Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jan 23, 2016 12:40 pm Hi All, I'm new to the forum but was looking for somewhere to ask advise from others who may be in a similar situation of dealing with a non-productive builder...... We are building a new home in Melbourne and the builder has turned out to be an absolute nightmare to deal with. We went through an excellent sales person (as they all are!) who works as a separate marketing company alongside the builder. We committed to building a single story house after asking all the right questions, we did our research etc, and had reassurance that they had built houses across the estate already and were even building 4 or 5 more around our plot. This guy had worked with the builder for 5 years, etc. We even went to visit a few new homes to see the finishes. We were reassured of no delays and that they had teams ready to go, etc, etc. We had no concerns and so were confident in signing the contract back in end March last year (2015) with land settlement in May. Once we signed it all changed............ We had multiple failings on the drafting side which cost us months. What was frustrating was that I am a drafter and actually gave them electronic drawings to work from which kept coming back wrong, altered or incomplete. Every time we complained of this causing delays we were told we were back in a queue as the drafter was working on other houses! To cut a long story short we finally got the building permit in October 2015! 5 Months lost due to their failings. They then cut the site and billed us. "Great" we thought - they've finally started the build! Then they did nothing for 10 weeks so we asked what was happening as we'd been told all along they'd hit the ground running. We were then given 10 separate dates for the slab pour, all of which fell through. We'd drive to site all excited only to find mud again! We were just told the concreter kept letting them down but they refused to find another one. 13 weeks later we finally got the slab poured in early January 2016! We understand a few hiccups but 10 dates after being reassured each time?! Now the timber is just sat there doing nothing after another 2 weeks! We have sent emails to the builder but do not get any response to our questions or concerns. They don't apologise for mishaps, we've asked for a reply in writing but hear nothing! I can only ever get hold of the sales guy who works for them in his own company and am even beginning to think he now doesn't give a damn or is covering! All we are asking is for is a program and a guide to completion and as to why nothing seems to be happening on site week after week. Our contract officially states early July completion but we were reassured and told that it would be April / May more than once. We even had to move rentals in November and checked again with them on program and were told the same timeframe as only a single story. So we only committed to a 6 month lease allowing us a small extension from what they'd advised. But based on there only being about 6 days of work being done on site in 14 weeks we are growing increasingly concerned. Whole houses have gone up around us on the estate and ours and the other ones they are doing are at a snail's pace - no joke! I managed to get hold of the sales guy again yesterday as the builder is still not returning our calls or answering any questions and have now been told 6 months from slab pour. But we can't see this happening as they still aren't moving and the timber we had on our land is being used on the house opposite! So we now have to suffer because they can't get trades organised! We just can't get any commitment from them and they won't even let us have a contact for the site supervisor, if there actually is one! The concreter said he never see's him and doesn't visit the site! We have no reassurance that they even work to any set program and feel like they just make it up as they go along. We have had to chase them on everything from the start as weeks would go by with no updates, no replies to emails, etc. This isn't what we signed up to. My question is how should we deal with this and how can you be in a contract with someone who won't communicate or tell you what is going on? We just want a bit of customer service and feel we have a right to ask about the program. I briefly ventured into looking at some sort of legal option due to breach of contract (Contractor not carrying out works on site) but the solicitors were putting more emphasis on their BPay details and open 'hourly rates' with no suggestion of an option before I hand over $3 to $4K. We're just 2 hardworking people with regular jobs. Paying rent, mortgage, storage and legal costs isn't an ideal option but neither's bleeding money into a house that's not being built. We feel like they've got us over a barrel. We don't fall into any of the VBA categories either of bad workmanship as they haven't done anything yet! Is it fair to have expected a bit more on site after 11 months other than a slab? It's not like they didn't know about our build! Any advise greatly appreciated - the stress is eating away at me! Re: Advice Needed - Slow Builder Who Won't Communicate or Wo 2Jan 23, 2016 12:52 pm Oh Kat, I feel your pain- we are in a very similar situation. Not sure about Melb but there are local building commissions that you can take it to (without incurring a cost of solicitor) call them on the phone even to get some advice. In our state there's the VBA category but there's also a separate "Behaviour unfit" of a builder.... Perhaps you fall into this! Good luck I really hope your experience turns out better than ours. Re: Advice Needed - Slow Builder Who Won't Communicate or Wo 3Jan 23, 2016 1:04 pm Thanks for that. I'll Google the "Behaviour Unfit" as we'd expect basic communication and courtesy at least. Re: Advice Needed - Slow Builder Who Won't Communicate or Wo 4Jan 26, 2016 10:16 pm Hi Curious Kat, Sounds like you have a potential walk-away builder situation in the making. I suggest you attempt to talk to the builder face to face and really put the hard questions to him. If you read your contract it is possible to determine the contract, but I would get expert building contract legal advice for this. You could also try the HIA or whoever he's registered with to get some info possibly. Last if you know any of his tradesmen get onto them (the concretor for instance... again), or one of his suppliers to try to find out what is really going on. Whatever happens I suggest you do not pay ahead of stage completion situations. You really sound as though you are in a jam. Re: Advice Needed - Slow Builder Who Won't Communicate or Wo 5Jan 27, 2016 2:44 am I have the same problem - as you can see from our timeline - It's been almost 3 years and we are still not in our home. It' took about 8 months to get to council 13 months to put a slab down. We had every excuse under the sun. It has been 8 weeks since PCI and last week they ripped up tiles in the laundry/ ensuite and family bathroom to fix things - plus so much more. They say it will be February when we can look at the house. I want to see it and get another Building Inspector through it as it is that bad. I'm just in tears. We have spent several thousand on lawyers - it seems to have helped plus they have calculated the end of contract / completion date as 3rd March 2015. This is despite the builder saying before we signed with them that they are Ok , plenty of workers - no hold ups from them etc. we will get you into your house very quickly. I am sooooo angry with them. Ultimate Homes PERTH '13 Dec Council App '14 Jun Slab '15 Jun Lockup Dec PCI '16 Jan Feb PCI 9 wks ago - still NOT in viewtopic.php?f=31&t=80759 I posted the floorplan on Houzz.com forum and got some really good ideas and advice from people there. Then we reached out to a couple of renovation companies and one… 5 6761 Hi All, I engaged a tradie to install concrete retaining wall 600-800mm high over 32 meters in Victoria. Sleepers are 200*75*2000 mm installed over 17 steel posts. I… 0 3710 Building Standards; Getting It Right! Don't think they are designed for double brick. WA has a particular way of building and unfortunately that's the way a large amount of sills are finished. 3 4728 |