Browse Forums Building A New House Re: terrible experience with my builder 2May 09, 2014 9:13 am Owner Building at Jimboomba Woods in Logan City Qld. Blog : http://bandlnewhomebuild.blogspot.com H1 thread : viewtopic.php?f=38&t=68283 . Re: terrible experience with my builder 8May 10, 2014 6:46 pm My build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=70636&p=1161767#p1161767 Re: terrible experience with my builder 10May 10, 2014 10:13 pm You should have gone with premium custom builders that you need to pay for the premium and care from the start. They will walk everything with you hand by hand. They will allow you with all variations you want as long as you pay for the premium variation fees. Don't forget that you are going with a volume builder! Burbank is already one of the good volume builder out there. At least they do take care of details during their build, but they won't take care of things from your mind. As others said, it is your responsibility to read thru the drawings and contracts before signing anything. It is you that give that up. Also, from builder's point of view, there is nothing wrong with the plan or contract so what can you expect them to tell you before hand?! They can build the changes you want, so that's not a problem for them as that is what you want. You didn't think about the consequences of the changes you want to make?! This is a good lesson for others as well, read before signing anything. I did read thru mine, every bits and pieces to make sure that is what I want. When I found anything that doesn't make sense, I ask my builder and work that out. Good luck! PS: I do pay for premium from a custom builder. Re: terrible experience with my builder 11May 10, 2014 10:19 pm Hi yoihoi, sorry to hear ur story... My little opinion is if it's not about build quality, and they are building it as the plan that you have signed, then u will have to take it and let it go. Stick to what you have signed and agreed. A lot of changes you can so it after handover, same quality but spend less
About they call u weekly for updates, I really suggest u do not get bothered by it. I found what they tell u through the phone is very out of date mostly, remember SS tell the girl in their office then pass the info to you! it's your house, try to being curious and visit ur site once a week, walk around a lot, what u see is what you got, very updated. if you see anything make you concerned, take a photo n send it to them, so far they never ignore my emails and fix the problems seen. Don't flood them with emails, visit your site you will know all the latest works done and obvious problems. Good luck, calm down and carry on Re: terrible experience with my builder 12May 10, 2014 10:43 pm Actually I sympathise to an extent. We are building a fairly expensive custom home and still struggle to get regular updates. Lets be honest - we are all making one of the biggest investments of our lives, paying a lot of money- usually everyone building is paying as much as they can possibly afford relative to their income, and we all get treated like cattle. How hard is it to get staff to respond promptly to emails. If they are sending things to us for signing etc we are expected to respond quickly. It is their job, and we are all dealing with it in our spare time. From what I read on this forum, most builders need training in customer service. Whilst I agree we all need to be aware of our rights and responsibilities and not sign contracts and plans without consideration, I don't think it is unreasonable to expect some kind of assistance or warning if things on the plan don't make sense - they are the experts and most of of us would be doing this for the first and possibly only time. Most builders seem to take any enjoyment right out of the experience. They know they have us contractually and seem to have no pride in good workmanship and getting the job done on time. Re: terrible experience with my builder 13May 11, 2014 1:11 am @judydg, I sharfe your thoughts too. I am also building a reasonably pricey home and it has taken me 3 years to progress to the point we are at. I am extremely detailed and I cross check everything. It is a little disheartening that you get taken for a ride on every single little thing and if you do not question then you just pay more. I always ask, why is it that i am being charged more than retail and then they come back with price drops. ggrrrr Re: terrible experience with my builder 14May 11, 2014 7:24 am If you want good design experience get a good architect. If you want good build experience go with a custom builder Both are expensive but in the end quality is a function of price and you get what you pay for. If you are going with a volume builder you are going cheap (you get what you pay for) with assembly line type of production and very basic contract administration, you won't get quality personalised service as per above. However you should get courtesy and if they promise to do something they should honour it however don't expect to be babied and educated. Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: terrible experience with my builder 15May 11, 2014 7:26 am I agree with AussieMark.. My experience is that it really takes time to ask questions during planning stage. I took more than a year to work out just the plan for planning permit. I am cross checking everything as the house will be my own house after all. This way I did show my builder that I am serious about everything and they respect that and answer any questions I throw at them and give me suggestions or solutions. If that is something we can't communicate thru wording, we use drawings etc.. So coming back to experience of house building, as an owner, you need to know what you are after and what you expect and communicate that with builder. Also, builders are not mind readers and most will not really bother why you want to make certain changes and they do assumptions as well that you already figured out the change will work with your needs. At least this is how I see most volume builders are no matter cheap or expensive. Custom builders on the other hand might tell you if they sense something goes wrong, but still not every one of them act this way. By the way, this is a place for everyone to share their experience on their build.. but definitely not ranting. If you read the other threads, although others also have problems and issues during different stages. They are mostly thinking positively and try to resolve or ask for advise from others. For your case, it really is not a big deal compare to anyone else who got real issues like cracks in slab, builder disappeared, wrong slab height etc... so relax and try to enjoy working with your builder. and as others suggested, going to your site and look at the progress yourself is way better than a phone call everyday. terrible experience with my builder 16May 11, 2014 9:48 am building-expert If you want good design experience get a good architect. If you want good build experience go with a custom builder Both are expensive but in the end quality is a function of price and you get what you pay for. If you are going with a volume builder you are going cheap (you get what you pay for) with assembly line type of production and very basic contract administration, you won't get quality personalised service as per above. However you should get courtesy and if they promise to do something they should honour it however don't expect to be babied and educated. Wow building-expert I would have assumed you of all people would know that those generalisations you just made are just that - generalisations. A good architect can prove a terrible experience for a customer, many custom builders end up in litigation with their clients, go broke, disappear, take forever, and some volume builders provide an excellent experience and great value. Sometimes, the customer is NOT always right, despite how the saying goes. Some clients can be an absolute nightmare. One architectural firm I worked in for three years, I had a client that required the most incredible amount of hand holding. I met with him every week. His house plans started out manually drawn, and he wanted so many changes every time I saw him, through every stage of the process, that they had to be redrawn because there is only so much scraping off lines with a razor blade that a working drawing can take. Two years it took before he was prepared to put it out to tender. And then, when I got all the prices back, he went and bought another block of land and decided he wanted it there instead and two storey instead of one. One week he'd buy a pair of statues and want walls redesigned to accommodate them. The next he'd see a show on tv and wanted an arched hallway with concealed uplights. He'd reposition power points from one week to the next. Eventually I redrew it on CAD when we brought that in, and I wrote blocks of text about what an incredible pain in the A$$ he was, shrink it to the size of a dot and place it on top of a wall line. You'd never know it was there but it was satisfying. I left after three and a half years and he still hadn't started building. He was wealthy and the whole process was clearly a hobby for him, and as he was prepared to keep paying, the firm was happy to have me keep working for him. I pity whichever architect ended up inheriting him from me. Sorry but some of the complaints here just scream out unreasonable and poorly prepared client. Completed a knock down and rebuild in northern Melbourne. Handover completed 27/09/2013 and now moved in. Re: terrible experience with my builder 17May 11, 2014 10:30 am Yoihoi, please update us with your consumer affairs adventure when that pans out. P's. This thread needs more dragons. Creator of superduperonium, expert at expert things, nobel laureate, can hold my breath for 10 minutes. Re: terrible experience with my builder 18May 11, 2014 10:37 am Well in order to communicate what I wanted (mine is mostly by email as I am overseas and building in Australia) I studied the R Codes, learnt a 2D/3D program and provided a drawing of everything along with measurements for everything I wanted. It drags out the process but I also know the scale and size is consistent throughout the house and it is the way I want. I have tried to clarify anything I do not understand as I am not a builder but I am very interested in the entire process. I tend to gravitate toward complexity and have learnt a lot for many of the people on this forum (another reason my build is taking so long). What erks me is that the estimators and admin err on the side of caution and do not appreciate that some customers will cross check. If companies were trying to provide a top quality service then the first thing that is needed is the right attitude. You would not get operated on by a doctor that did not explain fully what was going to happen. Yet for some reason customers are expected to simply trust the builder. Builders should expect challenge on their pricing or EVERYTHING and realise that builders margin is fine but be fair about it...... With the power of the internet it is pretty easy to determine whether variation prices are reasonable. That said I really hope my house starts to be built soon..... Re: terrible experience with my builder 19May 11, 2014 11:06 am Yes Bluesuede they are generalisations and of course there are exceptions however the immutable law of economics it that you won't get the best build at the cheapest price, so if you are lucky you will get what you pay for. "A good architect can prove a terrible experience for a customer" how can that be a good architect? It's the wholeness of service that defines whether its good or a bad architect. Yes many custom builders have disputes with their clients but many more do not and yes volume builders have built their fortunes in delivering value for money Value of course is entirely different concept to quality, disputes can occur when customers sign up for value and then expect higher quality beyond that. Part of architects and builders job is to manage client's expectations. Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: terrible experience with my builder 20May 11, 2014 11:10 am Bluesuede Eventually I redrew it on CAD when we brought that in, and I wrote blocks of text about what an incredible pain in the A$$ he was, shrink it to the size of a dot and place it on top of a wall line. You'd never know it was there but it was satisfying. great minds! If I'm getting the run around when doing a drawing, I put my own personal text on a layer and then set it to hidden and do not plot. I usually call the layer something like 'additional comments'. Other drafters opening up the drawing always seems to get a laugh from it and empathise as well Back on topic... Waiting for the interest rates to go down is also waiting for the building prices to go up, you will likely lose. Perhaps you can get the builder to lock up stage, but… 4 3965 I apologise for any confusion, but your understanding is correct. We approached our situation differently based on advice from… 11 54208 Hey Mate, I faced the same issue that you are facing. My builder left my house incomplete after going through liquidation. In… 1 21580 |