Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Dec 02, 2016 2:17 pm Hello all, I'm building my house with Carlisle Homes, I'm currently having a issue with base price increase. First, I'll list the payments I've done made so far: 19/09/2015 - Paid $1,500 Initial deposit 18/05/2016 - Paid $3,000 Tender agreement deposit 20/10/2016 - Paid $40k to a legal firm appointed by Carlisle as trust fund for the final 10% 17/11/2016 - Confirmed construction start date. One week after the construction start date, I was told that I need to pay $3,500 base house price increase. I went back and read the contact in Tender, it states: 'Carlisle homes agree to hold the advertised base price as at time of deposit for site start for a period of six months from deposit. The following conditions apply: Maximum capped price increase period allowable is 12 months from deposit date. Any additional month after six months from deposit date will be capped at an additional $500 per month, up to the maximum 12 months from deposit date. (A maximum of $3000 of capped price increases, includes 6 month capped base price period plus additional 6 months of capped price increases) If the advertised base sales price at the time of site start is lower than the clients deposit price plus capping(s), the lower price will be applicable, provided the specification and or promotion that was deposited on is not of a higher included value. Deposits for a site start 13 months and on-wards needs to be considered by management on a case-by-case basis.' 1. Since this was stated on the Tender Agreement, when they say hold base price for 6 month from deposit, I would assume it's tender deposit, which I made on 18/05/2016. Then it's less than 6 month from site start 17/11/2016. However Carlisle insist that the deposit is Initial deposit rather than Tender deposit , and that I must pay the $3,500. 2. I was never told about this $3,500 until one week after the construction start (my old house already knocked down), and I checked that when I sign the Tender agreement it's already passed 6 month time from initial deposit (from Sept 2015 to May 2016), so if this charge already applies at that time, they could've have told me about this at Tender stage, rather than wait for another 6 month and then ask me to pay when the construction already started. Due to above mentioned points, I would think it's a vague clause in the contract plus lack of communication. And find it difficult to accept this payment of $3,500 . Would be grateful if anyone can share their experience or view on this matter. Cheers. Re: Building with Carlisle/ Base price increase 2Dec 02, 2016 2:35 pm We were in discussion with Carlisle when we were shopping around. However we realized that they were not very flexible in terms of design of construction. Further we found them to be pretty expensive compared to small builder that we going with. Metricon, Carlisle etc. charge a fortune for small change once contract has been signed.. I would only say communicate via email with them so you have written records of everything. Try to speak with manager so they can advise you further. Otherwise only possible way would be to consult some lawyer as clauses can be confusing.. Looking to build a home in VIC. Land titled in November 2017. Construction started in February 2018. Double storey 37sq. Re: Building with Carlisle/ Base price increase 3Dec 02, 2016 2:40 pm Loveguru We were in discussion with Carlisle when we were shopping around. However we realized that they were not very flexible in terms of design of construction. Further we found them to be pretty expensive compared to small builder that we going with. Metricon, Carlisle etc. charge a fortune for small change once contract has been signed.. I would only say communicate via email with them so you have written records of everything. Try to speak with manager so they can advise you further. Otherwise only possible way would be to consult some lawyer as clauses can be confusing.. Thanks. I've been talking to the CLE, but I think she's only passing down the message, and won't be able to make any decisions.. I think I'll try to speak to a manger from them first. Re: Building with Carlisle/ Base price increase 4Dec 03, 2016 7:19 am nonac Hello all, I'm building my house with Carlisle Homes, I'm currently having a issue with base price increase. First, I'll list the payments I've done made so far: 19/09/2015 - Paid $1,500 Initial deposit 18/05/2016 - Paid $3,000 Tender agreement deposit 20/10/2016 - Paid $40k to a legal firm appointed by Carlisle as trust fund for the final 10% 17/11/2016 - Confirmed construction start date. One week after the construction start date, I was told that I need to pay $3,500 base house price increase. I went back and read the contact in Tender, it states: 'Carlisle homes agree to hold the advertised base price as at time of deposit for site start for a period of six months from deposit. The following conditions apply: Maximum capped price increase period allowable is 12 months from deposit date. Any additional month after six months from deposit date will be capped at an additional $500 per month, up to the maximum 12 months from deposit date. (A maximum of $3000 of capped price increases, includes 6 month capped base price period plus additional 6 months of capped price increases) If the advertised base sales price at the time of site start is lower than the clients deposit price plus capping(s), the lower price will be applicable, provided the specification and or promotion that was deposited on is not of a higher included value. Deposits for a site start 13 months and on-wards needs to be considered by management on a case-by-case basis.' 1. Since this was stated on the Tender Agreement, when they say hold base price for 6 month from deposit, I would assume it's tender deposit, which I made on 18/05/2016. Then it's less than 6 month from site start 17/11/2016. However Carlisle insist that the deposit is Initial deposit rather than Tender deposit , and that I must pay the $3,500. 2. I was never told about this $3,500 until one week after the construction start (my old house already knocked down), and I checked that when I sign the Tender agreement it's already passed 6 month time from initial deposit (from Sept 2015 to May 2016), so if this charge already applies at that time, they could've have told me about this at Tender stage, rather than wait for another 6 month and then ask me to pay when the construction already started. Due to above mentioned points, I would think it's a vague clause in the contract plus lack of communication. And find it difficult to accept this payment of $3,500 . Would be grateful if anyone can share their experience or view on this matter. Cheers. Hi I was in a similar situation with a different builder. I wasted money on a lawyer only to tell me in terms of the contract they are doing nothing wrong. So I had to escalate this through the organisation and only got a real result after I posted something on product review.com.au. Once this was brought to the attention of the right person we came to an agreement to pay half of the price increase, saved us $3,000. So hopefully commonsense prevails at Carlisle and as well they realise being a +million dollar profit company they have more to loose in terms of reputation & other potential new customers rather that trying to get another $3k from you. Good luck. Re: Building with Carlisle/ Base price increase 5Dec 04, 2016 1:03 pm cris.tordecilla nonac Hello all, I'm building my house with Carlisle Homes, I'm currently having a issue with base price increase. First, I'll list the payments I've done made so far: 19/09/2015 - Paid $1,500 Initial deposit 18/05/2016 - Paid $3,000 Tender agreement deposit 20/10/2016 - Paid $40k to a legal firm appointed by Carlisle as trust fund for the final 10% 17/11/2016 - Confirmed construction start date. One week after the construction start date, I was told that I need to pay $3,500 base house price increase. I went back and read the contact in Tender, it states: 'Carlisle homes agree to hold the advertised base price as at time of deposit for site start for a period of six months from deposit. The following conditions apply: Maximum capped price increase period allowable is 12 months from deposit date. Any additional month after six months from deposit date will be capped at an additional $500 per month, up to the maximum 12 months from deposit date. (A maximum of $3000 of capped price increases, includes 6 month capped base price period plus additional 6 months of capped price increases) If the advertised base sales price at the time of site start is lower than the clients deposit price plus capping(s), the lower price will be applicable, provided the specification and or promotion that was deposited on is not of a higher included value. Deposits for a site start 13 months and on-wards needs to be considered by management on a case-by-case basis.' 1. Since this was stated on the Tender Agreement, when they say hold base price for 6 month from deposit, I would assume it's tender deposit, which I made on 18/05/2016. Then it's less than 6 month from site start 17/11/2016. However Carlisle insist that the deposit is Initial deposit rather than Tender deposit , and that I must pay the $3,500. 2. I was never told about this $3,500 until one week after the construction start (my old house already knocked down), and I checked that when I sign the Tender agreement it's already passed 6 month time from initial deposit (from Sept 2015 to May 2016), so if this charge already applies at that time, they could've have told me about this at Tender stage, rather than wait for another 6 month and then ask me to pay when the construction already started. Due to above mentioned points, I would think it's a vague clause in the contract plus lack of communication. And find it difficult to accept this payment of $3,500 . Would be grateful if anyone can share their experience or view on this matter. Cheers. Hi I was in a similar situation with a different builder. I wasted money on a lawyer only to tell me in terms of the contract they are doing nothing wrong. So I had to escalate this through the organisation and only got a real result after I posted something on product review.com.au. Once this was brought to the attention of the right person we came to an agreement to pay half of the price increase, saved us $3,000. So hopefully commonsense prevails at Carlisle and as well they realise being a +million dollar profit company they have more to loose in terms of reputation & other potential new customers rather that trying to get another $3k from you. Good luck. Thanks a lot for sharing your experience, one of the main reasons we chose Carlisle at the beginning is that they have a quite good product review.com rating, so I assume they are constantly monitoring the feedback on there, I think I might try posting this feedback there and see what happens. Just to makea point about this, an approach that some people have found sucessful in negotiating these rises down, Is to provide some workings to the builder, specifying… 4 81716 Fair Trading can issue orders to rectify and complete but once the matter goes to NCAT these orders are automatically vacated. You will have to terminate contract and sue… 21 29709 How are you doing Ben? Extremely interested in hearing what you are doing or plan to do! 12 15156 |