Browse Forums General Discussion Re: New Home Owner Experience - not good 75Jun 21, 2006 1:19 pm The blog of my home being built: http://glint-bladesong.blogspot.com/ Re: New Home Owner Experience - not good 77Jun 23, 2006 3:03 pm Quote: Builders have very little right to complain about their clients. Newhome, we enter a building contract. Under a contract both parties have rights, responsibilities and obligations. If consumers OR builders default any of these then either party has every right to complain. I understand you've had problems but there is no group that is always right, and one that is always wrong. Usually, if not always it is a bit (or a lot) of both parties fault. My issue is that if you as a consumer, or I as a builder wish to complain then we currently have very little scope or forum to complain and get resolution. That is, we have a dispute, but resolution of the dispute is far too often a near impossibility. I agree, Consumers are often, but not always, the ones that end up getting the rough end of the pineapple. Legal fees escalate, houses don't get fixed and in the worst cases consumers have even lost their homes in the battle. Dispute resolution is a serious issue that effects all of us. Currently the HIA and MBA are not so interested in sorting out dispute resolution and there is no viable consumer advocacy to speak on your behalf to counter their intransigence. I wish there were!! Maybe that is something that can grow out of this forum? I fully understand your anger and I totally agree, prospective building consumers must be warned of the traps but at the moment if they get caught in a trap there is no decent, reliable nor robust mechanism that will GUARANTEE that they can survive it. This is predominantly a State Government issue. Everybody reading this forum should write to their State Government AND the opposition and make the case for change. You only have to look at the amount of views this topic gets above all others - this is obviously a big issue! Re: New Home Owner Experience - not good 78Jul 04, 2006 11:14 am Totally agree Builda, as someone who is not a builder but works within the statutory requirement aspect of building, i often see both sides of the coin when problems arise. Can i say firstly that the majority of problems arise through ignorance of each parties rights & obligations in respect to the 'PARTICULAR CONTRACT SIGNED & AGREED TO'.
This is where i feel a great number of problems can be averted before they get a chance to arise. By both parties taking the extra time & effort at the beginning to understand the contract terms, then hopefully the project can move forward in a co-operative manner. I also agree with Newhome, there are builders out there who shouldn't be allowed to build a dog house & the larger organisations are really a law unto themselves when dealing with consumers. I have often talked with collegues about how this can be solved effectively & it always comes back to the root cause. POOR ADMINISTRATION & REGULATION ENFORCEMENT BY THOSE VESTED WITH THE RESPONSIBILITY! In NSW the Office of Fair Trading is responsible but is such a mickey mouse organisation that it should be disbanded & replaced. Our industry is plagued by the constant embaressment of a minority of shonks that give the mostly reputable builders a bad name. Remember, these people are just like yourselves. They are trying to run a business under the weight of enormous amounts of paperwork, unfair market conditions & a myriad of other things all the while trying to give their clients a quality product. It can be a tough business. The OFT has a lot to answer for & you can blame them for the current market conditions that are unfair to both parties in NSW. If by chance you are unlucky enough (& i mean UNLUCKY) to be sin binned from the industry for whatever reason you can simply rebadge yourself & continue to trade. There is a campaign going on right now to stop the Home Warranty Insurance rip off & to make first resort claims & dispute resolution priorities. You can check out www.builderscollective.org.au & join the fight. Queensland currently enjoys the best system in Australia for consumer protection & dispute resolution. Not to mention that they are the ONLY state in Oz that will ban a builder for life from the industry. Both builders & consumers will benefit from these attempts to make the industry a fairer & more accountable market. The fight is currently being waged by a small but vocal group & the need for fair minded & articulate people like yourself to get involved is paramount. Hope to have some positive fedback. Re: New Home Owner Experience - not good 79Jul 04, 2006 11:26 am Do'h!! I have a bad habit if making every website a .com IT SHOULD READ... www.builderscollective.org.au
Sorry about that folks. Well worth a look to find out what is going on in the industry. Re: New Home Owner Experience - not good 80Jul 04, 2006 1:09 pm Good call Paris and there are other links to that site on this forum.
Every other State has problems with this except Queensland and they are the only State where there is no private financial vested interest allowed to 'manage' consumer protection. Vic, NSW, Tas, WA, NT and to a lessor extent SA (other reasons for that) have a consumer protection fortress built on the jelly like foundation of insurance company profit margins. That is, Governments have decided to protect their profit margins or else the insurers desert the industry. Then we have the HIA and MBA who sell this insurance for commission - another vested interest working against consumers and often even their own members. Financial vested interest in consumer protection regimes is really at the core of the problem but unfortunately it will take nothing more than a consumer revolt to change it. There are people on this forum that have tried to access help from BACV in Victoria only to discover it too is a toothless tiger like the OFT in NSW. I can only encourage consumers to write to the insurers, the Trade Associations (HIA and MBA) and most importantly your local State Member(s) of Parliament. These are the bodies responsible - MAKE them responsible! 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 |