Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Nov 07, 2009 6:17 am The things you discover about a contract after you want to try and use it in your favour! The standard HIA contract mentions that the builder needs to give the owner written notice of an entitlement to an extension of time - done within 10 working days after the builder has all of the facts. No problems there... Our contract had an additional clause which states: Notwithstanding the provisions of Clause ABC (the HIA one) where the builder is claiming an extension to the contract period due to adverse weather and/or the industry shutdown period the builder, upon request by the owner, will provide deails of the claim after the date of practical completion. After practical completion, I received a letter stating that the builder was claiming for 52 days of adverse weather and subsequently my house was finished in plenty of time (I had originally through they were almost 3 weeks late). I disputed this on the grounds that I hadn't received any written notice with 10 working days of the event - the builder has pointed out that I've misinterpreted the contract and they were under no requirement to do so. I can interpret it two ways: * As the builder states - they didn't need to tell me until after practical completion * They still needed to provide me with written notice of the extension request within 10 working days, but didn't need to provide details until after practical completion At the moment, they've just told me they received the rain days from the Bureau of Meteorology. I found what I think was the correct data (http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/mwr/) and for my area, the number of days the builder is claiming for is not the number of days I count. Is this the "details of the claim" they provide? Do they need to prove to me that they actually had tradesmen that couldn't work on that day due to rain? In some instances, some of these rain days occur on the weekend and while I know some tradesmen work on the weekends, that really only occured in the early stages of building for brickwork and roof tiles. Towards the end of the build, they've claimed rain days even though the house was past lock-up stage...how can you claim rain delays when the work is done on the inside??? Bottom line, they don't want to pay liquidated damages and have yet to explain how they came up with the mystical 52 "adverse weather" amount. I know the work on the house sat idle for weeks at a time, I know the builder had some form of internal restructure where I received a new site supervisor and new CSO and I know it was poorly managed at times because after notifying them of a problem (damage to brickwork for example) they called me two months later with a "Did you know the brickwork was damaged, we just noticed it??" What are my options? Is it worth chasing up the princely sum of $15.00 per working day that they ran over versus the frustration that the builder is causing? Have I misinterpreted the contract (which I accept is a definate possibility)? What sort of detail do they actually need to supply in relation to adverse weather? Re: Need some advice on liquidated damages 2Nov 07, 2009 7:49 am Our builder sent us a letter on each occasion they claimed days for weather - there were only five days claimed all up, and each involved extreme rain or wind. And those didnt even extend the construction time, since there were 10 days allowed for in our contract. In the end, when our build ran over time by *ahem* 118 days , they simply wrote us a cheque for $4000-odd at handover, no arguments at all. For the amount of money involved in our case, I'd have fought tooth and nail to get it if they'd tried to wriggle out of paying. But honestly, $15 per day for three weeks? You're talking about a couple of hundred dollars...is it even worth the stress? I know that sometimes it's the priciple that matters, so yu have to make that call. If you want to follow it up, contact your state building authority for advice. I have no idea how it works in NSW, but in Vic you'd go to the Building Commission, or via Consumer Affairs. Re: Need some advice on liquidated damages 4Nov 07, 2009 4:32 pm We got $1750 back ($250/week for 7 weeks) and got it with very little hassle. Simonds just added the credit to our final invoice. Re: Need some advice on liquidated damages 5Nov 07, 2009 5:38 pm Djelibeybi We got $1750 back ($250/week for 7 weeks) and got it with very little hassle. Simonds just added the credit to our final invoice. Good to hear it wasn't a big hassle for you to get the cash back Caz & Co ALL MOVED IN!! Now comes all the hard work-decorating.... [b]Blog: http://cazoraz.blogspot.com/ Settling in Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=36993 Re: Need some advice on liquidated damages 6Nov 07, 2009 5:50 pm I don't think you can count weekends. My contract states working days, and generally that means Mon-Fri. I know you do have the odd one that works the weekend. Rain days after lock-up are a bit of a joke, apart from the eaves, all the work is done on the inside. I would still fight for it, but get your house first, dont make this your priority. Re: Need some advice on liquidated damages 7Nov 07, 2009 7:05 pm To me it's clear: 1) The standard HIA contract mentions that the builder needs to give the owner written notice of an entitlement to an extension of time - done within 10 working days after the builder has all of the facts. No problems there... 2) Our contract had an additional clause which states: Notwithstanding the provisions of Clause ABC (the HIA one) where the builder is claiming an extension to the contract period due to adverse weather and/or the industry shutdown period the builder, upon request by the owner, will provide deails of the claim after the date of practical completion. Item 1 states that they have 10 working days after the event to notify you. Item 2 states that the builder has until the date of practical completion to provide the details. That is, 10 days for notification and a lot longer to provide the details. I would reject any claims for rain days that are more than 10 days old. And do it now. Demolition August 2009, Construction Started September 2009, Completed December 2010 It worked for me in getting all non notified rain days removed from the builders claim, although the LDs was only $50/day 7 5962 Hi VK, Think it's worth investing time in an Owner Builder course to equip you with basic knowledge on Australian Building Industry and its regulations. Also, I suggest… 11 23601 |