Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Feb 12, 2010 3:10 pm Hi,
I am building with PD, I am not happy with the rangehood I have chosen, it is not as good which I discovered, but there is another one that we had the choice of that we now think is better. We had 3 to choose from, we picked a slideout model but now prefer the glass canopy. We have signed the building contract but not the final drawings yet. We simply want to switch rangehood. It is the same cost, same everything. They are hoping to commence building next month. I requested with our CSC to change but she said the standard "7 day cooling off period, after that, no more changes can be made" but I didn't argue or speak to a manager or push anymore. We signed the contract around 1 month and a half ago.... What can/should I do? I really want it changed. Re: Advice on making a non-structual change after signing 2Feb 12, 2010 3:46 pm I don’t think you can really do anything, you could ask really nicely, but once that cooling off period is over, you are pretty much stuck. If you do want it changed, you would probably have to pay for the alteration. We made a structural change to the heights of 2 archways on our plans, but we were able to put it down to an error that PD made, not us, so it got done free of charge, but technically they could have come back to us and said that because we missed it at contract we will have to pay to have it done (in which case we would have done it after we move in). All I can say is it’s definitely worth going further with, who knows, someone might allow it, the worst they can say is no. Good luck, let us know how you go 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: Advice on making a non-structual change after signing 3Feb 12, 2010 4:01 pm Further to what I wrote before, when we were organizing our tender, there was a change we wanted to make to the position of our Alfresco, our “fill in” sales rep said that it can’t be done, despite our original sales rep saying yes it can. I wanted this change so bad that I made her ring the area manager, who also said no. Still not happy about the answer, I emailed PD direct and was given an alternative that I could do, but, this was still not what I wanted, so I emailed back a picture of what I wanted and a few days later, I got an email from one of the high mangers saying that the change was fine, so long as what I wanted to do didn’t mean that any of the beams are over any windows, which they weren’t. In the end, it was done to how I specified. So basically, if you want it done, don’t give up until you have exhausted all your options, it worked for us, but then we were at pre contract so we could still make changes. Once again, good luck. 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: Advice on making a non-structual change after signing 5Feb 12, 2010 4:05 pm If you really want the different rangehood, then you'll probably have to pay a variation fee to have it. IT will say in your contract what your variation fees are, so you shouldn't have a problem viewtopic.php?f=31&t=22766 - my build thread! Time waits for no man. Unless that man is Chuck Norris. Re: Advice on making a non-structual change after signing 6Feb 15, 2010 3:07 pm No luck guys Spoke to a manager, they won't budge, I argued heaps, they are using the excuse that things have already been ordered and the order can't easily be changed. Any other ideas people? Haven't received final drawings, if that makes a difference. Re: Advice on making a non-structual change after signing 7Feb 15, 2010 3:18 pm adammm they are using the excuse that things have already been ordered and the order can't easily be changed. adammm Haven't received final drawings First thing, ask how much it will cost you to make the change, ring them and say that you want the change anyway and that providing it isn’t a ridiculous amount you might pay, maybe the cost won’t be all that much. If they still won’t make that change, then there is something wrong, you can pretty much make changes, for a price, up until the house is handed over (within reason of coarse). I don’t know how you would do it, but can you ring as a made up person and find out if you can make changes after signing the contract, what changes can be made and the costs of making the changes. 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: Advice on making a non-structual change after signing 8Feb 15, 2010 4:54 pm wizard adammm they are using the excuse that things have already been ordered and the order can't easily be changed. adammm Haven't received final drawings First thing, ask how much it will cost you to make the change, ring them and say that you want the change anyway and that providing it isn’t a ridiculous amount you might pay, maybe the cost won’t be all that much. If they still won’t make that change, then there is something wrong, you can pretty much make changes, for a price, up until the house is handed over (within reason of coarse). I don’t know how you would do it, but can you ring as a made up person and find out if you can make changes after signing the contract, what changes can be made and the costs of making the changes. Thanks for that. I am not even getting the option to pay....... The rangehoods are equal value as they were a choice in the promotion.......... Re: Non-structual change after signing - PD ACCESS HELP! 9Feb 15, 2010 4:57 pm adammm I am not even getting the option to pay That can't be right, we were told that IF we did make any changes post contract we would be paying a variation fee, but that the changes could be done, we are building Lifestyle, maybe you have a different policy to us. It just doesn’t sound 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: Non-structual change after signing - PD ACCESS HELP! 11Feb 15, 2010 7:35 pm We're building with PD too. We signed our contract in December and will start building in April so we don't have our final drawings yet either and we have added a couple of things (shower head upgrade and water tap for fridge) as post contract variations. We were charged the normal upgrade prices and it wasn't an issue. They didn't add a penalty charge etc for changes and our CSC was really easy about it. I'd ring them and demand that you get it changed. Our CSC said that we can make as many post contract variations UNTIL we receive the final drawings and that is when everything must be finalised and double checked. Tell them that you know of other people who have made changes up until the final drawings. And I find it stange that they have ordered it already considering it will be one of the last things installed - so thats like 4-5 months Re: Non-structual change after signing - PD ACCESS HELP! 12Feb 15, 2010 8:04 pm Wow that's not cool. We're building with hermitage homes and they've let us change a heap of things at no additional cost apart from the difference in cost of the item. Our house thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=18335 Re: Non-structual change after signing - PD ACCESS HELP! 13Feb 15, 2010 9:53 pm Thank you everyone for the support. Going to give it another go tomorrow. I am going to try and speak to someone else, I spoke to my CSC and her manager today, I felt her manager didn't really care of the situation because when she called me, she didn't even know what I wanted changed, she had no idea, she was simply calling to tell me what couldn't be done and she was very aggressive and rude to my girlfriend and I. I am going to seek to speak to someone else. I feel they are just being authorative for the sake of it. We are paying too much for this house to simply give in. I am going to tell them to simple change the order, I don't care what order has been placed, what garbage. Re: Non-structual change after signing - PD ACCESS HELP! 14Feb 15, 2010 10:28 pm Your final drawings haven't been finished yet and they're hoping to commence next month? That's unlikely. Even then, say they start the house in 6 weeks and it takes them say 20 weeks to finish the house, the rangehood would be one of the last items that they would order in. Are you telling me that they order the rangehood 26 weeks (6 months) in advance? I find that highly unlikely! Our house thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=18335 Re: Non-structual change after signing - PD ACCESS HELP! 15Feb 15, 2010 10:35 pm adammm We are paying too much for this house to simply give in. I am going to tell them to simple change the order, I don't care what order has been placed, what garbage. Exactly! They haven't ordered ANYTHING yet, it's just an excuse to fob you off as it's 'too hard' (basket) check out the other thread where people are told that they suddenly don't deal with x supplier anymore and that you have to pick something else or that they can't source items you've selected at the last possible minute. If they've already ordered the items (and stored it) this would not happen. People have been told the brick ran out just before bricking starts so obviously they don't order them beforehand. It's the same with all major volume builder. Then there is always the clause to charge you $4-500 for any variation + cost. This means they can do it if it suites them. Been in a similar position and we decided to let the builder go. Some of the PSA money goes to engineering so we at least got those documents and they actually refunded us… 2 6013 From a pure legal perspective, if you've signed the variation, it is a very high bar to have it set aside. No-one can give you legal advice on a forum, but you would need… 3 5455 Thanks. There are plenty of builders around my suburb. I'll make sure to do some door-to-door knocking, or note their building details on the temp fence. 4 4674 |