Browse Forums Building A New House Re: How often do you visit your site? 721May 16, 2023 2:25 pm we are visiting our site twice a day usually but we are very luck as it is on our way to work and only 500 meters from the current house we live in. We received the letter from the builder today that our windows have been installed but we new that the day it happened which was last Thursday First house - Statesman Greenock (modified) https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=66876 Second house - Fairmont Grand Design (modified) https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=100789 Re: How often do you visit your site? 722Aug 24, 2023 11:48 am We're living right next door to our build so we see and hear everything. We try not to engage the tradies much, other than saying hello, but our SS will text us to ask if a particular delivery was made . Re: How often do you visit your site? 723Jan 25, 2024 12:26 pm ZSasha May I ask you a question, guys? When you do a site visit - what is a purpose of that? Are you trying to notice any issues to make a builder fix them? But I assume one has to be a qualified builder to be able to do that. Or it is just pure interest and nothing more? Cheers. Personally I'd be wanting to visit site as often as possible to see progress, and to see if there is anything that appears to not match the plans. Of course I'm not a builder, so at early stages it would be hard for me to know if they are doing things correctly, but if something did not look right I'd take a photo and ask someone who does know, etc, Besides that, later on into the build I'd be able to see if they are installing things that I did not choose and pick up on errors, like if I specifically asked for 'X' and it is stated in the contract, and they use 'Z', for example. I've read on the QBCC site that the mandatory staged inspections won't be cross-checking your contract to make sure the contract is being adhered to, and the Site Supervisor? Well I think they ARE supposed to do that, but apparently a lot of them don't visit site very often, so not much supervision there..... My only wonder is, I don't know how difficult some builders are (I am just in research phase at the moment) so I don't know if many builders would let you on site often.... or even agree allow private inspectors to inspect the site.... Re: How often do you visit your site? 724Jan 25, 2024 12:31 pm Mofflepop Personally I'd be wanting to visit site as often as possible to see progress, and to see if there is anything that appears to not match the plans. ...... Agree. Ive texted my SS to tell him a power point was in the wrong place or similar and he was able to sort it out before gyprock/painting ect. Saves the builder money and us build time in having to fix it down the track. Re: How often do you visit your site? 725Jan 25, 2024 12:35 pm I visited my site once a week. I found several mistakes which I had to advise the builder. Eg. Shower size and shape did not match plans, wrong type of balustrade top rail used, Re: How often do you visit your site? 726Jan 29, 2024 1:21 pm I would visit weekly at least so you can take pictures, progress pictures. Be sure to take pictures of around the house slab perimeter and in particular if there is water ponding against the foundations. These pictures are your get out of jail free card should you ever need to refer to them. I would be sure to visit at least aligning with before progress claims are issued, that is, your contract stage claims: BASE, FRAME, ENCLOSED, FIXING, PRACTICAL COMPLETION, HANDOVER. This way, you can assess or have a building inspector or engineer assess if the stage has been completed and is ok to pay the claim. Having taken a heap of pictures, if you receive a progress claim and things havent been finished, you can send the pictures in as part of your reasoning for not paying the claim - as in, finish this then we will look to pay. Pictures save your hide when it comes to construction so let your phone finger tap widely and backup your images for future reference. To me progress stage claims are your bare minimum time to inspect. The most important stages are SLAB, FRAME, ROOFING + FLASHING (within the enclosed claim), PRE GYPROCK (ensure frame is ready to be sheeted, WATERPROOFING - prior to tile fixing. You will need to visit to meet some trades at rough in stage and again for a tile selection meeting. You will also likely have to meet trades for quotes for work outside of contract, if not included, like carpet, blinds etc. If your owner supplying items, youll have to go to site to drop those. Remember that any owner supplied items is not covered by builders insurance so if its damaged or lost, you end up buying it again. Re: How often do you visit your site? 727May 14, 2024 10:58 am Initially once a month as we are 40 minutes away. But now as we are at lockup stage, trying to go once every fortnight. Edit: we dont have to necessarily attend, our site supervisor with MJH sends us 5-10 photos per week generally with what has been done up to that point, which is excellent. But it was nice to walk through myself in person, it feels surreal when you actually walk on the slab between the framework and especially last week when the external walls were put up and rendered. Re: How often do you visit your site? 728May 23, 2024 12:53 pm nickmaj Initially once a month as we are 40 minutes away. But now as we are at lockup stage, trying to go once every fortnight. Edit: we dont have to necessarily attend, our site supervisor with MJH sends us 5-10 photos per week generally with what has been done up to that point, which is excellent. But it was nice to walk through myself in person, it feels surreal when you actually walk on the slab between the framework and especially last week when the external walls were put up and rendered. Is this something you have to organise ahead of time? Or get permission for? Or have had put in your contract? I've heard stories of the builder not wanting owner on site..... Re: How often do you visit your site? 729May 23, 2024 3:59 pm Well, you legally aren't allowed to enter the site without permission / meeting with supervisor. However, despite the main entrance being padlocked, there is other ways to get in. I wouldn't say this, but even a rep from my builder in the design studio literally told us they did it during their own build and suggested to do so as it can difficult to arrange inspections outside of the main ones like pre-lining.. I would suggest early morning before any building starts, as i would understand if other builders around or even pedestrians thought you were trying to steal etc... Be careful not to injure yourself, as you would be liable, builder cant be held liable if it's not an organzied visit. But yeah, we get most of our stuff via photos on our portal, but i am attending tomorrow for our pre-lining inspection. Re: How often do you visit your site? 730May 23, 2024 4:11 pm nickmaj Well, you legally aren't allowed to enter the site without permission / meeting with supervisor. However, despite the main entrance being padlocked, there is other ways to get in. I wouldn't say this, but even a rep from my builder in the design studio literally told us they did it during their own build and suggested to do so as it can difficult to arrange inspections outside of the main ones like pre-lining.. I would suggest early morning before any building starts, as i would understand if other builders around or even pedestrians thought you were trying to steal etc... Be careful not to injure yourself, as you would be liable, builder cant be held liable if it's not an organzied visit. But yeah, we get most of our stuff via photos on our portal, but i am attending tomorrow for our pre-lining inspection. My experience is the padlock code is either the post code youre building in or the post code of the builders office We, living next to our build, would often be the people that told the tradie the code to open the gate. Re: How often do you visit your site? 731May 23, 2024 4:14 pm Denali nickmaj Well, you legally aren't allowed to enter the site without permission / meeting with supervisor. However, despite the main entrance being padlocked, there is other ways to get in. I wouldn't say this, but even a rep from my builder in the design studio literally told us they did it during their own build and suggested to do so as it can difficult to arrange inspections outside of the main ones like pre-lining.. I would suggest early morning before any building starts, as i would understand if other builders around or even pedestrians thought you were trying to steal etc... Be careful not to injure yourself, as you would be liable, builder cant be held liable if it's not an organzied visit. But yeah, we get most of our stuff via photos on our portal, but i am attending tomorrow for our pre-lining inspection. My experience is the padlock code is either the post code youre building in or the post code of the builders office We, living next to our build, would often be the people that told the tradie the code to open the gate. Wouldn't be surprised. Ours is an actual key padlock, but yeah, no point of it when anyone can just open the fence with ease. Re: How often do you visit your site? 732May 23, 2024 4:47 pm nickmaj Denali nickmaj Well, you legally aren't allowed to enter the site without permission / meeting with supervisor. However, despite the main entrance being padlocked, there is other ways to get in. I wouldn't say this, but even a rep from my builder in the design studio literally told us they did it during their own build and suggested to do so as it can difficult to arrange inspections outside of the main ones like pre-lining.. I would suggest early morning before any building starts, as i would understand if other builders around or even pedestrians thought you were trying to steal etc... Be careful not to injure yourself, as you would be liable, builder cant be held liable if it's not an organzied visit. But yeah, we get most of our stuff via photos on our portal, but i am attending tomorrow for our pre-lining inspection. My experience is the padlock code is either the post code youre building in or the post code of the builders office We, living next to our build, would often be the people that told the tradie the code to open the gate. Wouldn't be surprised. Ours is an actual key padlock, but yeah, no point of it when anyone can just open the fence with ease. Someone removed the link things on the side temp fencing so we had our own private entry in/out of the build - not that we went in often, seeing it 24/7 meant it wasnt too interesting plus our SS would let us in all the time if we wanted to/something new happened to see Re: How often do you visit your site? 733May 24, 2024 10:31 am Denali nickmaj Wouldn't be surprised. Ours is an actual key padlock, but yeah, no point of it when anyone can just open the fence with ease. Someone removed the link things on the side temp fencing so we had our own private entry in/out of the build - not that we went in often, seeing it 24/7 meant it wasnt too interesting plus our SS would let us in all the time if we wanted to/something new happened to see 100%, going too often removes the excitement. We are waiting for our gyprock to go in now after i did the pre-lining inspection this morning. I dont really want to see it now until its all painted to be honest. In Victoria you cannot put a caveat on arising from a domestic building contract. 65 117044 PM me your email. I have a build excavation calculator you can use based on your plans to double check what your builder is telling you. Cheers Simeon 1 12380 1 17847 |