Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Feb 28, 2015 7:37 am Just recently I did a pre slab inspection for a lovely couple who are doing KDR and there were some issues that I picked up and builder addressed them before slab pour. Then I did a frame inspection and that wasn't too bad but an ugly issue cropped up. It seems that there was a minor structural change relating to slab set down for which builder got owners to sign off. However unknown to owners there was a change on drawings, changing brick infills over windows to cement sheet on some windows. Builder then said "well you signed off on it". Attempting to argue the point owners hit a brick wall, builder tho busy to return calls and ignoring owner's protests. Owners complained to me and I said I will do a frame report and pull out something from my bag of tricks and include with it. So what happened? Owner's email to me: Subject: Update on meeting with xxxxxxxx builders regarding brick infill issue. Hi Branko, I would like to say a big Thank You! Your concise and direct comments regarding window infills variation issue which you included in your frame stage report has cut to the chase! Victor and l had a meeting, this morning not only with Admin Manager, SS, but also one of the director's of xxxxxxxx builders was present. (First time meeting him). They have now taken on board the issue, and are now going back to reducing the main window size (which faces the Alfresco area) to allow enough room for lintel also the two small return windows need to be pushed back or they may need to be removed? and redrawing the house plans to reflect this change. I won't be signing the new variation straight away, I will get Victor to look over the house plans before signing and giving my consent to any changes. The owner accepted the error of his draught man when he reverted to the default design on the kitchen window without our knowledge and owner acknowledges we were not made aware of prior to signing the building contract, xxxxxxxxx have never attempted a brick infill for the particular kitchen bay window. Also Branko you were 100% in saying it's all got to do with protecting their profit margin, even the Director said anything is achievable in building it comes down to how much? He was quite frank with us and I appreciated that he was honest enough and took the time to meet with us. Branko It also comes down to that they have never done a brick infill for that particular bay window, but I say "there's always a first time for everything!". Anyway once they have done their estimates and done a re-draught of new design they will get back to us shortly, as they need to move quickly in ordering a new size window, which SS mentioned it could take at least 10 days to order in, I was abit annoyed when said that as I have been chasing them about this issue since the 13th February when I picked up on the mistake! Anyway, I will believe it when I see it. Hope you are having a relaxing time away. Talk is cheap, who gets results? Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: Is your builder ignoring you? 2Feb 28, 2015 8:28 am Wow! Good catch. My builder has been fantastic, but he's getting slow to respond to emails now. I am desperate to get contracts signed by the end of this month (was originally suppose to be December, then January, then February.. now March). My original settlement date was April, but I've heard rumours its been pushed to June. I don't want to rely on rumours though. If I don't have a building contract signed and approved by the bank prior to settlement I will pay a LOT more on stamp duty I don't know how to push the builder anymore at this stage, without becoming annoying or things going wrong. They said they could issue the contract in a day, but everything they've shown me so far, drawings/elevations has always been wrong the first time. Plus I want you guys to review the contract, so I need at least 1-2 weeks prior to signing it off. Sorry, just a bit frustrated!!! The worst thing is I really like my builder, and this is the first problem I'm having. He did tell me he is very busy with people further along then me, so I do understand that, but I feel like I'm constantly waiting on them and they won't tell me what the process is. I don't understand what we still need to do to sign off on this contract, except for colour selections. Every time I pester him he says "lets meet up" at his office, which is a terrible pain for me to get to, requires me taking 2-3 hours off work each time.. and yet for 1-2 hours talking we never seem to get much further. Each time seems to be just confirming the same changes, or making one or two small additions. So apparently I am a bit more unhappy then I realised. I sent him an email yesterday that said "where's the quote and appointment you promised me 2 weeks ago? and btw if we don't have this signed off by end of March I need to pull 6k out of the construction quote to pay the higher stamp duty".. so hopefully we have something by end of this week. The lack of communication drives me crazy, even an email to say "sorry I didn't get to your quote this week, will have for you next week" would suit me. In my job (admin) we have a 24 hour deadline on returning emails, even if it is just to say "we don't have any answer yet". Wish builders had that rule They were the ones who kept warning me about price rises and getting the contract signed off. oo; If anything the rest of the builders seem to be dropping prices right now. I just want this DONE and dusted, so I can move onto other things. Re: Is your builder ignoring you? 3Mar 01, 2015 7:02 am Hi aloenyx As far as I can see there are two issues here Firstly, your builder is too busy or incompetent and has no control over timing and communication. What is building? Ninety percent of the time it is communication management. Your builder has already failed and telling you porkies on timeline. If I am right and your builder has taken on more work than he can handle then you are buying into trouble. Stretched out too thin what will happen to construction on site? What about QA? Secondly, you are desperate to sign off and that is a classic recepe for disaster. You are chasing the builder and it should be the other way around (at least until you sign). You are not using the only power you have and that is to walk away. Once you sign you will loose that. Signing off in desperation to save on some stamp duty could cost you a lot more than that. I recommend you step back, rethink every step, refresh your priorities and expectations Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: Is your builder ignoring you? 4Mar 01, 2015 7:25 am Hi BE, can you do a topic Is your house designer/drafty is ignoring you? We started off so well, and it's at the tail end of the 'we are nearly ready to submit to DA' phase, and he doesn't acknowledge my emails and calls. I just want my plans to get a Statement of environmental effect, and awaiting his storm water diagram. Sigh*! But thanks for this feed so much to learn, for the next stage. Re: Is your builder ignoring you? 5Mar 01, 2015 7:44 am Building4my3tots Hi BE, can you do a topic Is your house designer/drafty is ignoring you? We started off so well, and it's at the tail end of the 'we are nearly ready to submit to DA' phase, and he doesn't acknowledge my emails and calls. I just want my plans to get a Statement of environmental effect, and awaiting his storm water diagram. Sigh*! But thanks for this feed so much to learn, for the next stage. Have you paid? Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: Is your builder ignoring you? 6Mar 01, 2015 7:51 am Yes we have paid, and we had to pay more for the changes that we made as well. Re: Is your builder ignoring you? 7Mar 01, 2015 7:54 am We started in September it's been 5 months process, even I'm over looking at my plans! I just want to move on to next phase , which in submitting into DA and awaiting approval! Re: Is your builder ignoring you? 8Mar 01, 2015 8:45 am Your contract with designer should include time for completion, similar to build time, also you should not pay ahead of completion. Designer has your money, why be bothered returning your calls? I know I am brutal but the biggest incentive to get something done is in payment expectation, if you paid already where is the incentive? There are more important things to be done, like getting payment from someone else. You can probably hurry it up but you will need expert help. Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: Is your builder ignoring you? 9Mar 01, 2015 10:47 am Thanks for the response. I decided to stop being nice and email my builder, he responded yesterday and I'm now all booked in for colour selection To be fair, he did warn me he would be busy and he has promised he won't raise my price even if it takes longer to sign. I have paid the first deposit, and he is good. This has been the first time I've had issues, I'm just stressing out because my broker is stressing me. To be honest, I have a feeling my land is delayed until June, and my builder knows that. I am dealing with a small company, so I only deal direct with the managing director, so I guess he would be really busy. He should probably let his receptionist send me the emails about basic stuff. But I will definitely take a minute and relax. I have told him how important it is to sign off by end of March for my peace of mind, so he's agreed we will work to that even if settlement may be ages away. I probably shouldn't have waited so long to contact him, I just hate to be a nuisance (in all aspects of life, which never gets me anywhere!). Don't worry, I won't sign contracts in any sort of hurry. You guys have to look them over first I'm not making any mistakes on this build.. Re: Is your builder ignoring you? 10Mar 01, 2015 4:08 pm Hi Branko I completely agree with you. I apologise in advance for a long post. This post is for anyone who is chasing their builder but haven’t given up any money or only laid down a small deposit but haven’t signed contracts.. I wish we were in your shoes. You ask why? It’s because you still have the option of walking away. It’s like being in a toxic relationship. You see the signs but you think things will work out in the end. We saw the signs early on but we dismissed it as, oh he’s just busy, he builds lots of houses so of course he’s busy, maybe we’re too fussy, we won’t be able to get the same house at a good price somewhere else, it’s too hard to start again.. you come up with a million excuses for their bad behaviour. We are regretting it now and have been for the past 12 months as we have been delayed at every single stage, I can’t recall 1 thing that has happened without a problem. Long story short: -Drawing of the plans x more times than I can count as builders architect cannot follow instructions or read guidelines -Lodge plans with developer x3 -Lodge with council x2 -Site scrape to slab - 2 months. Neighbours bobcats and machines driving over our drainage while waiting for slab -Frames up – were told they are built on site as it’s more accurate but we got pre-fabricated instead. Fine, we can live with that. -Back filled construction rubbish to level our backyard – when we brought this up our SS thought it was funny more than anything -Bricks delivered - bricklayer started and got to about 3 walls and I looked at my bricks thinking.. something doesn’t look right. Emailed the builder photos to check for us. No response. How surprising. Our brickwork is finished but is defected by an independent building inspector. Our decision- knock it down and start again. Our builder and SS – backpedal and can we please render. Bricklayer – contacting MBA, local council, other inspectors looking for someone to back him up as he swears by his work. In the mean time we have no roof tiles and our poor frames and trusses are sitting out in the weather since 1 December 2014 going rotten and grey while we wait for decision on our bricks. We are building in NSW on the outskirts of Canberra. This will probably not happen to you but just be honest to yourself and don’t make excuses for the builder as he will give you plenty himself. Re: Is your builder ignoring you? 12Mar 01, 2015 5:45 pm I have to learn to have thicker skin! Going to give this house designer a call tomorrow and push him forward. I hate being stuck in limbo. Sorry to hear about your situation a2b. Hope it improves, and move on. 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 30513 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 15404 Ardo That is so funny! I wonder how many people know who Larry Haun is these days. I have a couple of young guys we call Mo 1 & Mo 2 who run a crew of 6 boys and… 9 12907 |