Last Monday when Hubby went past the site, it was still mud with some pipes sticking out here and there. On Wednesday when I went over, I was surprised to see half a dozen people working on my land. The base of the house was already formed and being filled with waffle pods. On Thursday, the concrete was poured and the slab was officially completed. By the end of the work week, the timber frame of the house was constructed. I could now clearly make out all the rooms in the house and have an idea of the actual size of the spaces. Amazing!
It sure looked pretty easy to construct a house. The timber frames were all pre-fabricated and all the tradies have to do is to fix them together with a nail gun. It took 3 guys to put up the house frame (minus the roof) within a day. We were hoping they could put up the roof as well on the same day but given the size of our house and the number of guys allocated to the job, it didn't happen.
The reason why we wanted them to put up the frame faster was because we were paying for the generator hire. It was the result of an unfair clause in the contract which 90% of people are caught in. I hope people who are building their homes here will take note of this clause that stated "If there are any delays in Clients 'Connection and Supply of Power' to site by Local Power Authority, Simonds Homes may provide 'temporary power supply/generator hire' for construction purposes as required and charge the Client accordingly for any additional costs."
Simonds is supposed to pay for the electrical usage during the construction and they are supposed to set the electrical meter up for the house. The Local Power Authority need about 10 days to connect the power after the meter is ready. However, Simonds only set the meter up this week when the concrete slab is built, reason being they want to prevent its exposure to theft of its fuse and copper wires. Therefore when they need the power 3 days later to do the timber frame, 90% of the time the power supply is not connected yet. And clients now have to make a choice of paying for the generator hire or delay their project for up to 3 weeks. We didn't think there was much of a choice as we didn't want to delay the construction. Even though we felt it was unfair as Simonds should set up the meter box earlier so that power can be ready when they need it, we can't argue for Simonds to pay since it was explicitly stated in the contract. We really didn't expect to be caught by this 'Note Only' clause. We did not have the experience to realise that the connection of power would have a time lapse and it was not within our control when Simonds set up the meter. These are Simonds' responsibility but the clients have to pay the price for any delays. Does it make sense? Simonds should just be upfront to clients about this 'almost confirmed' out of pocket cost or make better processes to ensure that power will be available on site when needed. Until this is done, potential clients, if possible, negotiate for this clause to be removed during contract negotiation.
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