My house is at its 'final stage' of building (Thank god! ) and looks like they are going to need one more month extra than the contractual completion date (yes, 230 days + 30 more days). I know 230 days is too long for a house, but that's what the contract that I signed says. But after all this time, they need another 30 days? It is a small builder in South East Melbourne.
So it looks like I can finally charge the builder for liquidated damages as they will definitely fail to bring the works to completion by the agreed completion date. I know that the damages are calculated for the period between the date for completion and the date the works actually reach completion or the date on which the owner takes possession, whichever is earlier.
I have had too much trouble with this builder due to carrying out unprofessional work, being messy, and not keeping proper records, poor communication between their own team members bla bla blah..you name it, i had it. As a result I had to independently inspect EVERY SINGLE stage of construction ( from base stage up to fixing now), just to make sure I am truly getting what I am paying for. Every single time, I had to ask them to redo a certain amount of work before I processed their invoice to my bank. Needless to say, the builder must be hating me by now. They fought back really hard whenever an inspection report was out, to argue they did not violate the BCA. But in some cases, they agreed and redid everything. OBVIOUSLY THIS MUST HAVE TAKEN EXTRA TIME. BUT IS IT MY FAULT? Even my inspector was a bit too harsh on them I felt, so some of the things my inspector pointed were really small matters, which my builder chose to classify as 'not-relevant'.
When I talk about the liquidated damages, the builder says "As you are aware we had to go through an inspection report after every stage which consumed extra time. Even though some points in these lists were not relevant still we had to spend the time looking for information. Therefore we would require some extra time to complete this project."
My questions are:
Can they blame it on me and avoid paying back?
If they refuse, how do I fight back?
What should I do in a situation like this?
I know they will try any avenue to not make payment for liquidated damages. Thanks heaps everyone. It is my first house.