 Re: Worst thing the builder said to you !!! 60Mar 16, 2010 8:24 am From our cabinet makers last night about why they installed different drawer fronts than we wanted without consulting us "I know what you selected but did it this way because I think it looks better and dont really want to have to replace it" Lets just say the correct ones will be going in next week Lauren and Tony: Building our first home in the Vaucluse estste, Doreen, Melbourne http://laurenandtonyshouse.blogspot.com/ Quote of the Day: "I know what you wanted but I did it this way becausee I thought it would look better" Ardo That is so funny! I wonder how many people know who Larry Haun is these days. I have a couple of young guys we call Mo 1 & Mo 2 who run a crew of 6 boys and… 9 15420 Hi Mofflepop, I would recommend finding a building designer to prepare plans, they should design to your specified budget. The benefit is you can tender the project out… 9 20181 |