Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Aug 03, 2010 10:55 pm Hi there Just wondering if anyone can give me advise or their experiences on this matter. We have signed a contract with a builder and plans are in at council, due to come out soon. Everything was moving along smoothly until last Friday when the sales guy called us and told us that council has said that they will pass our plans if we sink half our house (being the kids rooms and rumpus) and that this will cost us another $5.5K and that this is a great price that the builder is doing it fo as it would normally cost $8.5. When this was suggested to me I questioned the sales guy about why council insists we do this and that we can not afford this extra amount and that we do not want stairs in our hoe as we have young children and this is not appropriate. I asked the sales guy who at council had stated this and why and that I would like to speak to them and he stated that I should not call council and if we were to ammend the plas in anyway that council would enforce a ten metre set back from out boundry, which made me quite angry. I explained that I had spoken with council and te man doing the DA and the sales man stated that the builder had been speaking with another person and that the person that I had been speaking to at council was no longer dealing with it. The sales said he would come over to our place on Saturday to explain on exactly what the builder was proposing to do, acting on councils wishes. We were not happy. I spoke with council the following Monday, with the officer that I had originally spoken with who said that hewas still working on our DA and it was just that he was away ill that someone else had spoken with the builder. He stated that council had not siad to drop our house down and put steps in. He stated that a submission from a neighbour had come in and that council was going to stamp the plans and suggest a contour bank and a sink drain down oneside of the house. Anyway I am concerned about this builder now as to why on earth he would have the sales man call me and suggest we do this to our house and pay extra money on councils wishes in order to pass a DA, when council never said to do this. Can we cancel the contract with this builder. Plans are not out of council yet, slab has not been laid, we have paid the builder $6.5K already for plans and council submission (does this sound a lot to pay for these things?) Any advise would be appreciated. Re: Cancelling a building contract before slab has been laid 2Aug 03, 2010 11:09 pm hmm well I am by no means an expert but I know how you must feel, we're facing a similar dilemma where we're caught between the council and the builder and I know who I trust more My advice is to seek a legal opinion from a shopfront lawyer, if one exists in your state. We're in WA and there's a citizen's advice bureau who will give brief advice for $25 (I think its about 20min session) That's if you are quite definite that you want to try and pull out. The easier alternative would be to seek an informal resolution by complaining loudly to someone with clout in the company. Either write a letter of complaint and send it registered post, or demand to speak with the highest manager that is available, explaining that the trust in the company has been damaged by this and what sort of resolution you're seeking. Since I first started this building caper I realise that it's not a rare occurrence to receive poor customer service, dishonest advice and all kinds of creative ways to gouge more money from the customer. I'm sure there's exceptions to the rule but they seem few and far between. ~*~Moved in on the 16th April 2011~*~ Re: Cancelling a building contract before slab has been laid 3Aug 03, 2010 11:16 pm Thanks for your reply, this is a franchise builder so not sure where to go from here. I am just wooried about moving further with this builder taken the given cracks that seem to be appearing before plans are even out of council. Re: Cancelling a building contract before slab has been laid 4Aug 03, 2010 11:30 pm Can't help, but I remember there was a cancellation case on h1 - have a look at this person's experience ... http://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=25218 My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: Cancelling a building contract before slab has been laid 5Aug 04, 2010 12:13 am Wow interesting thread Lex. Yes I can relate to their story well. I am still bewildered as to why the builder would suggested we sink half our house, put stairs in and pay an extra $5.5K at councils request when council where going to approve the plans with the condition of a cpntour bank with a sink drain down side of house that neighbour was concerned about. It is interesting though that the neighbour that had a concern it also building with the same builder and his house is on the build now. Do you think we could just walk away from this contract and request that our money $6.5K be returned. Would it cost $6.5K for plans and council submission? Re: Cancelling a building contract before slab has been laid 6Aug 04, 2010 8:17 am Hi megsykat, I think you'll have to be very firm and serious but civlised at all times, and above all persistent. As I understand, there is no contract signed yet (only the tender), so you are essentially "free" to do what you want, but they will try to squeeze as much money out of you as they can (maybe they would even ask for more). Would be a good idea to get help in respect what (if anything) you owe them, or maybe they owe you something back?! Once you are clear on the monetary side, there is nothing stopping you to simply cancel the contract. Also, I think the council can give you a good idea on how much exactly the dev application cost the builder (ie. you). I think it should be a percentage of the build value. From the 'technical' side, I don't quite understand the sinking of the house and the 'sink drain down side of house' - is your land sloping towards that neighbour? And what are the measurements of the sinking? How much extra material and work is required by the buider in measurements? Eg. are they proposing to do a dropped edge beam and how much is that height difference? My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: Cancelling a building contract before slab has been laid 7Aug 04, 2010 10:41 pm I was that riled on Friday and Saturday when all this come to light that I ask for any further contact with me go through my father inlaw, so as of yet I have not spoken to the actual builder, everything has come from the sales guy. The sales guy stated that the builder had been on the phone to council and council had requested that the house was to be sunk and stairs put in ect.... Now that I have calmed a little, I will be contacting the builder myself and asking him the questions. The builder is now trying to shrink out house in to comply with covenants and move further away from the boundry, which is making the rooms smaller then we would like, it is looking like a whole new plan needs to be done, as the original plan is really to wide for our block, due to covenents. This really should have happened a long time ago but the builder said it would all be good. What has started this whole thing off is that council sent out notification to neighbours and one neighbour (who is building with the same builder we are building with and is also in a profession of higher standing in the community) has sent in a letter to council concerned of water run off as they believe our house is close to their boundry (3m), council was not really that concerned but as stated they were going to suggest a 200mm high and wide contour bank and possibly a dish drain on that neighbours side. ourthe block has a slight natural run but nothing to concerning really council is really not overly worried. I just do not understand why the sales guy stated that council has insisted on this sinking house with steps business and charging us an extra $5.5K when council made it very clear to me that this was not the case. I really just want to sit down and redesign the house again to fit on the block better adhereing to covenenants 5m set back from boundry (developer set) Council have 10m set back from boundry but have been flexable with others that have built in same street (our neighbour on the other side of our block has a 8m set back from boundry. Do you think we could get the plans redone and resubmitt to council? Or will the builder try to charge us more to do this? I have also heard that the sales guy that has been dealing with us may be on the out (but this may just be a rumour). Re: Cancelling a building contract before slab has been laid 8Aug 05, 2010 8:55 am I would expect that redesigning the house and the contours/levels and especially another development application to the Council will all be charged to you, even though, I'd say, your builder omitted to design it properly and in accordance with rules in the first place. It's too late now to dwell over that, but I would have taken more interest in DCP and any other rules during the original design phase. As to why the sales guy did what he did, some extra monetary outcome for him is always a good guess. I would also take more direct involvement in all of this and not talk via someone else, be it FIL or sales guy or whoever. Didn't you have a person in the builder's office that you dealt with directly?! How big is this builder, seems to be very small? What's still unclear is - are there any points which break the DCP? If yes, instead of rushing to shrink or sink the house, maybe you can submit a letter to the council to vary the rules for such and such reason - this all depends mainly on how important / critical the rules that have been broken are for the Council. My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Hello everyone, I have a question regarding moving a chandelier after it has been mounted. 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