Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Mar 25, 2014 6:36 pm Hi all. Just wanted to give a heads up to those wanting to build or buy a house & land package in Canberra. My partner and I are first home buyers and chose a house & land package in Gungahlin as advertised by a well known real estate agency on allhomes.com.au. We originally wanted to purchase a piece of land and then find a builder but due to family health issues, and this being our first home, we decided to go with the "ease" of a house & land package. It came complete with a slick marketing campaign pushing the "Fixed price contract", "nothing more to pay", "COMPLETE & ready to move in to". Ten months later, and after a few hiccups (namely the building company removing items from the original inclusions list in the contract, trying to charge us $5000 for a timber retaining wall which wasn't on the original plan, completely excluding us from the building process), we finally have our Certificate of Occupation and was looking forward to picking up our keys only to be told we had been charged an extra kitchen joinery cost. They are now refusing to give us our keys until this cost is paid!!! They also refuse to give us an itemised invoice for the additional joinery so we don't even know what the cost is for. The owner of the company (who I find out now isn't even a builder, he just hires the builders) won't take my calls and the liaison who I have been dealing with says he is only acting on instructions from the owner! I feel that this building company is taking advantage of the fact that we are first home buyers and are completely ripping us off. They tried and failed to get extra money out of us during the build so have decided to hold our house ransom until we pay up. The whole process has been underhanded, deceptive and misleading to say the least. We asked for the final invoice and paid that thinking we were going to receive our keys, instead they have tacked on some random figure for some imaginary joinery and won't give us our keys until that is paid. I want to name and shame but unsure if I am allowed. Please PM me if you want to know more. Re: WARNING building company in Canberra trying to rip us of 3Mar 26, 2014 1:15 am Do not name and shame. It does no good and gives free information of what your thoughts are. Contact your territory's governing body and speak to a solicitor for guidance. I think there must be something in the trade practices act that would prohibit such tactics. It sucks but be mindful of how you remedy the situation. Best of luck. Mark Re: WARNING building company in Canberra trying to rip us of 4Mar 26, 2014 9:55 am Thanks Mark. Our solicitor says we can fight it and have a case but it will cost money and can take months. We are paying rent and now this mortgage on top of that because they tricked us into paying the final instalment. I know this company is preying on the fact that we are first home buyers and can't afford to fight them so are forced to pay up. If we had found a bad review of this company online before we signed on with them, we would have chosen another company. I won't name and shame but I want to help other's like us from being ripped off by these bastards. I have since found out that they do this to all of their clients. The system seems to only help the building companies or those with money. I had a similar issue with my fridge not too long ago. It wasn't the same model, but the symptoms were pretty much the same: the compressor would start and then stop… 3 7531 Wow I hadn't realised things had gotten that pricey in just a couple of years since I built, that is crazy with how much land is now costing if you aren't lucky enough to… 3 7112 |