Air con vent above staircase, anyone?

joaninhac · Mar 19, 2008 12:14 pm

We specifically paid extra money to have an air con vent placed above the stairwell at our new double storey home. The builder ended up installing this 'additional vent' in the tv area near the stairwell.... their excuse was -

** ceiling cooling outlets are not to be located above a stairwell to comply with OH&S building requirements. This is due to an unsafe location for installation, maintenance and positioning of the deflectors**

Does anyone know if this is true?

If it is correct, have i got the right to ask for my money back for the additional vent? I beleive they should have informed me of this statement before taking my money?!

mattwalker · Mar 19, 2008 12:28 pm

joaninhac

** ceiling cooling outlets are not to be located above a stairwell to comply with OH&S building requirements. This is due to an unsafe location for installation, maintenance and positioning of the deflectors**

It could very well be.

Our flyscreen was not installed in the window in our staircase for this reason. (Other OHS non compliance was a lot funnier than this though)

As for the refund ... yep!

100% they should have told you beforehand and there fore you have the right to have the vent moved to the location as per your contract drawings.

If they fail to do this then any extra paid will need to be refunded at handover.

joaninhac · Mar 19, 2008 12:35 pm

thanks for your feedback matt...

what other ohs non compliance was alot funnier?

can you share these? sorry i'm just curious

mattwalker · Mar 19, 2008 1:00 pm

No!

But i wish I could.

Because I was at the house every day at least once....Oh the things I saw.

The risks that some tradesman take sometimes are uneccessary, but it is their own call I guess.

rock · Mar 19, 2008 7:56 pm

ohs?? what about lights that are in the ceiling of stairs then???? they need more mantince!!

joaninhac · Mar 21, 2008 9:56 am

we don't have an y lights above the staircase... theres only one which is on the wall above the staircase, it's still pretty high

arkraider · Apr 01, 2008 9:40 am

What a load of bunkum..... We have our, larger than normal sized vent (6 x 2 panel), directly above the third step from the ground floor. It was placed in such a position so that maximum air flow would be pumped down the stairwell.

As for getting a refund, I would certainly be pushing them to discount your overall invoice as they are in the wrong for not informing you of their intentions.

joaninhac · Apr 01, 2008 9:50 am

arkraider

What a load of bunkum..... We have our, larger than normal sized vent (6 x 2 panel), directly above the third step from the ground floor. It was placed in such a position so that maximum air flow would be pumped down the stairwell.

As for getting a refund, I would certainly be pushing them to discount your overall invoice as they are in the wrong for not informing you of their intentions.

Arkraider.... thank you for sharing that with us... now that i know that i will certainly be setting them straight... i'd love to know who you're building with... could you pm me and tell me?

arkraider · Apr 01, 2008 10:31 am

just pm'd you......

in my tag who the builder is.....Rawdon Hill Construction.... going beautifully at the moment....

joaninhac · Apr 03, 2008 3:04 pm

thanks...

well had our pre-handover inspection yesterday and the guy said he'd have it rectified for us... but i have a feeling he'll come back to us saying he can't do it just like the supervisor said... we'll just have to wait and see what happens, fingers crossed!

royalblue · Apr 03, 2008 3:21 pm

Sounds to me the main problem has been lack of proper communication BEFORE the job was executed.

I think the OH&S issue may well be true. If others have similar installations, they may have been fitted before OH&S rules were updated. These issues are becoming more and more stringent.

Ash.

arkraider · Apr 03, 2008 6:50 pm

Royalblue wrote:

Quote:

Sounds to me the main problem has been lack of proper communication BEFORE the job was executed.

I think this could very much be the case....

Quote:

I think the OH&S issue may well be true. If others have similar installations, they may have been fitted before OH&S rules were updated.

Ours was installed approx 3yrs ago, so quite possibly. Changes happen all the time to the acts..

However on saying that, if there is an issue, get them to do all the plumbing to the spot you want it done ( all in roof cavaty stuff ) and you will fit the actual vent.... Cuts out any OH&S crap.

joaninhac · Apr 04, 2008 9:31 am

[/quote]However on saying that, if there is an issue, get them to do all the plumbing to the spot you want it done ( all in roof cavaty stuff ) and you will fit the actual vent.... Cuts out any OH&S crap.[/quote]

smart thinking... i will ask them to do that if they refuse to do it again!
So far i havn't heard anything so hopefully it should be Ok.

thanks for the idea

joaninhac · Apr 10, 2008 5:57 pm

hey guys...

i'm not having any luck with builder... the handover inspector came back and said same thing.... That due to OH&S BLAH BLAH BLAH.... load of crap

i said to him that it was understandable and fair enough due to OHS regs they couldn't do it, but why tell us in the first place that you can when you can't and why not call us prior installation and tell us they can't install above the stair case and ask if we wanted it elsewhere or moneyback? They went ahead and installed a vent somewhere we didn't want without consulting us...

his response was ' they should have informed you prior installing the vent'... what and that's it, they should have but they didn't... what now??

I'm so frustrated....

MICA · May 01, 2008 6:32 pm

Hi there Joaninhac,

OH&S ... I don't think so!

Definitely I'd be asking for a refund on the extra point, seeing that it didn't go where you wanted it to go!

To be quite honest, that is one of the most important heating and cooling points, as so much hot and cold air escapes from those open areas. The staircase will be hot in summer, and cold in winter. A little like the toilet these days!

It's so cold in there! I'll have to find a new place to read my newspaper.

As for lights, I have a double storey home, and a big momma chandelier in the stairwell, don't remember anyone complaining to put that up. Actually, i reckon it was only me that complained when i had to pay the bill!

Good Luck!

joaninhac · May 02, 2008 10:00 am

MICA and ALL

I gave in to the builder after basically being told they would not give us a refund or move the air con points for us... i was just so over it all and wanted to sign off on the house so we could get rid of the builder!

Anyways... i had sent an email to Consumer Affairs explaining the situation a few days before signing off on the house, i never heard back from Consumer Affairs until the morning after signing off... i was very happy with what they told me...i was doing cartwheels... :lol:

they said that as the builder didn't have the courtesy to inform us that the vent was unable to be placed above the staircase and as they went ahead and installed it elsewhere without our permission we would are entitled to a refund as well as the builder having to bear the cost of the removal of the extra point and relocate the other point back into the master bedroom as we had sacrafised 1 point from the master to be placed above the staircase.... they even said that if they refused to do the right thing we could take this further and obviously end up in court...

well, i picked up the phone, called the builder and told them of what i had been told... Gosh it is amazing how quickly the manager started umming and humming...lol.... well he aparently needed to speak to his own manager about the situation... well to cut the rest short, they ended up agreeing to give us a refund but did not want to pay for the relocation/removal costs... in the end to avoid further stress for myself and my husband and as my main aim was to get the money back we ended up accepting this outcome.

To all of you who are having problems with your builder, please don't give up, i nearly did in this situation until receiving that call back from Consumer Affairs... do your research before signing anything, always question the builder and never give up on what you think is right, even when someone like a builder tells you that you are wrong!!!!!

Thanks for all the advise guys... :wink: