Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Mar 29, 2021 12:35 pm Just wondering if someone has a recommendation for a good legal person in Perth to examine a home building contract and give some advice ? I'm having issues with the contracted builder in so far as they are using the latest overheated WA building market (thanks state and federal governments) as a reason to price gouge on provisional costs. Re: Contract lawyer Perth 2Mar 29, 2021 1:34 pm PM sent Accessible Carpentry & Cabinets accessiblecarpentry@gmail.com accessiblecarpentry.com.au https://www.facebook.com/pages/Accessible-Carpentry-Cabinets/583314911709039 Re: Contract lawyer Perth 3Apr 09, 2021 1:43 pm baders Just wondering if someone has a recommendation for a good legal person in Perth to examine a home building contract and give some advice ? I'm having issues with the contracted builder in so far as they are using the latest overheated WA building market (thanks state and federal governments) as a reason to price gouge on provisional costs. I may be needing one too! Do you mind sharing the contact details you've gone with and how has your experience been (if any)? Re: Contract lawyer Perth 5Apr 10, 2021 6:43 pm Did they provide a justification for the 18k rise? What percentage rise is that figure from the original Contract Build price? Our contract has a clause of maximum 5% increase, and was just told that there will be an increase by 2.5%. I asked for a justification in this increase and they refused to provide one. I obviously know the build demands are sky high and there is bound to be increase in cost, but i do not expect the Builder to not be able to justify the reason for the increase to me. It seems like the builder can increase by whatever amount they feel like (up to max 5%) without giving any reason...doesnt sound fair to me. Re: Contract lawyer Perth 6Apr 10, 2021 10:03 pm AnjC smsaaos Did they provide a justification for the 18k rise? What percentage rise is that figure from the original Contract Build price? Our contract has a clause of maximum 5% increase, and was just told that there will be an increase by 2.5%. I asked for a justification in this increase and they refused to provide one. I obviously know the build demands are sky high and there is bound to be increase in cost, but i do not expect the Builder to not be able to justify the reason for the increase to me. It seems like the builder can increase by whatever amount they feel like (up to max 5%) without giving any reason...doesnt sound fair to me. To be absolutely clear, the price increase was made before we signed the contract. It was at the 11th hour, though - we had everything costed we just had to sign... ...the increase was 2.5%. I would not expect an increase after the contract was signed. To me, once a contract is signed, it’s up to them to book in all their trades at the cost that they have reflected in the contract price. If they haven’t I would have thought that was on them. But as I say, I actually think 2.5% is reasonable - don’t tell my builder, though. Did you sign an HIA contract? I just had a look at mine and nowhere does it say the builder can up the price by any specific amount. There are clauses dealing with increases in costs, but these seem reasonable to me - and generally related to unforseeable circumstances. What does your clause say? Re: Contract lawyer Perth 7Apr 12, 2021 5:27 pm Ah right. Yeah agree price increase prior to signing of contract is understandable. Still 18K looks extremely high! I didn’t sign an HIA contract. Not sure what it was at that time. We were given the WA Building Commission “Notice For the Home Owner – Schedule 1 – Home Building Contracts Regulations 1992” (which I assume is standard across WA Home builds). This contains one of the conditions of a price increase: - due to work not starting within 45 working days after contract is signed and sorts of limits the increase to not more than 5%. OT – “We already had an increase of approx $3.5k to the Build price post signing of the PWA (Pre-liminary Works Agreement). Reason (excuse) from builder for this increase was because the costings on PWA were done as estimates by the Sales team and not by the Estimating Department, hence the variation in the cost. Found it ridiculous as prior to signing on the PWA, whenever we went through the 2-3 revisions off build sketch, they said they would need to have the cost estimated by team. Anyways, we didn’t have that much time on our hand to argue this increase (and the fact that it was only around $3.5k), so hesitantly agreed to this increase price being on the Build Contract (didn’t want to delay the Build Contract as builders stating need to get Contract issues/signed asap to have file in their system). “ Now, they builder has issued a Price Variation (rise of by 2.5%) pursuant to clause, where, if there is a delay in the commencement of the Works beyond 45 Working days from the date of the contract (not being a delay cause by the builder), then the contract price can be increased to reflect actual increases in cost. Thinking of getting lawyers involved here as this looks to be an excuse to trigger the price rise clause by builder. Querying back to builder to provide clarification on the delay to commencement of works. The Clause mentioned: " If there is a delay in the commencement of the Works beyond the period of FORTY FIVE (45) Days after the date of this Contract, not being a delay caused by or attributable to the Builder, then subject to any provisions of the Home Building Contracts Act 1991 to the contrary: " Re: Contract lawyer Perth 10Aug 19, 2021 4:26 am arames We were informed by phone of an $14000 +$3700 for (extra site cost)just today before our prestart scheduled for tomorrow.i need good lawyer too Is this variation due to delay more than 45 days? My builder request a meet up to discuss on costing on the coming Monday. Don't know what to expect. Finding the right construction lawyer can be a bit daunting, especially when you've had some challenges in your search. It's essential to have someone reliable and… 7 24889 You talk about deletions, are they variations or PS and PC adjustments? pleas list them 1 16543 It seems very clear to me that your contract states that a security account does NOT need to be established so the answer to the builder is NO. If in doubt find a contract… 1 8504 |