Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Feb 02, 2011 10:42 am Hey...other than emailing and phoning your builder every day, is there anything else you can do to "hurry" them up when the builders go over the contract period? They are 100 days over. Everything is pretty much done, just waiting on occupation certificate from Council, but they have known what council needed to fix over three weeks ago. They're not replying to my emails. What's worrying me also is there are a few things we want fixed, which is going to take more time after they finally come out to see the problems. It's so frustrating! Is there anything else I can do?? Eg, go to Fair Trading, threaten them with legal action, or is this too soon? Help please! Re: What to do if your building runs late 2Feb 02, 2011 12:24 pm What did they say when you called them? Were the things you want fixed noted in your pre handover inspection? Don't bother going to fair trading or a lawyer. It's not worth the hassle at this stage. You are almost finished - take a deep breathe Re: What to do if your building runs late 3Feb 02, 2011 3:16 pm kineso What did they say when you called them? Were the things you want fixed noted in your pre handover inspection? Don't bother going to fair trading or a lawyer. It's not worth the hassle at this stage. You are almost finished - take a deep breathe Haha...had a few deep breaths! If I keep 'deep breathing', I may pass out! When we call or email they tell us that they are working on it and everything left is just a 'formality', however 'formalities' shouldn't take 3 weeks or more from council inspection!!! We haven't even had a pre handover inspection, it hasn't even been arranged! It makes it difficult as well as the builders live 300km away (because we live in a rural area, there were no suitable builders in our town, hence the reason we went out of town thinking that it would be quicker - HAHA!!) Thinking maybe I should put everything in writing and send a letter to them. Probably not going to bother them. I definitely won't be giving them their final payment until EVERYTHING is done... Re: What to do if your building runs late 4Feb 02, 2011 3:35 pm are you getting compensation from them?? Eg $x per week delayed? Re: What to do if your building runs late 6Feb 03, 2011 12:32 pm Hmm, what's weird is that you are talking like the house is already at practical completion. Is that the case? You should say to them you want to do the final walkthrough now. We're in a similar boat and currently waiting for the builder to do a couple of minor things and fix up items from our final walkthrough before they organise the (second) final inspection from Council (PCA). Re: What to do if your building runs late 7Feb 03, 2011 3:27 pm kineso Hmm, what's weird is that you are talking like the house is already at practical completion. Is that the case? You should say to them you want to do the final walkthrough now. We're in a similar boat and currently waiting for the builder to do a couple of minor things and fix up items from our final walkthrough before they organise the (second) final inspection from Council (PCA). Yeah, the house is pretty much at practical completion, other than finishing up the air-con install (which we are doing ourselves and it's almost done except for the connection between the actual air-con and the roof), it's all done. We haven't had a "walk-through", although, because we are doing some of the work ourselves and have had a key, we have told them a few things that needed to be fixed as we have gone along. Some of those are still outstanding. I'm worried because it seems that our building has happened the same as everyone else's...haven't even been given a date for practical completion... Once the occupancy certificate is issued, is that when you can move in, or does the builder have to get the final certificate before you move in?? Re: What to do if your building runs late 8Feb 03, 2011 4:20 pm I'll let someone else answer the C of O question definitively (cause I'm in the same boat as you) but my understanding is yes. Not sure what you are referring to when you say 'final certificate'. The output of the 'final' (inspection) from Council (if all good) is the C of O. OK, this is what I reckon: You should email and call them stating you would like to have a face to face meeting to discuss oustanding matters. Then in person bring up these matters: - Will there be a 'formal' practical completion inspection or are you supposed to just note things down as you are doing and they will fix them? If so, When will the inspection be? If no formal inspection, will they fix everything you are noting? By when? - It sounds like council have done a final inspection and identified issues to fix prior to another inspection? If that's the case, can you get a copy of the council report that states what needs to be done? ours was done in triplicate, so a copy for council, one for builder, one for us). You need to check if there's anything in there that you need to do that is not part of your building contract (eg/ complete air con install). - If they haven't organised a final with the council, what exactly are they doing/waiting for? You want something in writing stating When these things will be done? - Say that you need to get into the house ASAP and the delays are costing you significant $$ If they won't meet with you, that's probably a breach of the contract (read it again very carefully) and you can consider taking it further (eg/ get lawyer to fax them a letter/contact fair trading). The fact of the matter is, they are way over the contract period and they should have clearly communicated to you why this is the case and what you can expect moving forward. I'm guessing they are having trouble getting trades to do the little bits and pieces to finish up cause of where you live? Like I said the Occupancy Certificate is not the tollgate that marks the completion of the house. The contract defines… 7 10720 You have mandatory building inspections and privately engaged building inspections. The difference between the two comes down to inspecting the building so it's safe and… 3 18063 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 39690 |