Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Oct 25, 2007 11:02 am We are building with DFH and our house should be ready for handover in 4 weeks time. Have been to site quite regularly as live close to it. The other day we met with supervisor as we had a few concerns re lights in wrong places, wrong door handles etc. All this has since been fixed. Now we have a rain garden out the front of our property which was put in by the estate developers. The trades have walked all over it and all the riverstones have gone astray. Are they responsible for returning this to the condition it was prior to them starting on site?
2nd question and major one that concerns us. When we walked through we noticed that some of the walls are not straight and when you look at the skirting boards and tiles/carpet you can definetly notice that some of the lines are NOT straight. We didnt say anything at the time as we were picking up lots of other things that needed fixing. After we got home we thought about and and really when paying 230K for a brand new house, you kinda expect it be be straight!!!! Our old house was built for us and it too had crooked bits but it was a small builder so we kinda thought of well, plus it did not cost as much as this house. But each time I think about it now it really pisses me off. I dont want our friends coming over to see our new house and saying oh that at look, you can see its not straight. Also in the family room which is tiled, it appears there is a slight dip in it as if the concrete floor was not even. I mentioned it to supervisor and he said hey, concrete prob not even but nothing else!! We could put a rug there to cover it up but why should we?? Now can anyone please advise on what we should do about this. Obviously these matters can not be fixed now as the house is almost complete. Do you think there is merit in bringing it up and asking for a resolution?? Do you think we should still be paying top dollar or the complete contract price if there are these errors that we the average consumer have quite easily seen and picked up?? Has anyone had this happent to them? Did you get rebate back or some money compensation or are we just wasting our time going down that path?? Thanks and hope to hear from you all soon Re: Advice please on handover inspection 2Oct 25, 2007 11:38 am I dont think you should have to accept it...
My builder had some guys out yesterday grinding off a high spot in the concrete to make sure our floor was flat. Re: Advice please on handover inspection 3Oct 25, 2007 11:43 am cvojkovic,
3 words: NEW HOME INSPECTIONS. (If you live in or around Melbourne of course) http://www.newhomeinspections.com.au Give Kevin a call and get him batting for you Matt Re: Advice please on handover inspection 4Oct 26, 2007 1:19 pm We too have picked up issues with walls not completely straight, kitchen cupboard running a little downhill, skirting jutting out due to plaster not being straight, cabinet handles not in line with each other....the list goes on!!
If we get an independant inspector he is going to pick these problems up and probably others we haven't yet noticed. Now if he is employed by us and not the builder then what kinda pull does he have to get the problems fixed?? Is the building company going to listen to him or is it just going to stress us more knowing how many defects there are with the house. I know its better to know in the long term but what happens if the builder won't fixed the problems??? The builder doesn't get their money but then we don't get our house. Has anyone had problems getting the builder to fixed these imperfections???? Re: Advice please on handover inspection 5Oct 26, 2007 1:28 pm Jac08 If we get an independant inspector he is going to pick these problems up and probably others we haven't yet noticed. Now if he is employed by us and not the builder then what kinda pull does he have to get the problems fixed?? Is the building company going to listen to him or is it just going to stress us more knowing how many defects there are with the house. I know its better to know in the long term but what happens if the builder won't fixed the problems??? The builder doesn't get their money but then we don't get our house. Has anyone had problems getting the builder to fixed these imperfections???? I assume you signed a HIA building contract for new homes. If so then refer to Clause 51 - Building Consultant 51.1 The builder acknowledges that the owner, at the owner's discretion and entirely at the owner's cost, may seek to employ the services of a private building consultant to review the building works. 51.2 Should the owner elect to do this then the builder will review the consultant's recommendations and act upon the items of the building works that fall outside the tolerances allowed under the Building Code of Australia (BCA) and which are noticeably different to the standard of building works and methods as used in the construction of the builder's display or exhibition homes or the allowances as noted in this contract. Re: Advice please on handover inspection 7Oct 26, 2007 1:50 pm We used Kevin to go through our place, the report he provides references the australian standards and the building code throughout, so you have everything outside tolerences itemised in the report - so it is fairly hard for your builder to argue! As to whether they fix everything - ask us in a couple of weeks!!! Some of the issues mentioned above apply to our place!! Built Porter Davis "Dromana" 2007. Re: Advice please on handover inspection 8Oct 26, 2007 9:22 pm I ended up speaking to the building inspector as it was playing on my mind and he came to site today to check it out. He later called back to say yes we are right there are a few skirting boards not straight but it has been built to display home specifications and that he built the display we picked our house from. He pretty much said its all within the allowed tolerances. We live in sth gippy and are looking into seeing if there is a building inspector down here. Independent inspection might be needed 9Nov 02, 2007 11:57 pm Hi cvojkovic
I suspect if you ended up in a disputes tribunal they would require an independent inspection, so it may be worthwhile getting one. Best regards Re: Advice please on handover inspection 10Nov 03, 2007 8:19 pm Just a little sidetrack:
Is gas/ electics working at the time of the final inspection? (so the heating,cooling,appliances can be tested) Re: Advice please on handover inspection 11Nov 03, 2007 8:58 pm TC,
Probably not. They tend to install those items on the day of handover. Re: Advice please on handover inspection 12Nov 10, 2007 6:04 pm I have compared HIA building contracts in Victoria (2004 version) and ACT (2006 version), none of them have article on "private building consultant". So it seems that the HIA contract is not uniform.
ozn Re: Advice please on handover inspection 13Nov 10, 2007 8:31 pm whether you build a house , get a shed put up , get a concrete driveway or whatever you can by law get your own inspections done by an engineer or structural inspector etc without the builders consent but you do have to notify them if you intend to
the contract you signed is in adtition to and does not replace your statiotary rights it really p******* me off when builders do not do the right thing or tradesmen do not do the right thing and then try and hide behind there company formed contracts, expecting the ordinary person to bow to pressure and go away dont take any excuss they give get your house inspected independantly go around your house with a box of round red stickers and put a sticker on every single fault you find, saves haveing to remember them all then write it all down do this in adition to your independant inspection refuse handover until all is fixed if your not satisfied goto VCAT , talk to your solicitor Da Vinci Outdoor Living Architectural landscaping http://www.davincioutdoor.com i would suggest nothing is unreasonable for PCI. we did all sorts, including checking the hot water, checking all the GPO's had power, testing that the showers were… 9 98695 you need to understand the breakdown of warranties. 90 warranty is considered as minor defects rectification period where as the longer ones are more major/structural… 1 5351 Hi, I have this sewer inspection point sitting in an odd spot in the rear of my yard: https://imgur.com/ghLI98q What I'd like to do is put a firepit in that corner of… 0 6531 |