Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jan 24, 2023 8:52 am Hi all, I am building a house in regional Victoria. We signed the contract in June 2021 and the site work started on 29 Oct 2021. As per the site start letter the estimated finish time was on 22 Nov 2022. Still, they haven't finished construction as they are waiting on the shower screen. They sent us 6 delay claims to cover this delay in shower screen. There are some other jobs still pending to complete but they keep sending this shower screen delay claim since the estimated finish date, Should I request them to pay my rent from now. I think they are going to send another delay claim this week. Re: When Builder should start pay rent?? 2Jan 24, 2023 9:43 am first up. you're never going to have them pay your rent. Secondly, your contract will have a provision for liquidated damages, which you can deduct from the final payment. thats your recourse for delays. Your contract will outline how much that is. It is usually 250 per week. However you will have to workout based on your contract how the various delay notices apply to the final completion date. Based on the fact you're thinking about how to get them to pay your rent, I'm going to assume you're probably not overly contract savvy. I would suggest seeing someone who has some contract background, perhaps a lawyer, to help you through the contract terms so you understand what you're entitled to when everything is done and dusted. Re: When Builder should start pay rent?? 3Jan 24, 2023 12:15 pm Is it possible the builder is using the shower screen as a convenient excuse? What specifoc details did they provide about its unavailability? Suppliers ETA? Have you formally accepted or rejected all their delay letters? Have any faster alternative solutions been proposed for you to consider? Re: When Builder should start pay rent?? 4Jan 24, 2023 12:27 pm Kippers01 Is it possible the builder is using the shower screen as a convenient excuse? What specifoc details did they provide about its unavailability? Suppliers ETA? Have you formally accepted or rejected all their delay letters? Have any faster alternative solutions been proposed for you to consider? Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ I am not sure whether it is possible or not. They claimed 6 times on the same thing. I have attached a screenshot of the details they mentioned on the claim. I accepted the claims as I didn't have any other option. I need to look at the liquidated damages claim section to argue for the payment. Re: When Builder should start pay rent?? 5Jan 24, 2023 12:28 pm ponzutwo first up. you're never going to have them pay your rent. Secondly, your contract will have a provision for liquidated damages, which you can deduct from the final payment. thats your recourse for delays. Your contract will outline how much that is. It is usually 250 per week. However you will have to workout based on your contract how the various delay notices apply to the final completion date. Based on the fact you're thinking about how to get them to pay your rent, I'm going to assume you're probably not overly contract savvy. I would suggest seeing someone who has some contract background, perhaps a lawyer, to help you through the contract terms so you understand what you're entitled to when everything is done and dusted. Thanks mate. I need to look at that liquidated damages section on my contract now. Re: When Builder should start pay rent?? 8Jan 25, 2023 9:48 am Kippers01 If you have accepted the delay notices the builder can extend the agreed construction time by their durations. It was not a accept/deny type . They just sent us a letter saying they are claiming from this date to that date for this reason as per the contract section 15.1. We didn't have an option to argue that. So do you think we do have an option to question that. The last delay claim letter we received last week. Re: When Builder should start pay rent?? 9Jan 25, 2023 9:57 am mathews371 Kippers01 If you have accepted the delay notices the builder can extend the agreed construction time by their durations. It was not a accept/deny type . They just sent us a letter saying they are claiming from this date to that date for this reason as per the contract section 15.1. We didn't have an option to argue that. So do you think we do have an option to question that. The last delay claim letter we received last week. Yes, you do have an option. Your contract will have a clause that gives you 7 days to dispute the delay in writing. Not disputing it inside of the 7 days defaults to an approval. Why do you think that they have to give you the notice in writing? The dispute clauses are there to ensure that a builder doesn't effectively delay indefinitely. I dont mean for this to come across as rude, but there is no other way to say this but bluntly - Read your contract and understand it. If you don't understand the terms explicitly, you should have had someone who does explain it to you in terms that were clear to you. Re: When Builder should start pay rent?? 10Jan 25, 2023 10:09 am ponzutwo mathews371 Kippers01 If you have accepted the delay notices the builder can extend the agreed construction time by their durations. It was not a accept/deny type . They just sent us a letter saying they are claiming from this date to that date for this reason as per the contract section 15.1. We didn't have an option to argue that. So do you think we do have an option to question that. The last delay claim letter we received last week. Yes, you do have an option. Your contract will have a clause that gives you 7 days to dispute the delay in writing. Not disputing it inside of the 7 days defaults to an approval. Why do you think that they have to give you the notice in writing? The dispute clauses are there to ensure that a builder doesn't effectively delay indefinitely. I dont mean for this to come across as rude, but there is no other way to say this but bluntly - Read your contract and understand it. If you don't understand the terms explicitly, you should have had someone who does explain it to you in terms that were clear to you. Thanks mate. We thought everything will be straight forward and they will finish the job on time. So we didn't look at the contract so deeply. But now I understand the importance. Re: When Builder should start pay rent?? 11Jan 25, 2023 10:28 am mathews371 Thanks mate. We thought everything will be straight forward and they will finish the job on time. So we didn't look at the contract so deeply. But now I understand the importance. this is unfortunately the standard position most people end up in. Its a lesson learned. Future wise, even if you think everything is smooth and you have trust yadda yadda yadda, just go over the contract with a fine tooth comb and question anything that is not clear to you so that you understand your rights under the contract. I get we live in a culture where we just click "yes" and dont read EULAs for facebook and twitter etc, but stuff like a building contract or mortgage....100% you need to read and understand to avoid being tripped up in the future. Even land sales contracts you can save money on land tax if you pick up on apportioned land tax clauses and refuse to sign unless its removed. Hi Mofflepop, I would recommend finding a building designer to prepare plans, they should design to your specified budget. The benefit is you can tender the project out… 9 20413 i imagine you also have another contract with an architect? and yeah, whatever other's said about special conditions and appendices 16 16007 Hi All, I just wanted to close this topic out with an update. So we ended up agreeing to a number with the insurance company, and after an extensive amount of hand… 8 23401 |