Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Oct 22, 2018 8:01 pm Hi guys. We've just had a nightmare build in Newcastle with a local building company. During the build we noticed things going wrong - started with the wrong insulation going in (we think we busted them - all the internal gyprock had to be ripped out and the insulation we paid for installed) and then it was one thing after another. We got a private building inspector in half way as we were worried and he was also concerned with a few things going on. Just before Christmas - our site supervisor went MIA - not answering emails/phone calls and head office wouldn't either. At this point - we rang fair trading. Fair Trading told us until the job was done - nothing can be done.We had no site supervisor for nearly 4 months. We had to become the site supervisors to the point we got the "Stay Away Notice" at the end of the build. So we sat on our hand until Practical completion. There were a few things a miss at PCI, we were told they would be done and about half of them were. We were told to wait till our 13 week defect list. At the 13 week defect time - we hit our building company with a 12 page list of defects which they told us they would fix about a 1/3 of the items. We disagreed and at this point - the building company engaged NSW Fair Trading for mediation - this then involved a 79 point rectification order from Fair Trading to fix the house. My husband and I took nearly a month off for the builders to repair our house - (Huge issue with BAL and certification, tool marks in walls, gyprocking crap, mitres not meeting up, paint work, no insulation installed as per their plans etc). The only tradie in the build that did not come back due to the fair trading order was the electrician!! At the end of the month - the builders had still not finished the work (yes the were given extra time which we accommodated) and Fair Trading has been back and we are now waiting for the final word. What I want to know - has anyone taken builders to the tribunal and how have they faired? The builders that we had do not have a mark on their record yet but could have received previous warnings. As everyone is flush with cash at the end of their build - not - has anyone taken builders to tribunal and had a win with regards to compensation to loss of time etc. My husband and I built to not have hassles and can firmly say that we'd renovate an old house over building a brand new one thanks to our experience..... Re: Dealings with NSW Fair Trading and Builders 2Oct 22, 2018 8:48 pm fingal77 My husband and I built to not have hassles and can firmly say that we'd renovate an old house over building a brand new one thanks to our experience..... I cannot help you out with your question about going to the tribunal, but I just wanted to chime in that I am very sorry to hear about your experience. Also, sorry to hear that you are disillusioned with the build process as a result, but reassure you that not all builders are as bad as yours seemingly have been. Re: Dealings with NSW Fair Trading and Builders 3Oct 22, 2018 8:59 pm Can I ask who the builder was. We are building with Rawson in Newcastle, so hopefully it wasn’t them. Re: Dealings with NSW Fair Trading and Builders 4Oct 22, 2018 9:06 pm fingal77 What I want to know - has anyone taken builders to the tribunal and how have they faired? T Are there potential structural problems associated with the defects, if so, then you will have a better case. Designer,Engineer (Civil,Const & Envir),Builder,Concrete & Masonry Contract.Struct Repairs Re: Dealings with NSW Fair Trading and Builders 5Oct 22, 2018 10:20 pm Wasn’t Rawson... More of a smaller local company... And as for structural defects - we have cracking in our walls and they’ve tried to repair them structurally and we’ve got stuff re-cracking. I just can’t believe how crap the building game is now... It’s kind of sad.... Re: Dealings with NSW Fair Trading and Builders 6Oct 23, 2018 1:29 pm fingal77 Hi guys. We've just had a nightmare build in Newcastle with a local building company. During the build we noticed things going wrong - started with the wrong insulation going in (we think we busted them - all the internal gyprock had to be ripped out and the insulation we paid for installed) and then it was one thing after another. We got a private building inspector in half way as we were worried and he was also concerned with a few things going on. Just before Christmas - our site supervisor went MIA - not answering emails/phone calls and head office wouldn't either. At this point - we rang fair trading. Fair Trading told us until the job was done - nothing can be done.We had no site supervisor for nearly 4 months. We had to become the site supervisors to the point we got the "Stay Away Notice" at the end of the build. So we sat on our hand until Practical completion. There were a few things a miss at PCI, we were told they would be done and about half of them were. We were told to wait till our 13 week defect list. At the 13 week defect time - we hit our building company with a 12 page list of defects which they told us they would fix about a 1/3 of the items. We disagreed and at this point - the building company engaged NSW Fair Trading for mediation - this then involved a 79 point rectification order from Fair Trading to fix the house. My husband and I took nearly a month off for the builders to repair our house - (Huge issue with BAL and certification, tool marks in walls, gyprocking crap, mitres not meeting up, paint work, no insulation installed as per their plans etc). The only tradie in the build that did not come back due to the fair trading order was the electrician!! At the end of the month - the builders had still not finished the work (yes the were given extra time which we accommodated) and Fair Trading has been back and we are now waiting for the final word. What I want to know - has anyone taken builders to the tribunal and how have they faired? The builders that we had do not have a mark on their record yet but could have received previous warnings. As everyone is flush with cash at the end of their build - not - has anyone taken builders to tribunal and had a win with regards to compensation to loss of time etc. My husband and I built to not have hassles and can firmly say that we'd renovate an old house over building a brand new one thanks to our experience..... Re: Dealings with NSW Fair Trading and Builders 7Oct 23, 2018 3:43 pm Wow. It was like reading my own biography. Same issues here with Coral Homes. Handed over two years ago, saga ongoing, same defects either not fixed or made worse. Total of about 7 weeks of leave from work to get to this point. And god knows how worse off we would be if I wasn’t at the house every day of construction reporting on issues. I’m going through FT now simply as the required mechanism to get to NCAT. I’ve represented myself at NCAT before and won, but have been quoted $10-15k for a solicitor to represent me, plus expect building reports to present as evidence at about $5k. It is rubbish that cost will be a barrier to some to take it to NCAT. If you can represent yourself you’re saving yourself a huge legal expense but you absolutely need the expert report (not just your ordinary stage inspection report) as the tribunal will throw your case out until you can provide this. All the very best M Y C U S T O M C O R A L B R O N T E 43 ...............Kitchen! 16 Nov 2016 https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=79581 Re: Dealings with NSW Fair Trading and Builders 8Oct 23, 2018 5:03 pm MrsJM Wow. It was like reading my own biography. Same issues here with Coral Homes. Handed over two years ago, saga ongoing, same defects either not fixed or made worse. Total of about 7 weeks of leave from work to get to this point. And god knows how worse off we would be if I wasn’t at the house every day of construction reporting on issues. I’m going through FT now simply as the required mechanism to get to NCAT. I’ve represented myself at NCAT before and won, but have been quoted $10-15k for a solicitor to represent me, plus expect building reports to present as evidence at about $5k. It is rubbish that cost will be a barrier to some to take it to NCAT. If you can represent yourself you’re saving yourself a huge legal expense but you absolutely need the expert report (not just your ordinary stage inspection report) as the tribunal will throw your case out until you can provide this. All the very best Re: Dealings with NSW Fair Trading and Builders 9Feb 10, 2019 11:11 pm Well we were lucky that our builder went into liquidation - well we hope. Our dealings have unfortunately taught us that the law in NSW with regards to builders, protection for consumers and also private certifiers needs to drastically change in NSW. With regards to our experience - it has felt like NSW Fair Trading really have no power or jurisdiction at all and builders do not take them seriously. Even then when it comes to private certifiers - the "tick and flick" approach needs to change - we were told by our certifier after he had said that our house was BAL rated and was not and was modified radically during rectification orders - he didnt seem to think that he needed to come and review our house and see what had been done - all that was needed was a builder from the said company to tell him it was after having multiple conversations with the builder as he did not know what he was doing or what it actually meant with regards to the design of the build and what it actually needed to be BAL rated. We have completely paid for our house and the builder (even through he has gone into liquidation) has received the full amount for the crap job he did - I think a retention fund needs to be established (I think it previously there was one?) We are currently now waiting to see if Home Warranty Insurance will fix our home. The one thing we find hard to believe at this point is everything we had been querying our builders about since the start - the builder inspector agreed to those defects and the concerns we had. The builder at least saved us going to NCAT and paying for a building report. I'm lucky I had a husband that had architectural experience under his belt as we would of been in so much trouble if we hadn't watched the build and took a stance (as much as we could). It honestly concerns me that if we found so much wrong with our house - what is the average joe getting that it oblivious to all this and is just happy for a roof over their head? There has to be a better system. Re: Dealings with NSW Fair Trading and Builders 10Feb 16, 2019 3:35 pm MrsJM Wow. It was like reading my own biography. Same issues here with Coral Homes. Handed over two years ago, saga ongoing, same defects either not fixed or made worse. Total of about 7 weeks of leave from work to get to this point. And god knows how worse off we would be if I wasn’t at the house every day of construction reporting on issues. I’m going through FT now simply as the required mechanism to get to NCAT. I’ve represented myself at NCAT before and won, but have been quoted $10-15k for a solicitor to represent me, plus expect building reports to present as evidence at about $5k. It is rubbish that cost will be a barrier to some to take it to NCAT. If you can represent yourself you’re saving yourself a huge legal expense but you absolutely need the expert report (not just your ordinary stage inspection report) as the tribunal will throw your case out until you can provide this. All the very best Any updates Mrsjm? Re: Dealings with NSW Fair Trading and Builders 11Aug 17, 2023 8:32 am If the issue related to potential major defect NSW fair trading will contact you with in 2 days and then inspector will be allocated to your build to inspect the defect, once defect found Fair trading will issue work order for the builder that he need to fix with in specific time, if the builder doesn't comply then Fair trading will escalate the case to NCAT(NSW civil administrative tribunal) those guys have more power and can cancel builder license and can render the builder insolvent if he doesn't respond or ignore work order. Hi, we live in an area where the black soil is prone to a lot of movement. We have an old 50's house with masonite everywhere and nails popping out, warping, rusted etc.… 0 4499 Hi all, We are looking to build a new two storey house in western Sydney. Can anyone recommend a smallish builder to go with? We are trying to stay away from the big… 0 12110 Thanks again Simeon for being so elaborate. Appreciate it. Its gives us a very idea. Kind Regards 4 3646 |