Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Week 32 - Part Time Build?

Well the start of the week crawled by with yet again NO progress on site. Thats after a whole week last week with very little progress.

I am beginning to think of M as part time builders.

And Tuesday came and went with no PCI date - again, despite assurances from our SS. Today he told us he doesn't know when he can even give us a date for PCI, although, he is hoping for handover by the end of the month - although "don't hold him to that"..

Seems the carpenter came - and went as all the materials he needed weren't on site ( um - why not? It takes so long to get him there they should be prepared for him..) - and now he isn't returning calls from our SS so no idea when the rest of his jobs will be finished.

Apparently the brickies have been twice and its been too wet for them to do what they need to do (and there is no sand for them - it washed down the driveway about 3 weeks ago in some heave weekend rain).

The electricians are there today so there's something to be happy about - although they told Jason they will be coming back again too.

The laundry wall still hasn't been patched so the tilers can come back.

The front door glazing still hasn't been changed.

The garage door can't be fitted until the brickies finish.

The laundry and powder room doors don't shut as the carpenters don't seem to have allowed for the thickness of them (they are timber and glass feature doors) so that will have to be rectified which will probably mean patching and repainting the door frames

There is water leaking into the cabinet under the kitchen sink - and yesterday was leaking out from under 3 sides of the island.

In the words of our SS it's all "little things" left - yeah but a LOT of little things.

Feeling defeated, deflated and over it right now. I let go of the hope of being in for Easter long ago and though maybe Mothers Day? Seems thats a joke of a target now too - I wonder if the June long weekend is aiming too high??

Will post when there is something to report on - don;t hold your breath people!

9 comments:

  1. How disappointing :( Would have expected a LOT more out of Metricon!

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  2. For a Melbourne bases company I would have expected alot more from them in VIC. They seem to have a much better reputation up in NSW and QLD. And the build times are much faster here also.

    How can M expect to have the respect of their contractors, if they don't respect their contractor in return, by organising materials on site when they are supposed to be. There in itself seems to be the problem. Don't know if it's in all area, but following your blog for this long, I'm starting to think your SS doesn't care. I would seriously start talking to upper management like Jay from another build has done, and request a new SS.

    A friend of mine had problems with M in QLD, and for the whole build, ended up with 3 SS's. So it's not out of the question to be assigned a new SS.

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  3. Now why did I think you were building in Melbourne? Sorry Shayne. I've been hearing the same story from Victorian builds, and I assumed yours was also. It must soley come down to the SS then.

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  4. Well, Shayne, they certainly aren't at my house instead of yours! ha ha

    I'd love to know who your SS is so we can compare notes - if you get 5 mins and feel like it, drop me an email laureno227@hotmail.com

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  5. Remember - if it doesn't kill you.... Hang in there as it will be so worth it in the end. I'm not sure why it has to be so difficult...

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  6. No comment Shayne! I hear ya is all I have to say!!

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  7. We really share your frustrations Shayne.

    "Little things left" ... if they are indeed so little, then why not more efficiently organise the tradies and suppliers, finish the house, make your customer happy, and move on?

    My theory is that we've paid M most of their cash by now, so makes very little difference if they 'coast along' at this stage, as long as PCI comes before they have to start paying penalties.

    Hopefully MayDay comes quickly! :)

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  8. Thanks everyone - yesterday was pretty much rock bottom for me so far in this process - I threw my hands up and gave up, to put it mildly.

    Our SS is now well aware of our "frustrations" and has tried to explain what the current hold up is (and apologised profusely)- it all boils down to waiting until the carpenter decides to answer his phone and come back and finish. They are hesitant to get another one for a few reasons - loyalty being one and fear of getting in a unknown who could potentially balls it up and the work will need to be fixed again down the line. I get that, I really do - but this isn't the first time we've had such a long delay due to timing and lack or available resources, and I've pretty much had it!

    And of course every "small" delay has a knock on effect at this late stage and the next trade cant finish. GAH!

    I agree Craig - I feel like now they will now take their sweet time and coast it in just in the nick of time. And due to some a sneaky added contract clause they don't have to justify any extension of time taken to the 32 week contract until AFTER PCI. This clause makes the clause in the standard contract stating they must inform the client of a claim for extension of time due to Xmas shutdown or wet weather within 10 days of the date of the claim time. SO - they can essentially just finish whenever they please then 'claim' whatever time extension it is that they need. Sneaky no?

    Roll on June I say - I'm over it!

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  9. You are not alone! We've been promised exactly the same.... Our PCI was supposed to be tuesday 1st week of March...then been moved to "tuesday..end of March" then thursday 1st week of April.. guess what 60 defects/inc works from the inspection report. feel like we're not going anywhere... i agree w/ u.. they're partime builder!

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