Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Wincrest Homes in Adminstration 21Jan 30, 2009 6:49 pm We are also building with Wincrest and are at the tiling & painting stage. My hubby called fair trading and the administrator this morning. They said they will give us more updates in the next couple of weeks. In the mean time we were advised to file a claim to Vero.
A lot of our friends told us to seek legal advice now. I wonder if it's really worth it? Re: Wincrest Homes in Adminstration 22Jan 30, 2009 7:11 pm Hi Jamy
We are going through this process at the moment because our builder became insolvent last year. At this stage there is no claim to be made. You need to wait until the builder is actually declared insolvent otherwise you are just wasting your time. The insurance company will not accept your claim until such time insolvency has been declared. And before you put a claim into the insurance company you need to make sure you have your head around this whole thing. In regards to a solicitor, it is a good idea to get their advice, but at the moment until you actually know what is going on it will cost you money to find out the same information you can get from making a few phone calls. Believe me, save your money until such time that you really need the solicitor. What you need to do is get a copy of Vero's claim details and make yourself very familiar with it, write down all the questions you can think of, those are the kinds of things you can get your solicitor to answer for you. Also the administrators should be contacting you in writing so you will have a better idea once they do that. One thing that will be very important, if they are declared insolvent make sure you get an independent inspector to do a complete inspection of your home. Our solicitor also recommended this and we did it. This can form the basis of your claim. When you file a claim you want to know every single defect that may exist. Defects is the biggest part of the claim and when building companies are going under and haven't been paying their trades, they get anyone in to do the work resulting in many defects that you may not be aware of. Right now it's a really tough situation to deal with and doesn't help when you are going into the weekend and know you won't have any further information for a few days. One thing that is really important and you need to check this as soon as you can with the administrators is construction insurance. MB clients were left in the lurch with this because once they were declared insolvent everyone tried to wipe their hands of the construction insurance. You need this insurance to make sure if anything happens to your house that you are covered. Get some commitment from the administrators, find out who the insurer is and if the cover is still valid. If not, then you may need a solicitor for this particular item. It's very important, it covers you for any damage to the house. To the mods, I am wondering if it's worthwhile merging the threads that have started about this into one because there seems to be quite a few at the moment. Many people are asking the same questions in different threads and it might be good if they just had one place so they can read all the previous responses. Re: Wincrest Homes in Adminstration 23Jan 30, 2009 7:42 pm The latest that I have heard is that St George Bank will allow Wincrest to trade through their problems. I had heard earlier that 30 out of the 100 incomplete homes would be finished, so I'm hoping that the latest news that all homes would be completed is true. I'll try and find an online source for it - that info came from ABC News at 7pm.
Judie Re: Wincrest Homes in Adminstration 24Jan 30, 2009 7:43 pm As from today the st.george bank has allowed wincrest to continue trading to finish 30-40 homes currently in construction.
I am a contractor who works for wincrest & there is no protection for us, the government never helps the contractor. I am not sure what happened but I was paid by wincrest for everything owing prior to xmas. We have been on a months holiday & was in process of invoicing them for work done in december. I was told macquarie bank pulled the plug on homes they had financed in claremont meadows (penrith) & I think thats what caused all the problems. I am sure there are others contractors that haven't sent in what is owed to them either. I received an email from wincrest this morning advising us that they felt assured that they will be continuing. ABC news tonight stated Fair trading minister has given the go ahead to continue building. They don't pull the plug on the company if they have a chance of recovering. Lets hope all goes well for everybody. I must say Our company has worked for this builder for over 22yrs & never had a problem as yet. Re: Wincrest Homes in Adminstration 25Jan 30, 2009 7:43 pm Thank you photogirl. Your advice is greatly appreciated. We will certainly look into the construction insurance you mentioned about.
Let's say if things don't go well and they go into insolvence, will Vero pay for the independent inspector and the solicitor fees incurred? I hope things get better at your end. Re: Wincrest Homes in Adminstration 26Jan 30, 2009 7:59 pm Rosewood - thank you for your information. One small question - do you know which homes will be completed? If there are 100 in the building process, that only means 30-40% of them will be finished. I guess I can cross my fingers and hope I'm in that lot.
Judie Re: Wincrest Homes in Adminstration 28Jan 30, 2009 8:12 pm claremont meadows yes know it well used to own a house is that up the hill going towards the uni there was a nursey there I think up oconnel street i think its been a few years, thats were the new developmet was going finished building 40 square home on 5 acres with perry homes.working on the landscaping just finished pool deck with ://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=2217 Re: Wincrest Homes in Adminstration 29Jan 30, 2009 8:15 pm rosewood - my frame was finished last Friday (with windows and sliding doors in place). There are no bricks or roofing materials on site. The site is securely padlocked.
Judie Re: Wincrest Homes in Adminstration 31Jan 30, 2009 8:31 pm Judie,
well gee I don't know, they did say the 30-40 homes that were close to being completed. However that's only till they see the situation. Just a point, don't beleive everything the media reports as a lot of times its not the real story or situation. It's being reported a lot worse than it is. Wincrest did the right thing by doing this, other scum bags keep on trading knowing they cannot pay you. They have to pay the trades or they won 't go back on site unless they get a guarantee. So they had to get an advance from the bank to pay people to continue with the houses. You can send me a private message & I can look up your job to see if we have been there to do any work. Have your bricks been delivered Re: Wincrest Homes in Adminstration 32Jan 30, 2009 8:39 pm Hi Rosewood, I am also building with wincrest. My bricks have just been completed and we are waiting for roofing to commence. Do you think we will be part of the 30-40 homes that will be completed...any help will be appreciated...Thanks Re: Wincrest Homes in Adminstration 33Jan 30, 2009 8:40 pm Hi Jamy
You're welcome. You need to check your insurance policy for Vero to see what they cover you for. They should have this on their website. We are with a different insurer (although I think it is the same no matter who you are with). Wtih ours we couldn't claim solicitors fees unless we required a solicitor to dispute the insurance companies offer, i.e. if we needed to go to VCAT. We were not covered for the independent inspector either. Basically the home warranty insurance covers you for defects and incomplete work. In some cases it may cover you for loss of progress payments if they have been incurred. Our insurance cover was for up to $200,000. I have a feeling this may have been increased at some point so you may be covered for more. The most that an insurance company will pay out for incomplete works is 20% of the total contract price. They will take into account how much you had left to pay. The remainder is allocated to defects. It sounds at the moment as if things may be okay in regards to the banks so hopefully it is and you won't have to go down this road. Just in case make sure you have all your paperwork in order because the insurance company will want copies of everything including contracts, variations etc., as part of your claim. And if they do become insolvent you will also need to advise your bank asap if you have a mortgage for this house. If you can just keep and eye on the property because if trades are owed money they may try to enter the site. This did happen to MB clients. It won't be a problem if the build continues, but if they become insolvent, that becomes your problem. If there is not going to be any work done on the house for a few weeks it may be worthwhile just putting some extra locks on the gate and even speaking to the administrators about changing locks. Trades have the keys to your house. I'm not telling this to scare you, just to help you try and cover yourself as much as possible. In saying that, we contacted a lot of trades to get quotes to complete our build and they were just fantastic, really helpful, especially considering a lot of them were also out of money. Things are getting better at our end, it's been a complete rollercoaster for the last 6 months but things are now getting back on track. Things do get better, it's amazing how much you learn about the building industry going through something like this. Re: Wincrest Homes in Adminstration 34Jan 30, 2009 8:41 pm OH NO! my heart goes out to all the people who are going through this. we were beechwood customers and was at council when they crashed. So we know the heart break first hand. I hope this can be fixed fast for all of you that are to far gone to just walk away. John, Tarin and the Kids Built and moving in to the Regent Grande with Masterton homes http://thebrownsaremovingtothecountry.blogspot.com Re: Wincrest Homes in Adminstration 35Jan 30, 2009 8:56 pm I also feel awful for anyone going through this. We are building with a small company in Melbourne and I just wish they'd hurry up and finish as this whole credit crisis is a bit scary for everyone.
My query though is....as most of us pay our builders AFTER a stage is completed, can't the people involved cancel their contract mid way and go to someone else for the remaining works to be done? I'm assuming the answer is no. Re: Wincrest Homes in Adminstration 36Jan 30, 2009 9:08 pm I know with beechwood another company took on the work that was left. First it was Masterton and then another company took it over. Masterton just took on Beechwood contractors to try and get what houses they could to finish them. We have a neighbor that was with them and they were up to dry walling and the day Beechwood collapsed the dry wall guys came and got all the sheets that were there. It was very sad. they have only just moved in to their home a few weeks ago. John, Tarin and the Kids Built and moving in to the Regent Grande with Masterton homes http://thebrownsaremovingtothecountry.blogspot.com Re: Wincrest Homes in Adminstration 37Jan 30, 2009 9:09 pm oztish I also feel awful for anyone going through this. We are building with a small company in Melbourne and I just wish they'd hurry up and finish as this whole credit crisis is a bit scary for everyone. My query though is....as most of us pay our builders AFTER a stage is completed, can't the people involved cancel their contract mid way and go to someone else for the remaining works to be done? I'm assuming the answer is no. The answer is usually no because of the design of the house is owned by the builder. Other builders can't build that design unless they bought it. I am also very sorry for those who are affected. Hopes things are better soon. Building Clarendon Brighton - Done and moved in Sept 2009 Re: Wincrest Homes in Adminstration 38Jan 30, 2009 9:11 pm Hi Oztish
As far as I know the answer is no, because technically the builder is not in breach of the contract. The administrators will either appoint a new builder or terminate the contract if the builder becomes insolvent. Also because there is insurance involved you actually have to go through the claims process before a new builder can be appointed. The thing is that if the builder becomes insolvent, building costs would have gone up so most people need to claim incomplete works and to do this builders quotes have to be provided. You may find that the insurance company won't pay for the builder of your choice so if you have gone ahead and gotten a new builder to do the works you may be seriously out of pocket. If you don't follow the procedures you can void your insurance. Don't worry too much, nobody needs the extra stress when building. The thing is this could happen to any builder. The biggest thing to do to protect yourself is absolutely do not make any progress payments until the stage is complete. No matter how much pressure a builder places on someone, they are not entitled to the money until the stage is complete. When they send you and invoice go out and check that all the work has been done. That can help minimise the damage if something happens. Re: Wincrest Homes in Adminstration 39Jan 30, 2009 9:31 pm I hope ours is one of the 30-40 to be completed homes cos we are close to completion (painting & tiling stage). I hope the contractors will still do a good job to finish all works though.
It really has been quite an experience building a new home. On top of this we are also planning our wedding in October! Thanks to my hubby who always puts up with me. Re: Wincrest Homes in Adminstration 40Jan 30, 2009 9:45 pm I'm not understanding the 30-40 houses out of 100. If they can't complete all the houses then are they not technically insolvent. You can't complete only a few houses, not the others and then continue to trade building new houses. This seems to be a very strange situation. I'm thinking that it's going to go one of three ways, they will continue to trade and complete all houses, another builder will do a deal with the administrators and take on the houses or they are insolvent. Ask for references and speak to them. If they are defensive or try to avoid the request, walk. 1 75162 I would never build with Fowler homes. I built with them in 2021 and till date maintenance issues are pending. All their existing trades and businesses don't work with… 14 106046 Hi there! Putting the feelers out there for those who have (or almost) built with Arli homes! Interested in your experiences who've built from their stock home designs… 0 23941 |