Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Nov 17, 2006 10:33 am My wife and I are thinking of building with a building company, demolishing the old and building a new house) before we start wanted to find out some experiences people have had with them and whether they are good to use, the process, communications etc. Also I have my own water heaters and alarm from the old house, are they able to re-use this from my old home or do we need to spend and get a new one? how flexible are they if its not on the options list.
Thanks Heaps Re: Building company feedback 3Feb 23, 2007 4:03 pm Three words.... Don't do it! Every tradie I have ever known warned us to stay away, including those who have worked for them. Also my partners cousin's place is about a 4 year old home and the problems they have never seem to end. Saying that they have beautiful houses asthetically. Re: Building company feedback 5Feb 23, 2007 7:51 pm i don't get it. r we all talking about a building company in particular (called Building Company) or all building companies?
![]() Re: Building company feedback 6Feb 23, 2007 8:05 pm I think we are talking about [edited], but the moderators are scared of crossing some legal line and have substituted "a building company" for [edited] - but they forgot/left one behind.
Come on moderators, we need to be able to talk abut building companies - the good, the bad and the ugly. We need to protect each other from companies that are creating havoc. From my understanding if you say Acme Building Company is very bad, you can be liable for slander. However, if you say I think Acme Building Company is very bad, you are stating an opinion only. Also if you just state the facts - eg, Acme Building Company were 43 days late in finishing our house, this is a statement of fact (which should be clearly so) and again you are safe. Is there any one out there with a legal background that can ratify my suggested approach? Re: Building company feedback 7Feb 24, 2007 9:40 am I think you will find that it is no longer possible for a company to be defamed anyway. That changed under the Uniform Defamation laws introduced on 1st January 2006 so you should be able to say whatever you like about a company, but not an individual.
Some corporates are trying to drag the Trade Practices Act etc into it to try and prove that someone is undermining their business etc but I don't think any of these have been successful. There has been some media on this recently but this website explains it all pretty well. http://www.caslon.com.au/defamationprofile2.htm#introduction These public forums are a minefield - there was a recent article in the Financial Review that I will source a link for and upload later. Re: Building company feedback 8Feb 24, 2007 10:08 am builda,
Sounds like you've got access to some interesting information. Best Builder, What’s your legal advice on getting people to rate builders? Moderators, We need a mechanism for being able to discuss individual builders. We need some guidelines on the appropriate way to discuss builders. I understand that builders need protection from individuals that may maliciously damaging the business, but at the same time we need protection for individuals from malicious or incompetent builders. Give us some guidelines that we can work with. Cheers, Casa Re: Building company feedback 9Feb 24, 2007 11:06 am This is a link to the Financial Review Article I referred to earlier. A must read for the moderators.
http://www.builderscollective.org.au/News/fr100207.pdf Re: Building company feedback 10Feb 27, 2007 3:19 pm Hi everyone,
l am an avid reader of these forums but have never posted before. We are just about to go to the New Home Tender appointment for a house that we are going to build. I have just read these posts and am starting to panic. Can anyone please enlighten me with specifics of any problems they had with this company. l don' care if you write "building company" or whatever but l would really like to know as much information as possible before we sign anything!!! Please help!!! Thanks in advance, Leonda Re: Building company feedback 11Feb 27, 2007 8:59 pm Our neighbours-to-be are building with [edited]. She's getting very upset - they've had a few problems, from what she's said...but the real biggie is they're taking ages to finish.
Our houses are of comparable size. Their land was cleared in September of last year. Ours in November. We're due for handover in approx 4 weeks...they haven't proceeded any further than getting their brickwork & rendering finished (our brickwork was finished ages ago...in fact, most of our entire house was built while they were bricking). She's really frustrated because she sees people at our house every day & their house has ground to a halt yet again (her words). It's going to be a nice home when it's done...it's just taking ages to get there. Our painter also said he wouldn't build with them - he used to contract to them & had a few problems. His opinion was the management (admin) needed quite a bit of work. I think part of the problem is they have quite a few projects on the go at once & not enough tradies to get them all done in a timely manner. Re: Building company feedback 12Feb 27, 2007 9:30 pm I though that standard building contracts have a liquidated damages clause (that is, if they run late, there's a cost to the builder). If [edited] are constantly running late, wouldn't this be costing them big time. Or does [edited] remove this "standard building contract" clause?
I think that any building company that doesn't have a liquidated damages clause for late completion is a warning sign. We need this "standard" protection since while builders take an extra 6 months to build we have to pay a mortgage and rent for another 6 months. Re: Building company feedback 13Feb 27, 2007 11:40 pm I'm unsure if they're running behind...or just normally take a lot longer than our building company. Our neighbour-to-be seemed pretty annoyed about it, though...which leads me to believe it's longer than they were expecting. Re: Building company feedback 14Feb 28, 2007 10:39 am THE FOLLOWING COMMENTS ARE AS A PERSONAL NATURE, AND NOT, I REPEAT NOT AS A MODERATOR OF THIS SITE
Ladies and gents, it is really quite simple. Stick to the facts. This solves a lot of problems. If you cannot back up any negative statements you make, then you may be leaving yourselves open to further action by the subject. I am not a solicitor. But what I will say is that there have been blatant and nasty entries on other forums I am a member of, which have resulted in legal action, and deservably so. Such slurs have been disgusting and vindictive to say the least. Others have questioned the profesionalism of certain individuals based on unsubstantiated claims. This, and many other forums, are provided to you as a free service, and with the current climate of litigation, the owners have every right to protect their investments, and in many cases their homes from such litigation. Would you remove a post if you were in a similar situation?. I am also sure that this forum has been contacted by a builder with regard to this very issue. Adrian B Re: Building company feedback 15Feb 28, 2007 10:44 am SPEAKING AS A MODERATOR OF THIS SITE
I will make contact with the owner of this site and seek clarification for all concerned. Please also note that when you create a reply, you will see the following remarks: "Forum users are reminded defamation laws apply to discussion boards. Individuals are responsible for their postings, and can be traced very easily by IP address." Remember that you are also bound by the rules of this forum, and that includes: You agree not to post any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening, sexually-oriented or any other material that may violate any applicable laws. Doing so may lead to you being immediately and permanently banned (and your service provider being informed). The IP address of all posts is recorded to aid in enforcing these conditions. The moment an individual or an entity's name is mentioned, the member himself / herself accepts to be solely responsible for any serious consequences as a result of doing so. If you have any further issues, pleae contact the moderators via PM. Thanks Adrian B - Moderator faultless is hard to find, talk to your builder because it has real potential to hold up the schedule so needs to someone they work well with. I agree it is frustrating to… 1 8429 Hi Everyone, I applied for company contractor license 2 wks ago, and have been told that the process is taking averaging 11 wks. The nominated supervisor has already got… 0 7457 Thanks , we decided to go with them now in the process of designing, yes I agree they are super flexible with design and super flexibility with our needs , anyway one… 2 42613 |