Consultancy

Need to make a claim under the Home Owners Warranty Insurance?

In the event of the builder’s death, disappearance or insolvency an owner may be able to claim for non-completion of work and/or defective building work under Home Owner Warranty Insurance.

We can assist with your claim as our consultants are specialists in this field.

This report provides an account of the property’s condition as inspected in accordance with Australian Standard 4349 Inspection of Buildings Part 1: Property inspections — Residential buildings.

This report is commissioned by prospective purchasers of homes. It outlines issues that may concern the property.

This provides knowledge to the prospective purchaser to assist them with their decision.

Not all builders comply with the building regulations set out in the National Construction Code (NCC), Building Code of Australia (BCA), Australian Standards (AS), manufacturer’s recommendations or council requirements.

In these instances, a Building Defects Report is required to identify the non-compliances and outline the builder’s obligation to rectify the issue. If required, the Building Defects Report can also include a scope of work for rectification.

This is beneficial to ensure that a suitable method of repair is adopted.

Contracts are entered into between the Owner and Builder prior to commencement of building work. Contracts are usually weighted in favour of the Builder as the terms of the contract are often proposed by the Builder and never challenged.

Progress payments are usually in excess of the value of work performed at the nominated stages. This results in a relatively small payment for the remaining work at the final stage of Practical Completion. However, this does not have to be the case. The amounts offered at the Progress Payment Schedule can be negotiated prior to signing the contract to enable a fairer distribution of funds. We can do this on your behalf to reduce the amount of risk in the event that your Builder becomes insolvent or is unable to complete the build.

Builders often ask for progress payments in advance of the stage being completed. Whilst this is considered to be a breach of contract, some owners allow this to occur for two reasons. The first reason is that they trust the builder hoping that he will utilise the funds appropriately and the second reason that owners may not be aware when the stage of work is deemed complete. We can assess the stages of work for you and advise whether the relevant stage is complete for the release of funds.

In addition to this, Prime Cost Items (PC) and Provisional Sums (PS) are often included in a contract. PC Items are for unspecified fixtures such as baths, taps etc. which may not be chosen or known at the time of signing a contract and a figure is allowed for by the builder. This figure may be well undervalued which results in an excess to be paid by the owner. Provisional Sums are nominated allowances for an unknown quantity where the time taken to complete the task cannot be accurately estimated.