Quote:
I re-read the contract last night and I'm really not sure when the 30 week period actually starts.
I think it should be the day you paid 5% deposit or peg out being order.
Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Sydney's Slowest Builder - Still Slow 21Jul 14, 2008 1:52 pm Quote: I re-read the contract last night and I'm really not sure when the 30 week period actually starts. I think it should be the day you paid 5% deposit or peg out being order. Re: Sydney's Slowest Builder - Still Slow 22Jul 14, 2008 2:56 pm Last week we have one of the neighbours who is building with Clarendon/Domain about 5 blocks away knocking on our door asking for information about our drive way/landscaping.
They are saying something similar: they are in the locked up stage and there has been no activity in their site for more than a month. I thought after Clarendon merged with Domain things (last year or the year before?) would be getting better for them? May be they merged because it's getting worst? Good luck with all Clarendon customers! Re: Sydney's Slowest Builder - Still Slow 23Jul 29, 2008 2:42 pm Sadly they dont appear to care too much. Our house is still technically within the contract period (30 weeks plus 5 wks for xmas plus rain days even if rain was on a public holiday) but the extended durations of no trades on site remains frustratiing.
Construction started mid Nov 2007 and has been stop start ever since. We have been through a couple of different site supervisors and it seems to make little or no difference. Site security is non existent with the house left completely open on all but 2 days and in theory we are only about 4 weeks from handover. Clarendon are excellent at issuing invoices, but hopeless and coordinating trades. They just dont care. Re: Sydney's Slowest Builder - Still Slow 24Jul 29, 2008 2:45 pm jarzme Sadly they dont appear to care too much. Our house is still technically within the contract period (30 weeks plus 5 wks for xmas plus rain days even if rain was on a public holiday) but the extended durations of no trades on site remains frustratiing. Construction started mid Nov 2007 and has been stop start ever since. We have been through a couple of different site supervisors and it seems to make little or no difference. Site security is non existent with the house left completely open on all but 2 days and in theory we are only about 4 weeks from handover. Clarendon are excellent at issuing invoices, but hopeless and coordinating trades. They just dont care. Sorry to hear of your delays - hope it all gets better for you. Paula Re: Sydney's Slowest Builder - Still Slow 25Jul 29, 2008 9:21 pm Ha! I finally got a date out of them ....sort of...... the 'original' completion date was apparently the second last week of August *sigh*, but there have been 41 'official' rain days during the period. I'm still not at all confident that it will be anywhere near finished by the end of September - I have booked my holidays (supposedly for the purpose of moving) for the last 2 weeks of November and the first week of December. Probably being a bit optimistic with that too.
The scaffold is supposed to come down this week, the alfresco & garage roofs are to be done and then the internal work should start next week........possibly. we are too scared to put our current house on the market in case the new one is not ready before the Christmas/New Year break - don't want to left without a house at all for several months. This is stressing me out no end. Built a Clarendon 'Balmain' 2008 Re: Sydney's Slowest Builder - Still Slow 26Jul 29, 2008 10:02 pm Well Clarendon finally started with our site after i had a chat with the Manager at customer service. They did the escavation in 3 days using a really heavy duty machine. The Escavator was from SydneyWest escavations and did an fantastic job, in fact he did some extra work for me at a very low cost !
http://docs.google.com/Present?docid=dcqp3cqt_13ddjfqrf6&skipauth=true check out the escavation ! it will be more than what most of you are doing ... Buildling a Clarendon Crestmead in Sydney DA Approved on 20/03/2008 Slab Poured on 02/09/2008 Frame Completed 15/10/2008 Brickwork Complete 2/02/2009 Roofwork Complete 05/03/2009 Re: Sydney's Slowest Builder - Still Slow 27Jul 29, 2008 11:21 pm I feel for all of your with building delays. So frustrating! Why do large companies promise all and deliver so slowly.
As I have said before we need better consumer laws which can be enforced. If the penalties are high these guys will get their act together and not mess with homeowners. Its just not right that homeowners cannot get get help from fair trading or any such consumer body in NSW . Good luck and speedy resolution all. Raz If you think you can, you can. Re: Sydney's Slowest Builder - Still Slow 28Jul 30, 2008 2:38 pm My husband had a 'chat' on site with our Foreman this morning as the scaffolding was due today (as yet not there) and I told DH that he needed to find out one way or another if there was any chance we'd be in by Christmas... and he said that it would be 'tight' and we'd need good weather all the way... well thats not going to happen.
There is another clarendon house going up in the street behind us (hello if you're reading this...) and they started about 6weeks after us and are now ahead!!!! The Foreman says its got to do with different crews... Well I want that crew!!! Its just so FRUSTRATING.... Sorry for the vent... the realization of spending christmas and the school holidays not in our new house has upset me a little.... Look forward to hearing anyones progress.... Re: Sydney's Slowest Builder - Still Slow 29Jul 30, 2008 10:05 pm Clarity, your house doesn't look too far behind in construction than ours - I REALLY hope we can both be in before Christmas - otherwise the double-barrel mortgage for us is going to put a nasty dampner on the party
We have the same frustrating problem as you - the Clarendon house across the road from us started about a month after us, and they have already had all the internal plastering done and are nearly at lockup, but they didn't have all the stuff-ups that we have had along the way...........I still wonder what we did to deserve the 'lets-stuff-everything up' crew. I'm going to visit the house tomorrow to see if they've taken down the scaffolding - maybe that's YOUR scaffolding next!!! lobo, that's some digging work there! Glad that they've made a start for you - now, just gotta keep it on a roll.............. Built a Clarendon 'Balmain' 2008 Re: Sydney's Slowest Builder - Still Slow 30Jul 31, 2008 12:09 pm Maxie, I hope your scaffolding is down - ours arrived this morning and they have started to put it up!
We are living with my parents, so we don't have the 'double mortgage' to worry about, so I truely hope you get a move in date asap! (The stress of living with my parents and my 3 children, husband and dog - has been difficult at times and we've been there for nearly 11 months... 4 longer than we'd originally thought, so to have another 5 or 6 is going to be hard...) AGAIN, the joys of building... lobo, I 'dig' your pictures, some great escarvation work there. jarzme, I can't believe they count rain days for public holidays..WTF!!! Agree with you about the invoices... Hope things quicken up for you... Re: Sydney's Slowest Builder - Still Slow 33Jul 31, 2008 4:06 pm Hi everyone, this is my first post here, I and my partner are another pair of un-satisfied customers, we hav'nt even had our old house demolished yet as Clarendon and thier subcontractors have wasted our time and our contract has expired.
Now they are asking for extra money as the prices have just gone up. The stormwater consultant kept making a big fuss over our stormwater easement, the local council is not even concerned with this, they approved our DA in 6 weeks, probably a record time for our area, they have been great. The contractor kept telling us we needed to legally make sure we had the right to drain into the easement which was obvious we did after my numerous calls to the council and the fact our existing house has for 50 years. It took 6 weeks to get a survey of the pipe done. For 5 months they wasted our time before we sought legal advice from a competent solicitor, who in essence revealed nothing we did not already know. But one thing is for certain we had the contractor sort our issue out within a week after correspondence from our lawyer. Now we have our DA approved, council were wonderful, even after Clarenden described them as "one of THE hardest to deal with, it is actually the other way around. We are demolishing next week and now Clarendon tell us they want "substantially more money". My partner told them it was thier contractors who delayed everything with misleading information which we have kept documentation of every correspondence and told them we are NOT paying more. I feel for everyone who has waited 2 years, we hav'nt even demolished yet. I am going to think about this and maybe go elsewhere, these people run you around in circles for months and then try to jack up the price. We are going to our lawyer, fair trading and the media (which we both work in) if they mess with us any more. I know when someone is having a lend of me and they certainly are. Anyway we'll see what happens, they are meant to get back to us today, which most likely means next week. We are going to really start bothering them everyday until completion if we still use them. The have proven themselves to us to be incompetent even before building has started. We're not going to get angry, just even. Heath Re: Sydney's Slowest Builder - Still Slow 35Jul 31, 2008 4:16 pm Paula Firstly welcome to the forum, From what I'm hearing, I'd get out now if I were you. good luck with your home build, hope it doesnt take too much longer. Thanks Paula, I'm really starting to think exactly this. Maybe we should just sell up take to advantage of our position and approval and buy an existing house. Yes I hope everyone who is already underway have a smooth finish. Re: Sydney's Slowest Builder - Still Slow 36Jul 31, 2008 4:22 pm Hi Heath,
welcome to the forum. I hope things do get better, but if it doesn't, have you considered pulling out before you pay them more money? I know it must be hard because you have already spent heaps of time and money with them. This forum is great if you want unbiased opinions. Maybe you should think about starting a blog. It helps to get your message through. Good Luck. Re: Sydney's Slowest Builder - Still Slow 37Jul 31, 2008 4:24 pm Heathen Thanks Paula, I'm really starting to think exactly this. Maybe we should just sell up take to advantage of our position and approval and buy an existing house. Yes I hope everyone who is already underway have a smooth finish. Hi Heathen, Welcome to the forum! When the property market is strong, that would certainly be a good idea: buy an old house, get plan approved by council and sell it! But now that things aren't that good (see http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24105428-2,00.html?from=public_rss), it might be a bit risky if it wasn't properly planned, with all possible worst case scenarious carefully considered. Cheers Allan Re: Sydney's Slowest Builder - Still Slow 38Jul 31, 2008 4:40 pm Thanks Sammy, I'm not much of a writer, but....... my partner regularly has letters and small articles published in papers and magazines, she's very good, I'll see if she can start a blog.
Yes, unbiased opinions are the thing I'm seeking. Don't mean to hijack the thread, I'll start 1 very soon. I really can just relater to what people are saying and it really does have me a little edgy. If Clarendon show us some goodwill and our lawyer can sort them out then yes we will get them to build, the lawyer has all the documentation from word go and the misleading emails which were sent to us from a certain someone. Anyway see what happens, I'm used to dealing with ******* people, I work in the music industry. Re: Sydney's Slowest Builder - Still Slow 39Jul 31, 2008 4:54 pm ahuang Heathen Thanks Paula, I'm really starting to think exactly this. Maybe we should just sell up take to advantage of our position and approval and buy an existing house. Yes I hope everyone who is already underway have a smooth finish. Hi Heathen, Welcome to the forum! When the property market is strong, that would certainly be a good idea: buy an old house, get plan approved by council and sell it! But now that things aren't that good (see http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24105428-2,00.html?from=public_rss), it might be a bit risky if it wasn't properly planned, with all possible worst case scenarious carefully considered. Cheers Allan I agree, though I know my street is very strong, worst house in the best street type of place. I really love this block, was left to me by my Gran, we have always owned this block, would be a shame to move. Thanks for you're thoughts everyone. Re: Sydney's Slowest Builder - Still Slow 40Jul 31, 2008 5:05 pm Heathen Thanks Sammy, I'm not much of a writer, but....... my partner regularly has letters and small articles published in papers and magazines, she's very good, I'll see if she can start a blog. Cool! Now we know who to talk to if there's anything we like to be published/mentioned in the papers/magazines... Just start a post asking everyone for bad experience with their builders and your post will get 1000s of hits in 1 day... Heathen Anyway see what happens, I'm used to dealing with ******* people, I work in the music industry. Are you talking about the musicians or the pirate copying or both? I am in IT, and before I start my construction, I always thought the way some companies charge for their service/product was ridiculous. But after all these experiences, actually the building industry is even worse! 10 15701 |