Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Mar 08, 2013 3:58 pm Hi, I'm new to this forum. We signed contracts with a well known Sydney builder half way through last year. We signed with them because they promised the house would be built quickly and they would aim for Christmas. Needless to say, they STILL haven't started, we've been given every excuse under the sun, some legit, some very odd. We have been given so many start dates but nothing ever happens, we are still sitting here in a rental paying a mortgage on a block of dirt. Does anyone know what we can do? Are we able to engage a private builder to build this house? We really need it built and I've lost all faith in the original building company. Re: Builder still hasn't started. 2Mar 08, 2013 4:02 pm What is the completion date per the contract? There are applicable penalties for the builder if the project is not completed by the contract date. Completed a knock down and rebuild in northern Melbourne. Handover completed 27/09/2013 and now moved in. Re: Builder still hasn't started. 4Mar 08, 2013 4:54 pm You'll need to check your contract. The standard contract allows you to terminate it if they haven't completed within a certain time period after it was to be competed, or contract price rises in excess of a percentage. If they don't complete by contract date they also have to start paying you liquidated damages. Check your contract and get legal advice. Completed a knock down and rebuild in northern Melbourne. Handover completed 27/09/2013 and now moved in. Re: Builder still hasn't started. 5Mar 08, 2013 4:59 pm Thank you. We have signed so many things with them however it was only last week they said sorry we've made a mistake and haven't had you sign the construction contract yet even though they have been giving us start dates since Sept last year. Does this mean we don't have a leg to stand on? We have paid them many thousands of dollars so far and signed many different things. Re: Builder still hasn't started. 6Mar 08, 2013 5:03 pm If you haven't signed a contract then you won't be obliged to retain them to build, but you should certainly get proper legal advice about your obligations and recovery of money already paid to them. Completed a knock down and rebuild in northern Melbourne. Handover completed 27/09/2013 and now moved in. Re: Builder still hasn't started. 8Mar 08, 2013 5:16 pm if you haven't signed the contract i would not sign it and look for another builder . just check your papers and see what you have signed and what your obligations are. is it possible all you have signed is the tender. have you paid a deposit i would also get legal advice Re: Builder still hasn't started. 9Mar 08, 2013 5:30 pm Norwest Thank you. We have signed so many things with them however it was only last week they said sorry we've made a mistake and haven't had you sign the construction contract yet even though they have been giving us start dates since Sept last year. Does this mean we don't have a leg to stand on? We have paid them many thousands of dollars so far and signed many different things. WOW! cannot believe it. I hope you can sort it out soon, really feel for what you're going through. I'm sure it can't be easy. As Rocky and Bluesuede have suggested best to get legal advice asap... Re: Builder still hasn't started. 10Mar 08, 2013 6:34 pm Do you have a construction certificate? If you have signed an HIA contract that allows only 20 working days in order to start or the contract period starts. The HIA also has a legal department and you can probably get some help off them. Modified Fernside 38 Rawson Homes Blog: http://www.thehousethatmatandjenbuilt.blogspot.com Build Thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=60501 Re: Builder still hasn't started. 11Mar 18, 2013 11:29 am An update and more questions. So I asked hubby about the HIA contract that was mentioned in this thread. He wasnt sure so contacted the building company. A couple of days later was contacted about documents they needed us to sign. The bundle includes a NEW tender (not requested by us) and the HIA contract. The tender is exactly the same as the previous one we signed off on and handed over the 5% deposit for back in 2012. The HIA contract is one we haven't seen before. Up until receiving this all discussions about commencement of building had been verbal. There have been a lot of changes to this contract by the building company that I'm not very happy about but my questions are regarding progress payments and the daily amount they have to pay us if they go over the time allowed for construction. They have listed 34 weeks to build the house. It's a 2 story 36 sq home, this seems excessive considering they initially promised to have the home built in 3 -4 months. The have allowed measly $14 a day if they take longer than the 34 weeks. Their progress payments have us paying them 95% of the cost of the house by the time they are at lock up stage (22.5% increments at slab, frame, roof and lock up) With only 5% remaining until handover. This just seems ridiculous, the house is $400,000, there is a large kitchen and 3 bathrooms to fit out. Is this industry standard? Again I apologise if I sound really stupid, I had very little to do with all of this in the initial stages and hubby handled it so I'm coming in quite late and it just seems like a giant mess. I will not be signing the HIA contract until some changes have been made. At this point I'm happy to walk away from the nearly $30,000 we've given them and go to Rawson Homes. Re: Builder still hasn't started. 12Mar 18, 2013 11:42 am Deposit 5%, Base 10%, Frame 15%, Lock-Up 35%, Fixing 25%, Completion 10% The above is the HIA standard for progress payment. Some builder do change this slightly, but shouldn't by a great deal Re: Builder still hasn't started. 15Mar 18, 2013 2:07 pm Hi there, our builder has 310 days to build and after that time they pay $250 p/w they go over. We are building a 2 story house as well. Re: Builder still hasn't started. 16Mar 18, 2013 2:27 pm Just be aware that the NSW HIA contract is different to the VIC HIA contract. It sounds like you may be building with C?? A lot of nsw contracts have similar stages, I doubt they will negotiate You will not own the plans and will not be able to build that home with another company. If your plans are already approved by council and you jumped ship, you would have to start the whole process again, including design, drawing, approval stage, think long no hard about more time that you will lose, good luck! Re: Builder still hasn't started. 17Mar 18, 2013 3:36 pm Not sure what C is? I'm 99% sure we will just walk from them. There is no way we are going to hand over $380,000 for house at lock up stage. It would still be well over $100,000 to finish the house from that stage and the whole build is $400,000. Rent here is at least $700 a week, $14 a day if they go over the build time is just insulting. Re: Builder still hasn't started. 18Mar 18, 2013 4:12 pm gogo65 Just be aware that the NSW HIA contract is different to the VIC HIA contract. It sounds like you may be building with C?? A lot of nsw contracts have similar stages, I doubt they will negotiate Sorry but changes to a standard contract go both ways. As a client signing the contract, if you don't agree with it, then you are within your rights to challenge it and request clauses be struck out or amended. It's important to know your rights and this is why you should get legal representation to go through the contract with you if you don't understand it or think it doesn't seem right. There are some parts that the builder is not supposed to amend and can effectively remove some basic rights. If they've made lots of changes to the standard contract I would definitely get it looked at very carefully before signing. It's a big investment, you don't have to accept everything a builder tries to put over you. If they want your money then they need to negotiate the contract with you. Again - get legal advice! Completed a knock down and rebuild in northern Melbourne. Handover completed 27/09/2013 and now moved in. Re: Builder still hasn't started. 20Mar 19, 2013 4:45 pm I'm sorry to hear that Norwest. You weren't building in North Kellyville by any chance? Hi Mofflepop, I would recommend finding a building designer to prepare plans, they should design to your specified budget. The benefit is you can tender the project out… 9 20353 I am saying that double brick has similar thermal performance due to thermal mass effect. It will be still very interesting to see the state of your framing after 10-15… 10 29741 |