Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Sep 30, 2010 6:27 pm Hi all We have signed the contract, paid deposit and have been selecting colours etc. Our builder has told us that any change now (even on day of signing contract) are considered a pcv. No problem. I havnt got it with me at the moment but I was sure my contract says that any pcv's are paid for in the following installment after the variations are made. If this is the case, wouldnt any variations ie upgrades during colour selections, be due at the time of the first installment, which is after slab pour. The builder has suggested they need to be paid for prior to starting to build.. What's eveyone elses experience. Appreciate any information you can provide. Nettie Building Memphis 26 with Eden Brae 31 Jan 11 Scraped Re: When do you pay for Post Contract Variations? 2Sep 30, 2010 6:37 pm We built with Henley, all our variations were added to the final bill, so we paid them at handover. Re: When do you pay for Post Contract Variations? 3Sep 30, 2010 6:42 pm Hi Nettie, we are with BB. Initial Home Order set the over all costs and variations from the standard house. We then went thru Colour, Fabric, and Feature selection. As an example we added a Gas Log Fire place. No Variation charge for any of this. HOWEVER, we then went to Contract and were told that any changes after that were (from memory) $500 per variation plus actual costs. I made sure that we had locked down the design. So far haven't really made any significant changes that we haven't been able to negotiate. I am aware of others who's builds have been delayed by months due to significant changes. The $500 variation fee is small compared to the problems you can experience due to delayed builds whilst Variations are costed and put thru the Builders system. Suggest you really consider what you want at the start and stick with it. Best Wishes. PS we had to change roof tiles due to avialability. The Variation is adjusted at the Final Payment. (In my favour this time) Re: When do you pay for Post Contract Variations? 4Sep 30, 2010 10:02 pm Thanks for your responses. Now I’m home I had another look at the contract and it states "Clause 17. Variations 17.6 the price of a variation is due and payable at the next progress payment after it is carried out unless a different time is agreed." My interpretation of that is that I will not need to pay for any variations such as kitchen until after it is installed. Is that what others think? Letter from builder in preparation for building start states the following needs to be provided "The balance of the deposit (as referred to in this agreement) being received prior to commencement together with all post contract variations." I am unsure if they mean the deposit AND any post contract variations (actual variation details) or deposit AND post contact variation costs. What do you guys think? I'll email or phone tomorrow to make sure but before I do I want to make sure my interpretation is fairly accurate. Cheers Nettie Building Memphis 26 with Eden Brae 31 Jan 11 Scraped Re: When do you pay for Post Contract Variations? 5Sep 30, 2010 10:46 pm Our experience was that the variation had to be paid for on the following progress payt - whether the job had been completed or not. The only point I argued with was for our retaining wall as there was no way I was paying for it until I saw it done. Then again our builder went bankrupt so maybe not the best example LOL!! Some things are worth waiting for. Re: When do you pay for Post Contract Variations? 7Oct 01, 2010 1:25 am I'm guessing that you would have to pay the cost of the PCV with the deposit according to your paperwork, but not the cost of the variation items. I'm assuming (but haven't had this happen yet since we haven't even got land titles!) that you would pay the variation fee with whatever installment was next, and then the price of the actual variation whenever said item was done. of course, I cuold be totally wrong viewtopic.php?f=31&t=37229 - our Iris 4! Re: When do you pay for Post Contract Variations? 8Oct 01, 2010 8:34 am We made quite a few variations at prestart. I think because it was over a certain amount, they redid the contract with the progress payments divided up to take into account the new variations. Was a god send as the bank then took that as the new contract and loaned us the whole amount, including variations. Any variations that were made during the build (they were all things the builder suggested we do, so didn't charge us a variation fee), we paid with the final payment. Somehow though, it was still less than the total loan amount, so bonus Re: When do you pay for Post Contract Variations? 9Oct 01, 2010 8:46 am Haha I hope I get a bonus like that As far as I know there is no fee for making the variation only the costs of the variaiton itself ie materials and labour. God I hope I havnt missed something in the contract We have only made a couple of minor changes but I'm more thinking of at colour selection there may be an additional cost of say $1000 for kitchen upgrades, solar heating, things like that. We upgraded to a slimline water tank $1500. We wont be able to pay this before the building starts. We had anticipated that it would be part of progress payments and the bank would come to the party based on the total cost. Any cash we have were planning on using for blinds etc. It it's still there by the time we're finished building Best go over the contract again and check on "fee" for making change. Thanks for your input. Interesting to see what experience others have had and gives me the knowledge for when I phone them. Nettie Building Memphis 26 with Eden Brae 31 Jan 11 Scraped Re: When do you pay for Post Contract Variations? 10Oct 01, 2010 9:00 am All your variations at your selections meeting shouldn't incur a fee, only ones made after that. Some builders are huge and charge $1000, but they are normally something like $200 -$400. Just pays to make sure you know absolutely everything you want at pre-start Re: When do you pay for Post Contract Variations? 12Mar 10, 2020 10:20 am What happens if your total variations are a negative $$ amount after signing the contract ? We signed the contract, then spent some money at prestart, and then we deleted approximately $10k of items from the contract eg. driveway concreting. Our variations total after signing the contract and approx. $10k. Will this $10k be deducted from the final payment amount ? eg. practical completion bill will drop from $64k to$54k ? Re: When do you pay for Post Contract Variations? 13Mar 10, 2020 11:20 am nat000 What happens if your total variations are a negative $$ amount after signing the contract ? We signed the contract, then spent some money at prestart, and then we deleted approximately $10k of items from the contract eg. driveway concreting. Our variations total after signing the contract and approx. $10k. Will this $10k be deducted from the final payment amount ? eg. practical completion bill will drop from $64k to$54k ? Hi Nat, Our experience with this is that the amount was taken from the total contract amount, I.E. a build of say 200k with -10k variations our builder would change the total build cost to 190k with the progress payments reflecting percentage of the new total cost. I hope this makes sense. We're building now so this example is a very recent one. Re: When do you pay for Post Contract Variations? 14Mar 10, 2020 11:24 am Hi Nathan Yeah that definitely makes sense. Our progress payments (we've made 2 already) are still based on the orginal contract higher price. So I not sure if they'll just take the $10k off the last payment. Re: When do you pay for Post Contract Variations? 15Mar 10, 2020 11:32 am Nat, In that case they probably will. They cannot charge you more for what you have been supplied with, especially if you have the variations from them. When you got the variation(s) did it come with a new total contract price or was it just what it was removing/adding? Re: When do you pay for Post Contract Variations? 18Mar 10, 2020 12:02 pm Yeah I won't pay the higher orginal total and wait for a refund cheque for the -$10k in variation. I really should ask them now to confirm the last payment will be $10k less. I just like to go in with some knowledge from others. Re: When do you pay for Post Contract Variations? 20Mar 12, 2020 12:45 am I'm not sure what the HIA contract says in other state but in WA the variation is due at the next progress payment claim after the work is completed. We (I work for a builder) will alter the progress payment claim schedule if Variations go over $20k, makes it fairer for both parties, any credit variation are adjusted at the final progress payment, that's how it is written in the contract. It seems very clear to me that your contract states that a security account does NOT need to be established so the answer to the builder is NO. If in doubt find a contract… 1 8505 So AFAIk the outcomes of the BAL ratings form part of a clause that allows them to pass these costs on to you. However the more relevant detail is how did it go from 19… 1 9164 The fastest thing a builder will do is bank your cheque, those systems work perfectly with lightning speed, everything else is slow burn. Just the way it is. 1 8706 |