Skip to main content

Construction issues resolution in Sydney - Part 12


As per last DFT inspection with the builder on 30/07 (1.5 months ago) the rectification order came out to rectify all defects by 07/09. The builder sent out a communication that they will come for three days 22/09-24/09 to do rectification.

So for waterproofing from the outside and floorboards damage the builder did re-seal in a couple of spots and then sprinkle the water to make impression they are testing something - without actual floor removal to see exactly whether the water is coming in or not.

For the bathroom leakage problems the builder said they have to demolish the bathroom to find a root cause. This issue was ordered by the tribunal to be rectified before 18/04/2014! Now 6 months of constant delays and trying to slow down the process by suggesting small steps to test the water leakage and at least two weeks of waiting between those steps the builder "decided" to demolish the bathroom. That still means the issue is not fixed despite the tribunal order.

Hoping it's going to finish before Christmas. Otherwise will be stuck well until end of January at least.

I am also looking forward to see the end of it at all at some stage. It's not funny at all, but the builders we were "lucky" to stick with are jokes.

I only see a couple of reasons why these people managed to stay in the industry for quite a long time (director of the building company says he is "40 years in business" every time he comes to inspect the defects):

a) majority of people just let go with the problems and fix it either at their own expense or using insurance;

b) Fair Trading involvement does not impose any penalty on the builder (at least in our case) and then consecutive tribunal cases require some time and follow-up from the property owner's;

c) majority of construction firms are similar in using cheap materials, labour and not implementing quality control - ridiculously high prices for property in Australia will surely make them good money and provide demand for property especially from foreign investors and they take advantage of the situation; instead of increasing quality or work and improving customer experience they just cut corners as much as possible and then just use any trick possible to refuse or delay the rectification process.

Stay tuned for further updates!

Other posts from this story.

Also have a look at my post regarding strata living and what to look at before and when you buy a strata unit.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wine - 2011 Brown Brothers Crouchen Riesling

Very nice wine with fruity taste - peach and pear: Consumed with Hungarian salami. Tasting notes .
Post a Comment
Read more

Scrum - Team Culture and Wall Manifesto

In the Scrum framework one of the key components is the wall and daily stand-up. In some organisations I worked with the whole concept of the wall is not accepted by many developers, because of the stand-up necessity and "time waste". Very often all that methodology is used for the sake of methodology and not to achieve what we actually do - adding or creating value to our customer (usually called "The Business"). I can understand frustration that is caused by the wall and stand-up process. From the software developer perspective it is really a waste of time for the following reasons: 1. In 95% of cases developers are head down working like hell delivering valuable outcomes that they are accountable for. Extra effort to go to the wall, staying there for 15-30 minutes and listening or not listening to what others were doing yesterday and will be doing tomorrow is annoying for them; 2. The mere fact of having to do something mandatory to do that looks like
Post a Comment
Read more

Mastering The Multitasking

There is usually two distinct perspectives on multi-tasking: 1. Multitasking is counterproductive. We get distracted by multiple tasks that all get our way and fight for our scarce attention, time and resources. This leads to a common fallacy that if you do multiple activities “at a time” you are not doing good work in any of those. 2. Multitasking is a way of getting many things done in a short period of time or in a long run. Indeed it can be either a disaster or a great helper depending on how it is used and practiced. Most recent research shows that we don’t do multiple tasks purely in parallel or simultaneously. That means we don’t purely multi-task, but switch between tasks and execute them one at a time, but by spending very small timeframes on each task. A good example from the history is a story about Julius Caesar capabilities in that area. Plutarch writes, “Caesar disciplined himself so far as to be able to dictate letters from on horseback, and to give directi
1 comment
Read more