Browse Forums Building Standards; Getting It Right! 1 Oct 24, 2010 5:11 pm Hi everyone, Hoping someone might be able to help out with this one.... Story is:- * We agree to build a house with xHomes, owned by one builder franchisee ('T") * We request an increased ceiling height in the living area, @ 2.7m instead of the standard 2.4m * Specs amended and approved to 2.7m, additional cost is incurred and added to contract price * Plans NOT amended (unfortunately not picked up by us until today) by builder T * A new franchisee with xhomes moves into our area, and insists that our house is now built by them (A) instead of T. * Contract, plans and specs etc all move across to builder A, all re-signed and approved by ourselves and the new builder * House is being built now, we realise ceiling height is 2.4m, ie 30cm short, communicate to builder * Builder A advises he was just building to the plans, and wasn't aware that there was an agreement in the specs for an increased building height Not sure where we stand here, obviously there is some responsibility for the error on our behalf for not checking the plans correctly, however this is the first time we've built, we are not familiar with plans etc, and in fact we had to ask someone else to look over them for us to check the ceiling height - it's not obvious at all! The builder has tentatively agreed to refund the cost for the upgrade, however do you believe under the circumstances that we are due for any other compensation given that it's detailed in the specs? or do we just suck it up? There is another issue I need to ask about but will save it for another post.... TIA!!! Re: HELP! Re ceiling height 2Oct 24, 2010 5:17 pm Find out ASAP from your contract if the specs over-ride the plans or vice-versa. If the former is the case, you can insist on the partly-build house to be modified to reflect the upgrade you have paid for.
If it's the latter, you will have to negotiate the best outcome you can with the builder. Cheers zeke Re: HELP! Re ceiling height 3Oct 24, 2010 5:28 pm Thanks Zeke, I have flicked through the contract and can't see any notations that detail this..... Any idea where it would be? It's just a standard HIA contract, edition 4A. Re: HELP! Re ceiling height 4Oct 24, 2010 5:30 pm FWIW, our standard MBA contract from 2008 states in Clause 3.5 under "INCONSISTENCIES": "If there is a difference between specification information and drawing detail the specification information will be followed unless otherwise agreed" If you can find a similar clause in your contract, I expect you can insist that it be built to spec, regardless of the plans. Cheers zeke Re: HELP! Re ceiling height 5Oct 24, 2010 5:44 pm Thanks again! There is a section entitled 'accuracy of contract documents' which is a little 'legalese' for me to interpret, however from what I can see, because the error in the plans is theirs, they need to rectify the problem. To do so, they'd basically have to start the house again, so I don't think it's probably reasonable.... Therefore I think we'll need to negotiate compensation. I will speak to the builder again tomorrow, and I suppose I will need to get some advice from a solicitor or someone in terms of what compensation we could possibly negotiate. Re: HELP! Re ceiling height 6Oct 24, 2010 6:04 pm Don't discount the possibility of it being rectified. Maybe they could do coffered ceilings with bulkheads, at least in some rooms. I say this because our builder was meant to make the front part of our place the same as the a display home. An annotation was accidentally left off the plans and specs and we signed off on documents that showed the ceiling in the entry, lounge/dining as being 3.6 instead of 3.9 metres. This doesn't sound like much but it would've compromised the look of those rooms compared to what we had fallen for in the display home. There are pillars and bulkheads etc that need the extra height to look "right". I would've thought the builder could have insisted they were legally in the right and it was too late to rectify. Instead, they scrapped about a dozen roof trusses and ordered new ones urgently. There was a delay of a couple of weeks and they incurred extra crane and carpenter costs as well. In this situation you may well have a legal right to insist they find a way to give you what you contracted for. We probably didn't have that legal right to insist, but the builder "did the right thing" anyway. I guess it all depends on the "legalese". Personally, I'd be wading through it slowly in an attempt to become clear on what it actually says. It is meant to be unambiguous English. Good luck and don't be too willing to accept that "it can't be done". Cheers zeke Unless the room is for storage then it's non compliant BCA V2 2019 S3 P3.8 You have 2 options 1. The builder deconstructs the section and rebuilds as per plan /… 7 10683 Building Standards; Getting It Right! We bought a house in 2015 advertised as a 7/2/2, 4br up, 3br down (7br), and to date, it’s a great house. However, we’ve just had it valued and it’s come in as a… 0 11986 ok thanks - yes was wondering if that should have been listed as Option Three! 2 7741 |