Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Oct 30, 2009 3:21 pm Hi, I need some help! my house construction has started and bricks have gone up. After having a look at the office, we have decided that we want to move the power point and telephone point to the opposite wall. unfortunately, the builder refuses to change it, saying that the plans have been distributed. No work has commenced on electrical. We are willing to pay a variation. I also wanted to change my garage door to daintree from the standard. They do not seem to be allowing it. my other friends who are building have had no issues like this with their builder. i will be living in this house for a loong time! i want to have it how i like it...and i cant? Do i have any rights? Siteworks 18Sep09;Footings 23Sep09;Slabdown 24Sep09;Bricks 30Oct09;Roof starts 2Nov09;Electrical wiring completed;Roof tiles complete; Int walls plastered;Ceilings painted; Ext walls rendered;door frames painted; Bathroom tiling nearly there! Re: HELP me pleaseeee! Builder not willing to help. 2Oct 30, 2009 3:25 pm Wow - I'm not sure what to say. You aren't really asking for much, so it shouldn't be a problem. THe garage door issue is as simple as the builder telling the supplier that they want a different type and charging you a variation. The electrical is just as easy. One thing you could do is see when the electrician is on site and ask him to put the in the place you want it. As for the door, I would just keep pushing the builder. Write emails/letters, etc saying you want it changed as you don't want to live in a house you won't be happy with. If that goes nowhere, maybe ask him for a credit back on the door so you can organise it yourself. Blog is now up - http://www.jbdave.blogspot.com/ Re: HELP me pleaseeee! Builder not willing to help. 3Oct 30, 2009 3:31 pm Hi jbdave, They are refusing to change the garage door. i will call them again and go to their office... am really upset.... Siteworks 18Sep09;Footings 23Sep09;Slabdown 24Sep09;Bricks 30Oct09;Roof starts 2Nov09;Electrical wiring completed;Roof tiles complete; Int walls plastered;Ceilings painted; Ext walls rendered;door frames painted; Bathroom tiling nearly there! Re: HELP me pleaseeee! Builder not willing to help. 4Oct 30, 2009 3:32 pm The builder isn't obliged to allow changes after the signing of contracts. Some builders are flexible, others have a strict policy of "no changes" - otherwise some clients would be changing their minds every five minutes. And besides, the margin for error gets wider and wider when you add (or subtract) umpteen things to the original plans. If you've offered to pay a variation fee and they still say no, you probably have nowhere to go. As jbdave said, you could perhaps try approaching the sparkies when they start work, and offering a slab if they'll move whatever wherever, but you could potentially end up with problems down the track once plaster goes up and the plans don't show the new location of your wiring.... Re: HELP me pleaseeee! Builder not willing to help. 5Oct 30, 2009 4:11 pm If the sparky wont change it during construction, Just run a conjuit with string in it through the walls from your current power point to the spot you want one. A sparky will be able to junction off more cable and put a point where you want it post handover. As far as the garage door goes, can you ask your builder not to supply one at all and purchase one post handover. If that doesn't work - you can always sell them on ebay post handover, not sure how much your variation would cost you (ours are $1600 a pop - a very good deterant) you may end up losing same amount of money by selling 2nd hand and buying what you actually want. Just remember everyone finds things they would like to change during the build, once the house is yours you can do what you like! 2011 Home Sweet Home Handover 03 September 2010 PCI 27August 2010 Plumber 20August 2010 Electrician 19August 2010 Painting 04 August 2010 Cabinets 13Jul2010 Lockup 23June Frame 20April slab 1Mar10 Re: HELP me pleaseeee! Builder not willing to help. 6Oct 30, 2009 4:38 pm I wanted to convert one of the switches in the family room to be two-way the next day after our electrical appointment.. No changes to the position or whatever.. The lady, looking after the electricals said "no problem. $100 for redrafting the plans plus some extra for the switch"... Bloody hell... To replace a symbol on a Visio diagram of a 1-way switch with a two-way one... So, I conceded... Will organise it to be done at a later time.. ... built a Promenade with Clarendon. viewtopic.php?f=31&t=25104 20-10-09 - excavation and piering completed ... 12-04-10 - Basins fixed. Connecting to the electrical grid 23-04-10 - PCI 07-05-10 - HANDOVER! Re: HELP me pleaseeee! Builder not willing to help. 7Oct 30, 2009 4:40 pm Thank you kek and Anna. I spoke to my builder again, and she said they cannot make any changes. she said we had time during prestart for all this. the thing is we did pre-start even before we signed our contracts. Also that was last march. I tried to reason with her and finally, i broke down to tears. I just started rolling out... just thinking how much we have planned for the house and we will live in it for many years to come and i cant have 2 changes i want. she said she will have a chat with the construction manager again and call me back. i hope she can sort it out for me. Else, i'll have to live with it or change it later. i am not sure if u can actually sell a garage door on ebay? Anyways, just hope for the best i guess. Siteworks 18Sep09;Footings 23Sep09;Slabdown 24Sep09;Bricks 30Oct09;Roof starts 2Nov09;Electrical wiring completed;Roof tiles complete; Int walls plastered;Ceilings painted; Ext walls rendered;door frames painted; Bathroom tiling nearly there! Re: HELP me pleaseeee! Builder not willing to help. 8Oct 30, 2009 4:54 pm ebyelyakov... thats bad...changing it the day after and they charge $100 to change a visio drawing...hmmmm.... but yes you can do it at a later time. Mine is changing the power point and telephone point to the opposite wall...cant really do it later.... Siteworks 18Sep09;Footings 23Sep09;Slabdown 24Sep09;Bricks 30Oct09;Roof starts 2Nov09;Electrical wiring completed;Roof tiles complete; Int walls plastered;Ceilings painted; Ext walls rendered;door frames painted; Bathroom tiling nearly there! Re: HELP me pleaseeee! Builder not willing to help. 9Oct 30, 2009 5:04 pm Did you ask if they would give you a credit not to supply the garage door ? Worst case scenario for the electrical isn't that bad. If you have to change it later it may not be that hard (especially in a single storey house). You may have to patch a hole or two and that's about it. I would still try and see the electrician on site if I was you. Don't let it get you down. Blog is now up - http://www.jbdave.blogspot.com/ Re: HELP me pleaseeee! Builder not willing to help. 10Oct 30, 2009 5:13 pm G_girl Thank you kek and Anna. I spoke to my builder again, and she said they cannot make any changes. she said we had time during prestart for all this. the thing is we did pre-start even before we signed our contracts. Also that was last march. I tried to reason with her and finally, i broke down to tears. I just started rolling out... just thinking how much we have planned for the house and we will live in it for many years to come and i cant have 2 changes i want. she said she will have a chat with the construction manager again and call me back. i hope she can sort it out for me. Else, i'll have to live with it or change it later. Don't let the garage door get you down. Everybody has something that they overlooked or changed their mind about, and usually once you move in, it ceases to be a big deal. If it still bugs you, you just have to deal with it then, at whatever cost. The power point thing though - you're in WA, so I assume you have solid brick and hard plaster? Anna1's suggestion of putting in some conduit with string through it is a good one - you'd easily be able to get extra phone and power points put in later that way. G_girl i am not sure if u can actually sell a garage door on ebay? Anyways, just hope for the best i guess. You can sell ANYTHING on ebay.... I'd make it pick-up only though. Postage would be a bugger. Re: HELP me pleaseeee! Builder not willing to help. 11Oct 30, 2009 5:28 pm Who you building with? Building with CELEBRATION HOMES @ THE GLADES in BYFORD W.A. My Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=19512&p=249550#p249550 Re: HELP me pleaseeee! Builder not willing to help. 12Oct 30, 2009 5:39 pm Thank you guys for all your support. Yes, i should not let this get me down, there are more things to come... I will see what she replies me and handle it from there. This forum is great. Thank you all again Siteworks 18Sep09;Footings 23Sep09;Slabdown 24Sep09;Bricks 30Oct09;Roof starts 2Nov09;Electrical wiring completed;Roof tiles complete; Int walls plastered;Ceilings painted; Ext walls rendered;door frames painted; Bathroom tiling nearly there! Re: HELP me pleaseeee! Builder not willing to help. 13Oct 30, 2009 5:42 pm Hi guys, i just got a call from my senior supervisor, he said he will meet us at our house and discuss this issue today, but i am unable to leave office immediately, so we are doing it on monday morning. I will let you guys know the outcome...thanks for the support ... Siteworks 18Sep09;Footings 23Sep09;Slabdown 24Sep09;Bricks 30Oct09;Roof starts 2Nov09;Electrical wiring completed;Roof tiles complete; Int walls plastered;Ceilings painted; Ext walls rendered;door frames painted; Bathroom tiling nearly there! Re: HELP me pleaseeee! Builder not willing to help. 14Oct 30, 2009 6:02 pm Hi G Girl, good luck with it. If its any consolation I am definitely taking note of your experience, and will make sure we don't second guess our choices too much because the builder we're with obviously makes it very tough to get them changed. I too don't think the power point will be too hard to move later on, and maybe you will learn to love your door too?? ~*~Moved in on the 16th April 2011~*~ Re: HELP me pleaseeee! Builder not willing to help. 15Oct 30, 2009 6:25 pm everyone makes mistakes first time around. I've done so much research and whatnot in preparation for our build that it border's on insanity, and yet I still missed a couple of things. You need to ask yourself are these things really that important, in the grand scheme of things?. Building with CELEBRATION HOMES @ THE GLADES in BYFORD W.A. My Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=19512&p=249550#p249550 Re: HELP me pleaseeee! Builder not willing to help. 16Oct 30, 2009 8:49 pm What really sucks, is the builder can move light switches to the other side of the door, and I have no say, and yet your house havent even started and they are refusing. Catch the electrician, and he should do it no problems, the builder probably won't even notice. Re: HELP me pleaseeee! Builder not willing to help. 17Oct 30, 2009 9:23 pm i was also told that once the DA was approved and went through CC that no variations could take place as it does affect the whole project and it can get messy when some plans are changed and not others. you could try approaching the subbies when they are on site but you would need to make sure they are coming back to install the actual powerpoints after the walls are in and not other workers from the same company. otherwise just get the subbies to put in the wires and get some photos of the wires before they put up the walls so in the future you can get another sparkie to connect it up as an additional powerpoint. the main thing is to get the wiring in now before its too late! Re: HELP me pleaseeee! Builder not willing to help. 18Nov 02, 2009 11:48 am Hi guys, Today we met with the senior building supervisor...and he is "heaven sent"!!!! He has agreed to make those changes for us... ) Thanks for all your advice. i think yes, next time i can go to the tradies and see if they can do it for me..... phew! now i am relieved.... i dont intend to change anything ... its all okay now. Siteworks 18Sep09;Footings 23Sep09;Slabdown 24Sep09;Bricks 30Oct09;Roof starts 2Nov09;Electrical wiring completed;Roof tiles complete; Int walls plastered;Ceilings painted; Ext walls rendered;door frames painted; Bathroom tiling nearly there! Re: HELP me pleaseeee! Builder not willing to help. 19Nov 02, 2009 9:27 pm Glad to hear it G_girl. I hope the rest of the build goes well for you. 2011 Home Sweet Home Handover 03 September 2010 PCI 27August 2010 Plumber 20August 2010 Electrician 19August 2010 Painting 04 August 2010 Cabinets 13Jul2010 Lockup 23June Frame 20April slab 1Mar10 Re: HELP me pleaseeee! Builder not willing to help. 20Nov 03, 2009 4:23 pm Thank you Anna Siteworks 18Sep09;Footings 23Sep09;Slabdown 24Sep09;Bricks 30Oct09;Roof starts 2Nov09;Electrical wiring completed;Roof tiles complete; Int walls plastered;Ceilings painted; Ext walls rendered;door frames painted; Bathroom tiling nearly there! The HIA contract, in the term & conditions section states that "Commencment" is deemed when the drainage is started or the piers are dug or the slab is formed up (incase… 2 6176 I work with owner, he/she is my man on the ground and I instruct them when to visit the site and take photos and I have other tools in the bag. 4 15265 Thanks. I called VBA today and they said it was a Consumer Affairs issue, the old handball. Seems like the government organisations don't want to do their job at the moment. 2 7556 |