Browse Forums Building Standards; Getting It Right! 1 Nov 01, 2016 9:17 am Our engineering plans show that from beginning of construction:
-a spoon drain should have been installed by builder at the back of my house and - that the land should have been cut to slope away from the Slab at side and back of house where site was cut significantly Neither of these has been done. My builder will likely say this is all part of landscaping for us to do after handover and that this is ok as per several other items that my inspector says is their responsibility that I have just agreed to do afterwards as I am tired of discussion and want this all finished. Is this landscaping or builders responsibility if listed on engineering plan? (We have water pooling around part of back of house and side of the house which concerns me for the foundation) Re: Drainage to protect foundation - engineering 2Nov 01, 2016 9:26 am Hi Gaudi Did anyone check the engineering plans with the builders site plan? Because it sounds like the builder didn't! Designer,Engineer (Civil,Const & Envir),Builder,Concrete & Masonry Contract.Struct Repairs Drainage to protect foundation - engineering 3Nov 01, 2016 10:02 am StructuralBIMGuy Hi Gaudi Did anyone check the engineering plans with the builders site plan? Because it sounds like the builder didn't! StructuralBIMGuy, You are likely correct. I don't think builder takes engineering plan seriously for outside of the house. This is even when their site plan matches up with engineering. When I had a concern re: deviation from site and engineering planthe builder ignored me and just said it's ok, so contacted 'building surveyor' responsible who ignored my emails and calls raising concerns. Finally I had my private inspector raise this concern with surveyor, engineering and builder which led to building surveyor finally issuing a building notice and engineering plans being revised. Re: Drainage to protect foundation - engineering 4Nov 01, 2016 1:19 pm It would have been much easier if you had your engineer inspect the work on your behalf in the first place Why 1. Nobody takes building inspectors/surveyors seriously on structural matters.. hence builders ignore them 2. If there is an issue the building inspector has to hire an engineer on your behalf..further expense and time wasting 3.If it was a major issue your engineer would have contacted the builder and Council immediately 4.I get sick and tired of trying to get people/trades back to fix minor issues .. if possible I do the fixes myself..then and there. 5.It's either 3. above or get ready for potential major issues/ repairs further down the track I'll still wind up doing the repairs at great expense to the client because they couldn't trust the system in the first instance Designer,Engineer (Civil,Const & Envir),Builder,Concrete & Masonry Contract.Struct Repairs Drainage to protect foundation - engineering 5Nov 01, 2016 7:39 pm StructuralBIMGuy It would have been much easier if you had your engineer inspect the work on your behalf in the first place Why 1. Nobody takes building inspectors/surveyors seriously on structural matters.. hence builders ignore them 2. If there is an issue the building inspector has to hire an engineer on your behalf..further expense and time wasting 3.If it was a major issue your engineer would have contacted the builder and Council immediately 4.I get sick and tired of trying to get people/trades back to fix minor issues .. if possible I do the fixes myself..then and there. 5.It's either 3. above or get ready for potential major issues/ repairs further down the track I'll still wind up doing the repairs at great expense to the client because they couldn't trust the system in the first instance Thanks again. The builders use an engineering company that has spoken to me once earlier in build when I had concerns and builder was not addressing despite lots of requests, but unlikely to now. This has been a first build for us and with a medium volume builder. We never thought of getting another engineer ... Will call BACV to see what need to do. The learning curve has been steep!! Thanks again for your advice Re: Drainage to protect foundation - engineering 6Nov 03, 2016 8:50 am HiGaudi This problem is all to common in Victoria Write a letter to your Federal member and complain Designer,Engineer (Civil,Const & Envir),Builder,Concrete & Masonry Contract.Struct Repairs Drainage to protect foundation - engineering 7Nov 03, 2016 9:22 pm Will do StructuralBIMGuy.
Over last few days read through the lengthy slab heave series of posts. Enlightening and terrifying. I'm in south east of Melbourne so not as much risk I don't think but had significant site cut into soft clay. Ponding only relatively slight for me. compared to pics of flooded sites. I have taken lots of photos. Thanks again for advice When builder tells me all is correct or my responsibility hard not to believe. BACV has said they need to fix as grading ground from slab was part of contract within their engineering plan. Hopefully they'll do without too much discussion when I point out it's been an 'oversight'. Some change is necessary. In Victoria I hear from Sep 1 owners have to hire the registered building surveyor not the builder. Hope that helps independence from builder and quality of inspections from surveyor. Thanks advice gives me some confidence to persist Re: Drainage to protect foundation - engineering 8Nov 04, 2016 10:18 am Gaudi Some change is necessary. In Victoria I hear from Sep 1 owners have to hire the registered building surveyor not the builder. Hope that helps independence from builder and quality of inspections from surveyor. Unfortunately I don't think it is going to help. From what I have read on here and my own experience, builders are either making it difficult for you to appoint a surveyor that they don't normally work with, or making it really easy for you to chose their own by basically saying "here tick this box and we'll pay for it or chose your own and you pay for it". Drainage to protect foundation - engineering 9Nov 04, 2016 6:13 pm I wonder if anyone knows how to withdraw rights of surveyor to liaise directly with builder?
I had heard about this from my private inspector ... but too late in build for me to have made a difference. My inspector said you know the building surveyor is engaged on your behalf and somewhere you sign right to builder to communicate with them. I'd call BACV and find out if this is possible or under what circumstances it would become possible to have them communicate through you only. Drainage to protect foundation - engineering 10Nov 05, 2016 5:18 pm Gaudi . From what I have read on here and my own experience, builders are either making it difficult for you to appoint a surveyor that they don't normally work with, or making it really easy for you to chose their own by basically saying "here tick this box and we'll pay for it or chose your own and you pay for it". Bank Im sorry about that. Builder paying for it.... what a red flag. I wonder if anyone knows how to withdraw rights of surveyor to liaise directly with builder? I had heard about this from my private inspector ... but too late in build for me to have made a difference. My inspector said you know the building surveyor is engaged on your behalf and somewhere you sign right to builder to communicate with them. I'd call VBA or BACV and find out if this is possible or under what circumstances it would become possible to have them communicate through you only. My builder's surveyor as I call him issued C of O even though rockwool/fire barrier was not complete for my townhouses ... even my C of O's were initially wrong ... for a brick house and not a Hebel house. My inspector has picked this up 3 times and 3 times builder has said it was complete. I have CofO but likely this still isn't complete 15 weeks + post PCI Happy days!! [/quote] Yes it's all very d0dgy. I imagine the builders paying for it might change in the future since they can now take that cost out of the base price to make the houses look even cheaper. Depends how much they want to try and keep control. For most people dealing with the change now the surveyor would have been included in the base price of the house from before September. From the little I've heard they won't credit that back but they will pay for it if you chose theirs. In our case we weren't sure where we stood, we were aware of the change however the builder hadn't mentioned it. We had been working with them for over a year but hadn't yet signed the contract so we spoke to VBA and they said even though we hadn't signed the contract if one had already been appointed then we were exempt from the new rule. Since we had already applied for dispensation with the council and the form had a building surveyors name on it I assumed one had. However when we got the contract, out comes the form, with a "I'm sure I mentioned this", yeah no you didn't! We had wondered if they would surprise us with it to make it even easier to get us to just chose theirs, we were right! Ultimately we just went with the guy on the dispensation form because I was concerned that it being wrong on there could cause trouble. Turns out that was the least of our troubles . So far the surveyor has been happy to talk to us on the phone but they won't give us a copy of any of the reports and neither will the builder . It's very frustrating, because everything is second hand. Unfortunately I doubt any builder would be happy to have you not sign to make them the agent to deal with the surveyor, it would make it clunky for them if everything had to go via the client. Drainage to protect foundation - engineering 11Nov 05, 2016 5:46 pm Bank, Yes, Negotiating this is so complex. Im disappointed that this new rule may not have the impact it was likely designed to. I have family about to start their build so was hopeful this would be easier for them. At least if you know you're rights, like you do, if at some point you need to you can withdraw the builder as 'agent', or threaten to if you aren't getting answers you need. Hope you can use an experienced Private inspector. In my experience the builder's surveyor didn't seem to look for many basics that involve meeting building permit/site plan, engineering plan and item required for CofO. Best of luck with the build. Sounds like you are keeping a close eye Assuming you've modelled the TB8, TB10, TB12, TB2 & J1 joists/LVLs there, it appears as per drawing to me. There maybe should be an additional J1 between TB10 and T12 if… 3 27702 Thanks for all replies. I just noticed now the pictures I added to post right on top of page were wrong. I attached pictures showing "current" and my "suggested" floor… 9 11908 That's very helpful, thank you. I was mostly interested in knowing if a spoon drain requires a specific slope, but I appreciate the extra information. 4 3922 |