What Part of 'Complete' Don't You Understand?

We received a progress payment claim that included 'completion of roof trusses, bricks, roof tiles and plumbing rough-in', however brick laying to the back corner of the garage, and roof tile laying to one corner of the garage roof had yet to be completed.  I declined the claim on the grounds that the work was not complete, and that the bank may object and place my loan at risk for me signing before works were complete.  I received a return email from Fowler accounts the following afternoon to say that the brick laying was completed that day and that the roof was 'all but complete' so the claim was valid.  I reconfirmed my commitment that I would not accept the claim until the roof was complete.  The Site Supervisor responded via email after midnight to say that he would suspend the job until given further instruction from accounts!  This certainly caused some heart palpitations when I checked my emails in the morning.

I tried to call him to discuss the reason for suspending works as I was pretty confident that he was stepping outside of what was allowed under the contract, and I thought it was important to maintain the positive relationship we had developed up to that point.  After a nervous day I received an email late in the afternoon to say that the roof tiling would be completed by close of business! I got my Dad to check the next morning and then lodged the claim and they were paid two days later.

A few interesting points related to this saga:

• I got some advice from NSW Fair Trading that I was most likely to have been within my rights to decline the claim, but would need to see a solicitor if the dispute reached a stalemate.
• I have been very positive and responsive in my dealings with Fowler Homes to date.  I was particularly disappointed with their lack of communication, and particularly threatening to suspend the job on such dodgy grounds.
• A more customer focused response would have been to either explain to me why their claim was valid (even though it wasn't), or commit to completing the work quickly (as they did when pressed).
• The use of strong arm tactics makes me worry that Fowler are having cash flow problems.  I hope that I am reading too much in to this.

Did I expect disputes like this to occur? Yes.  Am I over it now? Mostly.  Am I hoping for better in the future? Definitely.  Do I really expect that I will get better in the future? Probably not.  The joy of project home building.

Piers Me Off! (with pic)

Piering occurred today.  Nice to see the progress but was given almost no notice to go and verify the depths.  Watched for a while when a 3 m pier was dropped and started to think the worst regarding a variation - there was only an allowance for 50 lineal metres in the contract and I find out today there are 55 piers.  Once we assessed all of the depths it came out as 89 m, 39 m over the allowance x $80/m = $3,120 unbudgeted.  I am a bit 'piers'ed off! I reckon Fowler Homes could have predicted this.  I had a look at my Wisdom Tender and they had given a fixed price!  A definite trap for first time Builders.  If you have a site affected by fill, consider the potential for piering variations.

The concrete pump arrived before I left so the piers should be filled today.  Formwork, plumbing, reo and then lay slab - could all happen this week weather permitting and Fowler being on their game.  Here's hoping.

Piers drilled, setting up for filling

Construction Commenced? (with pic)

Well, well, well, we have some action:

• Our new Fowler Homes CSO returned my call within 24 hours and told me the name of our allocated Site Supervisor
• A silt fence has been erected at the front of our site
• Initial survey pegs have been placed

Does this constitute construction commenced?

The fence erection occurred exactly 3 weeks after Fowler Homes received the construction certificate, and I guess this constitutes commencement of construction? This is therefore a week within what is allowed in the contract, not even taking into account all of the rain.  It is funny how excited we can get over a bit of shade cloth and a few pegs!


Again I have been somewhat concerned about the volume of negative reviews on productreview.com.au.  One nasty one today quoted a project number that looks legitimate.  I do wonder if some of the others are real customers, disgruntled ex-employees or cheeky competitors.  Surprisingly Fowler Homes have somewhat conceded some poor performance, blaming rapid growth and some incompetent personnel which they have churned.  From our perspective they have been way too slow getting us to this point, but certainly no where near as bad as some of these reviews.  Here's hoping our experience proves them wrong.

Time for a prediction - Melbourne Cup party in our new home!  Pessimistic? Realistic? Optimistic? Will Global Warming, La Nina and GFC II join forces to conspire against us? Stay tuned.

Contract Signed

Congratulations, you have reached the front of the line! Now you can join the next queue!
We signed the contract yesterday. It feels good to have achieved a milestone.

We are told that it takes 3 weeks to prepare for council submission and then the council takes at least 6 weeks, then the construction certificate and mucking around with the bank, then the Builder has up to 4 weeks before they have to start. That lands bang on Christmas when they can have 5 weeks off! Then they can have up to 200 working days plus bad weather. At this rate we might be in at this time next year... Hopefully things go a bit quicker than that.

Colours appointment next week, very exciting, will keep you posted.

The Contract

Got the contract 2 days later than promised. It is a HIA standard contract and is written in the builder's favour. Then the Builder adds their own special conditions on top.
As an example of the bias, liquidated damages apply if the building duration exceeds the contract period. Sounds good but, the contract period does not commence until 4 weeks after the Construction Certificate is approved. Then, allowable extensions include all adverse weather and 5 weeks at Christmas. Then the Builder specifies a contract period that is close to a year. Therefore, the building process can take well over a year before the builder will compensate you for the rent and interest fees that you have been incurring, and continue to incur, over that 12 month period. By this stage you have already paid the Builder $5,000 non-refundable. What do you do, walk away?

Fowler's special conditions do not appear to be too bad.

I negotiated the contract period down, but not by much, and the liquidated damages rate up, but not by much. I also prepared a list of special conditions, of which about 70% were accepted.

We are now just waiting for the bank to complete a valuation and approve the loan before we sign the contract. More waiting! At least it's not the Builder this time.

I noticed that they have been getting beaten up pretty bad on productreview.com.au and that they have been posting responses. It is a worry that so many customers are not happy. I will be interested to see if the service improves as a result.

From Sign On to Drawings - Delays, Delays, Delays...

To finalise the Fowler Homes tender in order to make it accurate for the drawings took a couple of iterations despite me giving clear instructions each time.  After this we paid the first deposit of $5,000, negotiated down from $10,000 - Wisdom Homes only wanted $2,300 at this stage.

I had to ask what the next steps were as no information was offered.  I was told that the drawings would take about 4 weeks.  I follow up at 3.5 weeks and then again at 4.5 weeks and finally get them that night.
There are some minor errors and a few things I would like changed. It takes 4 days to get a variation detailing the amendments and changes.  I sign and return within 30 minutes.  I follow up 5 days later to find that the Rep did not realise I had returned it and she orders the drawings then.  A week and a half  later I finally complain about all of the delays and I get revisions that night with a promise for the Contract within 3 days.
I again follow up 4 days later to be told the boss is ill and it will come tomorrow.

As I had anticipated during the negotiations phase I have to chase every time in order to make progress.  I am hoping to be in by Easter 2012.  I think it is realistic but I also won't be surprised to be disappointed...

Have been pricing Solicitors to review the Contract.  Ranges from $500 to $2,500 so worth shopping around.  I will read it first to decide whether I think it is necessary or not.

In the meantime we have investigated a few variations:

• Bowral Dry Pressed Gertrudis Brown and plain Bowral Brown Dry Pressed brick upgrades were super expensive and we will not be going there.
• Austral Brick are having trouble supplying the Whitsunday range and are offering Metropolis in lieu.  Austral emailed me a spreadsheet of jobs completed in the Metropolis range and I have done some drive-bys.  It looks like we might go with Topaz.
• We had Bristile Classic concrete tiles thrown in free.  Thought about Birch and Beach but all of the light coloured roofs I see around the place are covered in dirt.  We are thinking Gunmetal now.
• We are going ahead with an internal brick wall in the Meals area done in recycled brick from the Recycled Brick Yard at Canterbury. Check out Google streetview of 46 Evans St Rozelle to see the effect.  Should look hot.

I am surprised that the Contract comes before the Colours and Electrical - doesn't make sense to me.  I have tried to estimate the likely variations for my budget. I hope that we don't get too many ugly surprises.

I will keep you posted.