Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jul 27, 2008 10:34 am We just heard some very bad feedback on our chosen builder.
According to this person the builder is using unskilled labour and they are aware of several people that have had to have all their plaster redone, walls torn down doors replaced etc among other very scary info. We called a building inspector they reccomended and he said this can happen with any builder you just need to watch them every step of the way. Should we be concerned?? pre-tender is in about 3 weeks!! Re: Should we be concerned bad feedback on our builder 2Jul 27, 2008 11:01 am Personally I would be very concerned.
Our neighbours to be are building with one of the big well known builders and we have built with a smaller company. Our neighbours frame was up and their roof tiles were on before our slab went down,, we are due to move into our house in 2 weeks and their sorry state of a house still looks like a building site. Most of their plasterboard has had to be taken down and whats been put back doesn't look any better to me, we walked through there yesterday and I could cry for them as for the brickwork around the garage they are now being paid $250 a week as they have gone way over schedule but even that doesn't help them as they don't get the money, it just gets taken off the final bill. Not sure if you are allowed to name builders here but if you are tell us who you are using and wqe might be able to help you a bit more Re: Should we be concerned bad feedback on our builder 3Jul 27, 2008 11:42 am Hi Penny,
I would also be very concerned I would talk to the people involved to make sure you have your facts 100% right and I would then have a urgent meeting with your builder to discuss yours concerns and issues. We asked people about our builder before we signed up. He also supplied us names and phone numbers of 3 recent builds he did. He may of cost us us more but quality and peace of mind is more important. Ask you builder for references, if he cant supply any then double major concern. Good luck Penny and dont forget there are many good builders out there but I'm beginning to think they are getting harder to find Mrs B Re: Should we be concerned bad feedback on our builder 4Jul 27, 2008 1:27 pm In my opinion if you're dealing with a builder that does any type of volume, the concept of them being "your builder" is really just a fallacy. I believe builders such as this nowadays are basically just designers, underwriters and (this is a generous use of the term) project managers.
When things start to happen on site what you're really dealing with is an itinerant site supervisor and the associated trades that the he/she has built up a relationship with over a period of time. The point I'm trying to make is that this "workgroup" is portable, and most likely has not had any investment made in them by the builder in things like training, process development, performance management and continuous improvement etc. In short, all the things you do when you've got staff on the payroll and have a long term agenda to pursue. If and when your site start is made, I would suggest that you ask the SS "how long have you been with so and so builders". Also try and talk to the trades to see how long they've been doing work for the builders. The shorter the time the more you have to be concerned about. The building inspector you spoke to is right on the ball in my opinion. Because of the subcontractor culture that's in place with all major builders, you cannot guarantee which tradespeople will work on your site. The best you can hope for is a conscientous site supervisor, one that will actually spend the appropriate amount of time on your site in order for him to effectively project manage and quality assure your job. The best thing that you can do is, as was suggested to you, watch them every step of the way. If you're not qualified to do this you need to engage an independent expert. Make sure that this is identified up front, allowed for within your contract, and that any defects identified by your independent guy won't just be palmed off or disputed by the builder. My theory is that unless you're dealing with a boutique $20k per square builder that has all the trades on staff, quality management issues are inevitable. Micromanagement from yourself is really the only way to mitigate this risk. Regards, Justin. There is evidence of water on the head reveals. That could have happened during the build, or may be happening currently. There are water stains above a couple of windows… 2 3830 House movement is always a potential problem and there is a cause. Yes you should have it inspected by a competent and experienced building consultant 2 7038 i imagine you also have another contract with an architect? and yeah, whatever other's said about special conditions and appendices 16 16000 |