Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Nov 23, 2015 9:40 pm Hey all. I'm having major problems with my builder. When signed up we were told 6 months administration and 6 months to build.. This has blown out considerably. We are entering our 10th month in construction on a 3x2 standard design with very little modification. My biggest issue is that we have been promised completion dates the entire way through and at every one they have dissapointed. At this point it feels like they are just taking advantage of us, they promise us a date and when it passes they don't even bother to offer an explanation. After my latest meeting with the SS he said they were going to "call in some favours" to have it completed by the 4th of December (handover 14th). He even went as far as to tell me to go ahead and hand in my notice to vacate my rental because it would be done. Well its now just over a week away from that date and we still don't have flooring or appliances or window treatments or electrical, I could go on... I called our contract admin and shes telling me flooring is booked for the second week of December... A week after its supposed to be completed. We don't know what to do or where to turn. We will literally be homeless come the 21st of December because of what they told us. Is there anything we can do? Re: Problem builder, any advice? 2Nov 24, 2015 10:04 am I'm sorry to hear you've having issues with your builder. Building a new house should be an exciting time! If you're not having any success talking to your builder I would contact your local building licence authority. In Queensland it's the QBCC and see if they can offer any advise as to what you can do. Further to this, if you wish to take action against the builder (in the hopes he might get a move on) you can contact QCAT (for Queensland) who deal in civil disputes for things like unpaid debt's, missing trades after payment, and businesses not providing the services that were outlined. I'd be speaking with the real-estate agent to see if there is another tenant that is lined up, if not.. can they extend the lease ? Best of luck, Christopher All Purpose Coatings - Ashford Corporate Group http://www.epoxysupplies.com.au - PH: 1800 4 EPOXY (1800 437 699) Re: Problem builder, any advice? 4Nov 24, 2015 10:17 pm There is indeed a contract, with an allowance of 300 days construction... When we asked about that at sign up they laughed and said it was purely there in case of natural disaster and they have "never" had a build take anywhere near that long. I realise legally we are boned in regard to the contract. I'm more interested in any action I can take In regards to the way they are being so flippant about the situation. Promising a completion date one day then scoffing at the thought of it being finished by that same date the next. Ive been in sales my whole life and a contract doesn't give you free license to intentionally lie to a customer and at this point that is exactly what they are doing. Here in WA we have a building comission that handles contract disputes but that's about it as far as I can tell. The same builder is building the house right next to ours. The slab for that house was laid 3 months after ours and it's now at the same stage as us, if not a little further along! How is that possible? I know many, many people that had their slab laid in June/July, some of which moved into their new home last month... Re: Problem builder, any advice? 5Nov 25, 2015 12:44 am The Building Commission is part of the public service so don't expect any help there. You're most likely to find their Xmas Function is sponsored by one of WA's builders. Trouble is there is a general attitude problem across all WA builders and it's caused by there being a small pool of workers, all with equally bad attitudes, that just move between builders as work demands require. They all make promises and commitments they have no intention of meeting. Re: Problem builder, any advice? 6Nov 25, 2015 11:37 am Hopalot My biggest issue is that we have been promised completion dates the entire way through and at every one they have dissapointed. Promises not reinforced in contract clauses, are meaningless. Hopalot There is indeed a contract, with an allowance of 300 days construction... When we asked about that at sign up they laughed and said it was purely there in case of natural disaster and they have "never" had a build take anywhere near that long. I dont know what the 6 months admin is you mentioned , but traditionally house building contracts specifiy a start date and end date for actual building, not "admin". The 300 days you mentioned makes sense. Most houses are built well within 180 days unless prolonged inclement weather occurs. Hopalot I'm more interested in any action I can take In regards to the way they are being so flippant about the situation. Have you read and understood right through your contract? Flippancy is not legally actionable . Non observance of the contract is though. MY guess is by the way your builder is behaving, there are no compensation clauses for going over time? If so you're kind of stuffed, but of course you should always be able to haul them before your state Building commission for unprofessional behaviour. Its a tenet of our Fair trading laws that anyone providing a service for a fee, must do so in a reasonable amount of time. WA people have mentioned WA property/consumer laws are still in Wild west territory, and I'm speaking as an East coaster though, where laws seem to be somewhat tighter. Best advice - Next time you build a house,
Re: Problem builder, any advice? 7Nov 25, 2015 11:56 am I wouldn't stress too much as for starters tell landlord you need two more weeks and are staying, and or move in without occupancy certificate, move into one room; we did this and got certificate 6 weeks later, we just moved in and that was that. Re: Problem builder, any advice? 8Nov 25, 2015 3:25 pm Hopalot There is indeed a contract, with an allowance of 300 days construction... When we asked about that at sign up they laughed and said it was purely there in case of natural disaster and they have "never" had a build take anywhere near that long. 300 days (work days mind you, so that's about 1 year and 3 months including Christmas shutdown) is an unreasonable amount of time for any house. I know it doesn't help you but this should have set off alarm bells and I would have been running for the hills. Our contract says 120 days which is about 6 months. This is standard for most single storey houses. +20 days for double storey. Problem builder, any advice? 9Nov 25, 2015 11:58 pm Hopalot Hey all. I'm having major problems with my builder. When signed up we were told 6 months administration and 6 months to build.. This has blown out considerably. We are entering our 10th month in construction on a 3x2 standard design with very little modification. My biggest issue is that we have been promised completion dates the entire way through and at every one they have dissapointed. At this point it feels like they are just taking advantage of us, they promise us a date and when it passes they don't even bother to offer an explanation. After my latest meeting with the SS he said they were going to "call in some favours" to have it completed by the 4th of December (handover 14th). He even went as far as to tell me to go ahead and hand in my notice to vacate my rental because it would be done. Well its now just over a week away from that date and we still don't have flooring or appliances or window treatments or electrical, I could go on... I called our contract admin and shes telling me flooring is booked for the second week of December... A week after its supposed to be completed. We don't know what to do or where to turn. We will literally be homeless come the 21st of December because of what they told us. Is there anything we can do? 6 months admin 6 months build is standard WA sales BS. Never believe what your SS unless he's prepared to email it (he won't be) Sorry to hear you're in this situation but if it's 300 days on the HIA contract it may well be from slab down, not even the start of admin so maybe go through it with a fine tooth comb. Your landlord will probably love to have you stay on longer at the Xmas time of year in a falling rental market Re: Problem builder, any advice? 10Nov 26, 2015 12:13 am jas0nt Hopalot There is indeed a contract, with an allowance of 300 days construction... When we asked about that at sign up they laughed and said it was purely there in case of natural disaster and they have "never" had a build take anywhere near that long. 300 days (work days mind you, so that's about 1 year and 3 months including Christmas shutdown) is an unreasonable amount of time for any house. I know it doesn't help you but this should have set off alarm bells and I would have been running for the hills. Our contract says 120 days which is about 6 months. This is standard for most single storey houses. +20 days for double storey. I agree, I accept that it was poor decision making on my part. The way we were sold the experience was that the entire process would take a year from sign up to handover. Being a salesman myself I figured I'd covered all the bases in terms of what they could and could not say to make the sale... Turns out building company salesmen are above consumer protection laws... Go figure. I did receive a phone call today from my contract admin saying they were booking PCI for the 14th. The SS refuses to call me back cause he knows he is a total **** for promising me a completion date he couldn't possibly meet (again). They reckon if PCI goes well they will push final documents through so I can get keys 4-5 days later. Pushing that Dec 21st to the absolute limit. Its a sh*tty situation, I'll never build a house again. I keep trying to remember why I didn't just buy established and for the life of me, I can't. Re: Problem builder, any advice? 11Nov 26, 2015 7:20 am Hopalot ... Turns out building company salesmen are above consumer protection laws... Go figure. Honest salesman don't last long in building companies where the commissions are obscene for little work... BTW.They cleaned up the used car industry (salesman) years ago, they should do the same with the housing industry. Designer,Engineer (Civil,Const & Envir),Builder,Concrete & Masonry Contract.Struct Repairs Re: Problem builder, any advice? 13Nov 26, 2015 12:07 pm I disagree with moving into the house unfinished - if you need to go through legal avenues to recoup money, you will get in trouble for having moved into the house - even just storing things there. If you are with a big building company, you need to make official complaints, speak to people higher up, speak to the owner of the company. Your particular builder might be an person they are aware of. Just some thoughts. Re: Problem builder, any advice? 14Nov 26, 2015 1:40 pm Often comes a time under these particular circumstances where you have to weigh up the cost of pushing the issue versus the likelihood of a successful outcome. In W.A. you've got buckleys going up against a builder, particularly one of the bigger groups, as they've got the Building Commission in their pockets. If the quality of the build is OK and it's only a time issue I'd advise talking to your landlord sooner rather than later. Given the rental market he'll probably be happy to have a couple of months extra rent. The advantage of this is you can play a bit of hardball with the final payment. Re: Problem builder, any advice? 15Nov 26, 2015 2:49 pm Hopalot jas0nt Hopalot I'll never build a house again. I keep trying to remember why I didn't just buy established and for the life of me, I can't. Felt exactly the same after we built with one of W.A.'s "best" It's not worth the grief they give you. Re: Problem builder, any advice? 16Nov 26, 2015 8:23 pm Althom Often comes a time under these particular circumstances where you have to weigh up the cost of pushing the issue versus the likelihood of a successful outcome. In W.A. you've got buckleys going up against a builder, particularly one of the bigger groups, as they've got the Building Commission in their pockets. If the quality of the build is OK and it's only a time issue I'd advise talking to your landlord sooner rather than later. Given the rental market he'll probably be happy to have a couple of months extra rent. The advantage of this is you can play a bit of hardball with the final payment. It really is an issue that these guys can be so flippant about the way they treat people. Such a stark difference from other sales positions where your constantly one call to consumer protection away from getting walked over. Went by the house today. Tilers were there tiling wet areas. Nice enough guys, said they were working through the weekend to get it all done. Appliances have started to appear now also. I still think they might struggle with getting it done, even by the 14th but guess we will see. Re: Problem builder, any advice? 17Dec 09, 2015 12:08 am We are having the same trouble - we are well over the 300 days in the contract - Signed May 2013 and it's Dec 2015 and we are still not in our dream home. I don't know how they can get away with it. Ultimate Homes PERTH '13 Dec Council App '14 Jun Slab '15 Jun Lockup Dec PCI '16 Jan Feb PCI 9 wks ago - still NOT in viewtopic.php?f=31&t=80759 Re: Problem builder, any advice? 18Dec 09, 2015 2:14 am This post got me thinking,I am sure I read that you put into the contract about liquidated damages, meaning you have a date it has to be finished by or they have to pay up for each day over the date, and to put in an amount of money ,like to pay the rent so the builder get it done by the date on the contract. Cheers Re: Problem builder, any advice? 19Dec 09, 2015 9:50 am Well its the 9th and im still waiting for main floor tiling, carpets, exterior paint and window treatments with PCI supposedly this coming Monday (14th). Admittedly there has been alot more progress lately but I'm still concerned. Seems like an awful lot of work to complete in 3 days (working days). Re: Problem builder, any advice? 20Dec 09, 2015 11:05 pm I feel terrible for you - we are in the same situation but we can hold out here abit longer till things get sorted out properly. Ultimate Homes PERTH '13 Dec Council App '14 Jun Slab '15 Jun Lockup Dec PCI '16 Jan Feb PCI 9 wks ago - still NOT in viewtopic.php?f=31&t=80759 A question. Im in Queensland and building a new home. We managed to reach practical completion 6 weeks ago but we haven't heard any date for handover yet. Who should we… 0 5800 Thank you so much. This has been very helpful. We definitely wish to settle and get these people out of our life. They are trying to charge us interest on late… 7 14242 It is in lake macquarie area and dimensions are width 14 m and depth 8 m and the slope is 1/5 going down from the road. 1 7071 |