So far I have omitted to share about the delays and issues we have experienced so far. As we are hopefully starting construction this week, I guess it's time to get up to date so that we can move forward in a more positive manner once I get this off my chest!
Prior to signing up with Carlisle Homes, we had looked at other builders ie Burbank & Mimosa, and they both had lovely homes but we felt that the design Carlisle Homes offered in the Bellaire 25 suited our lifestyle the best. Carlisle Homes had a good reputation and we felt confident in the choice we'd made. In February 2014 we signed the initial 'we choose you' contract with Carlisle Homes. This locked in the price of the house we had chosen.
31 April 2014 our land settled.
7 May 2014 I chose our colours & made our selections (see previous post).
I found this to be quite a challenging process in more ways than one. Firstly, my son was overseas and even though I consulted him on most things, it was difficult not having him there on the day. For the actual colours etc. I relied heavily on the advice of the interior designer assigned to guide me through the process, but one particular issue I had during this process was that even though the soil reports had been completed, we weren't told how much the final ground work costs were. We were aware that it could be $5,000 (unlikely!) or $50,000! This meant that I had no idea how much we had in our budget to spend on upgrades etc. This is a very dangerous situation for the client (but beneficial to the builder!). Initially, I was quite disappointed with the quality of some of the 'standard' items that were included in the base price of the house. For example, the bathroom basins looked like they belonged in a public toilet and when faced with having to make a decision about our bathroom basins, all of a sudden it seemed important that they didn't look like they belonged in a public toilet! The same could be said for the bathroom fittings, power points, bench tops etc. etc. etc.and as a result, I upgraded most of it. I found it very difficult to have any perspective during this process. On one hand, there are people starving in the world, and here I am fussing about the look of our bathroom basins...but somehow, it seemed important at the time. Part of the reasoning in my mind was to try and maximise the value of the house as much as I could over the coming 10-20 years and that in order to do so we couldn't have cheap crappy fittings. Not sure if that makes sense or not, but at the time it felt reasonable and important. Then there is the power of a sale! I have always dreamt of having a Color Bond roof some day, but knew that I could probably never afford one. However, Carlisle Homes happened to be having a promotion on Color Bond and we could upgrade the whole roof for only $1,999! How could I resist that?? And a Wok Burner on the (upgraded) stove? Well, every decent home needed that didn't it? And so it went on & on. See what I mean about losing perspective?? For the record, I planned on spending $20,000 on upgrades and I ended up spending approx $35,000 (omg!). Since then, I have vacillated on my colour selections and am still not sure whether I've made the right choices or not, but it's too late now :/
12 Aug 2014 I signed the building contract.
To note: As per the contract, the builder has 21 days to get planning approval & building permits and 210 days (30 weeks) to complete the construction. This means that planning approval & building permits should have been issued by 2 Sept 2014 and completion of the house will be 10 March 2015 before the builder has to start paying us damages for going over time. It is beneficial to keep this information in mind!
Anyway, there appeared to be nothing happening for the first few weeks after contract. Carlisle Homes certainly missed the planning approval & building permit dates...well & truly. Reasons? No one could really tell us.
Around 16 Sept 2014 I received a call from the builder to tell me there was a problem. Apparently the 4400mm set back (distance of the house from the front) had to be changed to 5600mm as the house was on a corner block and this was a council requirement in our area (which they weren't aware of prior to contract?). Apparently, the issue with moving the house back 1200mm was that it would then encroach on an easement that was positioned in the back. This meant that we either chopped 10cms off the back of the house (re-jig the plans $$) or we applied to the council and relevant services to allow the house to encroach the easement by 10cms, but this could take up to 6 weeks to get an answer. I was obviously disappointed and thought about this for a few days before I realised (duh!) that we didn't have an easement on our block! I checked the plans and I was right - no easement.
A few days later I contacted the builder about the fact that there is no easement on our property (!?), and it seems that there was some confusion and the builder advised me that this wasn't actually the issue (no kidding?). The actual issue was that our neighbour had opposed our plans and we therefore couldn't get a building permit. The neighbour apparently mentioned to our builder that if we built him a pergola though, that he would not oppose the plans. What?? Really?? So many things were running through my head....why does the neighbour even have a say? What happened re the easement? Why has the neighbour even seen our plans? Build him a pergola?? Seriously?? What happened re the easement? What is the actual issue? Do our plans not comply with building regulations? Why has Carlisle Homes not advised us of any issues prior to this? I was very confused and unsettled. This was the first time I wondered if our builder actually knew what they were doing, and it certainly wasn't the last. How they could make a mistake regarding our set back and an easement I'll never know.
What actually happened? According to Building Regulations, we are not permitted to build within 3m of a habitable window (neighbour's). As per the plans in our contract, our garage wall was well within 3m of our neighbour's kitchen (habitable) window, and therefore not permitted. The plans in the contract specifically show the neighbour's window next to our garage wall. That being the case, the neighbour had a right to oppose our plans. My concern at this stage was why did our Carlisle not pick this up when the plans were drawn up? One would have thought that being a builder, they would have been aware of the Building Regulations and seen by the plans that there was going to be a problem? It was now 9 Oct 2014 and this should have been addressed prior to the contract being signed 2 months ago. The other issue I had at this stage was that our builder had had conversations with our neighbour and sent him a copy of our plans, during which time no-one had spoken to us about the situation until after the neighbour had opposed the plans. It was only then, when our builder needed direction from us as to how we wanted to proceed, that we were advised of the situation. Communication people!!!
For the next couple of weeks we went back and forth with Carlisle Homes with ideas and new plans and ways that we could build our home without breaching building regulations, as well as keeping both ourselves and our neighbour happy. Obviously, this was complex and the solution wasn't presenting itself as quickly as we'd have liked as we simply weren't prepared to compromise on the original house specifications (or facade) that we had chosen back in January 2014 (and that was in the signed contract!). Carlisle suggested a different facade, reworked plans, walls taken out of the rear garage wall etc. etc. etc. All of this was costing time & money, I was just unaware of how much at the time. We weren't prepared to compromise on the facade or the main design of the house as this was the whole reason we signed up with Carlisle Homes in the first place. If we were going to go with a different design, we would have gone with Burbank or Mimosa Homes at the beginning. Carlisle Homes eventually came up with a new plan where the back wall of our garage was moved but an extension was put on the front of the garage so that we didn't lose any internal space. We were happy with it (finally!). Carlisle Homes then advised us that the revised plans and cost to build would cost us $3,961. Mmmm.... we have a problem! As stated earlier, we felt that this was Carlisle's responsibility and that they should have been on the ball and recognised much earlier that there was going to be an issue and resolved it prior to contract. They were now telling us that they couldn't build us the house that we signed for in the contract and that now we have to pay for it?! It was at this stage that I sought legal advice from the Victorian Building Authority (VBA) who were fantastic. The advised me that the builder had breached the contract (ie refer back to the 21 days after contract to get planning approval & building permits for example) which meant that we had a right to cancel the contract at this stage. VBA advised me to let Carlise Homes know that the contract had been breached and that we expect them to cover the costs of the revised plans and subsequent build costs. Upon receiving this information, Carlisle Homes agreed to cover the cost of the revisions.
11 Dec 2014 We received our Building Permits. Carlisle Homes advised us that the proposed construction start date was 8 Jan 2015.
22 Dec 2015 We were advised by the bank that there was a shortfall of $4,510 between the construction costs and the loan (based on original valuation). We will have to cover this.
5 Jan 2015 Carlisle Homes advised us that 3 out of the 5 boundary pegs had 'gone missing' and that they can't start construction until this is rectified. Therefore a Re-establishment Survey needed to be conducted at a cost of $965. We will also have to cover this.
6 Jan 2015 Received our Final Construction Documents for signing.
8 Jan 2015 Proposed construction start.
A tip for those thinking about building.......save more money than you think you need cos you'll need it & remember that there are people a lot worse off than you in the world and how your bathroom basins look probably doesn't matter as much as you think it does. Try and gain some perspective... harder said than done I know! :)
It's a New Year now and we are hoping that the worst is behind us. Here's hoping that we have smooth sailing from here on in.
#lookingforwardtothefuture #broke
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