Wol

Anyone who builds in Australia without being onsite almost every day is either completely insane or extremely trusting.

Or both, of course.

Buzzy--Bee

100% agree Wol - and you and I have both built our own houses here.

BB

Dorothy

Agree with you both. We built 5 minutes up the road from our rental so were up to the build about 4 x weekly to keep an eye on things. And I'm not known for my subtlty , so if there was something we didn't like the builders knew right away.

kips

Agree. We have signed with a Perth project builder and already having worrying problems with the contract before a brick has been laid.

We've built before in NSW so know how builders slug you an extortionate amount for variations and site costs. We got 4 builders to give us a detailed breakdown of all the variations and site costs. Seems we should have got EVERYTHING in writing here in WA.

Our smooth-talking salesman is turning out to be a liar - there's a surprise !!!!
At the contract signing we discovered the following:

1 The 30mm Essastone bench tops we agreed under the PPA (Preparation of Plans Agreement) became 20mm. The salesman said his mistake and that Essastone don't do 30mm. Not true.

2. Added variations we didn't ask for and charged us

3. He told us verbally on 3 separate occasions the cupboards and drawers in kitchen would have gloss finish. At pre-start yesterday told any gloss finish is an upgrade.

4. Extra site costs not warned about despite urging salesman back in December to warn us of any other costs we may be liable for. Salesman bragged about how thorough he is with his pricing and there would be no surprises. Not so. One of the costs we would incur is footpath reinstatement if tradies cause damage and this was not in included in site costs. That will be a few hundred dollars.

5. Had a meeting with sales manager to address our concerns and presented him with PPA showing 30mm stone bench tops and an e-mail from salesman bragging about his pricing for site costs. Agreed to honor 30mm stone tops, took out variation we didn't ask for but still waiting for a response on gloss finish on kitchen cupboards/drawers.

The builder is going to regret their lies as I am prepared to be the customer from hell to ensure they honour the agreement with us. I will be checking every little detail from now on.

itigo

And that is exactly why we are going to do all the ground work ourselves so that we hold the reins on what we are getting and know up front how much it's going to cost.

Have found most bulk builders to lie through their teeth to get you to sign a contract. Also hidden costs. For example, it's law to have safety fences round the site in VIC. Many bulk builders don't include this cost as part of their contract and you only find out afterwards and as it's law you have to pay.....

One builder we've talked to would charge us $900 to resite the little white sticks that mark the boundary of our plot. We regularly see our site - it's not titled yet and the heavy machinery has long since flattened our little white sticks........it's a given that they'll need to be repositioned so easy money......

SO nervous about doing it, but know many people who have done it and are happy so will be worth it!!

itigo

On a related note, do builders charge for a quote? We will put our build out to tender and were wondering......and how much?

cresta57

Quoting is free, it's just part & parcel of the building trade. I used to spend hours quoting for work that the customer would just take to his mate down the pub who would do it for $100 bucks cheaper. Now I just give a rate per M² so much less hassle

itigo

Thanks for that Cresta, that's what we thought. One builder has told me they charge $500 for a quote!!!!! Needless to say we won't bother tendering to them....

kips

Agree about the smaller builder. We got a quote from a Rockingham-based builder we were very impressed with but he was $30,000 more than the project builder and the house was smaller.

If I thought we were going to be living in our Baldivis house for the next 15-20 years then I would definitely go with a smaller builder. So far we've not lived in any house in the UK or Oz for more than 4 years (including 2 new homes in Oz) so not a great track record. My husband reckons he doesn't want to move again and we will be here for at least 10 years. We shall see

perth tiger

if you want just a rough estimate im sure you will get it for next to nothing. if on the other hand you want a builder to go check your block work out your quantities sit through meetings with you about what spec you want. then i think $500 is pretty cheap.
most will knock it off the price if you go with them

itigo

We will have the designing and quantity surveying already done with all specs.......

ukecadet

Here's the latest balls up I've had to fix after an owner had spotted the ceiling bowing down.The sparky has fitted his downlight and in the process cut through the rafter.Now what impressed me was to achieve this he has had to drill up through the ceiling and half way through rafter and then go into the roof space and complete the job by drilling down into the top of the rafter.He put a lot of effort into this.Pity it didn't collapse while he was applying his 'skills'

itigo

One semi custom/project builder has said that they accept drafties' plans, no problem. Then in the next breath said they'll charge $1100 to redraw them into 'their' company's speak so the builder and tradies 'can understand' them as apparently all drafties use slightly different terms and language on their drawings. This further cements my thoughts that all commercial builders squeeze you for every cent. Of course, these guys will draw plans for you for free but then you are tied to their contract and crap.

Then I see photos like yours ukeCadet and I'm even more scared!!

ukecadet

It might be a case of them having to change it so that it's compatible with the software their using.I don't know.
Seeing what I come across on a daily basis,I personally would prefer to buy an established house that I could inspect before I buy.
I'm lucky in that I rebuilt and extended my place on my own and know that everything is right.
I'm afraid it's potluck in regards to getting a good tradesman.
It's a sad state of affairs but you have to micromanage .

Japonica

Yeah, our old home back in Canada was a 1963 bungalow. The inspector said it had "good bones." We had it inspected when we purchased it, we lived in it without any major issues for 11 years, and then when we sold, our buyer's inspector raved about it too. Both inspectors said they'd never buy anything newly built...always older and established. I guess he's right. We're in a new house and we've had more things that needed to be addressed in the past year than we ever had in that 40+ year old house.

Ha, maybe when we win the lottery, we'll go back and buy it off the guy we sold it to.

Oh and I showed my sparky hubby that photo and he said it was unbelievable. Those type of guys are lucky they haven't killed themselves or a co-worker (or a client) yet with their atrocious work.