Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Nov 20, 2009 7:24 am Hey! We are in the process of building a new home with Metricon. When we went to the site, we realised that the crossover (the driveway leading to the garage) and the garage are at opposite sides. Metricon has never told us to apply to the land development for the crossover, so right now, we have a crossover problem. Metricon wants us to apply to the Town Council, tell them to remove the old crossover and rebuilt a new crossover at the right location. At the same time, we were told to tell the Town Council to move a tree (which is in the way of the new crossover). Should Metricon take responsibility for this? Please reply, thank you!! Re: Crossover problem....please help! 2Nov 20, 2009 7:29 am Hi jeff151292, isn’t your builder supposed to make sure your house has the correct orientation for your block, sounds like your builder is building your house the wrong way round. I don’t think that this problem has anything to do with your council, they lay the driveways and the builder makes sure your garage is on the correct side of the block. If your driveway has to be moved, your builder should be paying, it's their mistake. Current status: Busy making the house our home Built PD Francis 29 on our 576m2 block at Reflections in Tarneit Reflections Estate Thread Our Build Thread Re: Crossover problem....please help! 3Nov 20, 2009 8:19 am Siting of the crossover is generally the owner's responsibility. If you signed off on the plans, and there's nothing in your building contract to say that the builder will take care of relocating the crossover, then I doubt you have a right to expect them to do anything. It's one of the first things to check when building: which side is the garage on, and where is the crossover located? Even if the land hasn't been developed at the time you purchased it, you can still find out where the proposed crossover is to be from the engineering diagrams, which should be available from the developer. Unfortunately, it's a trap for the unwary.... Re: Crossover problem....please help! 4Nov 20, 2009 9:21 am kek It's one of the first things to check when building: which side is the garage on, and where is the crossover located? Even if the land hasn't been developed at the time you purchased it, you can still find out where the proposed crossover is to be from the engineering diagrams, which should be available from the developer. Unfortunately, it's a trap for the unwary.... Yup, I had to flip my house to match the driveway but I wanted the house flipped anyway so it all worked well for me. Unfortunately it's not the builders responsibility, it's one of the first things most people will check when looking at house and land. Although in saying that, it would have been nice if they had pointed it out 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Re: Crossover problem....please help! 5Nov 20, 2009 9:23 am Our CSC was the one that made sure that our orientation was correct, we knew which side our garage was on anyway, but she made sure we were right Current status: Busy making the house our home Built PD Francis 29 on our 576m2 block at Reflections in Tarneit Reflections Estate Thread Our Build Thread Re: Crossover problem....please help! 6Nov 20, 2009 9:30 am It's crazy to site your house according to the crossover anyway. The house should be sited to best orientation on the block and if the crossover needs to be moved, so be it. You wouldn't have all your living rooms facing south just to suit a crossover for example, when the house could be flipped to make them face north. Jeff, M would have asked you which way you wanted the house, or they would have suggested best orientation?? I can't imagine they would have just sited the house without asking you. I leave you to fend for yourself, figure things out yourself. Terrence Malick Re: Crossover problem....please help! 7Nov 20, 2009 9:57 am Did you authorise drawings with the house orientated the way it is...did you then check that the house suited the orientation of the crossover...if the two were not correlated and you signed off on the drawings then I'm afraid you may be up for the bucks. Should the builder have checked...it would have been nice...but this is one of those times where you need to protect yourself my following the three golden rules of building. 1. Check the drawings 2. Check the drawings 3. Refer to 1 and 2. mmm....donuts Homer Simpson 1956- Links: Site Costs Ready Reckoner | H1 Addiction Medical Advice | Château TDL: The Backyard Re: Crossover problem....please help! 8Nov 20, 2009 7:29 pm Hey, thanks for the replies... I still don't understand why the land developer did not communicate with our builder and seek our opinion regarding the location of the crossover? Why didn't the land developer did not ask us first, before building the crossover at any side of our lot? We are first-home buyers in Australia and we have no idea what we should do. Now, we have a problem: The driveway and the crossover are not together and are at opposite ends of the lot. So, do we have to bear the full responsibility of all costs? If we have to pay, I feel that it is extremely unfair for us. What should we do now? Please help us, thanks. Re: Crossover problem....please help! 9Nov 20, 2009 9:09 pm We are in Victoria and we had to relocate the crossover due to flipping the house. It was very straight forward... I went to the local council office and paid $50 for a permit, then they sent out a council inspector who gave the ok and gave me a printout with the size and specifications. The concreter (who did my driveway) removed the old crossover and did the new one. The cost was approx $1000 which included digging up the old crossover and taking the concrete away. The concreter dug out the new one and boxed it up, then the inspector came back to check the size was correct and gave the ok for it to be poured. With regards to moving the tree, you need to apply through council for this aswell, then they will come out and move it. It would be a good idea to apply for the tree relocation and crossover permit at the same time to make sure things go smoothly. Blog: http://bluemistkids.blogspot.com "Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, and professionals built the Titanic." Re: Crossover problem....please help! 10Nov 20, 2009 9:13 pm jeff151292 Hey, thanks for the replies... I still don't understand why the land developer did not communicate with our builder and seek our opinion regarding the location of the crossover? Why didn't the land developer did not ask us first, before building the crossover at any side of our lot? We are first-home buyers in Australia and we have no idea what we should do. Now, we have a problem: The driveway and the crossover are not together and are at opposite ends of the lot. So, do we have to bear the full responsibility of all costs? If we have to pay, I feel that it is extremely unfair for us. What should we do now? Please help us, thanks. Yes it does seem unfair but the crossovers are all decided when the plans for the development are submitted to council. So basically, if you want to move it then you have to bear the cost. In some cases, when buying a block off the plan in the very early stages (eg before the subdivision has even started) you can sometimes get the crossover moved, but not always. Despite being inconvenient and costing you money, it is relatively straight forward (as per my previous post). Blog: http://bluemistkids.blogspot.com "Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, and professionals built the Titanic." Re: Crossover problem....please help! 11Nov 20, 2009 9:28 pm Quote: In some cases, when buying a block off the plan in the very early stages (eg before the subdivision has even started) you can sometimes get the crossover moved, but not always. Yes, we could choose which side we wanted ours - we flipped house from original so that alfresco did not face west and this changed the crossover position - we were not charged for this. Re: Crossover problem....please help! 12Nov 21, 2009 5:19 am Hels In some cases, when buying a block off the plan in the very early stages (eg before the subdivision has even started) you can sometimes get the crossover moved, but not always. When we bought at auction, we were given the proposed engineering diagrams and were told that we had a 3-month period in which to notify the developers if we wanted to change the location of things like cross-overs and such. Though, ours was exactly where we wanted it, so that was OK. Our neighbours should've moved theirs though. Re: Crossover problem....please help! 13Nov 21, 2009 5:34 am joles It's crazy to site your house according to the crossover anyway. The house should be sited to best orientation on the block and if the crossover needs to be moved, so be it. Finally, someone making some sense! We have to move our crossover, should cost about 2K. We applied for developer approval, but havent applied for council approval yet because we're waiting for the house to finish first... Re: Crossover problem....please help! 14Nov 21, 2009 7:05 am jeff151292 Hey, thanks for the replies... I still don't understand why the land developer did not communicate with our builder and seek our opinion regarding the location of the crossover? Why didn't the land developer did not ask us first, before building the crossover at any side of our lot? We are first-home buyers in Australia and we have no idea what we should do. Now, we have a problem: The driveway and the crossover are not together and are at opposite ends of the lot. So, do we have to bear the full responsibility of all costs? If we have to pay, I feel that it is extremely unfair for us. What should we do now? Please help us, thanks. It's really not the developer's or builder's responsibility - and they may not have even noticed it, or if someone did, they might have assumed that you were already aware of it. Moving crossovers is pretty common, so I doubt they'd have thought it was a big deal. It's unfortunate, but you'll have to pay - as Hels said, it's not a major drama to get it done. See if whoever's doing your driveway can deal with the crossover at the same time, it might save you a few dollars. 2 5822 I don’t think so as the floor area over 300 square meters then it is class 3…. 12 17926 Thankyou so much 😀 I've decided on White on white for doors and trims, White on white 50% on ceiling and Mt buller for walls. Fingers crossed it will look OK 😀 2 7143 |