Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Mar 25, 2013 12:00 am Just wanted to find out how much everyone contacted their builder/site supervisor? I'm such a goodie two shoes I feel terrible phoning to ask about things or tell them I've noticed something that seems out of place. We've just had whiteset and ceilings completed and about to have lockup and I think I've phoned the company twice since before slab down. I must say our builders are fab but communication is not great - we don't really get told what stage the build is up to - luckily we live 7mins away and go a few times a week to see whats happening. Blond1e Re: How much do you contact/bug/harrass your builder?? 2Mar 25, 2013 12:07 am I don't think there is any real right or wrong, but from my experience, if you only ring your SS when you need to they are much more likely to answer their phone. I know people who rang their SS constantly, then couldn't understand why their calls started to be ignored. I think we rang ours about half a dozen times during the build, but we did see him on site a few times. There's probably no need to ring every time you notice something, but keep notes and if at the end of the week you have a few things, give a call and discuss them all. Also, I strongly believe that a client should only call their SS during business hours. All employees are entitled to a private life. I leave you to fend for yourself, figure things out yourself. Terrence Malick Re: How much do you contact/bug/harrass your builder?? 3Mar 25, 2013 12:11 am So true Joles - SS's are human after all. Ours seemed very nice when he phoned to introduce himself and we did our own NBN stuff so he phoned again to say brickies were done so we could go in. Haven't met him in person yet but hopefully soon at the tiling meeting. Re: How much do you contact/bug/harrass your builder?? 4Mar 25, 2013 8:25 am I phone my SS once a week. I ask him for a weekly plan going forward. He has already said that he does not answer his phone after 5pm, which is fine and I would not want to bother him after then. If I do need to speak to him after 5pm - I needed to last week regarding doors that had been installed, I will send a text message asking him to give me a call back the following day when he has a chance. We go to the block twice a day anyway (I have chickens) and so we know everything that is going on anyway. Just like to know in advance what to expect. 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: How much do you contact/bug/harrass your builder?? 5Mar 25, 2013 9:14 am I've had few reasons to contact my SS until recently - they were originally giving me weekly calls to update me on progress. But about four-five weeks ago (21st Feb), it was all "almost finished, few final touches to now be done", and then didn't hear from him the next week. Figured okay, one week missed, no biggie - no call the next Thursday either, so I called him on Friday. Then the following Thursday, no call. Got to the following Wednesday and I was like "screw this", and contacted the project coordinator, almost immediately got a call from the SS - only to then be given a timeline that roughly equated to about five weeks still to go. So I've basically given up - almost stopped caring. Building a Delta 21 at Craigieburn - http://homeofzero.blogspot.com.au/ Deposit: 26/02. Contract: 22/05. Settlement: 29/05. Site start: 18/10. Re: How much do you contact/bug/harrass your builder?? 6Mar 25, 2013 9:43 am Once a fortnight for an update. Never after hours or on weekends. Like he said to me in our very first meeting when laying down the "rules of communication " " if your house is on fire call the CFA not me" which I agree with. Lol I now message him instead of call , although finding now that we are at the end of the build not so communicative.. Husband says once a fortnight might be a little much, I disagree, i think we are paying $$$ for this house so a 2 min once a fortnight or even once a week update is really not that excessive. Re: How much do you contact/bug/harrass your builder?? 7Mar 25, 2013 10:19 am I believe once or twice a fortnight will do. Definitely not after hours. Our SS looks after a lot of the houses (I was told around 20 for mine) and it may take some time for them to pick up errors/mistakes. Give them a chance to do their work. Re: How much do you contact/bug/harrass your builder?? 8Mar 25, 2013 10:21 am We give our SS a call every fortnight too. Our SS is great in returning my calls. I agree there is no point bugging the SS all the time. But stand firm if you encounter any issues. In my experience it is always good to maintain cordial relation with the SS even when there are issues. Have a smile always and get the message across. this will work every time. All the best with you build. We are almost at the end and can't wait any longer!! Re: How much do you contact/bug/harrass your builder?? 9Mar 25, 2013 11:59 am Wow - you are lucky - we weren't given our SS's number and still don't have it - we were told that if we want to talk about something we must phone CLO and she will get SS to call us - and he calls from an undisclosed number. Can't be because we're difficult clients because we've not had any issues and are always super lovely, kind and polite to them. Re: How much do you contact/bug/harrass your builder?? 10Mar 25, 2013 12:23 pm Blond1e Wow - you are lucky - we weren't given our SS's number and still don't have it - we were told that if we want to talk about something we must phone CLO and she will get SS to call us - and he calls from an undisclosed number. Can't be because we're difficult clients because we've not had any issues and are always super lovely, kind and polite to them. We didn't have the number with our last two builds so felt that this was a really nice change. We dealt with head office and had a very not so pleasant lady with our previous build. There were no complaints either but it would if been nice to get some updates throughout the build. Lucky for us that build only took 4 months this ones taken much longer. Re: How much do you contact/bug/harrass your builder?? 11Mar 25, 2013 3:44 pm Blond1e I'm such a goodie two shoes I feel terrible phoning to ask about things or tell them I've noticed something that seems out of place. We've just had whiteset and ceilings completed and about to have lockup and I think I've phoned the company twice since before slab down. I have a fantastic SS. At the beginning of our build he gave me his phone number and said to call any time for any issues as he prefers to know about things early and get them looked into / fixed before things move on hand make it harder. As a general rule the company's policy is the SS contacts all the clients he is supervising for once a week to provide a general update and my guy has done this religiously. Don't worry about offending them or putting them out. They are there to build what you want - how you want (as per your contract) - so if you have concerns or questions state them. I tend to follow everything SS and I have discussed with an email back to the office liaison officer too just so there is also a record of it. I have actually rang my SS out of hours, but it was only when I found the house unlocked after lockup and we had already provided the light fittings and a couple of other fittings for installation and didn't want the increased risk of them being stolen from an insecure house. He was very professional and came out and locked it up - and I am told gave the contractor who had left it unlocked a right serving. The best thing to do is speak to your SS direct and negotiate the way communication will work between you. Let him know your preferences and how you would like any concerns or questions you find dealt with and then see what level of communciation he is willing to agree to that suits you both. We are at the stage on our build in Kilcoy, Queensland where we need to get our fencing installed but we cant get any contact details for our neighbours to give them… 0 6155 Thanks mate. Yeah good points! Leaning towards Option 3 to get a bit extra space in the cabinets but not going too crazy high (and expensive). Would require a mini… 13 39690 Hi All, I just wanted to close this topic out with an update. So we ended up agreeing to a number with the insurance company, and after an extensive amount of hand… 8 23401 |