Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jul 18, 2023 9:07 am In April 2021, I committed to a dual dwelling project, signing a contract with Masterton Homes at an initial estimated cost of $540,000. My land was registered by August 2022. However, I noticed a considerable delay in the pre-construction phase. It took several months for Masterton Homes to submit the Development Application (DA), which was finally approved in March 2023. An additional four months passed before we could secure the Construction Certificate. I would appreciate some input from this knowledgeable community - is this extended timeline typical of the pre-construction process? What has me even more concerned is a recent, unexpected price hike proposed by Masterton Homes. Right before initiating the construction stage, they introduced a base price increase amounting to $97,000, which equates to an almost 18% increment on the original quote. This has left me perplexed and frustrated. Why this was not proposed much earlier? From my understanding, such a steep increase seems unusual. To confirm this, I reached out to several friends who have recently commenced projects with Masterton Homes. None reported encountering such a significant price increase. Can anyone here shed light on the legality of such a price hike imposed by the builder at this stage? Is it possible that this could be construed as the builder intentionally prolonging the project to justify this cost escalation? I'm looking for some advice or similar experiences to better understand my situation. Re: Unusual Delays and Significant Price Increase During Pre 2Jul 18, 2023 9:30 am Bigsur In April 2021, I committed to a dual dwelling project, signing a contract with Masterton Homes at an initial estimated cost of $540,000. My land was registered by August 2022. However, I noticed a considerable delay in the pre-construction phase. It took several months for Masterton Homes to submit the Development Application (DA), which was finally approved in March 2023. An additional four months passed before we could secure the Construction Certificate. I would appreciate some input from this knowledgeable community - is this extended timeline typical of the pre-construction process? What has me even more concerned is a recent, unexpected price hike proposed by Masterton Homes. Right before initiating the construction stage, they introduced a base price increase amounting to $97,000, which equates to an almost 18% increment on the original quote. This has left me perplexed and frustrated. Why this was not proposed much earlier? From my understanding, such a steep increase seems unusual. To confirm this, I reached out to several friends who have recently commenced projects with Masterton Homes. None reported encountering such a significant price increase. Can anyone here shed light on the legality of such a price hike imposed by the builder at this stage? Is it possible that this could be construed as the builder intentionally prolonging the project to justify this cost escalation? I'm looking for some advice or similar experiences to better understand my situation. Not to be too blunt, but have you been living under a rock? Nothing about this activity is unusual nor shold it be unexpected. It's been par for the course for a number of years. The biggest contributor to your lack of appreciation of what happened here is that you bought untitled land and expected the quotes you received to be relevant almost 2 years later. Buying untitled land is one of the biggest pitfalls in building. The price increase is significant, but regarding not being advised earlier, it is due to those costs fluctuating constantly. How much earlier did you want to be advised? I doubt an incease of any kind would have been welcomed regardless of timing. Your friends experience are hard to comment on because we dont know the details of their builds or situation. Those scenarios you should address with Masterton directly. Around the intentionality to increase prices by drawing the build out. hard to prove, expensive to fight to prove. Think about it. The builder is in business to make money. Drawing it out to increase costs only serves to alienate the client and make them cancel the contract. This isnt about making increased profits, its about not losing money on the build. Putting this into perspective however, land in teh area i bought and built on 18 months ago is now selling for 200k more for 150sqm less. Just the land... At this point you will likley find it challenging (probably impossible) to find anything comparable to your 2021 price with any builder. You will need to asses whether you scale back or bite the bullet and pay. Cancelling the contract and going elsewhere wont guarantee you a comparable or better outcome (it might, but no guarantee, that's the risk) because you will be joining another builder at the back of the queue. You may find yourself waiting 8-12 months again before you break ground. Re: Unusual Delays and Significant Price Increase During Pre 3Jul 18, 2023 10:12 am ponzutwo Bigsur In April 2021, I committed to a dual dwelling project, signing a contract with Masterton Homes at an initial estimated cost of $540,000. My land was registered by August 2022. However, I noticed a considerable delay in the pre-construction phase. It took several months for Masterton Homes to submit the Development Application (DA), which was finally approved in March 2023. An additional four months passed before we could secure the Construction Certificate. I would appreciate some input from this knowledgeable community - is this extended timeline typical of the pre-construction process? What has me even more concerned is a recent, unexpected price hike proposed by Masterton Homes. Right before initiating the construction stage, they introduced a base price increase amounting to $97,000, which equates to an almost 18% increment on the original quote. This has left me perplexed and frustrated. Why this was not proposed much earlier? From my understanding, such a steep increase seems unusual. To confirm this, I reached out to several friends who have recently commenced projects with Masterton Homes. None reported encountering such a significant price increase. Can anyone here shed light on the legality of such a price hike imposed by the builder at this stage? Is it possible that this could be construed as the builder intentionally prolonging the project to justify this cost escalation? I'm looking for some advice or similar experiences to better understand my situation. Not to be too blunt, but have you been living under a rock? Nothing about this activity is unusual nor shold it be unexpected. It's been par for the course for a number of years. The biggest contributor to your lack of appreciation of what happened here is that you bought untitled land and expected the quotes you received to be relevant almost 2 years later. Buying untitled land is one of the biggest pitfalls in building. The price increase is significant, but regarding not being advised earlier, it is due to those costs fluctuating constantly. How much earlier did you want to be advised? I doubt an incease of any kind would have been welcomed regardless of timing. Your friends experience are hard to comment on because we dont know the details of their builds or situation. Those scenarios you should address with Masterton directly. Around the intentionality to increase prices by drawing the build out. hard to prove, expensive to fight to prove. Think about it. The builder is in business to make money. Drawing it out to increase costs only serves to alienate the client and make them cancel the contract. This isnt about making increased profits, its about not losing money on the build. Putting this into perspective however, land in teh area i bought and built on 18 months ago is now selling for 200k more for 150sqm less. Just the land... At this point you will likley find it challenging (probably impossible) to find anything comparable to your 2021 price with any builder. You will need to asses whether you scale back or bite the bullet and pay. Cancelling the contract and going elsewhere wont guarantee you a comparable or better outcome (it might, but no guarantee, that's the risk) because you will be joining another builder at the back of the queue. You may find yourself waiting 8-12 months again before you break ground. As a client, I based my financial decisions and commitments on the initial quote that was provided. The unexpected surge of $97,000 (approximately 18% on the initial estimate) poses a significant burden on me financially. This sudden and sharp increase, despite seemingly industry-wide, could have been better communicated or mitigated. While I acknowledge the rationale behind your argument that the fluctuating costs could not have been predicted two years ago when I bought the untitled land, my contention comes from primarily with the timing and magnitude of the price revision. Proactive communication could have possibly allowed me to make better-informed decisions along the way. As for my friends' experiences with Masterton Homes, I brought up their cases to underscore what seemed to be an unusual situation with my project. I realize each project might have unique circumstances, but I think the price change policies should be consistent at least. There is a term in both our tender "A charge of $950 per month will be applied for any extension period required to cover the increase in building material and labour costs." I would like to obey this term while $97,000 surcharge equals to 100 months, how to justify that? Re: Unusual Delays and Significant Price Increase During Pre 5Jul 18, 2023 11:12 am Bigsur I realize each project might have unique circumstances, but I think the price change policies should be consistent at least. There is a term in both our tender "A charge of $950 per month will be applied for any extension period required to cover the increase in building material and labour costs." I would like to obey this term while $97,000 surcharge equals to 100 months, how to justify that? Just to makea point about this, an approach that some people have found sucessful in negotiating these rises down, Is to provide some workings to the builder, specifying the relevant contract terms and showing them YOUR figures. start your conversations there. If your logic and numbers are solid with no where to wiggle, you may find a better outcome. Yu may choose to use a lawyer for this, or if you feel savvy with contracts, terms and interpretation you should be able to argue a solid point with the builder. You may catch them out repudiation of contract, which IN itself is a breach of contract on their part. Repudiation of contract is something you should consider looking into Would you consider this typ. of workmanship to be a defect? Level variance is covered under tollarrance guide which isn't considered legally. If it was to be argued under… 0 2608 Hi, looking at house plans and not all of them have any mention of a driveway or even air con. 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