NSW Thoughts on Agreement with Draftsman?

[AT007]

Hi there,

We have been working with a builder for the last 12 months to construct a building on our property.
The builder asked whether he could charge some hours to alter our plans. We agreed, as we were to shortly start building.

When we got the total building estimate for the project from the builder, we requested further detail be provided. i.e labour v materials. He refused to provide us this and then walked away from the project. As a result we have lost some potential income that would have been derived from the building.

We have also had to have our draftsman re do the plans. His plans have not been certified by an engineer. He has sent us an invoice for the hours he worked on the plans we are not using. From our perspective, his work on the plan was in conjunction with him building the project, as we would not have agreed for him to modify our plans on the proviso he would not use them to execute the build. We advised him that for us to consider payment, he would need to have the plans certified by an engineer, as otherwise they have no value.

What are your thoughts on the agreement/contract/payment?

 

[Sophea]

Did you sign a contract with the Builder? Does it discuss the fact that you were contracting with him to produce the plans and then build the structure? What is his reason for walking away from the project?

 

[AT007]

Hi Sophea,

Thanks for your response

We signed no contract with the builder. He amended our draftsman's plans as we reduced the size of the building. He walked away from the project because we request further details from him in regards to the overall quote to build the project. He would not provide us this detail and then said he won't sign a contract with us.

We wanted more details as we were over a budget and wanted to see how we could reduce it. We only allowed him to amend the plans and charge us the hours spent altering the plans on the proviso that they would be used to build the project subject to his quote . As he is now not building the project for us, we feel we should have to pay for these plans are they have no value i.e they are not certified as being approved by an engineer. We agreed to him charging us for his time spent on the plans in conjunction with him to then build it.

As I mentioned, we have now had to have our original draftsperson amend the plans and resubmit for engineering.

Are we legally obliged to pay him?