Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Feb 03, 2019 5:17 pm Hi All, First time poster here. We are going through our variations etc and finding it quite painful due to the lack of clarity therefore I am reaching out to get some advice etc. We are building two storey for information purposes. 1) Conduit - We have requested conduit from the powerpoint area to the roof area for connection to foxtel after handover. The builder is charging $500 for the media room then $500 for the living room. Unless I am missing something this is an excessive amount and as each room will have a tv point the cabling for the aerial will follow the same path. We have actually got a price of $32 for conduit in the hallway upstairs and downstairs for the air con/security controller units. 2) 3 Phase Requirement - The original contract stated $995 for power from the dome to the property - they allocated 10m but looks to be around 7m so should receive a credit. As we are planning solar, air con and induction cooktop we should go with 3 phase. That part is absolutely fine but they have issued a variation for another $995 for the 3 phase upgrade which doesn't include the western power fee of approx $500. I assume the changes are relatively minor to the power board and definitely not another $1000 of cost 3) Induction cooktop wiring - we are being charged around $550 for the cost of the isolater switch and wiring required. This seems quite excessive but happy to be convinced. As we have mostly electrical variations, we want solar, air con and ideally someone to do foxtel wiring and fit tvs in the relevant rooms. Has anyone got any advice or recommendation of nominating an electrician? Any advice, comments and thoughts as to the best approach on the items above would be greatly appreciated. Cheers V Re: Pre-Start Quieries/Advice 2Feb 03, 2019 7:38 pm Hi Vlf1985, I am an estimator for a residential builder in Perth, you can question all variations, if you have signed a building contract it will have the % allowed for mark up on Variations (depending on what contact you have signed) it will be one of the clauses, so I would be making it quiet clear you do not believe they are sticking to the % on the contract and you want evidence. You could also ring the Building Commission and ask them for advice, telling them you dont think they are sticking to there contact (as in % of markup) they will tell you what you can do, but here is my spill. Item 1) Seem very excessive Item 2) Probably about right, whatever the run is (you are saying 7 meters) they add 3 meters onto that so 10 meters is right. It costs more to upgrade the meter panel to 3 phase, RCD's are quiet a bit more expensive as well, sounds like you may have 3 or 4, also connection is more expensive on 3 phase over single & then the actual mains itself are a fair bit more. Item 3) Probably about right as well, as of the 1st January 2019 (Electricians here maybe able to clarify this) the induction cook-top will have to have a separate 3 Phase RCD, so its run on a separate circuit back to your meter, they also draw a hell of a lot of power (32 amp maybe) Good luck with it all, but you have every right to question things that dont seem right Re: Pre-Start Quieries/Advice 3Feb 03, 2019 8:42 pm Hi, We have 3 phase power in our contract (pending approval by power company) for our new build starting construction now for around $700. This is the upgrade price from single phase. We are in regional Victoria with a smaller local building company. Hope this helps --------------------------------------------------------------------- Check our Homeone build blog here We've had the offer of a short term tenant whilst waiting for CDC/DA home approval and demolition for our knock down rebuild. It would achieve a pretty low rent as it's… 0 13758 The fastest thing a builder will do is bank your cheque, those systems work perfectly with lightning speed, everything else is slow burn. Just the way it is. 1 8708 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 81724 |