Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Building Experience .. hoping that it will be a better one...

Following the earlier issues we have mentioned in regards to the final drawings, we decided to go back to the display home and request a copy of the standard plans for the Amberlea display home. When we had a chat to the sales person, we found 14 other errors!

1. Staircase Probem - We idenfired the problem as to why we were asked to upgrade the stairs with another cost:
a. The hand rail of the stair case is KD hardwood in the contract but not in the final drawings?
b. The base plate is shown as Vic Ash already but the email said we had it in pine?
c.. It shows 15mm wrought iron balusters in the drawing but the contract (19-1) shows 15mm stainless steel. Interesting. I wonder what will they build when it comes to that?

2. The cloak room in the display home shows a slightly larger closet with a 720 door instead. We asked the sales person and the larger cloak room and 720 door are standard features for a home built based on the display home. This appears to have been made smaller in order to make way for more stairway space down the bottom.

3. The stair case in 3 sets of drawings show 15 steps. The stair case in one of the drawings shows 16 steps. Because we raised our ceiling height, the sales person said we should have 16 steps.

4. An extra wall has been added next to the front entrance. This is not in the Tarneit display home or in the plans for the Tarneit display home, and we signed the sales advise as per the display home template.

5. A rather significant issue for us and one that was difficult to pick up was that the void is actually incorrect in most of the drawings. Sheets 2, 2A show the distance between the pillars as 1670. Sheet 6 shows the distance between the pillars as 1450. More contradictions??

6. The bulkhead on sheet 2 between the garage and the store, we only just picked up, is not as per the display home. It should extend to outside the powder room and laundry. We questioned the sales person and determined that it is not an upgrade and should be part of any standard plans based on the Tarneit display home.

7. Linen cupboard in the laundry has been reduced from the base template for the display home. It should be 2010 in width. It looks like the door / wall to the laundry has been moved slightly to the right and therefore made the linen smaller.

8. There is no note on the drawing for the return air vent in the plan for the ground floor. This should be amended.

9. This is a really significant one and we are very lucky to have picked it up. The feature downstairs needs to be able to attach to the flu location upstairs. Looking at the location in the drawing, there doesn’t look to be any way in which the flu could connect with the flu location upstairs. Please have the location of the feature moved to the same location as in the display home.

10. We are sure if this is the way we are interpreting the drawing, but the wall between the ensuite shower and toilet depicted on sheet 5A appears to not go to the roof. If this is the case, then please amend to make sure it goes to the roof. This is as per the display home base template.

11. The contract specifies ceramic tiled splashback around the mirror in the ensuite vanity but its not reflected in the drawings.

12. The dimensions for the “cut out” window between the master bedroom and the ensuite are not correct. This was requested “as per display home”.

13. We requested the ensuite vanity as per display home. This included a wall on one side of the vanity. We noticed that the wall dimension is not as per the display home. It should be double size wall (180 and not 90).

14. The display home has a slight extension of the wall between the dining and family rooms as well as a bulkhead. The wall extension brings the wall in line with the edge of the “fireplace” feature and is essential for the house to look right. We questioned the sales person and this is not an upgrade for a home built on the display home and so should be included as standard.

I got a response from the builder to say that they will amend the plans in goodwill but stated that they are in their rights to not change anything as the plans we've signed at sales and at contract signing are the exact same as the final drawings. So rightfully they have not done anything wrong. It is a quite disappoting to get this kind of response when it will be impossible for them to build a house with different pages reflecting different outcomes anyway, I sure hope that after this paperwork mess, all would go well.

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