Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Aug 30, 2012 9:20 pm I've been feeling sorry for myself about the neverending contracts that keep having an error here and there, preventing my build from ever making it to construction - just wondering if this is the norm and I should just accept it. I mean, it sounds like everyone has delays, whether it's finance, council approval, waiting for materials for construction.. Everyone feel free to share their delays.. it will make me feel better! GOODLIFE - Bravo - BUTLER http://getmistyfied.blogspot.com.au Display 20/02/2012 PPA 01/04/12 Prestart: 25/07/12 Settlement: 31/07/2012 Contracts:August Slab 19/11/12 BRICKS 10/11/12 Roof 16/01/13 Re: Anyone NOT had huge delays or paperwork errors? 2Aug 30, 2012 9:28 pm yep from deposit at sales office (we owned the land, had the finance already) to site start around 5 months. we would have been happy to start within 4 weeks if we could have 3 months of rubbish paperwork that for some reason they just couldnt work out Re: Anyone NOT had huge delays or paperwork errors? 4Aug 30, 2012 9:41 pm They get an allocation of how many houses they can build in a year so if the quota is met they have to stall! Each year once they prove they can build and maintain a certain number they then apply for a bigger build allocation... Or this is what i was told at least! Its why some companies can tell u an exact start time from the day u speak to them, they know when others will finish and in turn how many they can have running at once! But they are not going to tell u during a sales process that u will have to wait donkeys years to get cracking! Check out our blog below! We are using iDraft and Cozzcorp for our build http://ridgydidge1460.blogspot.com Plans: http://www.idraft.com.au Construction: http://www.cozzcorp.com.au Re: Anyone NOT had huge delays or paperwork errors? 5Aug 30, 2012 9:42 pm Also they only have a certain amount of insurance cover during construction and for 12 months post OC, so this has an impact also! If they have X million dollars in coverage then they need it to free up before more construction can begin... Check out our blog below! We are using iDraft and Cozzcorp for our build http://ridgydidge1460.blogspot.com Plans: http://www.idraft.com.au Construction: http://www.cozzcorp.com.au Re: Anyone NOT had huge delays or paperwork errors? 6Aug 30, 2012 9:55 pm Seven months for us from the payment of our tender deposit to the builder submitting our plans for planning permission. No real reason for the delays, Sekisui House has just dropped the ball on us completely. I made a complaint at one stage during the process which got us moved to a more senior salesperson and plan on formally complaining to the head of the company after the build is complete. I'm hoping in that final complaint I can at least praise the actual construction process! We are now 1 week into our 6 week waiting period for planning permission, so probably two months away from seeing any action on site. And we thought if we started talking to the builder in January there was no way we wouldn't be in before Christmas Tender /1/12 Contract 14/6/12 Planning 12/10/12 Site 23/10/12 Piers 27/11/12 Slab 12/12/12 Frame 15/12/12 Trusses 17/1/13 Roof 24/1/13 Bricks 13/2/13 Plaster 1/3/13 Re: Anyone NOT had huge delays or paperwork errors? 7Aug 30, 2012 10:06 pm Ha! Where to start….. Two payments required to start NHP which were paid at the appropriate times only to receive an email later demanding the second payment. The contracts person did realise their mistake (without prompting) in a follow-up email. Received plans that they were happy to call ‘contract ready’ with that many mistakes it wasn’t funny. Major ones:- - House set-out dimensions (dimensions from east and west boundary) plus width of the building makes our block 500mm wider than it actually is. - The survey they had done is 217mm too low compared to a survey I had done 12 months ago, which my surveyor has re-confirmed is correct. - Totally ignored all kitchen details that we wanted, e.g. I will have two 600mm high wall ovens side by side, they have them staggered so that one of them is 120mm higher than the other???? Plus a lot of other stuff that makes it easy for them but not what was sketched and sent to them. We also demanded that the contract was to be complete with no pending variations before signing. They definitely aren’t happy with that and haven’t contacted us since they sent through the plans 3 weeks ago. I think it comes down to the fact that the major project builder’s mindset is something like “We will build your home on our terms in our timeframe. If you, the customer, doesn’t like it, then we probably don’t want you, a knowledgeable, detail orientated, critical customer, too much work and effort. Plenty more customers [read - suckers] out there!” It is a shame because, in general, the designs they have and the quality/finishes of their homes are quite good, they just let themselves down very badly in the area of everything NOT to do with construction. Just my experience so far…. ----------------------------------------------- http://pab34newdigs.blogspot.com.au/ ----------------------------------------------- Re: Anyone NOT had huge delays or paperwork errors? 8Aug 30, 2012 11:17 pm Interesting! I feel better that it seems to be part of the building experience. And it never occured to me that delays could be deliberate stalling! GOODLIFE - Bravo - BUTLER http://getmistyfied.blogspot.com.au Display 20/02/2012 PPA 01/04/12 Prestart: 25/07/12 Settlement: 31/07/2012 Contracts:August Slab 19/11/12 BRICKS 10/11/12 Roof 16/01/13 Re: Anyone NOT had huge delays or paperwork errors? 9Aug 31, 2012 9:50 am We're about 16 weeks from when we first started talking to the salesguy with the company we thought we had finally settled on (so a reasonable amount of research as well as one aborted attempt to engage a builder before that), we're 14 weeks from when we were told they could do everything we wanted them to do so we forked-over moulah for them to do all the surveys & the drawings & give us the tender. Now the tender came back a week ago as being the floorplan we drew for them, but with precisely 0% of the features/requirements we had which weren't drawn on that floorplan (actually they missed a couple which were drawn on the floorplan), and it's been a week since they said they'd investigate whether or not they'd do one of the things they'd told us they could definitely do before we gave them the moulah for the tender. I'll be surprised if it doesn't take at least another 3 months, by the time we back-and-forth another million times. Unless, of course, they say they can't do the stuff that we told them were our prime requirements ever since our first meetings with them. Re: Anyone NOT had huge delays or paperwork errors? 10Aug 31, 2012 10:03 am Forg, That's sounds exactly like the process we are in except we paid the first deposit November last year, 10 months ago and we still haven’t seen a contract yet! ----------------------------------------------- http://pab34newdigs.blogspot.com.au/ ----------------------------------------------- Re: Anyone NOT had huge delays or paperwork errors? 11Aug 31, 2012 10:08 am contracts seemed to take a while a few mistakes here and there.
Re: Anyone NOT had huge delays or paperwork errors? 12Aug 31, 2012 10:15 am wow I haven't had any issues we started drawing up desgins in April 2012 signed contracts end of May and we are getting brick up next week. Ours is custom desgin. 29/05/12 - Contacts Signed 18/06/12 - Land Settlement 03/07/12 - Building Approval 20/07/12 - Slab Down Re: Anyone NOT had huge delays or paperwork errors? 13Aug 31, 2012 10:31 am NEWtobuilding3 wow I haven't had any issues we started drawing up desgins in April 2012 signed contracts end of May and we are getting brick up next week. Ours is custom desgin. That's good to hear. One question, is your builder a large volume builder or a smaller boutique builder (say builds less than 10-15 homes a year)? ----------------------------------------------- http://pab34newdigs.blogspot.com.au/ ----------------------------------------------- Re: Anyone NOT had huge delays or paperwork errors? 14Aug 31, 2012 10:56 am NEWtobuilding3 wow I haven't had any issues we started drawing up desgins in April 2012 signed contracts end of May and we are getting brick up next week. Ours is custom desgin. WOW! You have avoided months of frustration. Well done. Who is your builder? Forg We're about 16 weeks from when we first started talking to the salesguy with the company we thought we had finally settled on (so a reasonable amount of research as well as one aborted attempt to engage a builder before that), we're 14 weeks from when we were told they could do everything we wanted them to do so we forked-over moulah for them to do all the surveys & the drawings & give us the tender. Now the tender came back a week ago as being the floorplan we drew for them, but with precisely 0% of the features/requirements we had which weren't drawn on that floorplan (actually they missed a couple which were drawn on the floorplan), and it's been a week since they said they'd investigate whether or not they'd do one of the things they'd told us they could definitely do before we gave them the moulah for the tender. I'll be surprised if it doesn't take at least another 3 months, by the time we back-and-forth another million times. Unless, of course, they say they can't do the stuff that we told them were our prime requirements ever since our first meetings with them. Oh dear, that's just ridiculous. I feel like my whole life is consumed with this build, yet I have other huge things going on. (New baby, in laws moving in, almost 3 year old that NEEDS to get out of the house everyday). I definitely feel like I've wasted the last 6 months and it definitely feels like the builder has all the power, especially when you've already invested so much time. GOODLIFE - Bravo - BUTLER http://getmistyfied.blogspot.com.au Display 20/02/2012 PPA 01/04/12 Prestart: 25/07/12 Settlement: 31/07/2012 Contracts:August Slab 19/11/12 BRICKS 10/11/12 Roof 16/01/13 Anyone NOT had huge delays or paperwork errors? 15Aug 31, 2012 11:07 am When I initially complained I was told if I'm not happy basically go elsewhere. However since I have been dealing with the sales manager things have improved drastically. He can actually communicate. PPA 30/6/12, Land 28/06/12, Contract 7/9/12, Valuation 11/9/12, Prestart 13/9/12, Settlement 18/10/12, Building Permit Issued 18/10/12, Footings 30/10/11, Slab 31/10/11 Re: Anyone NOT had huge delays or paperwork errors? 16Aug 31, 2012 12:27 pm For me I found that there are to many people dealing with the job goes from sales to colour consultant to administration and next the supervisor. I know this is the only way I guess for the bigger builders, but for us the sales didn't communicate with admin and the colour consultant and sales got a few things confused. However once we actually found one person in admin who was dealing with our job things got back on track and she has been really great. All it takes is for one person to answer your emails and calls AND concerns!! and things get done. Re: Anyone NOT had huge delays or paperwork errors? 17Aug 31, 2012 6:29 pm We are with Carlisle Homes and they have been utterly brilliant throughout the whole process. I couldn't fault them at this stage - wonderful people to deal with! Building the Ascot 35 with Carlisle Homes in Pasadena Estate, Clyde VIC My build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=59776 Re: Anyone NOT had huge delays or paperwork errors? 18Aug 31, 2012 6:30 pm OMG just had my fifth plan sent and they still can't get it right. They fix one thing and then change something else so it's wrong! WTH? WHY? I even got a properly drawn up electrical plan for them, which they refuse to 'interpret' and are happier to just keep drawing up the conduits all wrong. GOODLIFE - Bravo - BUTLER http://getmistyfied.blogspot.com.au Display 20/02/2012 PPA 01/04/12 Prestart: 25/07/12 Settlement: 31/07/2012 Contracts:August Slab 19/11/12 BRICKS 10/11/12 Roof 16/01/13 Re: Anyone NOT had huge delays or paperwork errors? 19Aug 31, 2012 6:55 pm Oh no that's so frustrating for you! Our lighting plan is wrong as well but I got sooooo sick of trying to explain it to the sales rep I'm just going with it! There is one main light that is in a stupid spot right against the wall between the shower and mirror... Why? I'm hoping the electrician uses some knowledge and moves it. I'm expecting a meeting to be organized pre wiring so I will make sure to mention it then! Good luck Re: Anyone NOT had huge delays or paperwork errors? 20Aug 31, 2012 7:28 pm our dream home Oh no that's so frustrating for you! Our lighting plan is wrong as well but I got sooooo sick of trying to explain it to the sales rep I'm just going with it! There is one main light that is in a stupid spot right against the wall between the shower and mirror... Why? I'm hoping the electrician uses some knowledge and moves it. I'm expecting a meeting to be organized pre wiring so I will make sure to mention it then! Good luck Wow, really hope you get it moved to a better spot. It's the drafting people that are the culprits, or maybe all the staff just can't explain things properly. GOODLIFE - Bravo - BUTLER http://getmistyfied.blogspot.com.au Display 20/02/2012 PPA 01/04/12 Prestart: 25/07/12 Settlement: 31/07/2012 Contracts:August Slab 19/11/12 BRICKS 10/11/12 Roof 16/01/13 Just to makea point about this, an approach that some people have found sucessful in negotiating these rises down, Is to provide some workings to the builder, specifying… 4 81717 In fairness nobody gave a crap about the ACCC and the gag clauses continued in the pro forma templates of a few other builders after the ACCC took on Wisdom, and more… 19 73477 While i was across this behavior's pre appointing my (the builders) surveyor, I did tell the builder i was aware what they were doing and while i disagreed with it, they… 13 14589 |