We are building using a large project home builder in NSW. Our build commenced in October 2022, and we have just reached lock-up stage, so we are about 16 months overall and two Summer industry shut-downs.
A critical issue is the water-proofing the wet areas. So far, we had a private inspector review the water-proofing twice, and it is still defective. One of the key issues is that they failed to clear the area before applying the primer and water-proofing, things like broken screws were painted over. Our inspector was disappointed by the quality of this work.
Are there issues with getting quality water-proofers in NSW right now? From what I can work out, you do need to be properly licensed to do this work in NSW, however it does not appear to be technical, in the same way that plumbing and carpentry are.
Further to this, given the delays we have had with our build, I am interested to see how liquidated damages work. There was a big delay after the frames were delivered, they sat on the slab for almost 3 months before carpenters turned up. At what point do we raise liquidated damages? The last 12 months has not seen too much adverse weather, all progress payments paid within three days, so I don't know what we could have done better?
Our site supervisor does not answer calls and if he bothers to respond, there is a lengthy delay. I guess we would have been better off going to a custom builder!