If your not happy with the outcome of you new home and the building company is not responsive or Lawyers are involved, what went wrong.
In our opinion it all starts right from the point where you started looking to a building company to provide you with everything from design to completion while your input was minimal. The glossy brochures are nice, the floor plans look great and best of all you know what it will cost or at least you think you do.
Lets face it, hiring an Architect or an Architectural designer is complicated. You have to explain what you want – wait for designs to be completed and then altered and then the frustrating wait while consent drawings are prepared and even then you have no idea if you can afford the design. You have to give your time!
Building company plans are cheap and there already drawn. So why wouldn’t you use a building company. Well here’s a thought;
You have no one between you and the building company to independently monitor and advise you regarding the build quality and the building company has all the financial clout while your clout has been paid to the building company every step of the way.
Using the right designer changes the balance in your favor as the Designer can with hold payment or even fire the building company assuming you have given the Designer the power to do so and assuming this has been set up in your contract.
This is how it was done previous to the 90’s. I have done many houses for clients where an independent builder was selected to do the build and things went wrong during the build. I have dealt with braces not positioned correctly – leaking house retaining walls and even an upper floor built completely incorrectly plus and entire roof incorrectly erected on a 300m² house. All these issues were sorted to the owners satisfaction more or less immediately.
So why can’t these owners with issues with design and build companies get any traction when things are clearly wrong and even the Council agree with the owner. Because there is no one between the owner and the design build company.
It’s time that owners realised they are on their own with this type of setup and while it’s all smiles – coffee and biscuits when signing up, it will soon turn into a legal power play should build quality wane or you didn’t get the bathroom you requested.
Not only can you get a bespoke design from a Designer you can also get early costings at the preliminary design stage. Reputable Designers will handle the building consent process for you as well as any Council issues that may crop up during the build. You will have an ally throughout the building process who is responsible for any issues to do with plan interpretation and that your home is built according to the plans. But the big plus is a Designer should be your go to person if you are having problems with your building company and have the power to put a stop on the work. This is what makes the building company come to the part very quickly to resolve any issue.
Note: not all Designers provide this service and you must ask them if they can provide this for you before you proceed or that they can appoint someone suitably qualified to do this on their behalf.
Ross Newby Architectural Designer – LBP Design 3.