Browse Forums Renovation + Home Improvement 1 Apr 17, 2014 10:23 am Hi, We are looking at doing a home renovation and extension. When we organised drawings with a building company (part of the service), they have concentrated on the new extension only and told us to speak to the builder who gets assigned to us, separately, about getting things updated in the existing house. The part we are retaining is a 100 year old house that needs restumping (currently on wooden stumps) and relevelling and possibly rewiring and side windows and front door replaced. To me, this seems like a fair bit of work and the levelling will impact on the extension they build on to the house. Is this standard practice to speak to the builder separately about these items? My gut is that we need one fixed price for the whole lot. Has anyone experienced this? This is our first build experience so we are total novices. Any advice/thoughts would be appreciated. Re: Should updating existing house be part of our contract? 2Apr 17, 2014 3:54 pm Are they planning on charging you for the existing part of the house through variations or through the builder or person coming to do the work in the original part of the house charging you directly? Variations can be very expensive, as can direct billing from the builder. You need to have a written agreement on what work is being done or at least a quote for the work to be done in the original part of the house (in my opinion anyway). You need to have a clear contract that outlines who is doing what for the work.
We did a renovation using a separate builder to fix the old part of the house and a volume builder for the extension (thankfully a clear contract that the volume builder could not argue with). Don't forget that your contract is with the building company, not the "builder" they send out to you, who could be just a carpenter and not a registered builder. You need to go back to the building company and clarify what they are going to put in your contract and how you are going to be charged for work done to the front of the house. Avoid variations at all costs. Re: Should updating existing house be part of our contract? 3Apr 18, 2014 10:10 am Thanks for your reply kats_meow, very informative. Can you clarify what the options are for getting the extra work done? Does it need to be included in the build contract or are quotes from the build company for the additional work enough or is there some other option? Re: Should updating existing house be part of our contract? 4Apr 18, 2014 6:22 pm It might be an idea to contact your Fair Trading or Consumer Affairs for the legal requirements. As the client you should be able to direct the contract to suit what you need doing, but some builders may not see it that way! Have a chat to the Builders sales rep - or whoever you are dealing with - and ask them how they foresee this work being done. If they want the work paid for from variations, it might be cheaper for you to source a chippie to do the work to the older part of the house. If having a level house - the merging of the old and new - is very important to you make sure that is conveyed to the builder in writing and the contract. The builder may prefer you engage a restumper etc to do the flooring in the old house before they commence work. It might also be an idea to get a building inspector in to indicate where work may be needed and how the leveling can be accomplished ie get the levels measures in the old house. That way the builder cannot blame you if there are problems with the leveling if you have already identified them using a professional and weasel out of providing you with proper levels in the house. I've decided, after a period of confusion (my building broker told me it's probably not worth it to use a lawyer, but others have said it is a must) that I definitely will… 7 27917 Hi All, I just wanted to close this topic out with an update. So we ended up agreeing to a number with the insurance company, and after an extensive amount of hand… 8 23388 You talk about deletions, are they variations or PS and PC adjustments? pleas list them 1 16542 |