Hi Guys,
Just wanted to share with you all our experience at the Sim*nds Contract Appointment, and hope some of you knowledgeable people here on this forum could provide some advice.
We had done some research on this forum beforehand and took some handy hints into the appointment. We were really quite surprised by the lack of flexibility shown by the Contract person and were bewildered by the response when we asked to negotiate some of the terms on the contract.
Below were some of the issues that we encountered on the day:
1) The standard HIA Contract, Schedule 1 item 9 stipulates the agreed damages for late completion of Building Works. This is stated as $200pw, however we were seeking something that was more realistic of the currently rental price of the area we are building. We were hoping to obtain damages of around $330-350pw, as this is the currently rental being charged for a similar house to ours, in the same area. However speaking to the Contract Manager he stated that Sim*nds Policy was that $250 is the maximum they will go and will not budge on this issue.
2) The standard contract has allocated '220 Days' for time of completion of the building works. The Break Down of days is as follows:
- Inclement Weather: 10 Days
- Weekends/Public Holidays/RDO's: 55 Days
- Other Delays having regard to the nature of the Building Work: 45 Days.
Now - during our Sales Tender we were discussing with the Sales consultant that as we are building with Sim*nds, that there is a Guaranteed Start and End Date. These dates being the completion of the building works after 18-20 weeks once the Works have commenced. (We are building a single storey home so this may not apply to those who are building bigger homes), yet the contract says 220 days (which is 31 weeks!) and the Contract Manager is not budging. I want to ask anyone out there if they have successfully negotiated this timeframe - how did you do it?!?!
3) Has anyone had a builder suddenly add something to the house plan e.g.e a porch, claiming it was to meet the land developer's requirements? This happened to me where I got to my contract appointment and there was an added porch costing approximately $1600 that I had never seen before. My friend building right next door did NOT have the same thing happen to her - what is going on??
Please help - any advice at all would be much appreciated!!!
Thanks!