Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Mar 07, 2011 11:03 am Just wanted to ask if this was normal for Perth builders. We have been to a couple of homes and they were happy to do modified floor plans, elevation and specifications/cost for no charge. If we are happy, they would then charge 3% of contract to do the contour surveys/soil test/working drawings etc. This seems to be a lot more than the $1000-2000 I see most are quoted, however it seems that they do a fair bit more. Thanks Re: Prelim Contract Cost (WA) 2Mar 25, 2011 12:17 am Hi noki388, the WA builders I have worked for vary depending on what end of the market they are catering for. The lower end of the market is always around $2000-$2500, however the mid to higher end charges a percentage of the contract cost. I have seen some homes where $15,000 is required. The price is always credited to your contract amount anyway, so whatever the builder charges will be taken off your total Also for those builders who charge $2,000, this price doesn't cover all the work involved in putting a contract together, so any clients that decide not to go ahead with the build would be charged easily an extra $10-15k for pulling out of the contract. Re: Prelim Contract Cost (WA) 3Mar 25, 2011 12:48 am Thanks mate, had given up on this thread. given you are in the game, whats your opinion on the mid range builders like APG, webb&browne, platinum homes, ross griffin and beumonde homes. Don't hear much about them here. Re: Prelim Contract Cost (WA) 4Mar 25, 2011 1:02 am Ooh, tricky question! It's probably a little hard for me to say as I have friends who work at several of those builders so I probably hear biased reviews hehe. The best suggestion I can give is to find the builder that has the plan or can design the plan that suits your needs, plus has the inclusions you are after. Comparing specifications is often the way to work out which builder suits you, it is amazing how many clients I have that come in and have signed up for a certain specification but have no idea what is included in it, so then they need to upgrade another $50k at prestart. Try to look past the sales persons pitch and look at what inclusions they are giving you for the price Re: Prelim Contract Cost (WA) 6Mar 25, 2011 7:19 am Quote: Also for those builders who charge $2,000, this price doesn't cover all the work involved in putting a contract together, so any clients that decide not to go ahead with the build would be charged easily an extra $10-15k for pulling out of the contract. So you pay 2K deposit, and they will do site-investigations, drawings and contract preparation. You pay a 5% deposit (e.g. $10K-15K) when you sign the contract. You won't get your deposits back if you decide not to proceed with the build (after you have already signed the contract). If you pull out before you sign the contract, will you still get charged $10-15K, because they have already put in a lot of work doing site-investigations + drawings + contract preparation? Re: Prelim Contract Cost (WA) 7Mar 25, 2011 6:14 pm I’m not too sure how it works in Vic as it looks like your payments are different to here in WA and your legalities may be different too. In WA the client would pay the $2k initial payment before commencing any quotation work, and wouldn’t pay anything else until their first progress payment which is once the slab is down. But yes, over here even if you haven’t signed contracts you can (and will, as I’ve seen) be taken through legal proceedings if you pull out even before the contracts are signed. The way they do this is that before the builder starts any work at all for you, you sign a Preparation of Plans Agreement (or PPA), this is a standard legal document from the HIA. In a nutshell it says “I authorise the builder to do work for me and will pay for said works”. So if you pull out, all the builder has to do is itemise everything that they have done so far – for example if you have gotten to the stage of plans being drawn up, they could account for Engineers Details, Surveyors Contour & Feature survey, re-peg of block, shire fees for building licence, planning fees if required, developers fees if required, admin staff hours for any administrative work plus sending and following up on quotes for earthworks/stormwater/retaining/non-standard items, estimating staff hours for going through quotes and costing up all the items, drafting staff hours for drawing up the plans/sketches, and management staff hours for the time that they look over the paperwork. (phew, did I cover it all?! ) So that can all add up to a pretty penny. Once they prove how much out of pocket they are, they will require this amount from the client to pull out of their contract. If the client refuses it will then go to legal action, and if a client has signed a PPA they are legally bound to pay what costs have been incurred by the builder. However if the builder forgets to get the client to sign the PPA, the client certainly has a lot of arguing room Re: Prelim Contract Cost (WA) 8Mar 25, 2011 6:27 pm Oops I tell a fib I was just chatting to a friend at another builder and they do charge an extra deposit before going to construction. It must be a builder by builder thing. But all the rest (regarding whether you’ll be charged for pulling out before contracts) is the same at their company too. Hi All, We signed a prelim agreement last year (May 2022) and paid deposit to a builder. However, we didn't go ahead with them and never signed a contract. We ended going… 0 2308 You talk about deletions, are they variations or PS and PC adjustments? pleas list them 1 16550 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 |