Builder Dispute

O.P.
Early 2017 I purchased a property as a land/home package. The house is situated in a high-wind area and I noticed when the wind was up, there was a loud noise emitted from the front of the house that I can describe as a boat horn which would also create a vibration through the floor upstairs transmitted from the balcony to the lounge room and bed room via steel beams.



After complaining to the builder about the noise, he basically told me it was bad luck and had no idea what it was. Went to Fair Trading about the issue and they were concerned about the vibration created but also could not identify what was creating the noise and vibration. Fair Trading recommended finding an acoustic engineer to identify the source of the problem and encouraged the builder to consult his engineer to investigate it.

The builder advised me that his engineer had no idea and hadn't heard of such a thing. I arranged for an acoustic engineer that agreed to inspect when it was windy. The independent engineer identified the source being the wooden cantilever balcony decking as the wind created an acoustic vibration when the wind come up through the decking gaps.

The independent engineer also believed the glass balustrade seemed loose and requested the specifications. I asked the builder for the specifications of the glass balustrade and he only provided me with a load testing report from the manufacturer. However, the load testing was only done in concrete, not wood. The engineer said he wanted all the specifications and not just the load test. When I asked the builder again for the specifications, he basically stopped cooperating – telling me that he doesn't use the contractor who installed the balustrade anymore and he is having trouble contacting him. I asked for the contractor details and the builder refused to tell me who the contractor was because of confidentiality agreement he has with his contractors.

I contacted the business that manufactures the balustrading and explained the situation – reception confirmed verbally that the glass balustrading has never been mechanically load tested on wood, only concrete as the report indicated. Fair Trading advised to get it in writing from the manufacturer and it can be considered a defect on the builder. When I contacted the manufacturer again, they aggressively refused to put anything in writing, denied ever dealing with the builder and refused to comment on any load testing until I had proof that the balustrade was theirs (the builder is also refusing to confirm).

Now I don't know what the next step is – I can't get all the information needed for the engineer due to builder being a roadblock
.
Any advice on how to move forward with this situation?

Hi Cellco Welcome to the Forum
You will require an expert mechanical vibration Engineer
Where are you and what information do you have already?

Has the builder built the same construction elsewhere or is your house different for some reason?

I'm on South coast NSW
Still waiting on the engineering report to come through

They built one other place around the corner from us with the same balcony which suffers the exact same issue with noise but he doesn't report any vibration that accompanies the sound (like us).
All other houses with similar design are built with concrete balcony, same balaustraude with no noise or vibrations problem.

@Celico The vibration is a problem and can lead to long term metal fatigue, cracking, corrosion and collapse

How do you know builder has followed engineering and architectural details?

The builder advised that by us receiving the final occupation certificate, this indicates that the balcony meets regulations.

I can't see anything in the report specifically address it though. Is there something else I should be chasing up to ensure the builder followed engineering and architectural details?