Browse Forums General Discussion Re: New Home Owner Experience - not good 57Jun 17, 2006 11:50 pm 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 9:59 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 11:21 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 8:51 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 7291 I apologise for any confusion, but your understanding is correct. We approached our situation differently based on advice from… 11 37309 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 15855 |