Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Mar 10, 2014 5:49 pm Hi all, To give a brief overview last year we entered into a contract with a medium sized builder based on the Gold Coast to build our new home (I won't name them yet but if anyone is interested please PM me for info) ...what a mistake! Soil tests were done 27/5/13. Signed the contract On 28/7/13 The banks valuation came in 45K short on 2/8/13 A successfully disputed valuation raising it by 10K was completed 23/9/13 (this was enough to get us over the line) We gave evidence to the builder that we had loan approval on 3/10/13 Our selections appointment was on 26/11/13. The builder only obtained council approval on 28/1/14. So from contract signing it has been over 7 months! We haven't even signed off on our selections variation and have only just signed off on our kitchen plans a week ago due to mistakes and delays on their part! To date we are still waiting on the builder to fix mistakes on the plan to to errors and omissions, to double check some costs among other things we have not even been assigned a site supervisor. We received a letter saying they were ready to start construction dated 24/2/14 and that they were obliged to be on site in 10 days but have since been told this will not happen and they will 'make up the time'. (there was no site supervisor details in this letter). This already had made me angry until I heard from my broker that our lender will withdraw finance if the first draw down has not been made by 6/4/14. Unfortunately for us due to the low valuation this is 3 stages away- they have to start and complete site works, then build a retaining wall (that will be internal to the house- front half on slab, rear on steel posts). All this we pay for before the bank puts in any money. I can't see them having a slab poured in time for the banks deadline. Anyway sorry for what ended up being a rant!!.... Just wondering if anyone has had similar frustrations/time delays like us?? Feeling real down about the whole thing, even our broker said he's never dealt with a build that has taken so long! Our broker has suggested that the builder could invoice for the stage even though they hadn't finished it but to me that is wrong ! ie: asking for money for work that has not been completed. I plan to ring our client rep tomorrow (although she is never been helpful) to give them a ultimatum as I am sick of the delays- we always try to be patient and understanding but if it has taken so long our finance has lapsed then surely something is wrong! Has anyone got to the point that they cancelled their contract?? this stage although I realise i'd be best speaking to a lawyer if that is the path I want to go down. Re: Help!- Long delay from contract to building start. Advic 2Mar 10, 2014 7:44 pm I doubt the brokers idea would work. Banks normally do a valuation at the start of their draw downs so they wouldn't pay if the stage wasn't done (in other words, banks aren't stupid). Ask the client rep to speak to her manager. Explain the problem and hope for the best. Re: Help!- Long delay from contract to building start. Advic 3Mar 13, 2014 10:26 pm Same here...contract signed in May 2013, after 9-month house hasn't been built, amended documents still keep posting to me...I'm really upset..... mine is also a medium sized builder called Gallxxx Lixxxx..... but what can we do...im going to speak with their manager and that's what I can do. Re: Help!- Long delay from contract to building start. Advic 4Mar 14, 2014 4:21 am Never ever pay for something that has not been completed. It's like shooting yourself in the foot. Not a good experience. And you are required to sign a legal document confirming that works have satisfactorily been completed to release a progress payment so you are opening yourself up to a mass of liability issues with that one. Communication is the best bet. Ask the builder to speak to the lender. Good luck with it all, Building the Villina Grande Re: Help!- Long delay from contract to building start. Advic 5Mar 14, 2014 9:52 am I certainly wouldn't pay them any money for work they haven't done yet! I would be looking into cancelling my contract and finding another builder, I wouldn't put up with that... I would write a letter to them stating how unhappy you are with everything, about how it is all taking too long and that if they aren't on site building within XXX amount of time you would be cancelling with them. My build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=68002 Re: Help!- Long delay from contract to building start. Advic 6Apr 16, 2014 6:35 am Hi all, a bit late for me to reply but thanks to all for the advice. We ended up letting the finance lapse, the bank did another valuation which came back higher and we are now borrowing alot less money. So apart from the time delays it all worked out. Re: Help!- Long delay from contract to building start. Advic 7Apr 16, 2014 6:58 am Good to hear Konrad. Have the builders actually started yet? http://camdenbuild.blogspot.com.au/ by invite only please pm me Re: Help!- Long delay from contract to building start. Advic 9Apr 19, 2014 5:48 pm No Advice to give here - but I am looking for some advice. We (like Konrad) are having issues with what seems like unreasonable delays.... we signed our contact with our builder (happy to disclose in a PM) in Dec 2012 with the view to them starting works ASAP (within the 35 working days as per the contract)... only problem i s that the contact is a HIA contract and is hard to follow... everything is subject to another clause.... which makes it difficult to follow. The contact says construction is to commence 35 days from contract signing (but subject to approvals from relevant authorities - presumably council and water)... anyways - the issue we have is that the builder did not lodge the plans for approval until (according to them) 20 March 2013 ... but because we were building 2 houses on the one block (strata) it had to go to planning first... which they failed to advise us of. Then when it was finally approved by planning it had to go to Building Approvals - where there was an objection from a neighbour (because there was no retaining walls described on the plans) - we bridged that hurdle with the neighbour and got the objection lifted - only to have the council reject the Finished Floor Levels because they were below road height (by now we are in June 2013). The builder then advised that there would be additional site work costs of approx $40k (July 10 2013). We advised we would have to pull out of the contract as we didn't have the $s (thankfully they "absorbed the additional costs) and that we had already signed off on a "Lump Sum Contact" which specified the site costs (they had two bites at this one too I might add). Eventually they started to lay the slabs in Sept 2013 - but now we are still awaiting completion... each time we talk to someone they tell us in a couple of more weeks... initially we thought we would have houses in Sept 2013, then November, then End January, then end February, then Mid-March, then end March... and THEN we discovered that they had mixed up the Roof and gutter colours and put them on the wrong houses.... rather than hold up the project we agreed (verbally) to a cash settlement of $5000 per house as long as they changed the gutter/garage door colours on one of the houses (as it didn't fit with the roof colour). They also indicated at the time that the houses had taken an extended time to finish and this was unusual.... they agreed (verbally to review our contract and make a $ consideration for the delays). we met with the Construction Manager on site on Monday last - he advised that they are NOT offering a contractual consideration ($s) for the delay.... we still haven't got confirmation of the cash settlement (which I think puts them in breach of the contract as variations have to be advised and signed in writing within 5 ?? or 10 working days). Handover of the properties is still at least 10 working days away as we haven't had a full "pre-handover" meeting yet... and it hasn't been scheduled.... ARGH!!!!! We are hurting financially as we are paying interest on the land and on the drawings to date not to mention lost rental income opportunities etc... Can anyone advise - or guide us in relation to a HIA standard contract... seems like it is all in the builders favour.... Hi, My home construction is complete, and the handover is scheduled next week. However the construction has been delayed and I have raised this to the builder. The… 0 5320 1 7926 You talk about deletions, are they variations or PS and PC adjustments? pleas list them 1 16542 |