Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Aug 22, 2011 2:51 pm I'm hoping I can get some advice from others who've been in a similar situation to me or with better experience. We are building with Aaron J Homes on land rated BAL-40. In our building contract there is an allowance of $20,000 to build to this standard. From the day we started assessing the BAL level I told the builder I wanted an itemized list of what they were going to include and what needs to be included to meet the BAL-40 requirements. They had never had experience building in this before, or so they say. It all seemed like it was over their head and like they had absolutely no idea what was going to be needed. The only information I could eventually get out of them was a hand written assessment saying what our rating was, why were were rated that was and what the recommendations included (mesh screens to doors and windows, sarking to tiles, gutter protection etc). I contacted them last week to see how progress was going. We are about 4 weeks from handover and they tell us that we have to organize the gutter mesh protection. I don't remember saying this and we need the gutter protection to get occupancy. There is no mention of us having to do it in the contract/tender, No mention of it in emails or anywhere else. As far as I'm concerned if I'm paying $20,000 for bush fire protection and you refused to officially itemize it on the quote, why should I have to organize and pay for gutter mesh separately? The only time the gutter protection was mentioned was in the hand written document. What do I do?? I can't afford to go and spend additional money (approx $2000 from quotes received this week) on this especially when we need it in 4 weeks for occupancy. Any advice? Re: Bushfire Requirements - not on contract 2Aug 22, 2011 3:55 pm check your contract again to see how the amount is worded I had a "provisional allowance" in for $8K. Once Before my bush fire assessment was done and officially outlined through council, I had to sign off a post contract variation which then took out the provisional sum and replaced it with itemised costs for all the items needed to meet my Bal 12.5 rating. Re: Bushfire Requirements - not on contract 3Aug 22, 2011 4:20 pm kdgirl check your contract again to see how the amount is worded I had a "provisional allowance" in for $8K. Once Before my bush fire assessment was done and officially outlined through council, I had to sign off a post contract variation which then took out the provisional sum and replaced it with itemised costs for all the items needed to meet my Bal 12.5 rating. Thanks kdgirl. The contract says "provisional allowance" or something very similar. It's clear that it is an allowance only and not a fixed cost. I assume this will be finalized soonish as we only have one payment to go? I just would have thought that with 5 weeks until handover, they may know what is needed and what isn't. they obviously know that our house needs gutter protection, but my questions is, why is this my responsibility when it was part of the $20,000 allowance? BAL ratings are very frustrating, at least in my experience. I understand why they are in place but there doesn't seem to be clear cut information stating "you need these windows, these gutters, these tiles, etc etc to meet BAL-40". Re: Bushfire Requirements - not on contract 4Aug 22, 2011 7:17 pm I had mine all sorted out before building commenced. However even in your casethey should still be providing you with a variation that they will have to provide supporting docs for you if they request (ie to prove costs + builders margin) Re: Bushfire Requirements - not on contract 5Aug 22, 2011 9:32 pm My builder is about to commence construction. I've been assessed at BAL-19, because my land is next to a reserve. My builder is charging me $10,000 (fixed cost, not provisional). I have asked the builder 3 times to give us an itemized cost break down, but the builder just keeps ignoring our request I think our builder doesn't know how they came up with $10K. They just plucked a figure out of thin air, because they themselves don't know the itemized cost breakdown. 13-08 Moved in 13-05 Build restart 13-04 VMIA compensation 12-08 Builder liquidation 12-03 Fixing 11-12 Lockup 11-11 Frame 11-09 Slab 11-09 Start 11-07 Contract 10-11 2K deposit 10-06 Titled land Re: Bushfire Requirements - not on contract 6Aug 22, 2011 9:50 pm Provisional sum or not, if they can't itimize their expenditure so far I wouldn't give them another cent. They need to prove they have spent all of the $20K. Re: Bushfire Requirements - not on contract 7Aug 22, 2011 10:30 pm We paid a company called APZA services $350 to compile a 17 page Bushfire Risk Assessment report. They told us exactly what we had to do to protect the premises from fire danger (and exactly why). After that, we forwarded the report to the builder, and they gave us an itemised quote on every single recommendation in the report. I would definitely recommend going about it this way. It was much easier than what you are describing. Good luck sorting it out. Re: Bushfire Requirements - not on contract 8Aug 23, 2011 9:11 pm I got BAL-29 and had to push the builder for a list of exactly what they were going to include. We did get a list prior to contract signing. We had to have toughened glass, changed timber sliding doors for aluminium, sarking, special vents on the evap cooling system, special mesh fly screens, mesh lined whirly birds, mesh on the brick vents etc. This isn't easy to retro fit, but not impossible. I would chase your builder - its pretty pathetic that they don't know what they are doing, and I'd be concerned that you won't get an occupancy permit ????? H's Emperor Q1 on acreage Site cut 16/6/11 Slab 2/8 Frame 29/8 Tiles 9/9 Bricks 13/10 Plaster 2/11 Fittings 28/11 PCI 19/3 This was on google. Development controls 2.3.1 Front setback D1 New buildings within residential areas shall adhere to a front building line, which is 5.5-6m to the… 1 3666 I'm wondering if anyone knows what the requirements are of a builder to be eligible to hold Domestic Building Insurance for proposed works. https://www.dbi.vmia.vic.gov.au… 0 3334 You talk about deletions, are they variations or PS and PC adjustments? pleas list them 1 16557 |