in hot water

So after having our lease run out (without the possibility of extending), we had to move into our un-finished house. When I say "had to", we chose to move in thinking it would: a) hurry up the Builder, b) prevent us from moving twice (ughh, just the though of it!), and c) hurry up the Builder.

We weren't unjustified in thinking the timing would be OK, it was 2 weeks after the final completion date and all was promised to be finished in the lead-up. Unfortunately everything stalled, but the Project Manager actively encouraged us to move in due to the fact that we could no longer charge him rent in liquidated damages...and us being in the house meant we could do his job for him (let trades in / supervise works / clean up after them). Win-win (for him).

Faced with the prospect of the house never being completed (OK, maybe that's a little dramatic), but going on and on, it's become very unsettling...you see we won't get an occupancy certificate to officially live in the house until they have finished and we have paid in full. We're happy to pay when the job is done...but when will it be done? In the mean time, we're living in limbo, having trades arrive on random days at random times to complete partial jobs. When will this ever be over?

The Project Manager tells me he will complete all works when the building inspection report (completed this week) arrives (more stalling tactics - there's heaps to do in the mean time). I understand he wants to make sending trades out worthwhile but it's become glaringly obvious that there's a cash flow problem. And as they won't get paid until they're finished, it's all come to a grinding halt (again).

So back to the title. We're living in an incomplete house with partial services connected...we don't have any gas. We would have received the connection 2 months ago had the Builder installed the correct valve (as recommended by AGL), but he didn't, therefore we needed to reapply...and here we are, still waiting for gas. Gggrrrrr...another thing thing that makes us so angry! Anyway, without gas, we don't have hot water or a working cook top /oven.

I tell you, hot water is seriously underrated. Even with all of the house moving, we always had hot water...we made sure of it. Now we're in the hands of someone who couldn't give a stuff, so we're pulling out all stops to make it happen. As a compromise (it is winter, after all), the Project Manager arranged to have my brother's old electric hot water heater wired up. Unfortunately it had rusted out - no go. So this bright spark (I'm being sarcastic here), talked us into hooking up our hot water heater to an LPG bottle.

We questioned it..."are you sure this is OK..isn't natural gas different to LPG"?, but all was assured. The plumber (not the one that's done all of the shit work - he got fired, but his unqualified apprentice), connected it up and told us how to light it daily. Apparently it was safe, but "you don't want to run it all the time". Well, word to the wise: it's not safe. After 5 days of working, it stopped. And here's why...

Not trusting the Project Manager (why did we ever?), we got our superhero plumber who connected all of the stormwater work when we subdivided the block to come out and have a look. He was gobsmacked. He couldn't believe that someone would perform such a dodgy connection and told us we were lucky that something hadn't gone really awry. All of the insulation has burnt away and melted (see above) and the different gas / pressure has caused the pilot light to stop working (hence it no longer works).

The Project Manager's response? If it needs replacing, no problem...it's under warranty. I called the manufacturer - hooking it up to LPG voids the warranty. What an idiot. Oh well, he's the one who'll be replacing a 5 day old water heater.

The upside is that our superhero plumber saved the day by bringing over his spare electric hot water heater and hooked it up immediately. Aahhhh, hot water! No more boiling of kettles to wash up and bucket baths at night. Bliss! And the really good news? Gas will be connected on Wednesday! Hooray!!!
P.S if you ever really want to get somewhere with AGL (and bypass their 'robots' on the other end of the phone), speak very loudly on Facebook...it actually works.

how to install a wardrobe

OK, OK, so it's more like how not to install a wardrobe.

So you start with some shelves...and maybe a hanging rail or two.

Make sure the shelves are level, cut evenly and flush with the other shelves.

You'll need a frame for your doors (this will probably cut into your skirting boards along the floor which should be finished at the end).

Oh, and it's handy if the doors close properly at the top...

...and the bottom. And don't forget to finish those skirtings off! Voila! Job done.

a new day

Along with a new look, I'm looking at a new day.

The Project Manager "managing" (ha ha) our house build came over yesterday to chat. We went through the current progress payment, deductions and variations and made some real progress.

We don't ever want to see the Builder again. In fact, my opinion of him couldn't be lower. He has gone out of his way to deceive and scam money out of a fixed price contract, deliberately left vital information out of the contract, denied ever having a contract, denied having to bring the house to completion, and dragged this build out 5 months over schedule. To say we're keen to be rid of him would be an understatement.

I'm not naive enough to think that everything is fixed - in fact far from it. Nor do I underestimate that the Project Manager is just pretending to be helpful in the hope that we retract our Notice of Default. We'll just wait and see what happens over the next week or 2 and go from there.

In a few days we'll having a Building Inspector complete a defect list, then it will be up to the Project Manager to tick everything off prior to the final progress payment and handover. The Project Manager foresees 4 days of "fixing". If it's taken this long to get our house built, we conservatively guess a few more weeks...though we'd love to be surprised...it is a new day after all.

too bad, so sad :(

This feels like a terrible TV drama series.

So now the Builder is recognising our contract and the listed inclusions...apparently there was a "misunderstanding", the Home Design company tells me. What a dickhead.

He's keen to meet, but not with a mediator (alarm bells anyone?). He wants to discuss our claim for credits (and try to talk us into paying more, no doubt). We're obligated under the contract to meet (sometimes I'd sooner just push to tribunal as these discussions never go anywhere...just empty promises and lies). I think we're going to get a friend involved who deals with building contracts a lot. Maybe he can help retain some clarity during the meeting. I don't think we can afford a solicitor to attend at this stage.

In the mean time, a plumber showed up today for an hour. Woo hoo! That's the 2nd trade we've had onsite in 2 weeks. And this house is meant to be finished? What a joke. The list of items we've come up with is long. Unfortunately the Project Manager who works for the Builder is trying to narrow things down, claiming: it's too much work to repair / that's your fault / we can do this part at a later stage. Many items have fallen into the 'too bad, so sad' category...he's just too lazy to properly finish the job.

What's worse is the Project Manager claims he's unhappy with the Builder and has pulled out of another job with him. He says he'll never work for him again and he disagrees with what the Builder is doing to us in regards to our contract. Is he just playing the "good cop", or should I be ultra-thankful that he's staying on to complete our job? One thing we've learnt is that these guys lie...constantly. We're too tired to play their game (and obviously not very good at it), we had too much faith that what was agreed upon would be carried out. In any case, we need to keep our guard up.

The Project Manager asked us to write a final list of items to be completed so the Builder can issue the final progress payment. Hang on a minute...we have to come up with a defect list? We're handy but we're not professionals! I don't want to sign anything saying "all works completed" when we don't even know if all works have been completed. I wouldn't be a surprised if they were holding out on us, only to spring more additions on us later on. I called a private building inspector who specialises in new homes. 2 hours for $450 and a very detailed report showing every minor flaw - sounds worthwhile. At least we'll have a professional's view and some unbiased information to go on.

My main concern (and there are many!) is that if we sack our current Builder (as we are entitled to do under the Notice of Default): what else needs to be done by him??? What paperwork is he holding back on? Will this come back to bite us? I know it's not a valid reason to continue with him - he's done such a shitty job thus far. I'm just not sure if it's going to be more work to handover to another Builder and chase the old one up on paperwork? I'm only wishing we'd fired him as soon as things started going really down hill...about 8 months ago :(

how did we get here?

If you're maths is good, you'd have worked out we should have been in our house (by the Builder's time line) 21 days ago. Unfortunately we haven't moved in as the house is incomplete and not able to pass Council's inspection for a temporary occupancy certificate.

We're in no man's land. Our home (while building) has been sold and we've had to move out (we extended the lease 5 times but the new owners want to move in now). Our possessions have been moved into the new house but we're unable to reside there yet without an occupancy certificate.

We were stupid to think that the Builder would stick to his word and actually get us in on 31st July. Things started going pear-shaped about 2 weeks before the completion date when trades didn't show and they fell behind in schedule. We asked if we were still on track (as we were packing boxes to move out) and were spun more lies about unforseen delays, though all was OK - all bullshit. Time just slipped away with no real urgency from the builder...and here we are.

The Liquidated Damages clause that usually cover these situations was never filled in on the contract (crazy, I know). As first-time signing a building contract, we trusted the Home Designer facilitating the process and Builder that all of the blank pages were usual practice. Oh, how I regret ever signing that contract.

After issuing the Builder with a Notice of Default and Notice of Dispute, we had several meeting where things seemingly got back on track (in around June where the new timeline was issued). Unfortunately it all meant nothing when the Builder told us he would write an amendment to the contract including Liquidated Damages. Little did we know he never intended to write anything. Shame on us for believing.

The one item in our favour (we thought) was payment. No progress...no payment. Unfortunately we underestimated the Builders' withholding the necessary documentation required to obtain an occupancy certificate. He says they will be released when the house is finished (when will that ever be?) and and all monies are paid. As work has (apparently) ceased on site (no trades in over a week), we can only assume this is going to take a little longer...

It's incredibly unnerving to feel so stuck: a house unfinished, not cleared by council, no where to live (we're camping at my aunt's house) and no end date.

Last week the Builder asked for another progress payment (again, no items in contract to be ticked off to show it is due) and we decided to claim our purchased items as they have now been installed....and we've purchased a LOT of items! Why? We got them cheaper than the Builder / they are to our taste / it ensured items were ready for installation when required (reducing delays). So I'm talking: timber flooring ($10K), carpet ($2.5K), bathroom vanities, taps, bath, tiles ($6K), etc, etc...around $20K we've outlaid - ready for credit.

Wouldn't you guess it? The Builder is denying these claims, sending constant and rude emails insisting we pay the total (with no credits for all flooring / bathrooms / etc) and saying "you got what you deserve"???? What?

Fuck! Now where do we go? I've contacted the Master Builder's Association (whom our contract is through) and they're writing another letter of Dispute, essentially asking him  to pull his head in. I'm arranging mediation (do you think the Builder will go halves in it? LOL) and looking into tribunal.

In the mean time nothing is happening on site. I'm really upset about this. I feel unsafe and hurt. My husband is angry. We're both so tired of fighting. God, this hurts.

a regular day in the life of someone having a house built by a builder..

7am - Tiler arrives on site and starts laying balcony tiles which I ordered and paid for in advance (Builder will reimburse me some day soon).
8am - I check to see how Tiler is going. He is not laying tiles with the 20mm edge as requested to Builder (so the water drips off the edge). Ask Tiler to move them with the appropriate edge.
9:15am - Tiler realises he is 3 tiles short to complete the job. While cursing the Builder for not calculating this correctly, I call the tile distributor to source more tiles before the Tiler leaves (not sure when he'll be able to come back and finish the job).
9:30am - Find tiles available at factory 45 mins away. Jump in my car and race to the factory to pick them up.
11am - Return to site and Tiler is still there (phew!). Hand over the tiles and go home to pick up baby (lucky for Grandma!) and go shopping for down lights.
12:30pm Arrive home with 50 LED down lights plus 4 wall lights for a bargain $1000. Builder's allowance is $16 a light (which covers fluros only). I'm able to chip in an extra $2 per light and get LEDs - so much cheaper than the Builder's quote for $25 per LED downlight. Feeling pretty good. Baby to sleep.
2:30pm Back out shopping for fans and external lights at Bunnings.
4pm Return to site with goods for electrician and to clean up tradies' mess (electrical wiring / McDonalds rubbish / plaster on floors / scrap material scattered every where).
6:30pm Dinner, domestic duties and bed. Phew! This house-building stuff is tiring!

You're probably asking where the Builder is, and why he isn't onsite to organise trades? We ask ourselves this too...often. We're so close to completion that we do whatever it takes to see this through...writing lists of items to be completed, emailing the Builder to hurry up the build, briefing trades on jobs to be done on site, and asking them to return when jobs are incomplete / poorly finished.

What have we got ourselves into? A big mess. But it's nearly finished...