Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Aug 21, 2010 9:15 am Hi All Can our builder force us to use their joinery place to do our kitchen? We've asked gently before about it and they've previously said we have to use their mob because they need to be able to 'boss them around' and 'get them in and out quickly'. We have given this place a shot - they are just starting into kitchens - are primarily office furniture specialists. No showroom, took one month to give us a quoted price higher than other 'proper' kitchen places, no 3d modelling, and we're just not comfortable using them. Our NSW HIA 2008 contract says: 'Kitchen joinery including WIP and benchtop' - PS $9000, and we've increased the allowance to 15K. They apparently do the laundry also, and that says 'Laundry cupboard and bench' PC $1000. cheers Kineso Re: Can Builder force us to use their kitchen place? 2Aug 21, 2010 9:57 am I believe its up to your builder as to whether they let you use your own tradesman, so you're probably stuck with them unfortunately. You could ask whether they have an alternative kitchen place that they also use? Custom European Cabinets - Melbourne Kitchen Specialist PM for business details as website currently being updated! Our Crazy Owner Builder Journey! Re: Can Builder force us to use their kitchen place? 3Aug 21, 2010 10:10 am By going with any builder you are pretty much locked into using their contractors. As Bam said you could ask if they have an alternative but the majority of builders only have one cabinet maker that they use. Don't put too much stock into 3D drawings - not every kitchen maker uses them. I know ours didn't and they make kitchens for over 30 builders within the Hunter / Newcastle area - and have been in business for over 30yrs. Some things are worth waiting for. Re: Can Builder force us to use their kitchen place? 4Aug 21, 2010 11:07 am ^ Very good point. We have the program, do we use it? No. The time my hubby has to spend on the damn thing making up the drawings he'd rather be actually building the kitchen. And we dont have a showroom - Customers are always welcome at the warehouse to view current jobs or there's hundreds of photos they can look at. Custom European Cabinets - Melbourne Kitchen Specialist PM for business details as website currently being updated! Our Crazy Owner Builder Journey! Re: Can Builder force us to use their kitchen place? 5Aug 21, 2010 2:49 pm Hmmm ok thanks for the feedback guys. When we signed our contract before xmas, they had a choice of two different places, one of which was a 'normal' kitchen company. They have since ditched them and are now using this place we don't particularly want to use. Our point of view is that it's our money and we should be able to spend it with who we choose, especially on the kitchen which is the centrepiece of the house. We've got a quote from another kitchen company and it's come out much cheaper - we can actually get everything we want in our allowance. Not to mention the customer service experience was 100 times better - having a showroom we can look/touch/feel finishes, see benchtops/pantries, etc., really was good. We'll see what happens, we're going to ask the question in writing early next week, I'll update the thread on what the outcome was. Re: Can Builder force us to use their kitchen place? 6Aug 21, 2010 3:08 pm Are you using a smaller private builder or a large company? The reason I ask is the only other way to get around it is if you can take the kitchen completely out of the build. HOWEVER and it is a big however - if they say yes you may have to wait until the house is completely built by the builder before your kitchen can be installed. This is because it will not be covered under the builders insurance / warranty. So handover may be delayed and or the finance co may not pay them their final payt as the house is not complete. We took ours out of our build but (a) we used a small private builder (b) we did in fact use the same cabinet maker that our builder used we just wanted to do things the builder wouldn't do & (c) our builder went bankrupt so the cabinets were installed without any delays / tradies we didn't trust abusing them. Unfortunately you may not like the company the builder chooses but you have chosen that particular builder and they are within their rights to stand their ground. Good luck and yep always put everything in writing. Some things are worth waiting for. Re: Can Builder force us to use their kitchen place? 7Aug 21, 2010 9:51 pm kyton Are you using a smaller private builder or a large company? The reason I ask is the only other way to get around it is if you can take the kitchen completely out of the build. HOWEVER and it is a big however - if they say yes you may have to wait until the house is completely built by the builder before your kitchen can be installed. This is because it will not be covered under the builders insurance / warranty. So handover may be delayed and or the finance co may not pay them their final payt as the house is not complete. We took ours out of our build but (a) we used a small private builder (b) we did in fact use the same cabinet maker that our builder used we just wanted to do things the builder wouldn't do & (c) our builder went bankrupt so the cabinets were installed without any delays / tradies we didn't trust abusing them. Unfortunately you may not like the company the builder chooses but you have chosen that particular builder and they are within their rights to stand their ground. Good luck and yep always put everything in writing. We originally took our kitchen out but have recently put it back in. The reason being because we couldnt do it until after handover which was fine but the banks dont release the final payment unless you have a kitchen in there as it is not classed as liveable. We could have got around it by paying the final payment out of our own money and the banks reimbursing us later when we had the kitchen done but we found it all was too hard. Other than that, we didnt want to go through the hassle if anything went wrong with plumbing, etc that the builder had pre-layed. We found we didnt get much back for the cupboards, oven, sink, benchtops and rangehood anyway to justify it. Re: Can Builder force us to use their kitchen place? 8Aug 21, 2010 10:16 pm kineso Hmmm ok thanks for the feedback guys. When we signed our contract before xmas, they had a choice of two different places, one of which was a 'normal' kitchen company. They have since ditched them and are now using this place we don't particularly want to use. Our point of view is that it's our money and we should be able to spend it with who we choose, especially on the kitchen which is the centrepiece of the house. We've got a quote from another kitchen company and it's come out much cheaper - we can actually get everything we want in our allowance. Not to mention the customer service experience was 100 times better - having a showroom we can look/touch/feel finishes, see benchtops/pantries, etc., really was good. We'll see what happens, we're going to ask the question in writing early next week, I'll update the thread on what the outcome was. Unfortunately you have chosen where to spend your money....... with your builder. Where they choose to spend their money is their choice. As has been mentioned the only way around this is to leave the kitchen out completely. What you need to realise is that a kitchen allowance of $15k with the builder will only get you a $12k kitchen as at least 20% is going on builders margin, and may be even more than this. That is why a quote from another supplier to you wont be what the builder would charge you for the same kitchen. Hope that makes sense. Accessible Carpentry & Cabinets accessiblecarpentry@gmail.com accessiblecarpentry.com.au https://www.facebook.com/pages/Accessible-Carpentry-Cabinets/583314911709039 Re: Can Builder force us to use their kitchen place? 9Aug 29, 2010 1:50 pm Update: Builder is allowing us to use other company! We are very happy. 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