Some of the shoddier builders in Australia can have an unreasonable attitude in relation to wanting to get the job done without consultation.

Frustrated and worn out mentally, they continue about their business not knowing what is happening behind the scenes; they don’t understand nor wish to comprehend the requirements of administration.

Customer relations rarely exist or are at the bottom of their priority, as they are often all too busy to understand reality.

They tend to get wrapped up in their own affairs, until one day, a customer asks – and continues to ask – “how long is this going to take to build my home?”

Suddenly the builder has to think outside the box, as answers are now required swiftly.

Without any thought or innovation, the builder answers, knowing that what he is about to state is a lie. The legal wrath takes hold. No contemporaneous notes were previously taken except by the customer, who kept a record of this event.

Works proceed, bad weather is looming, materials are not ordered on time and sub-contractors are a no show.

The customer asks again, “are we on track?” The builder stalls and says “I think so.”

Again, the client makes note of this conversation.

Works continue until the builder realises the bricks (for example) haven’t arrived. Kind of an important thing to have on a work site! Better check when they were ordered…but there’s no diary! He calls the supplier and gets no answer. He moves onto the next stage only to discover he can’t get to this stage without the bricks.

This may seem a bit far-fetched but in fact, this is the reality for too many of today’s builders.

This customer now sees the builder is not managing their job to their complete satisfaction. Time to confront!

The wrath now comes back to the builder in the form of a complaint.

The builder has no written response or any contemporaneous notes of the events that have just passed. What does he do now?

It’s an interesting topic, and one that sends the client into disarray, thinking “how will I pay for this unsuspected expense? Piering, site costs, landscaping, site surface drainage!”

The opinions or homeowners are at times overlooked or ignored by sales.

An example from the Courts:

“Your honour, my wife and I visited a Home World exhibition village. We liked the appearance of a home, so we went in. Upon entry we were asked if we would like a brochure. Yes, please! We walked through and came back to the sales team and sat down to talk. I stated, ‘is what I see in this exhibition home what I get?’ and was told yes. ‘Great,’ I said. ‘Let’s do it.’”

The end result of this short story was the home cost $76,000 more and they could not afford it!

The property inspection industry has similar problems, and may in fact be even worse.

Real estate agents are now engaging pre-purchase property inspectors to provide inspection reports for free and once the house is sold, the inspection entity is paid.

The biggest issue here is conducive conditions are missed. They then show up when it is too late to the unsuspecting purchaser and then to the unqualified, and not yet competent, property inspector.