Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Aug 13, 2009 10:17 pm Hi all i am currently building with small builder. what i am confused now is.... what stage i am and what can i do? it's frustate me because the builder doesn't give a visual/detail stages to me, like PD or Simonds do, but i guess everything comes to $$$ currently, i have done my soil test, paid deposit $1500 then we have discussed the sketch, currently they are going to draw it, they asked me to pay another $2000 then what ? they said, contract will finish within 2 weeks then i need to do colour selection ....oh yeah... but.... * i am confused, can i make alterations ? can i add stuffs, i.e: i want paving, i want basin. can we do at this stage or not.... ? * if they produced contract, then what if i am not happy with the inside? what if i am not happy with some minor things from the design ? * when do the colour selection, builder use boral. what if i am not happy with colour from boral? they have limited colour compared to PGH.what if i want to use PGH? *so many question in my head and i dont know where to go i hope someone can help me.... many thanks Final stage Re: Help ! What stage i am currently? 2Aug 13, 2009 10:35 pm you need to ask your builder these questions, not the forum, and get it in writing from him, that's imperative if he's a small timer... and it looks like you are at the "pre contract" stage! A thankful person is a happy person. [/color]My hobby design blog: http://aviewondesign.blogspot.com/ Re: Help ! What stage i am currently? 3Aug 13, 2009 10:43 pm hi annietom thanks for the quick reply that's the problem my builder (sales) is soooo lazy to write email. the company does not have the proper stages information nor the sales want to write (in email) for the stages information however, he always happy to verbally said over the phone, which frustate me because i dont know what my right is, what i can do, what i need to do Final stage Re: Help ! What stage i am currently? 4Aug 13, 2009 11:20 pm see, that would worry me. Why won't they put it in writing - for $200K, they can make the effort or you need to be very careful, it may be a warning sign to you of how they operate... A thankful person is a happy person. [/color]My hobby design blog: http://aviewondesign.blogspot.com/ Re: Help ! What stage i am currently? 5Aug 14, 2009 10:22 am Hi d3p, Will they reply to your emails? Maybe any information you get from them verbally, that you would really like made clearer (in writing), should be put in an email by you to them. Just ask them to clarify the info for you. A "just wanted to confirm that....." type of thing. Find out the list of specifications now for your build and do some research of what they're including, whether you like those things... and if not, will they let you change some things, for what price. They should be able to give you some of this info before you go any further or hand over any more money. Ask lots of questions now.... at this stage they should be giving you all the answers you need. Good luck buzz Re: Help ! What stage i am currently? 6Aug 14, 2009 10:30 pm hi buzz and annietom they didn't reply to my email Instead they will call me. They only email, if they need to send document (design, etc) i found they're a bit odd, or totally lazy or not computer savvy ? i meet them very often, so i can ask verbally. However, after reviewing e-mail i have, it seems, i couldn't find any record that they actually answer in writing currently what i have done was, emailing them (one way, i mean i sent email, at least i have a record that i "told" them) does this normally happened ? => sales doesn't answer your email, instead, they answer you verbally ? Final stage Re: Help ! What stage i am currently? 7Aug 14, 2009 11:45 pm I think if you tell them you would like these things in writing, before you hand over any more money, and they don't do that- then in my opinion that's not good enough. It's a tough situation d3p.... buzz Re: Help ! What stage i am currently? 8Aug 15, 2009 9:55 am Hi d3p, We are also building with a small builder, the thing that I didn't particularly like was that you do contracts etc before colours and electrical etc where you WILL want to add things. The response from the builder was we can put in a variation - which may cost $150 to add in the contract or can pay out of own pocket. We have had excellent customer service though ( one of the main reasons we chose this builder, and he allowed us to plan what we wanted). It's tough but you will need to weigh up the pros and cons and if you aren't happy/worried about what might happen later more than the possible beter, more personal build you may want to start looking at another builder. Melissa Re: Help ! What stage i am currently? 9Aug 15, 2009 11:44 pm buzz, yeah it's tough.... i guess i have no choice, i'll try this road first. okay i have managed to obtain some more clarification what happened * design, after design is good * contract * colour selection, when you add some more stuffs, +price for particular bricks, it will be added as variation in the contract the reason, builder said, because you can't do colour selection without knowing your design i agree with that, makes sense then builder added if contract is not finalised, they will keep doing contract for 1 or 2 years without building the house. Contract after design is the method the builder use. THIS what makes no sense to me obviously people go for contract to build house not playing with contract. but anyway.... nothing we can do. Final stage Re: Help ! What stage i am currently? 10Aug 16, 2009 4:47 pm Just don't stop asking questions d3p!! And asking and asking (and researching). I felt unsure about our choice of builder at first, but the more I have dealt with them, the more confident I feel. By the time we signed the contract, we were very happy to do so (no hesitation). If it was me , I wouldn't sign until any questions worrying me were answered properly. Good luck buzz Re: Help ! What stage i am currently? 11Aug 16, 2009 4:53 pm This is the largest financial commitment you will ever make so make sure you have all of your answers before putting your money down. Believe me I know it is hard not to make emotional decisions but don't let them trick you into signing something if you are not comfortable. The not having things in writing means that it cannot be used against them if for whatever reason something goes wrong or a mistake is made. This applies in any job not just building a house so if you have a concern raise it in email and if they call you instead of emailing back send another email : just confirming our conversation etc so at least you have some sort of back up! Building Sandhurst 36 Porter Davis Currently Fixing Re: Help ! What stage i am currently? 12Aug 18, 2009 10:44 pm hey buzz and chickad23 thanks for the tip... time for practice now as an update, if everyone curious.... sent email again (verbally) i have been told, it's on design, waiting design to finish, later on after confirming design is ok, they will write contract. after contract, then do variation. if there's any variation, it will be added into the contract. yay ! at least i am getting somewhere now confidently Final stage Not unless you have managed to put it as a special condition into the contract somehow. 1 6052 The fastest thing a builder will do is bank your cheque, those systems work perfectly with lightning speed, everything else is slow burn. Just the way it is. 1 8683 1 4664 |