Browse Forums Building A New House Re: What Was Missed In Final Inspection? 21Mar 23, 2013 6:56 am Funny - we saw the tiles being put on (tiled ?). Couldn't believe the amount of "cement" they applied to the rear etc. If they come off I'll be surprised. We were just wondering through so it wasn't just for our benefit. I'd say the Supervisor of the job is a VERY important part of the process. If he cares, or had/has pride in his work, you are already well ahead of the game. There will always be mistakes - but hopefully minor. Not sure what we'd do if a d/light was not exactly centre. I guess it would depend on the distance involved. Time-wise - I'd have thought it would take at least 2 hours. Just to include how things work etc, and to check all taps, switches, lights etc etc. Slow and steady wins this race. Carbon paper - sorry - just being facetious ... Re: What Was Missed In Final Inspection? 22Mar 23, 2013 7:11 am Saint Mike Carbon paper - sorry - just being facetious ... I'm a bit anally retentive - I work in contracting (different field not building) but I have learn't to have EVERYTHING in writing, so ensuring I keep a copy of my own list is just an intuitive thing. I think my builders realise this as every discussion I have with the SS I put in an email to the head office after Ref the SS I have been really pleased with mine. He is a funny guy, a bit highly strung, but has been absolutely on the ball with everything to date. In most cases when things haven't been quite right he has found them, showed me and then given me options of how I wanted to deal with it, in most cases (except where I changed things) at no cost. The few things I have found to date he has fixed within a couple of days with no questions asked. The contractors I have spoken to have all indicated he will not accept anything less than "right" - to the point where I know he has had two cleaners go through because he wasn't happy with the job the first one did and when I told him I was having delays with the engineer (I am using the same one they use) over some retaining wall designs he told me to tell them that if they didn't stop messing me around he would call them. Funnily enough when I did call them and was a bit more confrontational about getting my drawings they asked me not to mention the delay to him - lol. The other one he did recently is we have one wall where the slab is ontop of a retaining wall (block) and then there is brickwork above the slabline. He was very unhappy with the join between the bricks, slab then blocks and has had the area rendered even though it wasn't in the contract and we didn't pay for it. He said he could not hand over a house that did not look right. Re: What Was Missed In Final Inspection? 23Mar 23, 2013 5:17 pm Adam.M - Gradients to shower niches Absolute pain in the rear, I might have to redo the whole lot, SS didn't want a bar of it - Base of toilet is chalked to the floor maintenance guy picked this up and was kind to do it on the spot - Chalk is applied between the shower frame and the tiles started to leak so I siliconed it myself, SS gave be some BS before hand - Roof tiles are sound, none are cracked water left a nice stain on the front hall way. Their idea of fixing it was to repaint the patch and not find the root cause - There is a gradient all the way around your house for water to not accumulate Didn't push because I didn't know the significance of it. Now I do. Inspector should have picked it up - Doors have enough gap around for when your house starts to move Over time your house will move. A gap of 1mm won't cut it - Expansion gaps in your brickwork are not clogged with cement Inspector picked it up, builder didn't want a bar of it It really comes down to the SS. Yes the company has a big contributing factor to the satisfaction of your home but the SS effectively is building it. But in this case, the builder looks like (after 2 years) have their reputation to rebuild and for that I must give them credit where due. These seem to be the more important ones to me so thank you for listing your experiences. Would it be probable that an independent inspector would pick up roofing problems such as your leak? Not sure if I'm missing something obvious but what do you mean by "Base of toilet is chalked to the floor" and "Chalk is applied between the shower frame and the tiles"? I don't recall coming across this phrase before. Is it something that should or should not be done? By the looks of most of these posts here's hoping for a good SS. Re: What Was Missed In Final Inspection? 24Mar 23, 2013 10:42 pm kasyd These seem to be the more important ones to me so thank you for listing your experiences. Would it be probable that an independent inspector would pick up roofing problems such as your leak? Not sure if I'm missing something obvious but what do you mean by "Base of toilet is chalked to the floor" and "Chalk is applied between the shower frame and the tiles"? I don't recall coming across this phrase before. Is it something that should or should not be done? By the looks of most of these posts here's hoping for a good SS. Hi Kasyd, Difficult to say if the inspector could have picked up cracked roof tiles. Personally, after paying $365 I expected a tad more from the service provided. Definitely I would expect unsatisfactory mortaring around the ridges to be picked up though (if there were any). First of all I mean to say caulk not chalk. As for the base of the toilet, a screw on either side of the toilet seat is not enough. Caulk/ silicone should be applied all the way around the base where it sites on the tiles to provide a cushion or stability. If not, the weight applied on the "throne" could crack the base of your toilet. As for the caulk between the shower frame, the frame is screwed to the tiles so to stop water seeming through the indents of the grout lines, caulk/ silicone should be applied inside and between the frame and tiles as well as along the side. Re: What Was Missed In Final Inspection? 25Mar 24, 2013 7:40 am We had to get a "report" on our house before we sold it - EER, approvals for additions, pest check, damp/wet tests etc etc. It cost a resonable amount - yet I felt it was quite superficial. It was couched in terms for every item that covered any error - eg only a thorough test by an architect or engineer etc can say for certain .... They covered their bums on everything so that you (ie the new buyer) couldn't take them on afterwards. It identified the obvious, but also picked up things that weren't necessarily true. Unless they get up in the roof and spend time really checking everything etc, they can miss things. AND - this can cost quite a lot. I feel it can allay your fears about your new house but it doesn't mean they have picked up all the problems - if any. As I said before - if you have a good supervisor on the house, a reputable builder, and a long term warranty you are probably just as likely to come out the same IMO. An inspector might find something - but that doesn't mean a bad builder will fix it. We have the usual initial walk through and fix. Then a 12 month check period - ie 4 seasons. Plus a 50 year structure guarantee - covers the foundation systems, concrete or strip footings, load bearing brick work; structural timbers and steel in wall or roof framing - with the usual exclusions eg mis-use/neglect/minor work. They have also just won a number of HIA awards. Plus of course our own insurance on the property. I guess its like getting the NRMA etc to check your new car. They always highlight a number of issues - but nothing - generally - that isn't covered under warranty. Re: What Was Missed In Final Inspection? 26Mar 24, 2013 9:03 am SaveH2O I can PM you a few threads to look at if you like. You will be shocked when I indicate what to look at. People remain oblivious. That info and examples you sent me were great and after reading it I think we are fine. We have a skillion colourbond roof and have two expanses. The larger expanse is 22200 x 12400 (275m2) on a 10 degree pitch. There are 5 downpipes along the guttering so that is a downpipe at each end of the span and then one downpipe every 5.5m so that seems ok as it is well within the 12m span between downpipes recommended by BCA. The smaller roof span is 13670 x 4420 (60.4m2). There are 3 downpipes along the guttering on that side, a downpipe at each end then one in the middle so that one would be at 6.8m from the other two. The gutters are the square style high sided ones that are indicated for QLD as per the guttering diagram. All pipes are plumbed into the storm water drains - (we actually removed the water tank when the council rules changed last month as we didn't like the position of it and will put in tanks once we are in and work out how we want to use the garden space). I see what you mean from the examples about issues of sacrificing effective drainage for the purposes of aesthetics. We intentionally went with the simple roofline at our new house to do away with valley's and hips - our current house has both and we do get some gutter overflow on one side in particular even though we have compliant gutters and gutter guard. This area is a 10m span with two downpipes. I think the key problem is that the downpipes are set in from the ends by about half a metre. The one in the bottom LH (SE) corner as shown on the image below is supposed to service both half the eastern roof span and also a proportion of the water that comes down the valley to the southern gutter and its just too much even though arguably it is 12m (5m + 7m). It just goes to show it is not just about the distance between the pipes it is also about the roof design. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Old House Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ New House I have been out to the new house during heavy rain both before and after the downpipes were fitted. Before the downpipes were fitted we had the rain causing an erosion problem around near the front door where the block sloped down and the water had eroded back around the drainage pipe in the ground. The builder put up temporary pipes which made a huge difference and since they put the permanent pipes in the erosion has stopped. There is a little bit of a problem with water pooling outside the laundry but we plan on concreting the area so will put a slight slope on the concrete and run it down to a drain which is at the bottom of the retaining wall on that side. Thanks for letting me know about this issue or I would never have realised how big an issue non-compliance in roofing design can be despite my own experiences. i would suggest nothing is unreasonable for PCI. we did all sorts, including checking the hot water, checking all the GPO's had power, testing that the showers were… 9 98697 The significant date is when receive final payment invoice Check that section of contract Bit of fluff by builders prior to that 1 15952 Hi, I am approaching end of the build. My final invoice will be given to me soon to pay. Some context before I ask my question. 1. My builder wont do the landscaping or… 0 3879 |