fraser

But there are no unforseen costs they give you a base rate for the house.

That's what it should cost plus anything you add to it.

The only unforseen costs are in the land preperation ie the slab, drainage etc as these costs aren't included in the base price there's no reason why this price should change.

halcyon 52

Sorry,

I know - I just went off on the builders breathing in and out exercises (oooh!!!) and got fired up over a totally different building issue) - cheers.

biggy

Our builder was fantastic, we got quoted a price, he quoted an M class footing(he has llived here all his life and knows the land and where the rock is) he did explain that it could go up a bit depending on the soil test, as it was..it was umm an S class so we got money back.

He took stuff out the contract if we found it on 'sale' somewhere, and we upgraded a few things extra electrics etc, and we still came in $1400 (i think)under budget.

He also included free fly screens which we upgraded to security screens, and threw in a few more extras. would defo build with him again.....the Bigger the Cimpany isnt always the best.

If you go with a builder registered with Master Builders then thats all that matters

Good luck and I hope all is sorted out very soon

playbunny75

We are going with a builder who is registered with masters and also HIA we have spoken to both of these for help about some of the issues we have had and were thinking maybe we were wrong. They have been so helpful actually and have now given us some advise that may stand us in good stead with sorting the final price. We can at least go back confident that they have made a mistake and the tender price/brochure price can not be changed. It seems Helenly need more time to before they get back to us or as I tend to think while they think up a crap excuse for F*****g up all the time!!

fraser

So they've blatantly tried it on the cheeky bastards I'd tell them to stick it.

playbunny75

What they do is say to us we have saved you some money by taking the rock removal out and then add something else that was not mentioned before on to the price so it actually stays the same. We have contacted the manager with a letter today and also given them a deadline to fax through a new tender by 2pm or they can stick it nothing here yet! so we could be back a square one soon. I just wish we had never bought the F*****g block at all and just carried on renting im so mad with there bullshit taking us for mugs

playbunny75

Just ignore me I am having a total rant today sorry if this sounds bad!

cedar cottage

Just thought I would throw in my 20 cents worth...Completely different State and if the press is right, different building markets, (WA in boom at the moment) but something to think about. We are in Rockingham, south of Perth and wanted to build an extension on our house (75 sq's) got quotes from builders as we thought that would be best, this was in August 2004. Had the plans drawn up already so they knew what we wanted, some didnt even bother replying or returning the plans, others way over our budget. We then decided to owner build, never done it before and then got loads of quotes for everything needed. Decided we could do it so paid $100.00 for the licence and off we went...from start to lock up 2 weeks (except for two doors) which we banged corrugated iron on for security. Then we went to the UK for 2 months. Worked like demons on our days off as the unskilled labour the whole time and completed our extension in a total of 6 weeks. I think all the tradesmen were waiting around for others on other jobs to do their work and when we rang they knew that they could do our job in between others...A bit stressful and I know it was only an extension (no kitchen), but saved us a packet and I was on top of them the whole time. We now have exactly what we want and are very happy with it..Over here we have a friend who has just moved into his new home he started 12 months before we even thought about doing ours, and we were finished 24/12/04Suzette.. Sorry for the rant, but seeing as you own the land and have an idea of what you want Playbunny, maybe you could ring a few other subcontractors and find out more.PS if things have slowed down where you are the prices for the tradesmen may even be dropping. Suzette.

fraser

No worries you're entitled to rant that what these boards are for

playbunny75

Now we are stuffed as Henley have phoned to say that they can't fax out a tender until monday at the earliest time as they are so busy at the moment no one free to work on it. We had a call from the manager to say that the poor service is a result of them being so busy not our fault maybe they need more staff my husband told them. We are F****d now don't know what to do tell them to stick it or hold out longer

Marlo

For what my opinion is worth tell them to stick it, we were warned off of using Henley by more than one person.

Where are you living? We're in Melbourne and our builder is a diamond.

I wish you all the luck, you shouldn't be having such a stressful time, they're messin you about big time!!

All the best

Slater

Regarding the extra charges you've been informed about: Most project builders have some kind of rock clause in the contract that they impose upon discovering rock while cutting or excavating for the drainage. Normal procedure is that they must stop work and inform you of the find, this gives you the opportunity to get your own rock breaker in, should you want to.


Our pool fencer said that he needed a rock breaker to put holes in for the last 2 posts, the next morning when he turned up with all the equiptment, he discovered that I had dug the holes after he left the day before. When I told him it took me half an hour with a spike and garden fork, softening the clay with water as I went. He called me a bloody time waster, apparently costing him money because he had to hire the rock breaking tools, despite the fact they wern't even needed. When I pointed this out to him, he threw a few ****s and bastards at me got in his van and that was the last we saw of him. The firm he worked for were very apologetic and sent someone round the next day to finish the job. I deducted $20 from the job total for the work that I did, they didn't argue it.

Slater

playbunny75

We are in Melbourne who did you build with if you don't mind me asking? I am building with Northridge actually but all the paperwork and colours are done at Henley office but the house designs and what you get are totally different form helenly. We also warned off Henley infact it was the only company I had ruled out straight away and didn't realise we would have to deal with them until later on in the process when we had already found a northridge hosue we really liked. The Northridge company is only in Melbourne and makes a mcuh smaller amount of homes. We got a call from Henley yesterday not until 6.30pm to say that they would knock $1,000 off price. They do seem to be finally taking notice. My husband wants to keep with them as he really likes the house and as we have an odd shaped block there are not as many option to chose from although we have seen on with porter davis but the site costs they are quoting are $8,000 more!

Hopefully we can get it all sorted sooner or later and look foward to living in our new house

Marlo

Have sent you a PM.