Regarding the builder
i) A 10% of contract penalty imposed by the builder if a progressive payment is not made within the agreed 5 working days from invoice receipt.
ii) A standard caveat exists as part of this HIA where if you reach two-thirds of the building process, you then change your mind about this builder, a lodgement can be filed by the builder where unless you can dispute otherwise, they will be deemed to be the possessor of this building
iii) Public Indemnity Insurance is recommended to be filed in addition to receiving the HIA Owners Warranty to safeguard against any unlawful entries onto the secured block of injury.
I asked our builder whether they had this particular insurance cover in their contract. They said, yes.
iv) Arrange with the builder during the build process to inspect the progress. This ensures any problems can be addressed quickly
v) We also have up to 6 months (standard contracts are normally 3 months) after we have moved in to notify the builder of any problem areas that need to be fixed at no cost. Our solicitor advised us to list EVERYTHING, however small in the 5th month and then hand it to the builder.
Regarding the extension of the loan agreement,
i) Further clarification was needed from the lender that a construction loan repayment increases incrementally when each of the 5xprogressive payments are drawn down. The wording is not clear in the contracts. This was cleared up during a phone call later in the day.
ii) Settlement date for a construction loan is at the time of the First Progressive Payment drawdown after the building slab is completed
The First Home Owners Grant will also be released into the loan after the First Progressive Payment is made and available to us as a redraw.
The loan extension agreements were signed and posted back to the settlement office the following day.
Unfortunately, the building contracts while signed at our solicitors office on Wednesday 23rd September and delivered in person to their office located in Homebush, were handed back to us at reception because we had 'failed' to initial every page of the 80 page documents as instructed in their cover letter.
Yes, we had read this instruction but as our solicitor thought this would not be necessary, we didn't do it. He was wrong and we were not....amused.
So, on Thursday 24th September 2009, we delivered once again in person the following signed and initialed contracts
- NSW Residential Building Contract for New Dwellings
- Site Plan
- HIA General Housing Specifications
- Tender Quotation
These were countersigned and couriered back to us on Friday 25th September.
To fulfil the requirements of the First Home Owners Application, our lender has to send a certified copy of the above documents along with the application.
After photocopying all four booklets and scanning a softcopy for ourselves, we took the photocopies and originals to our local library on Saturday so the local JP could certify them. He remarked that he had never certified so many pages (80 pages) from one person. It was painstaking to watch at first, he's a retired elderly gentleman, but after he agreed to my suggestion of helping him stamp all of the pages, he signed and dated each page.
Yesterday, Monday 28th September 2009, our lender picked up the certified copies of the building documents. He also left us with an Addendum Application for the NSW State Government Boost of $3,000 to sign and return today. We did.
So, after many weeks of visits to open homes of established properties when we first thought of buying an existing home, countless trips to HomeWorld, long drives to various display centres, to building centres, meetings with different lenders, different builders, the solicitor, and lots and lots of online researching, the contracts to build have been completed and delivered.
Our kids have been great during this process. They have put up with a lot...so far. In fact, they refuse to visit any more houses and get a little tense when we drive slowly along a street to look at what they think are more houses. ..We're actually looking at driveways, fences and gardens :)
So, what's next?
a) we will confirm with Austral and our builder the exact exterior colours the bricks will be colour treated.
b) discuss with the builders any final variations to the working drawings (nothing major here, only the positioning of an internal door and the size of the upstairs bedroom window), and then
b) meet with the internal colour consultant
Happy Days!
