Hi all,
Just having a minor taff with the builder while we are on our way to finalising prestart addendas. Would like to get other people's opinions before pressing this further.
Some information about issue in question:
- Had a building broker design plans and tender them out to various builders in August last year. The plans are for two houses on a battleaxe block, lets call them Unit 1 and Unit 2. Unit 2 was pretty standard fair, but Unit 1 is -6c split level at the rear half of the house to cater for a drop in the block. I confirmed with the building broker before tending that the ceilings would run through the entire house at 28c, and accordingly he said that the rear of Unit 1 would have 34c ceilings due to the 6c step down. On the plans, the front half of Unit 1 is listed as 28c, there is -6c step down, and the alfresco is listed as 28c -7c (= 35c).
- Plans tendered out, chose one builder that gave a good price for the two plans, and their quotation noted that the rear of Unit 1 had 34c ceilings and a 31c kitchen bulkhead, and that they would raise Unit 2 ceilings to 31c because the overall cost to do so would be negligible. So at this stage, the building broker, builder who provided the signed quotation, and myself all believe we are getting 34c ceilings to the rear. Everyone was happy at this stage.
- Discussed with the builder about pricing for additional items, and he agreed to price match certain inclusions with another builder that we had tendered out to (shingle roof for Unit 1, mirrored robes, and a nominal amount to upgrade the kitchen island bench from 30 mm Essa with waterfall ends, to 20 mm waterfall ends and 70 mm apron to the front side for Unit 1). This was all signed in the inclusions and sent off for financing. Emails back and forth also included scribes to the top of kitchen overhead cupboards to cover up the gap to the bulkhead and an undermount rangehood as standard.
- A few months later and several hiccups along the way (council rejected the first plans because of common driveway, so had to flip the design), and we received the first working drawings from the builder. The entire rear of Unit 1 is listed as 31c instead of 34c, and Unit 2 is listed as 28c in beds and 31c in living, instead of 31c throughout as quoted. Pointed this out to the builder, as well as the initial quotation we received, and there were several fingers pointed but he agreed to raise the height of the ceilings as per quotation, however he couldn't do Bed 1 because of a physical design constraint with the roof would add costs extensively. Talked to the building broker about the issue to determine exactly whose fault it was, and it seems the ceiling heights were listed incorrectly on the tendered plans by the building broker designer, but the sales guy there and the builder all read it as 34c - same as me. Builder took responsibility, but I am confident that the building broker design is also at fault for listing the ceiling heights incorrectly and providing me with misleading information.
- Now we come to finalising the prestart addenda, and the builder says he can no longer do the inclusions that we had signed off for, nor the undermount rangehood and overhead scribes that were listed as standard, because he had covered the cost of raising the ceilings higher in both houses as promised. He says I can choose either to go with the higher ceilings and pay for the inclusions, or use the inclusions and go with the lower ceilings in the initial working drawings.
Ok that was quite long, but this is what I don't understand, and I've raised it multiple times with the builder and building broker: the builder included higher ceilings as part of his initial quotation, so in effect, it shouldn't cost him anything to keep the ceilings at the level listed in the quotation. The building broker is saying that the higher ceilings have been included in the price as a bonus, and half threatened me saying that the builder could always also go back to lower ceilings that I signed off in the initial plans (even though the ceiling heights were listed incorrectly by the building broker). As above, the builder has accepted responsibility for the confusion regarding the incorrect ceiling heights, but to me, that was what he initially quoted on. And now he wants to charge me for the inclusions that we signed off on, saying that the other builder he price-matched didn't have any mention of the higher ceilings.
I am going to call up a different manager at the builder later today and discuss this with him, as I believe I should be getting what I signed for - higher ceilings and the inclusions priced matched to another builder. It's not like I am trying to be greedy and get more than what was initially agreed to. If any extra cost is incurred due to raising the ceilings or inclusions, I believe that it should be split between the builder and building broker (for providing incorrect plans and misleading information). I have already compromised once by agreeing to keep the ceiling height in Bed 1 at 31c because it was impossible to go with 34c without incurring significant cost (due to there being no eves along the exterior walls here), even though the building broker said it would be 34c. I would have thought that going with the inclusions I signed off on (I expect to the tune of a couple of thousand at most) would be a decent thing to do to make up for the confusion thus far (and months lost in the process). An aside that has made matters worse, the lady we talked to at prestart quit or was laid off the week after our prestart meeting, and I have had to explain everything we discussed there again to a new lady, which has added more time and confusion.
We have already paid the first deposit to the builder for the drawing plans and council submissions, and I don't want to sour relations over such a small matter seeing as this project will go on for the next 6 months at least, but as it stands now, it is not what we originally signed for. All up, it has been more than half a year since we signed the contracts, and we haven't even finished prestart yet.
Any advice appreciated on what approach I should take with this matter.
Ay.