Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jul 11, 2008 5:31 pm I know I have promised to go through our building journey with you from the beginning but as we are coming to the closing stages of same. I think I should first let you know what is happening right now with the house.
We had our walk through inspection with our independent inspector on the 2nd of June. There was still oodles of stuff not addressed from previous inspections. Including the dreaded front feature wall which has a section of render and a section weatherboards on it. To say the workmanship on this was * is an absolute understatement and still not even touched. Other than replacing the colourbond capping to the brick pillars but having cut aways all the backing frame. What did they propose to attach the new sheet to???? Well what they did was try and jam wood up inside the render and doing this bowed out the render. The new blue board was protruding in front of the window frames. So I don't quite know how they thought they were going to render this section. They had been rung over and over and over again about how crappy this workmanship was. Eventually Jeff had to go and meet the SS out there to try and make him understand that enough is enough last Tuesday morning. They had by this time replaced the frame properly and put in new blue board ready for rendering. But still there was many other issues wrong with other fix ups they had attempted to do. One being the lousy replacement of two sections of glass again to this feature front window. They must had cut the glass too small so decided to fill it with silicone. There is approx 3/4 cm of silicone in the gap. Which will fall out and leak. The stupid thing is the section that is soooooooo bad didn't need to be replaced. Jeff went into the PD website late Friday afternoon to find that they are trying to claim delays against us from 2/6 to 14/6. They didn't even apply for the C of O until the 13/6 because there was some issues wrong with the house that the wouldn't be able to get it without fixing/completing. This last Monday we received written confirmation from them that they were claiming delays back against us due to our independent inspection. What a joke this front wall was noted in the first report done on 21/12/2007 they have been stuffing around with it since then. Through all the fine weather earlier in the year. Sorry let me re phrase they did absolutely nothing to remedy the wall until the pas few weeks. So who is really holding up the wall. Not only was the colourbond capping learning back in towards the render hence when it rained it just all pooled under the windows. The backing board under the weatherboards wasn't even the correct one. This meant that they had voided the warranty on the product. This also took months to address. Our ss had the nerve to request that he send through photos to our inspector when replaced to let him "advise" PD as to whether the new board complied before putting on the weatherboards. Some of which had to be replaced due to them damaging them taking them off. The weatherboards are damaged still and the side ones don't even sit in under the corner capping. Which is also severely damaged. And we have requested it to be replaced several times. We finally yesterday had acknowledgment from PD that we were refusing there claims for delays. But it has taken numerous calls and many emails over the last few days for our stupid CS person to even read the emails properly. I am sure she is totally dyslexic. I absolutely apologise for people with that affliction. But she is hopeless. She is click and flick sort of person and constantly doesn't read and comprehend stuff. I had several slanging match emails yesterday with her. About PD'S lack of feedback etc. Its always someones elses fault or that person is on leave or away sick. So what our house just grinds to a halt because they haven't organised the tradies properly. Yet another weekend of wondering was is to become of house!!!!!!!! I hope you can see these photos clearly enough. The first two are the ******* bros tradies trying to "Fix" the capping without replacing it. Trying to get it to slope away fro the render. And the last one is the attempt to replace the lower section of board by jamming it in. As you can see the board isn't even flush with the window frames. I know it needs to be rotated but I will need to do this on a future post. Please feel free to check out our new blog at www.followdreamswhereevertheymaygo.blogspot.com Now I just need to work out how to co ordinate these two together and load photos on homeone and we will be cooking with gas!!!!! Building with Porter Davis since October 2007 - what a nightmare!!! Re: On The Magic Roundabout - building with PD !!!!!!! 2Jul 11, 2008 5:50 pm Mmmm yet another unsatisfied customer.
When will these big company's learn to employ qualified people?? So sorry to hear your story, hope it starts to look up from here. If you want to learn how to post a photo here is the link. Quote: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=3466 Paula Re: On The Magic Roundabout - building with PD !!!!!!! 4Jul 11, 2008 9:11 pm That's what happens when a company is solely focussed on volume. In the current market it is impossible to find good staff so they are forced to employ crappy contractors. This situation is being experienced by all the mass volume builders, many industries are experiencing it right now in fact. Re: On The Magic Roundabout - building with PD !!!!!!! 5Jul 11, 2008 9:15 pm Eeeeeeeeeeeeek!!! THAT is why we're keepimg a close eye on evry little detail at our place.....
Hope they pull their finger out and fix it all ASAP!!!!! Solidarity, not solidity.......The Lexicon of Life Re: On The Magic Roundabout - building with PD !!!!!!! 7Jul 12, 2008 12:01 am Sorry to read what you have been going through. If only they had learnt to fix things properly the first time. I can't believe they had the nerve to charge you for delays.......grrrrrrr that makes my blood boil! Make sure you don't pay them a cent. Not even the last chq until everything is fixed.
Hope it all works out for you. Re: On The Magic Roundabout - building with PD !!!!!!! 8Jul 12, 2008 7:30 am One thing I noticed when I was talking to the guy who plastered our house, the sub-contractors do not care if the previuos work that has been done lets say frame guy was bad or not, and they will just do their work.
E.G. I asked him, why would you plaster when you know the frame is not right, and his reply was, I paid to put plaster up and I will put it, now if the plaster is not accroding to the standard due to the frame, they need to take it out, fix the frame and then call me or some one else tocome back and fix the plaster. But this again according to most of them are comming from the big builders screwing their sub-contractors so bad that they just have a care factor of zero. Re: On The Magic Roundabout - building with PD !!!!!!! 9Jul 12, 2008 7:45 am htarash One thing I noticed when I was talking to the guy who plastered our house, the sub-contractors do not care if the previuos work that has been done lets say frame guy was bad or not, and they will just do their work. E.G. I asked him, why would you plaster when you know the frame is not right, and his reply was, I paid to put plaster up and I will put it, now if the plaster is not accroding to the standard due to the frame, they need to take it out, fix the frame and then call me or some one else tocome back and fix the plaster. But this again according to most of them are comming from the big builders screwing their sub-contractors so bad that they just have a care factor of zero. same for all the trades, painters will paint before toehr things are fixed, sparkies and plasteres are always have blues becuase one has stuffed up something else. Damn builders cant co ordinate a chook raffle Re: On The Magic Roundabout - building with PD !!!!!!! 10Jul 12, 2008 7:55 am What I am shocked about is how the site supervisors gets away with this, his job is basically a project managment.
I can tell you, I am a project manager in a diffrent industry (Better one since I deal with Alcohol alot) and if I make a mistake like this and cost the company so much I will get the sack the next day, how can they can do it and get away with it is unbeliavable. Re: On The Magic Roundabout - building with PD !!!!!!! 11Jul 12, 2008 8:21 am htarash What I am shocked about is how the site supervisors gets away with this, his job is basically a project managment. I can tell you, I am a project manager in a diffrent industry (Better one since I deal with Alcohol alot) and if I make a mistake like this and cost the company so much I will get the sack the next day, how can they can do it and get away with it is unbeliavable. Tell me about it, I have workedd as a professional Project Manager for last 15 years in Defence, Air Transport, Airlines and soon Gaming and I can not beleive the inept handling. Project Managagement is very simple, you manage the tripple contraints of time, scope and cost and all the rest balances out. Think of it like a 3 legged stool. It is not that hard. The thing I find so laughable is their demands to be paid for "delays" Ok show me how you are delayed, show me your baseline schedule, show me how much float you have on your critical path. Oh the delay you are claiming is not on the critical path? Or you can not show me the critical path. You are not delayed then. then sod off!! I will be asking mine for a detailed basline schedule showing all interdependant tasks, I will be wanting to see the CP and flaot on each task and I will be measuring the performance of their work against this baseline. If they ask for a "delay" then I will be asking them do you hav e float free? If they say yes then I will be saying then Pay ME for that float as I own it, not you. they really make my blood boil. Re: On The Magic Roundabout - building with PD !!!!!!! 15Jul 12, 2008 12:14 pm Being involved in the construction industry some what (helping with the books and paperwork of my partners businesses which are 1. carpentry and 2. building) I will add my two bob.
The problem ****** with the trades, yes, but it is the builders fault. My partner finished his apprenticeship, and left his boss. He worked for a short time as the fix-it chippy for a huge big project builder. He lasted less six months before he left for better pastures. Mind you they were begging him to stay and to this day gets phone calls to work for them not only as a chippy but as a site supervisor. The stories he relayed to me are unbelievable. Now the builder is at fault for paying the trades dog biscuits. Literally. My partner and I had a conversation about this after visiting a new estate where houses were going up by various project builders and we were having a sticky beak. He then explained to us (being myself, my cousin whose house he will be contracted to build and his wife) the rates they were charging the trades. An example. Project builder pays the chippy $25 per hour or a cost of $1000 for a small deck. Now my partner charges double that amount on an hourly rate plus gst. That small deck would be charged out at around 3k for labour. My partner explained that good trades who are good at what they do form their own business and get consistent work from a number of private builders that are out there. For example my partner is working on two sites at the moment owned and run by the same builder in the same area where he is building 3 large townhouses in each block. He gets paid what is the "going rate minus a few bucks" due to being given ongoing work by the same builder for 3 years straight. You may be unaware of these builders as they don't build for customers. This is the type of building we want to do. It is known as developing/building and my partner generally does this work in the city/inner/eastern subs. My partner also explained that there are alot of unintelligent tradies out there as that is all they can do. However there is a huge mathematical element involved in building where a couple of mill not taken into consideration can make a huge difference at the end. My boy told us all that basically its the dumb and crap tradies who end up working for project builders as they have guaranteed work and would not be getting work for top dollar from private builders. He also added that the companies make their profit from the prices they pay their trades. Hope that helps some understand the building game to some degree. Re: On The Magic Roundabout - building with PD !!!!!!! 16Jul 12, 2008 1:49 pm Minx My boy told us all that basically its the dumb and crap tradies who end up working for project builders as they have guaranteed work and would not be getting work for top dollar from private builders. He also added that the companies make their profit from the prices they pay their trades. That makes sense then Paula Re: On The Magic Roundabout - building with PD !!!!!!! 17Jul 12, 2008 1:58 pm Minx My partner also explained that there are alot of unintelligent tradies out there as that is all they can do. However there is a huge mathematical element involved in building where a couple of mill not taken into consideration can make a huge difference at the end. My boy told us all that basically its the dumb and crap tradies who end up working for project builders as they have guaranteed work and would not be getting work for top dollar from private builders. He also added that the companies make their profit from the prices they pay their trades. Hope that helps some understand the building game to some degree. Well thanks for that Minx Our house has just started this week with a large volume builder.........I'm sure I'll have some great night's sleep from here on Re: On The Magic Roundabout - building with PD !!!!!!! 18Jul 12, 2008 2:02 pm House-To-Be Minx My partner also explained that there are alot of unintelligent tradies out there as that is all they can do. However there is a huge mathematical element involved in building where a couple of mill not taken into consideration can make a huge difference at the end. My boy told us all that basically its the dumb and crap tradies who end up working for project builders as they have guaranteed work and would not be getting work for top dollar from private builders. He also added that the companies make their profit from the prices they pay their trades. Hope that helps some understand the building game to some degree. Well thanks for that Minx Our house has just started this week with a large volume builder.........I'm sure I'll have some great night's sleep from here on Just keep a close eye on them, or I could pretend to be a reporter for TT and turn up every day waiting for them to mess up - keep them on the straight and narrow Paula Re: On The Magic Roundabout - building with PD !!!!!!! 19Jul 12, 2008 2:08 pm Paula Just keep a close eye on them, or I could pretend to be a reporter for TT and turn up every day waiting for them to mess up - keep them on the straight and narrow I'll take the mike, Master 3yo can have the camera Better get myself to the library and get out "house building for dummies" I met the chippies last Wednesday and have to say I was just relieved to find them so friendly!!! They might receive a serve of my yummy white chocolate and coconut mini muffins this week! I wonder if they'll do a better job them Re: On The Magic Roundabout - building with PD !!!!!!! 20Jul 12, 2008 2:09 pm House-To-Be They might receive a serve of my yummy white chocolate and coconut mini muffins this week! I wonder if they'll do a better job them No make it a pie and a Mig M Paula go upvc window frames ensure insulation under colorbond. not just sarking, lighter color roof also not sure if you have seen this viewtopic.php?t=5823 last couple of pages… 4 110550 Even if it's not being sub-divided and you want to keep it as Torrens title, you will still need to talk to a town planner or Council themselves, to see if they will allow… 1 11033 |