NEVER build with Gen 1 (Part of Easy Living)

[Deutscher]

My Partner and I are building with Gen 1 which is a smaller division of Easy Living Homes.
We are building a normal house in Hocking (Perth).

We signed our final contracts in November 2009. Finance and Council approval were already done etc.

The Slab went down mid January.

It's November 2010 now and we still need Roller door put on, carpets put in (tiles have been put in), paving (driveway & patio), appliance installed (have been delivered for 2weeks now).

They need to put a water connection for the fridge which they forgot to put in!! They screwed the laundry up and finally they fixed it.

Unbelievable. Our friends house was finished in 6months! They started after us and finished before us.

We've had about 3 or 4 different site managers. and now our new guy is leaving again (we only met him 2 weeks ago).

They arranged a PCI meeting for a Thursday, so myself, my step mum, my partner and her parents all took of work to be at this meeting to inspect the house and point out any faults for them to fix up. When we arrive there, we look through the house and after we pointed out things, he said this is only a "Pre-PCI" meeting.... he didn't note down anything that needed fixing. IT WAS A COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME!!! He changed it to Pre-PCI because nothing had been done in the 2 weeks! we were all p'd off so he said in 2weeks we will have the final PCI meeting and he'll do it on a saturday because we all had to take off work to be there for nothing.

Today I emailed Gen 1 and asked for a time for saturday. To get an email back saying that the latest site manager was leaving and our final PCI meeting will be next week!

UNFKINBELIEVABLE!

Edit: PCI means Practical Completion. So all the Walls are up, Carpets etc in, you could live in it. You then go through with the site manager and point out the faults that you want fixed up before they get their final payment and you get the keys.

[r1inoz]

sorry to hear bout the dramas,id be asking for compensation and taking it further.hope ya get it sorted

[Deutscher]

My bad....

[Deutscher]

sorry to hear bout the dramas,id be asking for compensation and taking it further.hope ya get it sorted

In their contracts they got like 1.5yrs to complete the house! they leave themselves plenty of time. It looks like it's going to be pretty close to that date. We never expected it to drag out this much. We are renting at my partners parents rental ($50 per week lol + bills). but we pay our mortgage ($50 until house is complete per week). But it's unbelievable how long they are taking.

We've been through atleast 4 different site managers so far.

[Big_Simmo]

jesus thats messed up, ive now build 2 houses both with celebrations and ive had them up n ready to move into in just on 6 months. Ive heard of gen 1 homes and 2 of my mates have built n moved in within 9 months.

I feel sorry for you b uddy but unfortunately the business cant really do much more if the site managers keep buggering off, I seriously hate builders.
Thats why once i get back on my feet im gonna move outta the folks house n buy a estabilshed one.

[Bravotwozero]

I feel your pain mate.

Our builder didn't start building until the house was meant to be finished. With all the stuffing around, (mainly subby issues) we moved in to our new home with no hot water, no heating or insulation and nowhere to cook or prepare food. Was the middle of winter with temps dropping below zero at night and my wife was 8 months pregnant!!!

[Deutscher]

jesus thats messed up, ive now build 2 houses both with celebrations and ive had them up n ready to move into in just on 6 months. Ive heard of gen 1 homes and 2 of my mates have built n moved in within 9 months.

I feel sorry for you b uddy but unfortunately the business cant really do much more if the site managers keep buggering off, I seriously hate builders.
Thats why once i get back on my feet im gonna move outta the folks house n buy a estabilshed one.

We can't do a thing about the time it's taking. They can't arrange to get the tradies in. We've had 6week delay for the roof tiles, we've had 4weeks where nothing got done on the house etc. They screwed up the laundry... screwed up the fridge tap.

Guess it's what you get for buying a house for ~$160,000.

We've tried speaking to them and they never call us back. We were meant to have PCI this saturday, I emailed her asking the time and got emails back saying it won't happen this weekend, hopefully next. My partner rang last week to confirm the meeting, she said if that's what he said that's what it'll be. I emailed saying that their leaving it pretty late to notify us of the time, then I find out it's not happening then I asked when they were actually going to tell us it wasn't on. Then I mentioned that she said it'd definately be saturday and whats going on. Then she tells me the site manager (he was there for 2 weeks) is leaving and he told us this at our Pre-PCI meeting. There was 5 of us there and no body heard him say he was leaving. So now we are liars according to her. She also said our site manager can't decide on PCI meeting, the overall construction manager has to set the date. Everytime we try to ring her, she is either on holidays, jury duty or in meetings... but she can reply to my email. In between 2 emails (5-10mins apart) she was in a meeting. When we finally get through to her she tells us she wasn't in a meeting and that we are accusing the reception girl of lieing.

Unbelievable. Then we asked to speak to someone above her and she put my partner on hold for 10 minutes and finally said he wasn't in the office and he'll call her back. Every time we get a "She'll call you back" it's 2 days later or not at all!

Edit: Sorry about the punctuation/grammer. So P'd off right now.

[soop]

Are you in the position to walk into their office?

[Deutscher]

Are you in the position to walk into their office?

Not really. Their office is about 40kms from where we living at the moment.
Both of us work full time. We'd have to take time of work & I doubt anything would change.
We are waiting for a call back from the manager. I want to put in a complaint. They've just been rude on the phone & nothing gets done at our house. We can't get the site managers number and the office is always behind on what is actually happening at the house.

It's unbelievable we have gone through 4 site managers. I thought after screwing us around for ages we'd get priority.
All the other houses must be in the same boat. I think it might also having something to do with our age... we are both 21, it's our first home etc.
All we get on the phone is, it's being done, they can't give us a date of when it should be finished (because they've got like 450 working days on their contract).

[soop]

Well the 40km drive might be worth it, walk in there and be as angry as you are here.

Squeeky wheel gets the oil dude.

[Deutscher]

Well the 40km drive might be worth it, walk in there and be as angry as you are here.

Squeeky wheel gets the oil dude.

Ye, might aswell give it a go.
I'll wait for this call back from the "manager" and see whats happens.
Then try to arrange a half day with work to go there.

[soop]

If that doesn't work stand out front of their office and tell everyone that walks past how they are to deal with.. Guaranteed you'll get your house finished quick smart.

[Deutscher]

If that doesn't work stand out front of their office and tell everyone that walks past how they are to deal with.. Guaranteed you'll get your house finished quick smart.

Wouldn't that be defamation? slander & libel.... wait I'm already doing that now but mine statement is truthful.

[minux]

What does their contract state build time is? I couldnt see it mentioend in the original post.

If they have exceeded this then they are in breach and you can take action. Otherwise if they have not exceeded it, well more fool you for signing a contract with such a long build period.

[soop]

If its a truthful account of your experience and you can prove it. You're intilted to say what you like.

If someone screws up, you're allowed to say so. Provided they did actually screw up.

Minux - I don't think its so much the build time, but the shit service within that time.

[Deutscher]

What does their contract state build time is? I couldnt see it mentioend in the original post.

If they have exceeded this then they are in breach and you can take action. Otherwise if they have not exceeded it, well more fool you for signing a contract with such a long build period.

Contract had ~450 days. Unfortunately we didn't have too much choice with builders due to financial reasons. We went with KeyStart and got a max of $380,000 for home and land. But with KeyStart we needed a fully completed house (i.e. Carperts, Window Coverings etc.). Our land was $225,000 leaving us with $155,000 for the house. Very difficifult finding a builder to build a house for $155k. The work they've done has been decent. It's their time they take and also the lies and rudeness towards us. Their customer service skills is non-existant. The time it takes for somebody to calls us back is ridiculous. They speak over us & accuse us of lieing.

[Deutscher]

If its a truthful account of your experience and you can prove it. You're intilted to say what you like.

If someone screws up, you're allowed to say so. Provided they did actually screw up.

Minux - I don't think its so much the build time, but the shit service within that time.

I know theres 2 sides to every story. Their actual work has been pretty good (apart from the Laundry & Fridge) compared to others from what I hear. The only issue is we can't speak to anyone directly. If we want any information at all they have to call us back and takes atleast 2 days. We can't speak to the site manager at all and the Office is usually behind on updates. Plus having 4 different site managers. With the time frame they have for themselves we have nothing to go on, apart from making a complaint about their rudeness & now her accusing us of lieing.

Edit: Their screw up I don't really care about (as long as they fix it). One blames the drafties, one blames previous site managers for not picking it up, one blames managers for not being able to read a construction plan. I think the end story was they had the original construction plans and we changed it during pre-start.

[Cúl-Báire]

Four words - NOTICE TO SHOW CAUSE!

Have you lawyer check your construction contract assuming it's not one of those builders contracts where you've signed your life away on there "should be" a few clauses in there you can use to pull them up, and pull them into line, look out for the terms or sections called "Performance and Payment", "Time & Progress", "Programming", "Show Cause" and ensure any notices given are served under the "Service of Notices" provision in the contract.

Any correspondence had via telephone, or in person should be confirmed in writing with a follow up email, or facsimile under the provisions of the contract (Service of Notices)... Even if it's just an email stating confirming our conversation had 17th November 2010, regarding xyz where Gen 1 said "blah blah", and we said "blue blue"... As soon as you start doing this they will lift their game, if they don't you are in a prime position to stitch them up by documenting everything.

I suggest getting a lawyer friend, or even engage a Contracts Management / Admin consultant on an hourly rate to help you though the shit!..

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

People only tend to cry about bad experiences (no offence to you Deutscher), so you only get to hear about the bad experiences. There are way more satisfied customers.

Everyone you talk to will have a horror story or knows someone that knows someone etc etc, but the issue will be whether or not your problems are fixed. Every builder is only as good as their subbies, these people are under pressure to build it fast as well as good, most of the time the good part is the compromise, but it is still within building regs or at least not enough of a problem to warrant fixing - in the builders opinion.

The only thing you can do is keep on them until your issues are resolved to your satisfaction. Unfortunately, there isn't much you can do apart from that. You can't legally withhold the final payment as it goes to the builder from the financier once they ask for it, you can't stop it. You can't really take legal action unless the contract has actually been breached, and it is very rare for that to happen as the contract always has escape clauses for the builder in every situation. Even the completion date is dependent on supply of materials and availability of contractors etc.

Can you go through the consultant that sold you the plan? Generally they can get things done with the builder as they have a lot of contracts with them, you are just one person.

[Deutscher]

Four words - NOTICE TO SHOW CAUSE!

Have you lawyer check your construction contract assuming it's not one of those builders contracts where you've signed your life away on there "should be" a few clauses in there you can use to pull them up, and pull them into line, look out for the terms or sections called "Performance and Payment", "Time & Progress", "Programming", "Show Cause" and ensure any notices given are served under the "Service of Notices" provision in the contract.

Any correspondence had via telephone, or in person should be confirmed in writing with a follow up email, or facsimile under the provisions of the contract (Service of Notices)... Even if it's just an email stating confirming our conversation had 17th November 2010, regarding xyz where Gen 1 said "blah blah", and we said "blue blue"... As soon as you start doing this they will lift their game, if they don't you are in a prime position to stitch them up by documenting everything.

I suggest getting a lawyer friend, or even engage a Contracts Management / Admin consultant on an hourly rate to help you though the shit!..

Cúl-Báire, that's some good information there. Unfortunately we are pretty much up to our last stages of the build. The final meeting should be next week and then hand over of keys. I will have a look through our contracts tho. I don't know if it's worth trying to legally do anything. I'll just call em up every day or something & try to put in a complaint to hopefully save someone the trouble we had.

Maybe we were an odd one, Big_Simmo mentioned he had to mates build with them, it took slightly longer (9months). But not 12-13months.

[Deutscher]

People only tend to cry about bad experiences (no offence to you Deutscher), so you only get to hear about the bad experiences. There are way more satisfied customers.

Everyone you talk to will have a horror story or knows someone that knows someone etc etc, but the issue will be whether or not your problems are fixed. Every builder is only as good as their subbies, these people are under pressure to build it fast as well as good, most of the time the good part is the compromise, but it is still within building regs or at least not enough of a problem to warrant fixing - in the builders opinion.

The only thing you can do is keep on them until your issues are resolved to your satisfaction. Unfortunately, there isn't much you can do apart from that. You can't legally withhold the final payment as it goes to the builder from the financier once they ask for it, you can't stop it. You can't really take legal action unless the contract has actually been breached, and it is very rare for that to happen as the contract always has escape clauses for the builder in every situation. Even the completion date is dependent on supply of materials and availability of contractors etc.

Can you go through the consultant that sold you the plan? Generally they can get things done with the builder as they have a lot of contracts with them, you are just one person.

'

Not_An_Abba_Fan, I know I'm only telling my side of the story. Big_Simmo did mention he had 2 mates who went with them and their houses were finished in 9months. Maybe we were a odd one out. I just hope it's not got to do with our age or because it's our first home... it's easily to push over the inexperienced.

I didn't expect the house to be finished in 6months like our friends, it's a smaller company therefore not as many tradies available etc. We have taken lack of supplies & tradies into consideration. But does 6-7months difference justifiable for lack of supplies/trades?

I don't think our contract has been breached, just their rudeness towards us & the fact we had PCI meeting and when we got their it's now pre-pci meeting, so all 5 of us had to take the time of work to be there for NOTHING. Plus neither 1 of the 5 people there heard Dave (the site manager) say he was leaving.. and now he stands there saying he told us he was leaving etc. So now it looks like we are liars.

The guy who started the house/plans with us, he left the company pretty much 1month after we met him.

[Deutscher]

We go see our house every weekend.
It's 50kms from where we are living now.
So many weeks we have been disappointed that nothing had been done all week.
Now it's so close to PCI and each week we get told it's the following week.

[Cúl-Báire]

We go see our house every weekend.
It's 50kms from where we are living now.
So many weeks we have been disappointed that nothing had been done all week.
Now it's so close to PCI and each week we get told it's the following week.

Most construction contracts (commercial at least) require the builder to notify the principal of practical completion in writing "x" amount of days / weeks before the proposed date for Practical Completion. If it is the case get them to put it in writing - they will then be forced to notify you of delays in writing (putting the PC date in writing essentially nullifies any contract completion date).

[vpcalais6]

I no a certain company that completes there houses in around 6-9 months with keys handed over but they have one customer that has been waiting 5 years and the fix out stage was only just completed 3 weeks ago so I guess some people are unlucky

[Deutscher]

I no a certain company that completes there houses in around 6-9 months with keys handed over but they have one customer that has been waiting 5 years and the fix out stage was only just completed 3 weeks ago so I guess some people are unlucky

Gee tats crazy!