Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Aug 22, 2015 10:08 pm We’ve been engaging with a custom builder and after meetings, emails and taking the time to show us through several houses they’d built, we got to a stage where we decided to build with them. We paid an initial deposit with an understanding that they would be constructing our home and that the money would go towards initial costs such as house plans, soil tests etc. We’d had numerous meetings where they expressed their interest to proceed. There was nothing that led us to believe otherwise as they were happy to take our deposit and get the ball rolling. At our most recent meeting, they informed us they’d have no problems fitting in our project with their current workload so it was a surprise to recently receive an email informing us that they’d no longer be willing to go ahead with our build as they were scaling back their business. Now, we need to pick up the pieces and start over with another builder. We don’t even have a complete set of drawings because the draftsperson did not complete what he was supposed to. We’d have to go through the whole process and pay for complete drawings, soil test etc. all over again. We’ve kindly asked for our deposit back yet this request has been met with refusal. Apparently, it would not be possible for us to get a refund as in fact they’d had to pay the draftsperson a bit more than our deposit due to some changes we’d made. A rather disappointing outcome as we were very much looking forward to finally building our dream home only to have them cancel on us unexpectedly due to their own personal reasons. We’ll be following up with legal but if anybody has been in a similar situation, has any advice or thoughts we’d very much appreciate if you’d be kind enough to share your experiences. Re: Disappointing situation - advice needed please. 2Aug 22, 2015 11:49 pm Sorry to hear of your situation. Hopefully someone on here can offer some valuable help. Good luck with it all Re: Disappointing situation - advice needed please. 3Aug 23, 2015 9:16 am No advice but I would take it as a blessing, things could have been much worse had you already commenced with them. Re: Disappointing situation - advice needed please. 4Aug 23, 2015 9:42 am I would have thought that taking a deposit from a customer is there to protect the builder from the client pulling out of the agreement, and that should the builder choose to break the contract, any deposit should be refunded in full to the owner. One would think the comment of "scaling back their business" could be read as they are having financial issues, and need to grab as much cash from deposits as they can. Owner Building at Jimboomba Woods in Logan City Qld. Blog : http://bandlnewhomebuild.blogspot.com H1 thread : viewtopic.php?f=38&t=68283 . Re: Disappointing situation - advice needed please. 5Aug 23, 2015 11:05 am I would go to the builders registration board in your state & ask advice. Also Consumer Affairs. Their decision to cancel just not absolve them from fulfilling part of the contract for which you paid deposit. At least ask them for copies of any drawings done, whatever the stage.... ++++++++++++ New Generation Homes 'Odyssey' at Whiteman Edge Our Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=76967&start=20 Re: Disappointing situation - advice needed please. 6Aug 23, 2015 1:29 pm This doesn't sound right. What area are you in? Re: Disappointing situation - advice needed please. 7Aug 23, 2015 2:34 pm Definitely does not sound kosher. What's stopping this builder from taking 100 deposits and telling each person the builder won't proceed and won't be refunding their deposits? I suggest you speak to the relevant council/authorities. Make sure you have a copy of what you signed. Re: Disappointing situation - advice needed please. 8Aug 28, 2015 6:07 am Sorry to hear that, Hope you get your deposit back! build thread: viewtopic.php?t=78328 Dream Metricon Glendale 38 (Sydney)! Orpheus Building the Metricon Glendale 38|Sydney Re: Disappointing situation - advice needed please. 9Aug 28, 2015 7:14 am Don't really have advice on how to get the deposit back but if they are insisting the deposit was to generate the drawings then. at a minimum. the drawings (and all copyright) belong to you. Make sure you get the CAD files as well as any pdf's they have. Using my LG-G4 to bring you this update. Re: Disappointing situation - advice needed please. 10Aug 28, 2015 9:36 am You've been burnt but it's my guess it would have been a lot worse if you had gone ahead with what is obviously a bunch of cowboys. Go to Consumer Affairs and see what your rights are but normally builders copyright their designs so not sure they'll be obliged to hand the drawings over. Re: Disappointing situation - advice needed please. 11Aug 28, 2015 2:57 pm Was the work done for the deposit you paid? If so you should get the benefit of that, including plans, reports etc. If not, they haven't fulfilled their contract with you, and are subject to legal action to remedy that, or compensate you. Whats worst of all is that they took your money without feeling an obligation to complete the whole project with you, despite saying they would. This reminds me of all these businesses going insolvent, and dishonestly taking payments from people for work they have no intention of completing, often right up to the last day they close their doors. You may have dodged a bullet here. Re: Disappointing situation - advice needed please. 13Aug 28, 2015 10:28 pm We have had much the same happen to us although we did not pay a deposit to the builder we did pay a few thousand dollars for the drawings. We spent 12 months with a particular chosen builder, got as far as their architect finalising the plans and getting council approval. We were ready to start building when the builder said they are no longer building in NSW and instead concentrating on ACT instead (we are just over the border). We then had to get new quotes and choose another builder, we also discovered that all three new quotes were up to 100k over the original estimated quote so had to make changes to the plans to reduce costs. We had to get written permission from the first architect to amend the plans which was quite stressful as we didn't think he was going to agree at one point. Our house is totally custom so there was no way we were going to start again with the floor plan. The whole hiccup took 12 months which was very frustrating. The best advise I can give is move on and find someone else, trying to get your money back will be far more stressful and most likely more costly than your initial outlay. I hope it works out for you and you find an even better builder to build your home. My build thread: Custom build on 40 acres viewtopic.php?f=31&t=75656 Re: Disappointing situation - advice needed please. 15Aug 29, 2015 9:23 am MrBee No advice but I would take it as a blessing, things could have been much worse had you already commenced with them. Agree with this. We originally signed up with another builder about three years ago. Paid a $2k deposit. They went broke just before the slab went down. We've counted our blessings. We are much happier with our current house design. Even though it took us 18mths to come up with the first (our own) design and we're having a few hiccups ATM now we are building (inevitable) we feel we are better off. If they went bust during the build it would have been awful. I know they have to be insured and another builder will be appointed, but they'd be struggling from the the get go ... Not good at the start. Move on. Chalk up the experience. You'll soon forget about that $2k. We did Re: Disappointing situation - advice needed please. 16Aug 29, 2015 10:15 pm This is exactly what happened to my friend two years ago in Melbourne and it was a lengthy argument and in the end she couldn't do anything about it. She is happy they didn't go ahead with them. Imagine the trouble and delays later on !! You might be able to apply to divert the sewer at your expense. In NSW you would contact a Water services co-ordinator and they would give you advice as to whether or not… 1 16127 Hi All, I engaged a tradie to install concrete retaining wall 600-800mm high over 32 meters in Victoria. Sleepers are 200*75*2000 mm installed over 17 steel posts. I… 0 6887 Building Standards; Getting It Right! Don't think they are designed for double brick. WA has a particular way of building and unfortunately that's the way a large amount of sills are finished. 3 6996 |