Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jun 04, 2010 9:57 am I got an invoice for the Fixing Stage of my build and am just wondering what constitues the Fixing Stage being complete? The kitchen and vanity's went in 2 days ago and the bathtub and shower bases are in. Re: Fixing Stage - When Is It Complete? 2Jun 04, 2010 10:47 am Hi InPakenham, It's when all internal cladding, architraves, skirting, doors, built-in shelves, baths, basins, troughs, sinks, cabinets and cupboards of a home are fitted and fixed in poistion according to the Building Act. Although if you were unlucky and missed the builder slip in Form 1 that waived your rights to the Building Act 1995 regarding progress payments then chances are it's on percentage. Therefore as long as they have pumped in say 85% of money into the building then you are up fro Fixing Payments. Re: Fixing Stage - When Is It Complete? 3Jun 04, 2010 11:48 am InPakenham I got an invoice for the Fixing Stage of my build and am just wondering what constitues the Fixing Stage being complete? Your contract should state what each stage constitutes. Built a Tribeca 44 with the Big M Sales Accept 15/06/09, Contract Signed 24/09/09, Site Start 23/11/09, Slab 11/12/09, Frame 12/01/10, Roof 20/01/10, Lock-up 30/03/10, Fixing 30/04/10, Handover 27/08/10. Re: Fixing Stage - When Is It Complete? 4Jun 04, 2010 4:10 pm Hi Inpakenham, Your at the same stage I'm at, paid fixed payment today. Like yourself cabinets and bath are in. Architraves not all quite completed, sinks not in, due to ceaserstone benches, so we paid anyway. I'm in Heritage Springs Pakenham, where are you building? With who? Re: Fixing Stage - When Is It Complete? 5Jun 05, 2010 5:11 pm Thanks guys, i'll take a look at the contract. brb_654, I'm on Arden Avenue, rather not say who with on here Re: Fixing Stage - When Is It Complete? 6Jun 05, 2010 8:35 pm We have received our "fixing" invoice, there are no built-in shelves in the built in cupboards yet, so will be contacting the admin person and letting them know we will not pay the invoice till this is completed. Reading the HIA contract this should be completed at the "fixing" stage. Re: Fixing Stage - When Is It Complete? 7Jun 05, 2010 8:57 pm Shelby75, make sure you haven't signed a page that waivers your right to pay the Building Act of 1995's progress payment schedule. Discuss it with the site supervisor immediately before refusing to pay progress payments. Go do a site visit even and take pictures if you need to. Re: Fixing Stage - When Is It Complete? 9Jun 20, 2010 2:11 am Adam.M Shelby75, make sure you haven't signed a page that waivers your right to pay the Building Act of 1995's progress payment schedule. Discuss it with the site supervisor immediately before refusing to pay progress payments. Go do a site visit even and take pictures if you need to. What is this waiver document? I don't recall seeing it during our contract signing? Would it be included in the HIA contract document? Or in the other building contract? Or on it's own? From memory I think there was something about percentages and progress payments, such as when the slab goes down you pay 10% (for example), and when the next stage is complete you pay another 20% (for example). If we signed to this type of format for the progress payments is it likely this has waived our rights regarding the Building Act of 1995 progress payment schedule? I'm really worried now. This is the first I've heard of this waiver document. And it's worrying because you hear it all the time that builders ask for the payment even when the work is not yet complete. And you hear people warning others all the time not to pay until the work is totally complete and to standard because once you pay it is so hard to get the builders to either complete it or fix it, etc. Can someone please explain more about this waiver doc? Re: Fixing Stage - When Is It Complete? 10Jun 20, 2010 10:44 pm The waiver in question is what the volume builders are using these days. The waiver consists of a page in your contract (commonly HIA) that removes your right to use the Domestic Building Act 1995 progress payment and instead use theirs. Sign of this waiver include top right of the page you should see a Regulation 6(a) or 12(a) and the Act's schedule crossed out and replaced with another schedule. The builders use this waiver to quite purposely get more money out of you earlier by invoicing you at a completed rate rather than stage rate. Commonly it works out to paying 20% earlier on your build by stage two than the Acts schedule ($40k on a $200k house). The trick is this. It should only be used for houses that need longer to build because they have something special about it. But most houses going through a volume builder DO NOT meet that criteria but it does not stop the builder from slipping it in. Where you have to watch out is this, if there is something wrong with your slab or frame, claiming that it is incomplete and therefore not pay the progress payment could put you in breach. Remember, watch out when fighting with volume builders (idiots), they will bring you down to their level and beat you on experience. Re: Fixing Stage - When Is It Complete? 11Jun 21, 2010 12:09 am Adam.M The waiver in question is what the volume builders are using these days. The waiver consists of a page in your contract (commonly HIA) that removes your right to use the Domestic Building Act 1995 progress payment and instead use theirs. Sign of this waiver include top right of the page you should see a Regulation 6(a) or 12(a) and the Act's schedule crossed out and replaced with another schedule. The builders use this waiver to quite purposely get more money out of you earlier by invoicing you at a completed rate rather than stage rate. Commonly it works out to paying 20% earlier on your build by stage two than the Acts schedule ($40k on a $200k house). The trick is this. It should only be used for houses that need longer to build because they have something special about it. But most houses going through a volume builder DO NOT meet that criteria but it does not stop the builder from slipping it in. Where you have to watch out is this, if there is something wrong with your slab or frame, claiming that it is incomplete and therefore not pay the progress payment could put you in breach. Remember, watch out when fighting with volume builders (idiots), they will bring you down to their level and beat you on experience. Thank you Adam.M. This is the first I have ever heard of this, and it just goes to show that this whole building thing is a big learning experience. Thank you for the knowledge and the warning, it is definatley something I will (and others' I'm sure) now be aware of and cautious of. Re: Fixing Stage - When Is It Complete? 12Jul 06, 2010 8:12 pm sorry to hijack but i have a related question if anyone has any ideas please? we just received our fix out stage invoice, so far no sinks, no trough, no shower, no corner / edge things on the roof i think theyre called architraves im not sure, walls or ceilings not painted yet. so far the skirting boards are in, doors, cupboards, shelves etc are mostly in. when queried as to why we should be paying them now when they havent completed the stage, they said they prefer to put the missing items in in the final week, so they dont get stolen. should we just accept this and pay them so they can hurry the hell up and finish the place? or argue with them and tell them we're not paying them until they do it, and if something gets stolen its their problem anyway? thanks Re: Fixing Stage - When Is It Complete? 13Jul 06, 2010 8:29 pm " Sorry, but I may be wasting my time answering when I don't know your location. Please edit your profile to include where you are located. Only then will I be happy to offer a response." Re: Fixing Stage - When Is It Complete? 16Jul 06, 2010 9:16 pm no im not home tonight, il check it out tomorrow though, without having that to reference, do you think we should just suck it up so they can get on with it? or play hardball with them, ie does it really make a difference as they are bound by contract to install these things before handover anyway? thanks for the advice Re: Fixing Stage - When Is It Complete? 17Jul 06, 2010 10:46 pm Beattun my builder is building so fast that in a week og invoice they are well ahead anyway. If you building is making progress and is on to the next stage why stress? As long as kitchen is in and all the interior doors are in I would say you would be at fixing Re: Fixing Stage - When Is It Complete? 18Jul 06, 2010 10:51 pm yeah my partners reasoning is that they cant give us the house without these items so if they want the payment give it to them and let them get on with it, im reluctant but im nit picking, but i think you and she are right, thanks again Thanks for much mate. I see that you do cabinets before flooring. For timber flooring, for most parts it's fine because it's got base plates, and for door jabs you can… 7 11552 I'll look into different shower heads and ask the plumber about some engineering and see what he says. Thanks 2 9551 Plumbers 'can be' plumbers, made all the worse by self certification which the building surveyor invariably accepts as proof of compliance! The good thing is that you know know. 3 4835 |