SS no longer wants the leftover tiles after handover?

After handover, I had lots of leftover tiles. 4 batches in my kitchen cupboard and a lot more in my garage. 2 weeks after handover, my SS said that he would pick up the tiles in my garage, that the ones in my cupboard are for my own use.

My neighbour said that I should not give them away because they are mine.
My question is can my SS legally claim the tiles 2 weeks after I have taken possession of my house? Right now he hasn't fixed the issues left from handover(http://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=49079), so should I use those tiles as a leverage for him to fix things? or am I entitled to those tiles that I should not give them up anyways?

I mean my SS could be screwing with me as he thinks that I don't know my rights. Please help me! any reference to legal documents etc would be appreciated.

Update: I have just gone through my contracts.From the Victorian New Homes Contract:

From Contract Documentation for my house:


-To start off, there is no section 1.5.2
-Those tiles did belong to my builder during work, nothing was said about after handover.
-Considering they were 'leftover' tiles and not 'removed from site upon completion'.

I would conclude that they were mine. I will argue with SS, especially since he hasn't fixed what was supposed to be done.
Thank you everyone for your input!

UPDATE 19.7.2011
Several members have suggested that SS could possibly be scoring the tiles for himself, especially since he didn't explain at all.
Strategy at this stage would be to demand something in writing from PD office, see what SS says.

Will see whether he'd show up and clarify the ownership issue.

UPDATE 27.7.2011
SS did not show up and did not call either.
Existing issues remained outstanding and I presumed that SS no longer wanted the tiles.
Had 'Team PD' passed on my details to someone higher up a week ago and no, no contact from them either.
It's peace and quiet these days. I'm now praying for a decent maintenance person

CASE CLOSED

That's ridiculous. Those tiles are yours, you paid for them. Builders always factor in extra tiles in case some get broken or the tiler stuffs up. I'd go higher up personally about this as well as your other topic.

Good luck

Technically, I don't think they are yours. I believe that legally you are paying for your house to be tiled, not for any extras. He is leaving a few extras as replacements so I'm not sure how far you will get if you take it higher.
In saying that though, it's a case Tightassedness Extremis. Most builders will leave the left over bricks/tiles etc. I remember a while ago on here someone had left over bricks and the builder took them, another case of TE.

Mixed opinion...

Thing is, SS didn't say anything about claiming the tiles as at handover(It was said that the leftover bricks, tiles, carpet etc were for me). Since I've paid so I assumed what's left at my house is mine? or is that not correct.

flagstaffIV,
What would you suggest on going 'higher up'?
To be honest, I have no knowledge of building whatsoever, and don't have anyone to help look over things. Because PD is claimed to be 'professional' I thought I could just let the professionals do their jobs. I did realise towards the end that it does not work like that. But I don't know what else I can do, other than talking to my SS about the issues and get told that there's not much he can do.

joles,
Would you mind linking the post about leftover bricks? thanks.

There's a couple of different threads.... I can't find the exact one I was thinking of, but these are along the same lines.

Ed explains it well in this one....
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=32915

viewtopic.php?f=31&t=6875

joles,

Thanks for that. their situation seems to be different. They have not paid off the house yet.

well I've paid for my house and nothing was said as at handover. When SS asked 2 weeks later to have the tiles back it seems to me that he was using my house as a storage place? or is it just a matter of tightness as you said...

wait i'll pm Ed

Our last house the builders took left over bricks and tiles as they use them on the next jobs with those same selections. We had to beg for them to leave a couple of spare tiles incase we ever chipped one as they were a discontinued stock!

This house the builder has left us about 4 boxes of tiles. Only the wet areas are tiled in this house, and we paid heaps extra for upgraded tiles, so I guess they don't normally use them, so wouldn't be of any use to them.

Hi Rizzo,

Did your builder from your last house take away the leftover materials before or after you've taken possession of your house??

I thought that maybe when you haven't paid it off, it's the builder's property. in my case, the builder's asking for those tiles after the house has already become mine...

Hi bobbie, sorry I did miss that you already had handover. That seems odd. My guess is as good as yours, but perhaps something has happened on another job that is using the same tiles and they need them for that. After handover is really weird though, if the house is yours then I'd think that includes all in it at handover.
Can you ask him what he needs them for?

By higher up I mean a Construct Manager or Regional Manager.

We built with PD too and were never asked if they could take our spare tiles. The Construction Manager who was looking after us (our SS was sacked) asked if we wanted to keep the tiles, obviously I said yes.

If your SS came out straight and just said can I have some boxes for 'such and such' reason then that would be understandable. But I think he's being a bit ridiculous asking to take them from you when the house is now officially yours. This just makes him seem really unprofessional.

quote Ed: 'after all you could have thrown them out'
that's true.


joles,
my tiles were safe choice from the basic range. so I'd assume demand is high.

flagstaffIV,
how did you get in touch with the construction manager?
my customer service was not quite responsive and there is not such section for complaints on PD's website. So I never thought I could bring the matter higher up. When I first posted about my frustration, 'Team PD' left a comment. I have pmed them and hope somehow they could help things work out.

I've always been diplomatic and patient with people from my builder. When things don't work I stay away from being 'harsh.' I don't wish to 'coerce' people into doing their jobs so I guess at the end of the day, that quality gets taken advantage of a little. *sigh*

Sounds to me like the as is trying to score them for himself or he was supposed to get them and forgot. Tough on him. Did he give a reason why they weren't collected before handover? We had quite a few left over tiles st our place, more than a box worth of each sort / 2 boxes plus and we certainly weren't asked for them

Are you going to use all of them or will they sit in your garage and collect dust (like our 7 boxes of spare tiles)

If you think you will use them all tell him you've already used/sold them as they were on your property - they were yours!
They can't bill you for them - you've already paid for them!!!

But if out of the kindness of your heart you are not going to use them and don't feel the need to keep them just hand some over I guess!

Our tiles consultant from our selection appointment yesterday told us any left over tiles on site are ours.

I think the first thing you need to do is look at how many tiles you actually paid for? that way you have something to back you up saying.. well I paid for X amount of tiles.... if they don't use all of them, you have still paid for them.

Don't worry what SS says, just take them.

the builder usually own all left over material. As stated above the builder is requesting these after handover. So one would think that the ownership has now been transferred.

Thank you everyone for your response!
All your kindness make me feel less alone


Since the leftover were not removed upon completion so I'd assume they are mine.


very straightforward suggestion. cheers


pretty sure there wasn't a specified amount.


PD home as well?


I haven't made specific plans since I've been busy furnishing the house etc. but I would appreciate doing something with them.
Also I've been too kind the entire time, maybe that encouraged my SS to make such demand. NOT going to give in this time.


Hi kexkez, you are the 2nd person who's thought of that.
By the way Ed suggested that I should tell my SS that I will let PD know in writing first, see how he would react.
I just remembered that he promised to come to my house on Wednesday, but then the supervisors are supposed to meet in the office on Wednesday. so he might not even turn up, again.

To me it would suggest that AS you have accepted hand over WITH the tiles left on site, the builder has no right to be on your property without your consent. You have accepted hand over as-is. The house is officially no longer under construction, or under direction from your SS. He has no buisness on your site.

If it was before hand over, you wouldn't have a case what-so-ever, but as it stands, I think you should argue the point that as handover has been complete, he shouldn't recieve them.

Also. In a past life I once packed/delivered/sold ceramic floor tiles. Each tile manufacturer has whats know as a "Batch" number. ie: N52.
There might be 40 pallets, with 100m2 per pallet made at once, with the EXACT same ingredients/mixtures from China. The next batch may be N53. N53 and N52 will look VERY similar, however due to the most miniature differences in mixtures/drying temps/etc once you hold the two together, you can see slight tonal differences.
This means that if your builder was to take YOUR tiles that are batch N52, the builder wouldn't be able to use them for another house, as batch P16 might be delivered to that house. We could NEVER cross batches, and if we did and they were fitted, it was up to us to pay for the replacement and labour.

TL;DR: Seems like your SS might want them for his personal use, or for someone else he knows. Grip tight!

Move all but 2 boxes from the garage into the house....then let the SS take whats in the garage. Then give him an invoice for 2 weeks of storage.