Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jun 23, 2010 8:17 pm Hi all, I'm a long time reader of these forums and the advice and information on here has been invaluable for me! I thought I might share my current (difficult) experience in building a house. I owned a derelict property in the inner west of Melbourne (Kensington) since 2006, and at the end of 2009 I was in a position to redevelop it and move in after a year long designing and planning approval process (the property has a heritage overlay). I signed my contract with my builder in December and got my loan approved in mid March this year. This was a very stressful process but was helped by the fact I got the FHOG approved too which I wasn't too sure I'd get. But the trouble really only started now... At the end of March the back of the house was demolished after a two week wait. The demolition was done separately by a demolisher recommended by the builder. During this process the neighbours house was slightly damaged, as we share a boundary (semi-detched houses) and the weatherboards on the neighbours side were rotting. The repaired the damage on my behalf after four weeks, and then the neighbour understandably requested for protection works insurance. After a few tussles between my builder and the neighbour, this was sorted out by the end of May. After this, the frontage was restumped and the rotting timber replaced. Then the site was excavated and levelled, and the plumbing and concrete for the driveway at the rear was completed. This was two weeks ago. My dad has been helping me out and visiting the site often to check on the works. So much ******* stuff has been going on by the contractors. Alot of the dirt and rubble from the excavation was dumped under the remaining front of the house, so my dad removed it himself. Then the concreted driveway was too high, about 10cm higher than the neighbours and not in line with the plans, but despite my dad's complaints this was ignored. The stumps for the back of the house went in last week, and they are a complete mess. This isn't a restumping job so it shouldn't be too difficult, but the stumps were not in straight lines and some were at an obvious angle. My dad raised this with the contractors there and then but was ignored and told to take it up with the builder, which we both did. Since then, our calls and emails have been ignored, and no-one has been at the site. I am growing increasingly concerned! I know builders can be difficult to deal with, but this is neither a large building company or a one-man-show. THe builder has considerable experience in this kind of construction and in this area, so I was expecting some quality and better service. Now I have realised that the 26 weeks for my FHOG expired last week, and I've drafted a letter to try and explain this but my builder has ignored my requests to write a letter too. I also am aware that I need to build this place by March 2011 witha 12 month construction period on my loan, and with the way things are going I'm very doubtful about this happening. Has anyone else been in a similar situation, particularly with dealing with a smaller building company? What do you think my chances are with the FHOG? The builder told me it would be done in nine months, but we haven't even had the base done yet! Also, what should I do about the construction period possibly extending to beyond 12 months? I'm getting really worried about it all, and feel as though it's been an uphill battle from day one. Some advice would be greatly appreciated, as I'm growingly convinced that this house will never be built! Re: Building my first home - inner Melbourne 3Jun 25, 2010 6:36 pm Im not sure how you can demolish a house which is semi detached - there are many semi detached houses here, originally owned by SAHT - they have demolished many such houses as part of urban redevlopment but any which had been bought on one side had to stay - and SAHT depleted them from their stocks by doing up the side they still owned and selling on open market. (Usually the other side had been bought out by the tenant at some stage) Also not sure how you can get FHOG if you already own the house which you are demolishing - are there exemptions if you buy an uninhabitable house - ie it counts as only buying vacant land? Re: Building my first home - inner Melbourne 4Jun 25, 2010 7:37 pm Helyn - under the heritage overlay I was permitted to demolish the back of the house but had to retain the front two rooms and facade. A shell of the front two rooms remains, and when (and if) the construction is complete, you won't be able to tell any difference from the street. Many heritage listed terrace houses have had these sorts of redevelopment, particularly around my area. In regards to FHOG, I inherited the property so the construction of a mostly new house was deemed to be the purchase of my first home. Re: Building my first home - inner Melbourne 5Jun 26, 2010 3:34 am Think you need to consider your options. From the way i see it, these are yours: (This is purely my personal opinion - it is in no way represent an expert's opinions.) 1. Cut your loses and terminate the contract. Issue with this is of course you losing alot of money and new builders are reluctant to pick up stuffs where others have left off due to insurance issues. They dont want to insure other people's work so to speak. Also, you may end up demolishing all the stuffs the previous builder has put in from the sound of it or extensively repairing them. Not to forget that cost of building has gone up again if you decide to get a new builder. 2. Hire a building surveyor to monitor each step of your construction independant of your builder but i think you need to get your builder to approve it to allow him to get into site. You might be able to get around it by sending a written request to your builder and state clearly if you dont hear from them in 4 weeks time, you would assume they approve of it - do this via email and registered post mail. Should also consider hiring a building consultant. 3. Go to Australia Insitute of Law website and get a free 30 mins or so consult and discuss it with a lawyer, what your rights are and the best options. 4. Go to consumer affairs website and click on the "contact about building problems". Hopefully they could help you. 5. This is most extreme but i believed logical... gather your fellow friends who have similar grief to lobby the parliament to issue a better law that allows consumer to seek financial remuniration from builders for this kind of thing. Cause as it stands with the current law, the moment you sign that contract, you are at their mercy and they have no liability what so ever apart from the late completion fines that they self imposed which in my personal opinion - pathetic. The cost of your loan interest and rent alone overshadows it. Not to mention personal stress and sleepless night. At the end, i suggest you speak to an expert in regards to the matter before making any decision. Re: Building my first home - inner Melbourne 6Jun 26, 2010 10:38 am I dont have the answer to any of your problems, Benimarun has given some good advice - but what an interesting and unique project you are doing - please start a building thread and show us your progress (when you have any ) Re: Building my first home - inner Melbourne 7Jun 26, 2010 1:10 pm thanks for your advice Benimarun. I'm going to try talking to my builder first (if I can get in contact with him), but if things turn completely sour those are definitely some options I will consider. Helyn - I don't want to post pictures up for fear of jinxing things more! If things ever get on track, I'll be sure to share it. It's an interesting project, but a tough one. Cheers Re: Building my first home - inner Melbourne 10Jun 29, 2010 10:36 am Thanks for your replies. Building is recommencing on Monday - it was a ******* subcontractor which was delaying everything, plus the awful Melbourne weather atm. Still keen to hear about other experiences with slow builders,? Has anyone extended beyond the 12 month construction period, and if so, did the bank mind? Cheers Re: Building my first home - inner Melbourne 11Jul 15, 2010 11:19 pm The bank of course do not mind cause you are paying the loan anyway. The longer it takes the more money they make so no harm done. Your first home owner grant is a different story. You can only extend to another half a year. I have cancelled my contract with my builder and am gonna start lobbying the minister around my district to try to change the building law to allow consumers to be compensated for money lost during the time without going through lengthy lawsuits that will cost us more instead. But i doubt it was gonna happen cause those officials do not experience the problem we little people experience. Anyone out there should try to lobby yours too, at the end, if a new law passes out, we all benefit from it. Good luck! 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