Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Building with Wisdom Homes 15659Mar 17, 2020 11:17 am alce4463 FYI Below is the advice that the Housing Industry Association (HIA) has provided to its members about water leaks and damage. The HIA is a peak body that represents very well the financial interests of its volume builder members such as Wisdom Homes. It is not a government organisation or regulatory authority. Based on your post 12/3/2020, there is a very high possibility that the cause of your leak under the carpet in the downstairs office may be a structural defect. Not the one-off event the result of very heavy or wind driven rain on the roof or windows etc. Given these indications, in your particular circumstance, its not appropriate that Wisdom Homes seeks to avoid their warranty responsibility and just fob you off to insurance to waste both yours and the insurance company's time and money. I wonder what the insurance industry makes of this tactic? Wisdom needs to come and inspect ASAP. Insurance companies will not pay out claims for defective workmanship. Its notable that Wisdom will not even investigate or even speak with you, or it seems based on their standard written response, to any other customers with leaks and water damage. (HIA advice to members) “Water Ingress from Extreme Weather: In the past few weeks Australia has experienced some severe weather conditions including high winds and heavy rainfall. HIA has received numerous enquiries seeking assistance on water ingress to buildings. These weather events and other similar events that have occurred in recent years, can at times be so severe that they exceed the Building Code of Australia (BCA) design benchmarks for homes constructed within Australia. In such extreme weather conditions rain water can be forced through closed windows and sprayed up rooves in a manner which homes aren't designed for and therefore it's not surprising that water entered some homes. The resulting water ingress may have caused damage to the dwelling, often this damage may only be of a minor nature, but can still cause considerable stress to the home owners. When these severe weather events happen most owners contact the builder of the home to request an inspection or even rectification to the damaged parts. As a result HIA receives countless calls from members wanting to clarify their statutory warranty obligations on homes they've only recently built. The advice to members, generally as follows: • Each case should be judged on its individual merits but in the majority of cases where the weather event has been so severe that it exceeds the BCA design benchmarks i.e. water ingress through closed windows and sprayed up rooves the home owner should be advised that they will need to contact their insurer and lodge a claim for the water damage on their home insurance. • If the insurer inspects the building and reports that the water penetration into the home is a result of defective building work, then the builder should immediately organise an inspection of the home to verify this claim. • On inspection if the builder believes the water penetration into the home is a result of defective work, then they will need to attend to the issue. • On inspection, if the builder doesn't believe the water penetration into the home is a result of defective work, the builder should state in writing that there is no defective work and suggest what they believe caused the problem, i.e. weather event beyond the minimum BCA design benchmark, debris blocking drainage or lack of maintenance including a build-up of leaves in gutters. However, if a home under warranty has water ingress problems every time there is rain, the builder will need to be more proactive in ensuring the problem is not a workmanship issue in which the builder would be considered responsible. The other problem many builders are facing is attending to house inspections after the weather events and consequential workplace health and safety concerns for workers accessing wet rooves for example.” alce4463 In addition to your emails and calls you may try sending a polite request to WisdomHomes Give them another opportunity to appropriately address your concerns. Re: Building with Wisdom Homes 15660Mar 19, 2020 12:20 pm Quick advise needed in terms of the current COVID 19 atmosphere: Our house build is meant to complete in May/June and we were looking at ordering plantation shutters and blinds for the house. I have got the quotes but the supplier is asking me to pay approx. $7000 as a 50% deposit as the shutters come from China. In terms of a risk factor not sure if I should pay the deposit with uncertainty as to when the materials will be delivered. Or even on a worse consideration that due to job cuts etc. the supplier may shut down or go bankrupt??? Can someone please offer some advice? Im DESPERATE. Because I'm completely and utterly exhausted. How long are variations taking with other companies at the moment? We… 0 18473 In fairness nobody gave a crap about the ACCC and the gag clauses continued in the pro forma templates of a few other builders after the ACCC took on Wisdom, and more… 19 73513 Hi Everyone, I am exploring builder in NSW and received a very tempting quote from Wisdom home for their momentum series. I just want to know experience of building… 0 8241 |