Browse Forums Building A New House Re: How often do you visit your site? 341Mar 23, 2013 10:59 pm Every day, sometimes twice a day. Renting in the same street. Often walk down and tidy up around the site. Like to introduce myself to the tradies and have a chat. They love to talk about their work, so I ask lots of questions. Re: How often do you visit your site? 342Mar 26, 2013 8:15 pm building-expert Builder is in charge of site security and should keep temporary fencing in good order and have the gates at least wired shut at the end of working day to prevent unauthorised entry. If then someone unwires the gate to gain unauthorised entry then I will agree with akashra it is bordering on breaking and entering. People should be aware of site risks and liabilities, it's builder's responsibility to provide safe work site and public safety but if someone gets hurt whilst on site without permission it will probably get builder off the hook. Aside from safety issues, people on site without authority are a risk to building work because damage intentional or not can occur. The best policy is to have regular site visits at agreed days and times where progress and issues can be discussed, that's how it's done on commercial jobs and it works well. Bullcrap. It's my property. I'm not 'breaking and entering' in my own house that I'm paying for. What legal standing do you have to put this rubbish out there? Masterton Villina 36 - 2011 Jul-SLAB Aug-FRAME Nov-BRICK+ROOF Dec-INSUL Jan-GYPROCK Feb-LOCKUP Mar-PCI Apr-KEYS+MOVE May-Driveway+Landscaping Blog - http://new-lindfield-house.blogspot.com.au/ Re: How often do you visit your site? 343Mar 26, 2013 9:05 pm jo&waz building-expert Builder is in charge of site security and should keep temporary fencing in good order and have the gates at least wired shut at the end of working day to prevent unauthorised entry. If then someone unwires the gate to gain unauthorised entry then I will agree with akashra it is bordering on breaking and entering. People should be aware of site risks and liabilities, it's builder's responsibility to provide safe work site and public safety but if someone gets hurt whilst on site without permission it will probably get builder off the hook. Aside from safety issues, people on site without authority are a risk to building work because damage intentional or not can occur. The best policy is to have regular site visits at agreed days and times where progress and issues can be discussed, that's how it's done on commercial jobs and it works well. Bullcrap. It's my property. I'm not 'breaking and entering' in my own house that I'm paying for. What legal standing do you have to put this rubbish out there? Read the context of what the bit you quoted was actually referring to. He was referring to a previous discussion about a stranger wandering in to poke around for a sticky beak NOT for the owner accessing the site. Completed a knock down and rebuild in northern Melbourne. Handover completed 27/09/2013 and now moved in. Re: How often do you visit your site? 344Apr 19, 2013 8:55 pm leighton I have to say that I prefer my owners to go and check. Who knows the job better than the owner? Who understands the pleasure of watching it come together? I give owners a key at Lockup. I also give them a copy of our checklist, not that I expect them to worry too much about it, but some folks really appreciate being involved. cheers That's so great to see. We are lucky, our builder does the same with the key. It certainly does offer peace of mind. Kev Apr 12 - Land purchased. Aug 12 - Draft plans. Sep 12 - Deposit Paid. Re: How often do you visit your site? 345Apr 19, 2013 9:15 pm We will be starting construction in the next 8 weeks. I know I will be visiting the site every day, but it will be impossible to resist. We have recently moved into a rental property in the same estate as our block.... I can stand in the driveway of our rental and see our block.... so, as you can see, it wont be my fault if I visit everyday. Reading through everyone's posts about site access have filled me with more confidence about my builder. We will have full site access during the entire project. When I first approached our builder (after losing confidence in a larger national company) he gave us the security code for two properties he was building at the time, just so we can inspect the quality of his work. House 1 was a display / spec home he was building to sell. House 2 was his actual home which he now lives in. The fact that I had the security code to access two of his current builds gave me absolute confidence in the quality of his work. We were also given the contact details of a couple he was building for (which just happen to be in our same estate)... we gave them a call and they invited us around to inspect their house and ask how their build has been going. This has filled me with confidence. It does not mean I won't have any issues at all with our build, it just means that my builder is honest and transparent. Kev Apr 12 - Land purchased. Aug 12 - Draft plans. Sep 12 - Deposit Paid. Re: How often do you visit your site? 349May 25, 2013 6:19 pm Our slab was laid 6 weeks ago and our framework was started 3 weeks ago. I work really close to our block, so visit basically every day. Depending where my husband is working, determines if he also comes along. If he doesn't get there during the week we always go together on a Saturday or a Sunday. Re: How often do you visit your site? 350May 26, 2013 7:49 am 6 of one - half a dozen of the other. If you buy an established house did you see it built - do you know what they did ? Sure - its nice to get a few pics and have a look - but not sure constant visits are necessary or wanted. Raises stress levels and often achieves nothing. So - visit if you want - or not - or have a weekly check. Its purely up to the individual ... Re: How often do you visit your site? 351May 27, 2013 7:51 am I think frequent visits by the owner are a good thing. There are so many little things and we all see from our viewpoint and level of experience. It cannot do any real harm. thanks Re: How often do you visit your site? 352Jun 05, 2013 9:51 pm I visit 2 or 3 times a week except 2 of those times are at dark...just to see if there has been any progress. I went last Monday and they still hadn't laid our slab (weather issues) and then my hubby and I went on Saturday and our slab and frame was up for our garages, which was really exciting to see and surprising because I know it rained a fair bit last week... Then I went yesterday and our bricks had been delivered. It's just small things like that that excite me because it's all happening so quickly! I can't say I've seen a house built from scratch and the process of actually building a house (especially when it's my own) is interesting. Re: How often do you visit your site? 353Jun 09, 2013 5:48 pm I was out at my site today and spotted a potentially expensive and difficult mistake. They had the shower rotated 90 degrees, which would have put the door smack up against the bath. We've visited our site every week since site cut and I don't think a visit has gone by without us picking up at least one or two things that need fixing. Regarding some of the other responses, I don't think frequent site visits increase stress levels unless you have a totally incompetent builder (in which case you need to be there as much as possible). My partner and have found that we're much happier being aware of the process, that it is rapidly evolving into a home rather than a structure just by us being there every weekend to monitor things. I know you don't get to see the build process when you buy a pre-existing home either, but every person I know who has bought something another person built would have killed for the chance to fix some of the mistakes they're forced to live with! Ultimately though, it's up to the individual. Personally, I figure if I'm spending this much on something I want to make sure it's 100% right and to enjoy the process as much as possible. Seeing it take shape is fun! Re: How often do you visit your site? 354Jun 09, 2013 6:20 pm We are doing a knockdown Rebuild in the inner eastern suburbs. We have just had our Slab poured, and with the Frame due to start on Tuesday. We are normally at our Site everyday. Re: How often do you visit your site? 355Jun 10, 2013 2:11 pm I visit almost all days after I know they're going to be on site. Sometimes drive past in the morning for a quick catch up on site. I'll give you a tip - Everytime we visit we take with us an old stereo speaker magnet, about the size of a bread and butter plate, dangling on a 1 metre length of string. As we walk around it picks up all the nails! We love it. We have the cleanest site. The pest controller rang to give us feedback on work he'd done the other day and said "gee your site is bloody clean, the builders must clean up everyday"... :) Re: How often do you visit your site? 356Jun 11, 2013 9:39 am When I was building, I went every day! Sometimes more than once a day to show family and friends etc. It was only a 10 min drive from my old house so it wasn't very out of the way or anything Re: How often do you visit your site? 357Jun 12, 2013 3:02 pm Every day. It's about 1km away from my current house so very easy to keep an eye on. Re: How often do you visit your site? 358Jun 13, 2013 2:43 am Lurgen I was out at my site today and spotted a potentially expensive and difficult mistake. They had the shower rotated 90 degrees, which would have put the door smack up against the bath. We've visited our site every week since site cut and I don't think a visit has gone by without us picking up at least one or two things that need fixing.............. That is very worrying to read. We will be building in Myalup, but at present live in Exmouth so it is impossible to visit the site regularly. We will employ a building inspector to do six inspections at crucial times of the build. We will probably only make it down a few times and this is beginning to worry me. Building in Myalup with Redink PCQ : Nov 2012 Prestart: 17 th March 2013 Builders Permit: Sept 2013 Completed build Aug 2014 viewtopic.php?f=31&t=67559 Re: How often do you visit your site? 359Jun 13, 2013 10:32 am We always recommend at least four independent inspections during construction. This should pick up significant issues at critical stages: Pre slab, frame, Pre plaster and Pre final. At around $500/inspection some think it is expense they can do without but is not nearly as expensive as a dispute or sub standard work that gets past and is built in. I get many customers that dearly wish they had them done. Another benefit of independent inspection is that the builder knows someone with authority of expertise is looking after your investment and that he won't be able to roll you with excuses. Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: How often do you visit your site? 360Jun 15, 2013 10:05 am I presume that you are the owner of the site and the building under construction so you are entitled to visit the site and issue instructions to the main contractor. You shouldn't be intimidated as you are the one holding the purse. The one must is that it must be while the builder is there and you may have to make arrangements as the supervisor might not always be on your site. My advice is that site inspections shouldn't be just to sticky beak but to check that you are getting what you are paying for according to your contract. Small works like yours progress fairly quickly so probably once/fortnight unless there is a particular problem to sort out. Also take care that you don't change things as you will be hit with variation costs. 9 24793 In Victoria you cannot put a caveat on arising from a domestic building contract. 65 112376 Thanks mate. Yeah good points! Leaning towards Option 3 to get a bit extra space in the cabinets but not going too crazy high (and expensive). Would require a mini… 13 39716 |