Browse Forums Building A New House Re: SLAB FALLING APART !, can I hold up frame stage payment? 21Nov 03, 2011 8:07 am If the slab is generally weak, it may be worthwhile to get a core sample and have it tested for compressive strength. Demolition August 2009, Construction Started September 2009, Completed December 2010 Re: SLAB FALLING APART !, can I hold up frame stage payment? 22Nov 03, 2011 2:59 pm buildingwest Is it in your contract that the delays are charged at $250 plus the 15%? I thought most contracts only had a percentage. If: AE86's penalty is 15% of Frame Stage per day and she has to pay $250 per week and there are 52.18 weeks in a year (including leap year) then: $250 x 52.18 weeks ÷ 15% = $87K ==> This is the amount of AE86's Frame Stage Progress Payment request. 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: SLAB FALLING APART !, can I hold up frame stage payment? 23Nov 03, 2011 3:05 pm The HIA Victorian New Homes Contract January 2008 says : Frame Stage is complete when a home's frame is "approved by a building surveyor". If Frame has been approved by the Building Surveyor (despite the structural defects), then you must pay interest for withholding progress payment. As far as the Builder is concerned, the Frame Stage is complete, as long as it's been approved by the Building Surveyor. If the Building Surveyor approved the Frame Stage despite structural defects, then she is risking her reputation as a Surveyor, because she probably should not have approved the frame stage. 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: SLAB FALLING APART !, can I hold up frame stage payment? 24Nov 03, 2011 3:09 pm she can risk multiple time of her reputation and business still goes on, but the owner has only 1 house that is building and need to make sure the slab is correct. your slab look "tofu", get a core sample evaluation. Re: SLAB FALLING APART !, can I hold up frame stage payment? 25Nov 03, 2011 3:11 pm on a 2nd thought, i don't think your builder will take the extra mile to test the slab for you, worst bet you may have to get it tested out of pocket and raise this to the builder, hoping they will reimburse the cost and rectified the problem, that's if there is any problem. Re: SLAB FALLING APART !, can I hold up frame stage payment? 26Nov 03, 2011 3:54 pm Quote: Personally I would make the payment, If you do pay up for the Frame Stage despite the structural defects, what's to stop the Site Supervisor from proceeding with the build by covering up the defects with bricks/insulation/gyprock, then claiming that the defects were already rectified before they were covered with bricks? Re: SLAB FALLING APART !, can I hold up frame stage payment? 27Nov 03, 2011 6:57 pm Casa2 If the slab is generally weak, it may be worthwhile to get a core sample and have it tested for compressive strength. This is a good idea, I am well paroniod about the validity of the slab now. does anyone know any companies in Melbourne who do this? I have tried to do a search and couldnt find any companies who do this. My Inspector said today that hes seen much worse ...(poor people!) ... he also said that this is repairable. Re: SLAB FALLING APART !, can I hold up frame stage payment? 28Nov 03, 2011 8:02 pm For core sample testing, try a concrete supply company. They test their own samples often and may know who could do a core test. Demolition August 2009, Construction Started September 2009, Completed December 2010 Re: SLAB FALLING APART !, can I hold up frame stage payment? 29Nov 03, 2011 8:04 pm AE86 Casa2 If the slab is generally weak, it may be worthwhile to get a core sample and have it tested for compressive strength. This is a good idea, I am well paroniod about the validity of the slab now. does anyone know any companies in Melbourne who do this? I have tried to do a search and couldnt find any companies who do this. My Inspector said today that hes seen much worse ...(poor people!) ... he also said that this is repairable. Re: SLAB FALLING APART !, can I hold up frame stage payment? 30Nov 03, 2011 9:53 pm assuming you have a standard HIA contract and a building inspector has approved the slab and frame, then your builder was legally entitled to send you the bill. There are major implications to the builder if they send invoices prior to a stage being approved including fines and suspension of licence. Your first point should be to call the Building Commission of Victoria http://www.buildingcommission.com.au and seek assistance with tolerances and standards relating to slabs, in particular to exposed reo, compression strength and slab cracking (or chunking in your case). If their response indicates you have a problem, I would then put in writing to your builder and sent via registered post that you are believe the slab defective as there is exposed reo (that will rust and cause concrete cancer) as well as any other info that the Building Commission suggest, and that you are engaging your own building inspector to reassess the slab and frame. By putting in it writing in this manner, the builder cannot deny knowledge of your claims. You should also pay in time as this looks much better at VCAT if it gets that far. Take a heap more pictures. Engage your own building inspector. Get their report. Then make the next move if it warranted. If the builder proceeds to brick it up and 'hide' the defects, then its their cost to rectify. If the original inspector was negligent, then there are avenues to pursue there. And by all means remain civil and polite when dealing with the builder. Your slab maybe fine and only need a minor repair so no point putting them totally offside. Also look at having your building inspector become the inspector to sign off the remaining stages. stressful yes but there is a way forward....good luck Regards RiH Re: SLAB FALLING APART !, can I hold up frame stage payment? 34Nov 04, 2011 1:54 pm AE86 HOW COULD THIS HAVE BEEN SIGNED OFF BY SS AND MY BUILDERS INSPECTOR??? They were hoping i just sign off and not check it.... If i didn't say anything Im wondering would they have just bricked all this up??? Probably. The only situation they will fix something is if they think you will find out, or if they think it will cost them money later. Metricon Riva 33 - http://herlihy-riva.blogspot.com Site start 15/03/2010 - Handover 23/12/2010 9 months and 8 days (284 calendar days) from site start to handover Re: SLAB FALLING APART !, can I hold up frame stage payment? 35Nov 06, 2011 3:27 pm I did a bit of a drive by as I usually do when I go up to check on our build's progress, saw the current state of your build and rushed straight here to see this... Out of respect for AE86's privacy I will not go into what we saw on our brief drive past (if AE86 wants to show everyone they will post more pics), but from a layman's point of view it didn't look good at all. I didn't really notice anything on the way down due to not really looking at all - I was actually going to have a drive-by looksie at the Henley house nearby (I like it a lot and wish we were building it) - but on the way back the right side of the house/slab kinda grabbed our attention for certain reasons and the left/rear sides also "stood out" somewhat when we turned the corner and drove further up the street (and we didn't even have to slow down or look closely to see what we saw - it is that noticeable)... I feel bad for you AE86 and hope they get off their backsides and sort it out soon - it kinda killed off our happy mood at seeing our sub-surface plumbing and conduit work all finished when we saw the state your place is currently in... Some people apparently have nothing better to do than comment on other people's sigs. Re: SLAB FALLING APART !, can I hold up frame stage payment? 36Nov 07, 2011 8:58 am hi AE86, i maybe in your area? pm me your add. i can take a look for you if it is close. dun trust every words from ss, of course they have seen worse, because there is always the unlucky one around. Re: SLAB FALLING APART !, can I hold up frame stage payment? 37Nov 09, 2011 8:23 pm I work for a builder and I have NEVER seen anything like this... I would suggest maybe an engineer to inspect the structural integrity of the slab. Someone else said to contact a concrete company to get a core sample - that's a great idea as well. I honestly don't see how this can be remediated. They might be able to dowel into the existing slab and add new concrete with Xypex. Whatever they do, make sure that they get an engineering detail and ask to see it before they proceed. Good luck... I hope it all work out for you. Re: SLAB FALLING APART !, can I hold up frame stage payment? 38Nov 10, 2011 10:39 am This is nothing i haven't seen before. Problem is a Carpenter, he used concrete screw in bolts right on the edge, and off course concrete will fall off, any concrete would fall off regardless of the strength. I never use these bolts, and this is one of the reasons. I always use dynobolts and when you drill you drill on the edge of the bottom plate, you stay away from the edge of the slab as much as you can, especially when the concrete is still wet. Cracks are visible on every slab poured, they are usually horse hair cracks up to 3mm if they are bigger then 3mm then they are structural, again standard practice. If you want to go technical then get your slab tested for strength, but in most cases this is not the problem, however it could be possible with bad builders, as they order less strength to save money, and no one checks this ever. Pay your progress payment, he might be liable for defective works, but you will be liable for not paying your bills. Re: SLAB FALLING APART !, can I hold up frame stage payment? 39Nov 10, 2011 4:52 pm @Veseli, Thank you for your advice.
The builder contacted me today and said the the rectifications involve providing metal plates. ? Still they intend to have a site meeting with me soon to explain the plan of attack but I would like an independent engineer to be at the meeting to see if the builders idea is "up to standard". Can anyone supply a contact for a slab engineer in Melb? Ive tried google but comes up with nothing. Anyone who can help with this ,would be greatly appreciated. ...Thanks Re: SLAB FALLING APART !, can I hold up frame stage payment? 40Nov 10, 2011 5:15 pm AE86 @Veseli, Thank you for your advice. The builder contacted me today and said the the rectifications involve providing metal plates. ? Still they intend to have a site meeting with me soon to explain the plan of attack but I would like an independent engineer to be at the meeting to see if the builders idea is "up to standard". Can anyone supply a contact for a slab engineer? Ive tried google but comes up with nothing. Anyone who can help with this ,would be greatly appreciated. ...Thanks have you tried to google "civil engineer" ? Thanks for the insights, that makes perfect sense, and yeah, I will be leaning on the experience of the excavator operator entirely. 6 16160 4 6201 The concreter will take and reuse. In my case I bought structural LVLs and scraped them back and used them as joists. 1 5164 |