Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jun 13, 2012 9:46 am Ok we bought an old house for a knock down rebuild in an established area in Sydney. We found a builder who we thought was the one until we got the tender, plans and survey back which cost $2000. They tried to charge us $8000 for an out of area charge. We actually live only about 40mins for their display home that we liked. We also found a few other charges that we did not like. So in the end we walked. We then found another builder and the house we liked with some changes to it. They did the survey and the plans at a cost of $1500. All was going well and they told us to email the changes we wanted and they would draw it up. We get the plans back with only half the changes we wanted and all the questions we asked about not answered. I then had to email them again as they only sent the floor plans and the front of the house (not the rear or sides). When we finally got this again the changes we wanted again had not been done. I emailed them last Friday the (the owner) and told them of our frustration and that again the changes and questions had not been answered ..... and to date we have not heard from them. What do we do and where do we go. ????? We are now starting to think this is also not the right builder for us. Re: At our wits end 2Jun 13, 2012 10:00 am Sounds like you've been put through the ringer - where abouts in Sydney are you, perhaps someone else here knows a company that has built close to you before. I wouldn't have thought 40mins is too far in a place like Sydney. Also I could be totally wrong but I would have thought the site check/survey would be done by some independant/contracted mob not the builder themselves - in which case can you get a copy of it? Maybe this would reduce the cost of any further tenders you get? http://camdenbuild.blogspot.com.au/ by invite only please pm me Re: At our wits end 3Jun 13, 2012 10:21 am Hi magical, I'm sure most of us here can share or understand your frustrations, In regards to the builders you have spoken with so far, do a search here and see if others have used them and see how there experience was.you should not have to pay for a survey twice, particularly as you have already paid for it. Demand the survey from the builders then take that elsewhere. There are many builders who do not charge for tenders, they should be able to give you a fairly accurate tender based on your survey and soil tests. Our builder did a full design and tender for us prior to any money being handed over. We are using zen homes but alkira, masterton, the rightbuild, modernview, kurmond all offer free tenders. Do a little more research on the two companies you are already dealing with but also look at other companies if your not happy, just dont hand any more money over yet. Where are you building? Good luck Re: At our wits end 4Jun 13, 2012 1:40 pm Good advice GoGo, Just be aware that some builders retain ownership of site surveys etc, as they were the ones that contracted it (despite the fact that you paid for it). It all depends on the wording of the contract. Same applies to designs/plans - Builder will retain copyright of the plans, however if it is based on 'your own design' they cannot use it without your permission. If the builder has used a separate draftsman, you can ask the draftsman to re-produce the plans based on your original design (will still cost some $$$). We learned from our last build that we were better off undertaking the pre-lims (soil test, survey, drafting) independently so that we had the freedom to shop around. Does not work in all situations (e.g. with volume project builders) Re: At our wits end 5Jun 13, 2012 11:10 pm Morale of the story, get your own independent site surveyor and soil tester and let the builder use those. We found the builder still needed to do their own soil survey just to cover themseves in case later on the house sinks or something. Doesn't help you now but maybe others looking for advice. On the other matter, if you can't trust the builder to be upfront and honest with you know, I wouldn't be trusting them to build a house either. Especially if they can't get details or changes you've made correct. My Hamptons build (completed): viewtopic.php?f=31&t=63370 Moved in Wednesday 11th Dec 2013 Front landscaping completed June 2016 Re: At our wits end 6Jun 14, 2012 8:36 am Hi There Magical, You sound like your really getting ripped off. This is a comman find with project home builders, they have too many hidden costs and they charge way more for the little things then an average builder would charge. My sister was building a home with Cosmopolitan Homes prior to their liquidation. Lucky for her it had not yet started and only a deposit was paid. She found a fantastic builder who took over, charged 50k less than Cosmopolitan and who has almost finished the home in 3 months. She has been ecstatic. We too are currently using this Builder for our renovation in Earlwood (inner west) the job is practically a knock down rebuild we have only left 2 rooms at the front. It's a massive job and is being finished for 250k (we where quoted upwards of 350k from other builders). We have no complaints about these guys. They did our complete plans including DA and CC for about 7k from memory. I will PM you their details I highly recommend you get in touch! You should have an easier time now seeing you have draft plans and an idea about what you want! Kind regards Chris and Mary Re: At our wits end 8Jun 14, 2012 1:19 pm Welcome to the building game What your getting is pretty standard treatment. 99% think they can do what they want when they want and charge you twice for it. With regard to site surveys, would you trust someone you dont normally deal with? Every builder will get their own site survey done so i wouldnt worry to much about it. It just comes with the territory of changing builders. What area of Sydney are you looking to build in? Minimum overhang into gutter must be 50mm, turn down tool should not split the sheet. it seems wrong tool for the profile was used, the flashing cannot slope back. Rib… 2 2126 Electrical just got back to me and said the most they can provide is a single power point on the Bedroom 1 side of that wall. After handover, your towel rail installer… 2 3847 |