Tuesday 20 November 2012

Check, check again and again and again.

When dollars are tight you can't afford to make any mistakes.  I learnt a valuable lesson today - even when you think something is right get your builder to check it and then check it again.

Just as James clicked the send button to the place the hardwood flooring and decking order I decided to compare the provisional cost indicated in our quotation with the final price received.  As soon as I saw the prices, $4500 vs $5900, I knew something was amiss.  We were getting an exceptionally good price and I had expected it to be way under the provisional cost than over.  In fact some of the other decisions I am making are based on that I am expecting to be under, rather than over budget on the timber used.


As soon as our builder arrived I mentioned this to him.  It was decided that it might be a good idea to re-measure now that the framework is up.  Thank goodness we did as the original measurements, taken off the plan, were incorrect as the laundry and powder room had been included.  They should not have as they will be tiled with nice penny rounds.  It also became apparent that the flooring for the kitchen/living area had not been factored into the original quote as the builder had assumed there would be original flooring that was usable - not too happy about this but need to look on the bright side that it could be a whole lot worse if we weren't getting such a discount.

This certainly gave me a wake-up call.  I've been coasting along assuming that the builder will get it all right.  The fact of the matter is that mistakes do happen and I need to get on top of things to ensure they don't. We've decided to get up early in the morning and do a bit of measuring and checking to make sure that since the frameworks up that all the doors and windows are in the right place!

Guess it pays to be living on site!


5 comments:

  1. Isn't it just amazing that you have to project manage a builder? Lucky you're on top of it! I remember doing my first house here in Brisbane, I'd just given birth to my first and had the building file next to my hospital bed organising the tradies. The day I got out, I went to site prior to the concrete pour to check a few things only to find out the waste pipes in the laundry and bathroom were in the wrong place. Bloody plumber - but he came back to fix just in time. xx

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  2. You are so so right with this. We lived on site for our last reno and made several joyous discoveries of deck posts in the wrong place, power points inside shower cavities and the rather shocking discovery that the entire house was in fact a foot short because the footing plan was incorrect and it was us who discovered this after the frame and roof were on! Renovations are frankly so stressful and our last was pre kids, goodness how many grey hairs we will get from this one. Keep on checking, daily if you have to as builders HATE undoing their work, even if it is wrong. mel x

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  3. Sounds like you're on top of it all, very impressive! I tend to leave all that side to my husband, who is a builder, and then just blame him when mistakes happen. ;-)

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  4. Yes you cant trust anyone - only yourself! We had a new garage extension plan drawn up and then had a surveyor out to do a final measure before we started building it and on the original plans our driveway and fenceline was out by 40cm! Thats a huge bit of land thats ours that we would have lost had we gone with the original plans. Its a pain but its best to check it all out before the building starts that for sure!

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  5. How is the Reno Clarissa? How is the kitchen in the bathroom going? Hoping your lack of posts is because you are too busy shopping for furniture and not because of any dramas. mel x

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