Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Nov 22, 2008 7:23 pm Hi,
am currently trying to get an inspection done on our house. The builder says that if I want one done, it has to be supervised (even though the house isnt at lockup) and they are going to chargeme a variation of a minimum of 2 hours for the supervisor to be there, plus all the other associated costs with a variation. Has anyone else been charged by a builder to have an inspection done? I dont mind the supervisor being there but cant see why I should have to pay when he is already supposedly supervising the property and would be paying so. Re: builder charging for inspection 2Nov 22, 2008 8:39 pm Hey grandslam,
That sux! In this case though the builder may be within their rights to ask for payment. Unless you note it into the initial contract they may not have budgeted the time to allow someone to be there for the inspection. (at least that would be there angle) It goes to the importance of writing these things in at the start even if we dont use them! Best of luck! Re: builder charging for inspection 3Nov 23, 2008 10:23 am There should be no need for the supervisor to be there if your building inspector has all his insurances up to date. Give your builder his up to date insurances to say that he's covered if anything happens on site and see what happens.
You being on site is another matter. Re: builder charging for inspection 4Nov 23, 2008 8:25 pm Would be a brave builder (not to mention illegal) who would let a building inspector loose on a building site.
The inspector (even a professional) needs to be supervised whilst on a building site 'owned' by the builder. Re: builder charging for inspection 5Nov 23, 2008 8:34 pm My builder elected NOT to have a representative onsite while our pre-plaster inspection happened. I was fine with this as it was easier then to tee up a time to do it with Kev, however I now wish I had insisted on him being present, as Kev's report did not get sent to me till AFTER the plaster had gone up, and most of the errors were not fixed. I can't help thinking that if my builder or a representative had been there with Kev on the day, more things would have got fixed.
Just a different view on this from the owner's perspective... even if I had to pay I would prefer a builder's representtive to be present at any inspection and will be insisting on it for the pre-handover one. Re: builder charging for inspection 6Nov 24, 2008 1:53 pm our SS was not onsite at the inspection. They also started plaster before report BUT we made SS remove the plaster to rectify the problem. Re: builder charging for inspection 7Nov 24, 2008 3:30 pm sammy our SS was not onsite at the inspection. They also started plaster before report BUT we made SS remove the plaster to rectify the problem. sammy, it sounds like your SS was a bit more co-operative than our builder! Our builder fixed up the major ones, but to fix the minor ones we would've had to threaten to go to the Building Commission, and I just didn't want to sour our relationship with him that much, as we still had quite a lot of the build to go! But this time I intend to be a lot more demanding and don't want my keys till it's ALL fixed. famous last words probably Re: builder charging for inspection 8Nov 24, 2008 4:08 pm Go for it donuts. My Dh thinks I have been to soft on our SS. At the moment we are having some problems with build. Hopefully, our SS is cooperative and we get the house soon! Re: builder charging for inspection 9Nov 24, 2008 8:44 pm Hi, while some builders may say that they "own" the site during the building process, they don't. They do have 'charge' over the site, whereby they have a responsibility for safety, progress and other related matters but they do not have any greater right to occupy the building site than that of the owner (section 86 of the Domestic Building Contracts Act 2000, if you are in Queensland). Section 87 of the same act also says that the builder must permit the owner or an authorised representative, reasonable access to the site under the contractors supervision. Some builders don't seem to know what 'customer service' is and have forgotten who is paying their wages. Just wait till the tighter credit market begins to bite and watch the ones with poor customer service start to winge.
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