Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Tierra_I'm officially calling myself an unhappy customer 242Jul 05, 2012 7:12 am Hey Stace, So sorry to read of your troubles with our buddies at B/Bank! I have been away for 11 days with work o/s and now back with internet connection.... I would be just as annoyed as you, its your dream home you have all these wonderful ideas and blah!!! Thanks idiot installer!! I would push them on that one - they probably dont want to pay the installer to come back then the plasterer to come back and fix the mess by moving the vent in the roof. Tough luck to B/Bank! Sorry not good enough! If that happens to me I would be digging my heels in too! Good on you - stay strong and hold your ground.... Surprised they are being like that, my friend built with them and the only issue they had was the driveway colour being wrong. Hopefully you get it sorted - I am sure you have said it but push back and say there is NO WAY you will be accepting that and NO WAY they will be receiving their final payment until it's fixed.... It's a pity the way the instalments work with builders majority of payment made prior to near completetion. I think it should be 50% paid that way as a consumer we would have a heap more leverage for finalising those annoying bits and pieces that just arent finished to standard. The way it is, most are running short on the $$ and renting as well so just accept it and they know that! They use that to their advantage. I would be on that Site Supervisors back every hour of every day just ringing and even leaving messages!! Annoy enough to get action! Unfortunately it comes to that sometimes!! My friend emailed the Vic Sales Manager I would suggest the same - he got action when the ss said no! Take them on - email your examples of the display home and yours and show them how wrong the placement really is!! Not good enough. I can tell them now I will be holding firm with them if their are ANY stuff ups different to the plan! They love to charge the $500 variation to anything not on the plans for us so why not the other way around!! Good Luck - thinking of you! stay strong and do not give in - the plan has it in a specific spot that's what you signed off on - so please push back at them... Re: Tierra_I'm officially calling myself an unhappy customer 243Jul 05, 2012 4:34 pm That's right, they told us that the plans are only I indicative of where things should be what a loop hole They can put anything anywhere so what's the point of having plans? And they are the first to charge you for variations to their plans. They can't have it both ways!!! Hubby emailed photos of heating vent and alfresco downlight to show we aren't talking about something trivial, it's plain wrong. Hopefully the admin chick can see what we are talking about and realizes its not just an over reaction. We haven't heard back from anyone again today. Speaking of driveways... Our colour is very patchy. I was thinking it just drying, but it seems no different. It's like only some colour has come out in some places and what colour is there isn't very noticeable. Not sure if they come back to spray it or what? We will not ever build with this builder again or recommend them to family or friends, not due to the mistakes, but how we have been treated. Re: Tierra_I'm officially calling myself an unhappy customer 244Jul 05, 2012 5:50 pm Stace, Haven't been on for a couple of days what unnessary stress for u guys. We are using building inspector throughout the build covering four different stages. No build date for us yet. Developer knock back fascade so we re-submitted on Monday just waiting in limbo for approval then we should be go to go. Our admin contact confirmed there are six bb in our stage so hopefully we get good ss covering them all. Hope tomorrow brings GREAT news and this will be today's headache Re: Tierra_I'm officially calling myself an unhappy customer 245Jul 06, 2012 8:01 am My driveway dries up patchy as well and I am still waiting for the Concretor BB uses to come and fix. Some of the minor things they take ages to fix. As long as you say YES to what they say it is smooth, the moment you ask them questions they will make you feel like they are doing you a favour. Eagerly waiting to here how they handle your situation Orchid 4200 with Burbank: Thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=53034 House Built in 7 Months and 2 weeks Re: Tierra_I'm officially calling myself an unhappy customer 246Jul 06, 2012 9:11 am stace has your hubby had a meeting with your SS yet? its such a shame that your beautiful new home is being tarnished with bad feelings. hopefully everything is fixed for you soon, so you can go back to loving your home again. Re: Tierra_I'm officially calling myself an unhappy customer 247Jul 06, 2012 9:15 am dazandstace, I have been following this thread for a while and its rather unfortunate that these issues have arisen and BB is trying to wriggle itself out of them. I am surprised by the saying that some things on the diagrams are just indicative. If this is the case then this should be clearly marked on the diagrams and communicated to the client. I am of the assumption that the diagrams are definitive unless told otherwise and I wouldn't want to be told when issues have risen. Communication seems to be BB's Achilles heel. They just need to communicate a bit more and they should respond to your emails even its a negative response so that you know what to do next. Maintaining a silence wall does not help. I hope all the issues raised are fixed soon. Re: Tierra_I'm officially calling myself an unhappy customer 248Jul 06, 2012 9:31 am owsome I am surprised by the saying that some things on the diagrams are just indicative. If this is the case then this should be clearly marked on the diagrams and communicated to the client. I am of the assumption that the diagrams are definitive unless told otherwise and I wouldn't want to be told when issues have risen. Ask them to provide, in writing, a list of any and all items which should be considered 'indicative'. Then, when you've had a look over that list and tried to find the info yourself, ask them to identify which points in the contract state that fact. If you do all that procedurally and very fine detailed, you'll be able to stop them walking over you. Worst case they're right, but best case you're able to call their bluff on a few things where they're just trying to dismiss you and not deal with issues. Building a Delta 21 at Craigieburn - http://homeofzero.blogspot.com.au/ Deposit: 26/02. Contract: 22/05. Settlement: 29/05. Site start: 18/10. Re: Tierra_I'm officially calling myself an unhappy customer 249Jul 07, 2012 10:09 am Oh dear Stace - still continueing thats no good hopefully resolved next week. Bad news about the driveway for all BB clients. My friends was so bad it had to be ripped up and a new one put in! Of course 4 weeks delay moving in but they were not accepting the rubbish that BB told them. The concretors were new subbie as they were so busy they used them sight unseen! Bad move the driveway was rubbish. Unfortunately all BB driveways are POWDER ON! Which means they throw the colour powder on top of the plain concrete! Which is why the colour spots are so noticable...I asked for COLOUR IN and they dont do that! All good concretors do COLOUR IN the mix so it is all the same even colour throughout...so in the truck the powders in the mix already!! BUT it is more expensive of course so BB wont do it! I even said I would pay more for COLOUR IN but NO! I just pray we have a perfectionist concretor who cares about their work!! Stay strong Stace - so bad they can change locations of lights, vents etc but if we wanted that not allowed!!! Hopefully you can resolve it next week - fingers crossed for you Re: Tierra_I'm officially calling myself an unhappy customer 250Jul 07, 2012 10:39 am dancoop Unfortunately all BB driveways are POWDER ON! Which means they throw the colour powder on top of the plain concrete! Which is why the colour spots are so noticable...I asked for COLOUR IN and they dont do that! All good concretors do COLOUR IN the mix so it is all the same even colour throughout...so in the truck the powders in the mix already!! BUT it is more expensive of course so BB wont do it! I even said I would pay more for COLOUR IN but NO! I just pray we have a perfectionist concretor who cares about their work!! OMG that makes so much sense as to why our driveway looks like that! Exactly like a bit has been thrown on here and there. Nothing like the sample colour at all. Mostly looks like plain concrete with bits of very pale sandy colours if you look hard enough We didn't add on all the extras only to have to hire contractor afterwards to fix bad jobs done by our builder nor do we have the funds to do so Re: Tierra_I'm officially calling myself an unhappy customer 251Jul 07, 2012 10:50 am Oh dear - we pay good money you expect a good job... What colour was your driveway? My friends was like a light coffee colour but turned out like a frothy cappacino colour spotty everywhere!! They had stipples all over it too looked awful.... I learnt from that and went charcoal - so when I seal it, it should be ok... I feel for you - so frustrating drove my friend around the bend just crazy to have to fight to have it fixed..... Re: Tierra_I'm officially calling myself an unhappy customer 252Jul 07, 2012 10:54 am Just had a squizz at your driveway pics again - get them to seal it I think it will come up ok still another thing to worry about Re: Tierra_I'm officially calling myself an unhappy customer 253Jul 07, 2012 11:30 am Those initial driveway photos are not reflective of how the driveway actually looks dried. And our sample colour is very light bright colour. Maybe I'll post new photos along with the sample. Don't they seal driveways or is that something we also have to do??? Re: Tierra_I'm officially calling myself an unhappy customer 254Jul 07, 2012 11:47 am Yeah post another pic I will see if my concretor friend can take a look and advise best way to go forward - thats how my other friend won his driveway issue.... Re: Tierra_I'm officially calling myself an unhappy customer 255Jul 07, 2012 11:52 am Thanks! Someone may know this question...we had our porch as part of the slab and I was under the impression you can't concrete over concrete, but this is what it looks like they have done??? Re: Tierra_I'm officially calling myself an unhappy customer 256Jul 07, 2012 12:24 pm Ok i am re writing this from a few txts back and forth so hope this makes sense!! They probably wont seal it, but as its a dodge colour job see if you can get them to to fix the colour might need some pushy persauding though! Apparently if you colour seal (get plastic and put up against your bricks etc goes everywhere) then this will fix the colour inconsistency But hopefully you can get them to do that to fix it!! If mine turns out dodge my friend is doing just that for us and fixing it...concrete was part of our upgrade deal which is why he's not doing our driveway for us - but will be keeping an eagle eye on the slab and driveway As for the concrete over the porch slab that is normal apparently but it has to have been a thin coverage otherwise it will eventually crack up....my friends business make sure they have 70mm-80mm coverage and with steel in it...Hard to know what they did when they did yours - maybe ask ss for explanation and if they used steel over the porch.... Oh the joys of building - why do we do it! good luck Stace Re: Tierra_I'm officially calling myself an unhappy customer 257Jul 08, 2012 4:16 pm Here are the driveway pictures Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Under the porch the colour shows up not bad, but everywhere else is awful. It's just plain concrete with a few patches of colour, rather than a coloured driveway with a few patchy spots. It's really that bad Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Tierra_Our driveway Issue *Pics Up* 258Jul 09, 2012 8:05 pm We have some news, although it is un-official at this stage, we believe our builder is fixing the vanity, the heating vent and is going to look at the driveway We feel a massive weight off our shoulders. Been shopping today and purchased our dining chairs and picked a few items such as towel rails, toilet roll holders, ceiling fan and lights. I will post some pics soon. We have a big smile on our faces again feeling much more positive. We have our excitement back and are looking forward to moving in soon! |