Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Building quality volume vs custom builder 14Mar 06, 2019 8:58 am I think it also depends on your mindset. By going with a volume builder and saving several hundred thousand dollars, I think subconsciously my expectations were lowered somewhat. I have had to compromise in several areas from design choices to accepting work that i could have done better myself. Our builder was happy to customise during the design, but it was difficult, always having to wait for information and pricing, and answers to questions - I think we just got design fatigue and accepted some of the standard choices just so we could get moving. Maybe that was their intention The same goes for the with the build - there were some things we would have liked to change once they had started. For example, after the framing was started we saw that we wanted to make a window bigger, and move another one, but it was all too hard to go though their change process and delay the build, even though the actual work required would have been quite simple. Even adding extra powerpoints was a real pain. I am sure these changed would have been easy with a small custom builder. Then again on the plus side, having chosen all your colors, fixtures and finishes in one place before the build starts has made things easier. We spent several days in their color center, but having everything in one place and knowing that being able to compare and contrast was good. Friends who built with a custom builder were constantly being called asking for decisions on things and then having to rush out to shops to choose something. (eg the tiler is about to start - what color grout do you want on the splashback, there are 100 to choose from, I need a decision in the next hour...) Re: Building quality volume vs custom builder 15Mar 06, 2019 11:58 am I went fully custom with a pm owner building, my home ended up about 5 percent more than a sisters volume build home, the volume builder couldn't build mine to anywhere near the quality I got and if they could would of cost 300-400 thousand more,a quote for my front porch was around the 100,000 mark including 28 steps of merbau 4 metres wide with quite a large amount of stone work involved and a concreted room underneath on strip footings, ended up getting all done for ,50,000 with boral bending over to offer us a 35% discount on our chosen stone after we said , too expensive , boral rung us with the offer without us asking one week later,key was a knowledgeable pm with great people skills. Re: Building quality volume vs custom builder 16Apr 12, 2019 9:42 am rjbhai02 Hi All, Could anyone please clarify if there is much quality difference from one volume builder to another or to custom builder. I inspected few houses being constructed by Simonds, burbank, denis family and Carlisle and one custom builder. I saw slab stage and frame stage. I could see slab height and material same in each house. Frame material was also almost same so was their fitting. I asked workers who were doing slabs and they told they have their own company and these builders hire them to do slab so say they work for metricon and also for burbank with same quality. Even the bricks and windows glasses were of same company everywhere so wonder why price vary so much between them and if there is any drawback of custom builder quality, if someone can please highlight. thanks Under the laws of Australia, the home owner is 100% responsible for the house being built in a compliant manner. Not the builder. Not the Surveyor. You the Home owner. No matter what happens on site, if there is a defect, the home owner is responsible under the Australian Legislation. The home owner contracted the builder. The home owner contracts the surveyor. Sometimes builders don’t like being told that they are wrong and that they need to fix something. With the increase in Private Inspectors, builders seek ways to keep them off site. Builders will use all manner of behind the scene processes to cut cost of place special conditions in a contract to try and restrict the home owners’ rights. Before you fall in love with the design, ask for a standard copy of the contract and a standard copy of the specifications. Don’t accept a brochure. You want what you are going to sign. If they don’t give it to you, then alarm bells should be ringing. Watch out for smooth talkers. They are great and diverting you away from what you want. One of the biggest issues is builders placing terms into the contract to stop you from using who you want as a private inspector. The law states that you can use anybody as per the Building Acts. The builder cannot in most cases restrict you. The Private inspector works for you. Not the Builder. Hence the builder has no control over them. Another is to put specifications out that are not equal to the Australian Standards. Once you commit to the design and go through the colour selections and all of the other processes, you are emotionally and time committed. At this point, generally 3 to 6 months into the process, the builder presents the contract and specifications that have all of these hidden clauses. Pressure is applied at that time to sign on the day or you will lose such and such a bonus. Do not sign anything that has not been checked by a lawyer of your choosing. The second a builder starts talking about special conditions or you have a large amount of specifications that have building diagrams and clauses, seek the services of a professional construction lawyer immediately. If you sign the documents, you may have given away your rights to have the home built in a manner that is compliant with the Australian Standards. Remember it is your obligation to have the home built to the requirements of the National Construction Code. Not the builders or the Surveyors. As an example, some builders will seek to restrict your rights to use a private inspector. Others will insert what they call Performance Solutions. Or they may call them special building processes. This warning is given to all as a way of assisting you. Deal with a quality builder that has the runs on the board. Stay away from those that seek to hide behind clauses and conditions. Research the internet and see who is doing what in the contracts. Listen to them as they have had the heart break. Remember, just because it looks good does not make a house complaint. If it comes with conditions that are outside of the normal, then you are more than likely being suckered in. Re: Building quality volume vs custom builder 17Apr 13, 2019 1:22 pm Small Minds rjbhai02 Hi All, Could anyone please clarify if there is much quality difference from one volume builder to another or to custom builder. I inspected few houses being constructed by Simonds, burbank, denis family and Carlisle and one custom builder. I saw slab stage and frame stage. I could see slab height and material same in each house. Frame material was also almost same so was their fitting. I asked workers who were doing slabs and they told they have their own company and these builders hire them to do slab so say they work for metricon and also for burbank with same quality. Even the bricks and windows glasses were of same company everywhere so wonder why price vary so much between them and if there is any drawback of custom builder quality, if someone can please highlight. thanks Under the laws of Australia, the home owner is 100% responsible for the house being built in a compliant manner. Not the builder. Not the Surveyor. You the Home owner. No matter what happens on site, if there is a defect, the home owner is responsible under the Australian Legislation. The home owner contracted the builder. The home owner contracts the surveyor. Sometimes builders don’t like being told that they are wrong and that they need to fix something. With the increase in Private Inspectors, builders seek ways to keep them off site. Builders will use all manner of behind the scene processes to cut cost of place special conditions in a contract to try and restrict the home owners’ rights. Before you fall in love with the design, ask for a standard copy of the contract and a standard copy of the specifications. Don’t accept a brochure. You want what you are going to sign. If they don’t give it to you, then alarm bells should be ringing. Watch out for smooth talkers. They are great and diverting you away from what you want. One of the biggest issues is builders placing terms into the contract to stop you from using who you want as a private inspector. The law states that you can use anybody as per the Building Acts. The builder cannot in most cases restrict you. The Private inspector works for you. Not the Builder. Hence the builder has no control over them. Another is to put specifications out that are not equal to the Australian Standards. Once you commit to the design and go through the colour selections and all of the other processes, you are emotionally and time committed. At this point, generally 3 to 6 months into the process, the builder presents the contract and specifications that have all of these hidden clauses. Pressure is applied at that time to sign on the day or you will lose such and such a bonus. Do not sign anything that has not been checked by a lawyer of your choosing. The second a builder starts talking about special conditions or you have a large amount of specifications that have building diagrams and clauses, seek the services of a professional construction lawyer immediately. If you sign the documents, you may have given away your rights to have the home built in a manner that is compliant with the Australian Standards. Remember it is your obligation to have the home built to the requirements of the National Construction Code. Not the builders or the Surveyors. As an example, some builders will seek to restrict your rights to use a private inspector. Others will insert what they call Performance Solutions. Or they may call them special building processes. This warning is given to all as a way of assisting you. Deal with a quality builder that has the runs on the board. Stay away from those that seek to hide behind clauses and conditions. Research the internet and see who is doing what in the contracts. Listen to them as they have had the heart break. Remember, just because it looks good does not make a house complaint. If it comes with conditions that are outside of the normal, then you are more than likely being suckered in. With respect, your comments in respect to a home owner's legal rights and obligations at law are misguided. In NSW, residential building is regulated under the Home Building Act (the HBA). The HBA contains warranties which are implied into all residential building contracts and cannot be circumvented (or "given away"). Amongst those warranties is an implied obligation that the dwelling will be fit for purpose and be constructed in accordance with all laws (and this includes the BCA / NCC). If you engage a builder, they are to ensure the dwelling is compliant. They must rectify any defects in their work. All states and territories have similar legislative rights. I know there is a general sentiment that the consumer has limited rights against the builder, however its not as grim as people suspect. If you have issues with a builder, seek professional legal advice - even if you think you've fallen foul of a horribly one sided contract. Re: Building quality volume vs custom builder 18Apr 14, 2019 9:26 am Marcs Small Minds rjbhai02 Hi All, Could anyone please clarify if there is much quality difference from one volume builder to another or to custom builder. I inspected few houses being constructed by Simonds, burbank, denis family and Carlisle and one custom builder. I saw slab stage and frame stage. I could see slab height and material same in each house. Frame material was also almost same so was their fitting. I asked workers who were doing slabs and they told they have their own company and these builders hire them to do slab so say they work for metricon and also for burbank with same quality. Even the bricks and windows glasses were of same company everywhere so wonder why price vary so much between them and if there is any drawback of custom builder quality, if someone can please highlight. thanks Under the laws of Australia, the home owner is 100% responsible for the house being built in a compliant manner. Not the builder. Not the Surveyor. You the Home owner. No matter what happens on site, if there is a defect, the home owner is responsible under the Australian Legislation. The home owner contracted the builder. The home owner contracts the surveyor. Sometimes builders don’t like being told that they are wrong and that they need to fix something. With the increase in Private Inspectors, builders seek ways to keep them off site. Builders will use all manner of behind the scene processes to cut cost of place special conditions in a contract to try and restrict the home owners’ rights. Before you fall in love with the design, ask for a standard copy of the contract and a standard copy of the specifications. Don’t accept a brochure. You want what you are going to sign. If they don’t give it to you, then alarm bells should be ringing. Watch out for smooth talkers. They are great and diverting you away from what you want. One of the biggest issues is builders placing terms into the contract to stop you from using who you want as a private inspector. The law states that you can use anybody as per the Building Acts. The builder cannot in most cases restrict you. The Private inspector works for you. Not the Builder. Hence the builder has no control over them. Another is to put specifications out that are not equal to the Australian Standards. Once you commit to the design and go through the colour selections and all of the other processes, you are emotionally and time committed. At this point, generally 3 to 6 months into the process, the builder presents the contract and specifications that have all of these hidden clauses. Pressure is applied at that time to sign on the day or you will lose such and such a bonus. Do not sign anything that has not been checked by a lawyer of your choosing. The second a builder starts talking about special conditions or you have a large amount of specifications that have building diagrams and clauses, seek the services of a professional construction lawyer immediately. If you sign the documents, you may have given away your rights to have the home built in a manner that is compliant with the Australian Standards. Remember it is your obligation to have the home built to the requirements of the National Construction Code. Not the builders or the Surveyors. As an example, some builders will seek to restrict your rights to use a private inspector. Others will insert what they call Performance Solutions. Or they may call them special building processes. This warning is given to all as a way of assisting you. Deal with a quality builder that has the runs on the board. Stay away from those that seek to hide behind clauses and conditions. Research the internet and see who is doing what in the contracts. Listen to them as they have had the heart break. Remember, just because it looks good does not make a house complaint. If it comes with conditions that are outside of the normal, then you are more than likely being suckered in. With respect, your comments in respect to a home owner's legal rights and obligations at law are misguided. In NSW, residential building is regulated under the Home Building Act (the HBA). The HBA contains warranties which are implied into all residential building contracts and cannot be circumvented (or "given away"). Amongst those warranties is an implied obligation that the dwelling will be fit for purpose and be constructed in accordance with all laws (and this includes the BCA / NCC). If you engage a builder, they are to ensure the dwelling is compliant. They must rectify any defects in their work. All states and territories have similar legislative rights. I know there is a general sentiment that the consumer has limited rights against the builder, however its not as grim as people suspect. If you have issues with a builder, seek professional legal advice - even if you think you've fallen foul of a horribly one sided contract. Marc. Then what you are saying is if the home owner accepts the dwelling and moves in, based on your asserting, and then for some reason a government authority such as the local council finds a fault, then under your suggestion that authority would place orders against the builder...... No. The orders are placed against the home owner. The home owner is the one that receives all orders and then passes them to a builder and if the builder fails to fix, then home owner then has to take legal action for remedy. Unless you have special laws in NSW, this is the reason for posting my comments. The home owner is the obligated party to ensure that the dwelling is built in accordance with the Rules. Re: Building quality volume vs custom builder 19Apr 15, 2019 3:39 pm Small Minds Marc. Then what you are saying is if the home owner accepts the dwelling and moves in, based on your asserting, and then for some reason a government authority such as the local council finds a fault, then under your suggestion that authority would place orders against the builder...... No. The orders are placed against the home owner. The home owner is the one that receives all orders and then passes them to a builder and if the builder fails to fix, then home owner then has to take legal action for remedy. Unless you have special laws in NSW, this is the reason for posting my comments. The home owner is the obligated party to ensure that the dwelling is built in accordance with the Rules. While we are digressing a little, the home owner shouldn't accept the dwelling without either an occupation certificate or all certificates required to issue an OC. If an OC has been issued, then the risk of a local council issuing an order against your property will be practically non-existent. Back on topic, logically, the owner of any real or personal property will always be the one who has to deal with the faults in that property - its not different if its a washing machine or a house (i.e. if you buy a washing machine and it breaks, you have to go back to the retailer / manufacturer, and if they don't assist, make a compliant to fair trading / tribunal etc for a resolution). If a home owner pays for a service and its not performed in accordance with law, the party engaged to perform that service has to rectify. Case law in this area hasn't been kind to builders / surveyors / engineers who try to shift responsibility onto the home owner. In most instances, a home owner who engages a volume builder simply wont know what the "Rules" are - hence there are legislative instruments and HWI to protect them. Sure these instruments can go further, but they do a pretty good job when used correctly. While I agree that a home owner should learn as much as possible about the process of home building, my view is that the message for anyone looking to build is not "get to know the rules", but should be "get to know your rights". Re: Building quality volume vs custom builder 20Apr 15, 2019 4:03 pm Marcs, Your whole premise is based on the home owner not accepting the dwelling without fault. How would they know? And that is the core issue that I'm highlighting. The home owners must obtain assist from a professional in the field to ensure that their home is built in accordance with the rules. Unfortunately, most don't bother and then they end up in QCAT or VCAT or NCAT. My whole post is to assist and highlight this issue. Hi, Seeking volume or semi-custom builder in victoria(east), which have existing double story wide floor plans. Seeking 18-20m wide homes with depth of 12-15m long. Or… 0 25168 i did click it, still couldnt make it out rofl. in any case, doesnt look like too extreme a slope, you may be in luck. Just shoot out some emails to volume builders in… 3 18572 go upvc window frames ensure insulation under colorbond. not just sarking, lighter color roof also not sure if you have seen this viewtopic.php?t=5823 last couple of pages… 4 110574 |