We decided to build with one of the volume builder 9 months ago with a view to start building in June 2018. We had an initial budget and required custom design due to our requirements. On our first meeting, the sales consultant showed us, our dream home was within our budget including upgrades worth $80,000.
We provided a sketch of our custom home to be built and got the first quotation 3 months after, surprisingly the quotation was just within our budget but didn’t include site costs (& upgrades which they didn’t tell us). We made further changes to the design and got the second quotation after 2 months which was to our surprise $175,000 above our budget. Rationale from builder: site cost & upgrades.
During this period, fortunately, we had detailed quotations of the show homes from this builder. When I compared the show home quotation to ours, there were significant differences in pricing.
When I questioned the builder, they didn’t like this and every time sighted ‘it’s because of custom design or site specific’.
Now we are almost 10 months into the process, have increased (or should I say forced to increase) budget by $100,000.
The questions are:
Do we have any rights under Consumer Laws to seek compensation from builder to lead us into this situation, waste 10 months of our time and now expecting us to sign the contract without any questions on pricing or walk away.
Are builders under any legal obligation to honour pricing of upgrades as distrusted in show homes? (For example, if an additional light is $50 for show home, can they charge $60 for your home?)
During this period, we have paid the builder $6,000 and have incurred additional $10,000 costs that can be attributed directly to the delays.
I haven’t spoken to them about going to another builder, but if I do they most likely will object to using the custom design which is very site specific and tied to our requirements.
We provided a sketch of our custom home to be built and got the first quotation 3 months after, surprisingly the quotation was just within our budget but didn’t include site costs (& upgrades which they didn’t tell us). We made further changes to the design and got the second quotation after 2 months which was to our surprise $175,000 above our budget. Rationale from builder: site cost & upgrades.
During this period, fortunately, we had detailed quotations of the show homes from this builder. When I compared the show home quotation to ours, there were significant differences in pricing.
When I questioned the builder, they didn’t like this and every time sighted ‘it’s because of custom design or site specific’.
Now we are almost 10 months into the process, have increased (or should I say forced to increase) budget by $100,000.
The questions are:
Do we have any rights under Consumer Laws to seek compensation from builder to lead us into this situation, waste 10 months of our time and now expecting us to sign the contract without any questions on pricing or walk away.
Are builders under any legal obligation to honour pricing of upgrades as distrusted in show homes? (For example, if an additional light is $50 for show home, can they charge $60 for your home?)
During this period, we have paid the builder $6,000 and have incurred additional $10,000 costs that can be attributed directly to the delays.
I haven’t spoken to them about going to another builder, but if I do they most likely will object to using the custom design which is very site specific and tied to our requirements.
