Browse Forums General Discussion Re: New Home Owner Experience - not good 53Jun 14, 2006 3:20 pm I think its better to be safe than sorry.
stuff the builder's feelings becuase i learnt too late that there is no use being polite and trusting of these guys. trust me you dont want to regret not being a hard ***. although like i mentioned before my issues are not major, but i get the feeling that they took advantage of my trust, and i hate being wrong in my judgement. Re: New Home Owner Experience - not good 54Jun 14, 2006 7:26 pm mek Hi Ken, it might sound ridiculous to you, but all I really want to do is to the best of my abilities make sure that we are getting a competent person to to the job. From the stories so far (even just on this forum) I can see that even builders who are properly registered sometimes do not do a good job - would you agree on this one? Do you think getting details of builder's past work is a waste of time? Do you think educating myself about what to do if things do go wrong is also a waste of time? I might sound like a whingeing kid to you but I would like to get what I pay for. Is that unreasonable? I'm assuming you're a builder (and a bit sick of whingeing customers like me) so if you have any good advice for me I'm willing to listen. HI Mek, put it this way. When I buy a TV, I find out about it, its details, benefits and flaws, and ask people, and then make a decision. I did the same thing when buying a house. $500 or 205000, it was of no difference. I did a lot of homework, asked a lot of questions, and the builder I dealt with did not seem ** off with that. I asked over a dozen people about thei experiences with this builder, and even went to some of their homes. I even asjked people as they came out of their head office. Yes, make sure you get a competent person to do the job, and you can protect yourself in several ways, including writing into the contract that you want to get independant inspections at certain parts of contruction, and that you will not pay invoice on stages until such inspections are satisfactorily complete. If a builder has a problem with that, then dont use them. Remeber you are the customer, its your house and you will be paying a lot of money for it. When it comes to spening six figures, and putting yourself in debt for many a decade, there is no such thing as a dumb answer mate.If you dont understand it, ask again, or take someone with you. That helped me a lot. Get someone to rerad your contracts as well. Good luck. Adrian B Re: New Home Owner Experience - not good 55Jun 14, 2006 8:46 pm Mek.
I am probably just as sceptical about a lot of people in all industries, and as you I will always try to ensure that I am on the right track, and would like to be 110% sure that I have chosen wisely, but on the same token. no one can be absolutely sure of too much these days, make your enquiries , you would be foolish not to. But what worries me is not the honest attempts by yourself to secure the best reasonable result, the truth of your efforts will only be realized when the project is being performed and or completed. The biggest problem being usually a person downgrading everyone in a very bitter attitude, and subsequently misleading all that are not aware. There are a lot of builders and clients out there that are problematic, they deserve each other, but there are a lot out there that are not, and do not deserve the ratings being bestowed upon them. The biggest culprit in the industry being the administration of the authorities, how can they possibly reasonably explain the illegal actions by some of their own staff in the processes of issuing ******* licenses, over one hundred and ten of em, that they purport to know of, how many more are still operating??. Like that famous statement from one of it's senior work cover chiefs, issuing ******* tickets, quote" I am like a prostitute, you can buy anything off me". That was on national TV.. They then try to put the blame elsewhere. If they performed their jobs properly, there would be no repeat offenders operating for years on end.. So if a contractor gets a ******* customer, he cannot get a fair go from the so called "Fair Trading... Because they maintain that they are there for the benefit and protection of the consumer ,not the builders... What the hell are we.. Non consumers. So, like I said, decide 100% what you want in the construction of your house, finishes etc.. before you commit to a contract. Avoid the interruption or additional cost of variations... And go for it with the builder of your choice... Regards Ken.. Re: New Home Owner Experience - not good 56Jun 16, 2006 11:33 am windowexpert Hi Dobly, If you build again, try to find a building company with some European background ( there are many Europeans with building background in Australia) Ideally you want an architect with European qualification or at least some experience there. When it comes to building standards in Oz and NZ they are amongst the lowest in the developed world. But many builders and architect are too narrow minded to think in a different direction and they rather carry on with the same old rubbish. Sad but thats the reality HI, can you tell me where to find Eupean builders in Australia? I live at Sydney. Re: New Home Owner Experience - not good 57Jun 17, 2006 10:50 pm With constant bashings going on in this forum, any chance of naming names ?
What about those satisfied customers, can you name the builders or at least the companies ? I just want to avoid being ripped-off by some ******* builders out there. Hear from both sides soon. Seriously looking at Kit Home Suppliers, most offer attractive designs but unless the right questions asked; then most perceive you as nothing but nuissance. Re: New Home Owner Experience - not good 58Jun 19, 2006 8:59 am 99% of builders are fine, but we can all have a bad day just the same.
The problem is that the 1% of bad ones take up 99% of the media attention, hence the problem can seem bigger than it actually is and scare potential consumers such as yourself. Entirely understandable just the same. As per my earlier post on this topic, your best defence is to take an active role in managing the project and ensuring that all your documentation and selections are up to scratch - BEFORE you sign. Don't be lazy and just leave it to the builder because you trust him - it is your money and if things aren't exactly as you want then there will be problems. My experience is that this can occur regardless of how good, trustworthy or how impeccable a record the builder has. The problems occur when there is deficient communication both written and oral. We all on both sides like to take the easy option but the building process is hard work in the communication stakes. Don't take the easy option if you want to avoid disappointment. A successful final outcome means that you as the owner need to spend a lot of time actually deciding what you want on every issue. That is, you need to know before you sign, exactly what it is you are paying for. If you don't then you are leaving yourself open to a dispute. Building disputes can be far too easy to get into, but it is just as easy to work to avoid the obvious problems. That is, fix the obvious difficulties before you start, then the big issues will be genuine 'unforeseens' and you will not be so preoccupied with all the minor stuff ('cos you already fixed it pre-contract) to focus on solving the really important big issues that will crop up. Good luck! Re: New Home Owner Experience - not good 59Jun 19, 2006 10:21 pm We have been building for over 2 years and have no end of trouble with our builder, I live in perth and would like to hear from others in the same situation and the name of the builders. Please feel free to send me an email. Then i won't feel soooo bad!........
Thxs tinaack Re: New Home Owner Experience - not good 60Jun 20, 2006 7:51 am Very sorry to hear that your experience has been difficult. The WA Government prides themselves on operating a 'state of the art' consumer protection regime to avoid such incidents but I have always been skeptical of their claims and tend to associate them with the sort of spin doctoring that all Governments participate in these days.
Have you contacted the Dept of Consumer and Employment Protection (DOCEP)? If not, call them on 1300 304 054 and get them involved to sort out the builder if they are being recalcitrant. Very interested to know how you go and whether or not they simply push you into a private litigation. When you think about it, if the Government is licensing builders then they have to take some responsibility for making the bad ones finish the job for the agreed price. If the builder cannot operate under those simple contractual obligations then they should be pushed out of the industry by the regulator. Unfortunately the attitude of Government is that you (the user) has to pay via private litigation, to do what is essentially their responsibility in the first place. Please give it the DOCEP option a go, but if you already have and failed then please let us know. Sorry but you have a crap builder. Probably too late now. For our last build I only spoke to builders who would allow me easy access (at no cost). I used my own sparky… 10 9804 I apologise for any confusion, but your understanding is correct. We approached our situation differently based on advice from… 11 53172 Hi All, I have been dealing with icare for insurance in completing our house after our original builder went bust. We have gotten to tender stage and one of the companies… 0 20781 |