Knock Down Rebuild : Site survey - own or via builder?

HI Guys,

We in initial phase of KDR process where we are visiting project and custom builder to get some ideas on possible options wrt to our budget and requirements. We have landsize is ~615sqm / 15.4m frontage / 40m length and land is sloping toward front side and garage is down, we have 13 steps (~2.5m) before we come inside home.

A I understand we will firstly need to do site survey, soil tests to finalize the site assessment.
When we goto these builders like Metricon, Masterton, King etc they say they can order a details site survey from their end for some $$$.

My questions are :
1) If we get such survey completed from lets say Metricon and later we decide to go with other builder, do we get the survey report or it stays with builder or is it specific to that builder? I presume we get it but want to double check.
2) If we have to do such survey by our self (without builder engagement) how to find right surveyor? Any resource? Recommendation for finding?
3) How much we have to pay for such survey report? Does the cost vary if we do on own or via any builder?
4) Generally what do people do? do you get it through builder or do it on own?
5) How long it takes to get the survey done?

Is it better idea to have such survey ready/done and carry it everywhere when we visit the builders to discuss their floor plans and options?


Thanks

We're at pretty much the same point. I'm leaning towards organising a survey and soil test ourselves, but haven't worked the how/who with questions yet, or gone looking at costs. Interested to see if anyone can offer advice about this too.

Thanks Kasia, I am sure we will get some good info from others here. This forum is amazing for such knowledge sharing ...

You can get it done through a builder, however negotiate before hand to have full access to the reports once completed. Request that the survey is supplied in DWG format as that’s what is required for builders to use.
We did this with Brolen homes, we had it in writing and when we decided not to build with them, we received everything as per our requests.

Thanks, how much did you pay? And how many days/weeks it takes to get the report?

We paid $3000 but it also included first draft of plans of a custom home. The survey and soil took about 10 days if I remember correctly.

With my case, we had to accept the initial preliminary tender and pay $2000 for the site survey and soil report to be carried out. It took about 2 weeks or so when the project builder came back with the site plan with contour and extra piers and additional fill costed into the final tender.

But when I ask for the survey plan standalone (without the proposed house drawn on it), they didn't give it to us. So we can't exactly take the site plan to other builders for quote.

But I have a friend who engaged own Surveyor to carry out the contour survey plan and took that to different home builders for tender. They ask the builder if they can credit back for not needing to do another contour survey but they said 'No'. They will still charge for survey plan to be conducted by their preferred surveyor, they won't accept survey by others.

The builders normally would not give you the Contours, they will give you a PDF version, but the DWG will say with them

Most builders also will normally get there own done again anyway, as they have relationships with the surveyors. You must remember they just don't do the contour, they also do the peg out, ID check and Final ID check as part of the "whole package"

I would first talk to the builders you are looking at building with if they would do quotes/tenders of your contour if you supplied a dwg. file before I would go out and spend the money.

Or alternatively look for a company who does the whole pre construction process for you including approvals, and just let the builders bid on what you have

Happy to help, I know a few people

What an exciting time!

my advice is always do you own survey. if you're in Sydney PM me and I will send you a couple of names, We have a guy who will do it for $770. This way you control your own destiny.

If a builder wont use your survey keep looking until you find one, The soil testing report is a bit if a scam, they dont really do anything, ( all sites should be piered as standard these days anyway) in my opinion its just a way for you to pay them a tender fee and once you have handed over your money they have you locked in their system and its harder to walk away from them.

The other really important thing to ask when you are interviewing a builder is what contract do they use. In NSW there are two main ones, the HIA contract and the NSW fair trading contract.

NEVER use a builder who only uses the HIA contract. This one is so one sided its not funny. There is basically very little recourse if the work isn't up to standard, if they put a progress claim in for a stage and you arent happy you still have to pay them and argue later, with the fair trading contract you have the ability to dispute.

Also under the HIA contract you are responsible if the builder damages council assets but with the Fair trading one the builder is responsible. The list of differences is quite long but it is something you should definitely investigate.I know someone who's builder set the crane up incorrect and destroyed a council drainage pit and the poor owner had to pay $5000 plus dollars to fix it. In the commercial world builders are always responsible for their mistakes.

The fair trading contract has been developed by fair trading to be roughly 50/50.

Happy to answer any other questions you have.

best of luck

S

Not OP, but what great advice, thank you Sejae. We're leaning strongly towards going with a custom passive house builder, so might avoid some of these issues which I sense are maybe more common with project home types? Or maybe not! 🙂

SejaeD

Seems like you have had a bad experience with a HIA contract, they are not as despicable as you think and if you get the right builder who is willing to bend and adjust conditions to suit both parties, then the HIA one is fine

Mind you, there would be very few and far between who would want to do that

Keep Smiling

Hi Graham

How are you?

For people reading this Graham and I know each other quite well professionally outside of this forum so anything we might say to each other is just professional opinions and not personal

Graham, you know I have become a bit of an advocate for consumer rights in the home building industry, and I know you also have a passion for helping people, and with your extensive building knowledge you have an enormous amount to offer consumers as well. You and I have both seen the best and worst that this industry has to offer. I have been helping a number of people over the past couple of years who have been on the wrong side of poor building work and who have had very little recourse contractually against their builders.

I also build apartments and so I can see the changes being made to the industry by the new building commissioner to try and protect apartment buyers from developers who have been taking too many shortcuts. As a result I have been putting a lot of thought into what is wrong with the home building industry which I believe is actually far worse than the apartment industry, it just doesn't get any media coverage.

I genuinely think that the fact that you don't need a building licence to supervise the construction of a house is a major issue. Some supervisors are responsible for 15-20 homes and they know less about building then my teenager does, and then on top of that, the HIA contract is 90% in the favour of the builder, so the customer has very little recourse against the builder. For instance, there is no right to set off payments against bad workmanship. How is that fair?

I sincerely believe that reputable builders who are willing to do the right thing by their customers should have no problem using the fair trading contract. I would recommend that everyone who is thinking about building download it and read it. (its free)

The other main advantage of the fair trading contract is that it is written in plain english so the everyone can understand it. There is no reason why customers should have to spend thousands of dollars on legal fees to interpret their building contract.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents

Cheers

S

Anyone knows which builders in NSW that uses Fair Trading contract...?