Can you believe this????

[durwood]

Has anyone here ever tried to make a warrenty claim within the 7 years inNSW ?

From my experience it is a waste of time even trying to get any action.

I bought a unit new and a few problems arose in the seven years after completion. Not in my unit but in others, The body corporate and the owners went to court several times and got a judgement against the builder each time. He was fined, he has never payed, he has not attempted to do any of the work. He still has a licence and is building other projects.

He has just ignored them and now the 7 years are up there is no comeback, so much for the great protection warrenty is supposed to provide.

So I think you can safely say its a good theory to try and protect the innocent home buyer but isn't one of the reasons you get a building inspection done is to suss out any problems.

In the end the truth is the govt is revenue raising and they arn't that interested in looking after those affected if they were this builder would be missing a licence not merrily building.

You only have to watch one of the current affairs programs to see the same old building warrenty shoddy workmanship stories that appear time and time again to realise what a farse a builders licence is.

[rhancock]

Does anyone else think the focus should be on what you're doing, not how much it costs? I mean if I'm updating my laundry, pull the old cupboard out and replace it with a new cupboard in a different location I can't see how this should need any kind of license or control. I'm not messing with anything structural, electrical or plumbical (?). I know this won't cost $12k but if I extend the idea to the kitchen and start replacing cupboards I could quickly go over that amount - and I'm still basically removing and replacing something that is non-structural (might need to get a sparkie and plumber if I mess with their areas).Ok, off my soap box.
Cheers,
Adam

My turn on the soap box then..

So you put up your kitchen cupboards, sell your house to a young family, but when the cupboards fall down and lands on a small child, what's the story then?

My point is that structural isn't necessarily the biggest problem. What about breaching termite protection? It only takes one long stud to let the little beasties in...

The point, I think is to lift the level of professionalism of the building trade generally, including those of us ( me included) who work "on the side" without any protection for ourselves or our customers. The contract rules are one of those.

Having said all that, IMO there is a need for better education of builders, but particularly the general public to get them to think about what they do and what they should use a qualified, licenced and insured tradie for.

Course I'd be out of a job if everyone wanted to see my licence...

[peter_sm]

I have done renovations on our house. Quite a number of them and all in small lots under $1000. I have every intention to live here for 30 years, so I have put extra care into everything I have done.

[cflake]

How do the council know where 1 renovation starts and the other finishes? If I take 2 years to renovate a 5 bed 4 bath house (inc kitchen), but I'm doing it 1 room at a time did I just do 10 small renovations? (each say under $5k on average) or did I do 1 big renovation for $50k? I'm doing them one at a time, so I'd argue I'm doing 10 small renovations.

[West OZ Mark]

I've been reading this with a fair degree of trepidation... just in the middle of planning a kitchen overhaul. Does anyone know what the laws are in WA?

I'm looking at getting some structural work done by a builder (removal of a wall and re-strutting the roof), but intend to do the gutting and replacing of the cabinets myself. Is there any way this could need an OB license? seems ludicrous if it does.

Hi JehuAB,

W.A has not long ago changed the rule to $20k for OB licence so you should be safe. Mind you when you come to kitchens $20k doesn't go far.
Say you can do it for $15k because you are doing the work yourself and saving yourself $6k on labour cost too bad you have to get a OB licence as they go on total value of the renovation.

[West OZ Mark]

http://www.brb.org.au/

[thebuildingsurv]

In vic non-strucural alterations dont need building permits in most cases, so theoretically you could gut your house back to the frame and rebuild all bathrooms kitchens etc. If you dont need a building permit you dont need a certificate of consent for owner building. I have seen blocks of units bought by people, then gutted then sold of as completely refurbished with no warranty.

[pawnhead]

Another reason that the council requires a price on the works, is to calculate the long service levy. If you're doing a lot of the hands on work as an owner builder, then you may be able to get a partial exemption, but if it's all subbied out then you have to pay the full amount.

[silentC]

Councils only act if there is a complaint.

I think that the original topic of this thread should prove to you that this is not the case. That guy was happily working away when a council inspector came past and saw the skip out front and decided to have a snoop.

As I said, plenty of people fly under the radar. I think I can safely say that the majority of people on this forum have done some modification to their home that technically should have been approved. It's like a lot of the debates we have. Everyone knows that it is against the law. The question is whether you think the risk of getting caught is acceptable.

As for whether it's just revenue raising, well of course local councils make money out the whole process, just like they do on everything else they collect fees for. That's what councils and governments do. They are supposed to use the income to provide services to their constituents. The State government gives them the power to collect these fees. Some of it goes into their pockets, some goes to the State government, and some goes to the builder's long service levy (I'm talking NSW here). I have absolutely no doubt that the laws were created to control a problem, not simply to raise revenue. Just like the speeding laws and the requirement to have a license to operate a brothel.

By no means am I a government apologist, but I can see the need for some sort of laws to control what goes on, if only as a measure of protection for future home buyers. It's better than the alternative.

[Big Shed]

And to add further to the renovation/regulation debate, this is in today's Age:

http://www.theage.com.au/news/nation...941158337.html

Are we becoming (already are?) the most over-regulated country in the world?

[silentC]

I think that has been in NSW for a number of years now. I seem to recall just after we did our reno in Sydney back in 1999/2000 someone else I knew had to upgrade the insulation in their entire house because they were adding a room.

[thebuildingsurv]

Now thats a crock of sh**, I beleive there will still be ways to get around this, I doubt the existing part of the house will be made to comply. Building surveyors still have the power under the regs to consider partial compliance.

[silentC]

Council will just require that a BASIX score is included with the DA. If the score isn't high enough, they'll reject the application.

[pharmaboy2]

the nSW basix for renovations, only applies if the reno is over 100k and only to the area renovated, so you dont have to suddenly bring the house right upto std.

applied from oct last year - I know because I made sure my plans were in before the cutoff - juist didnt want to much around doing the report thx very much.

[silentC]

BASIX was introduced for new single and dual occupancy residences in country NSW on 1st July 2005. It was introduced on 1 July 2004 in Sydney. For additions and alterations, it was introduced 1 October last year.

The case I'm talking about was before BASIX came in. It may have been a stipulation of the local council. When I questioned the requirement to install smoke alarms in the existing part of the house as part of the approval, I was told by the council planning department that soon it would be a requirement in job of our size to upgrade the insulation throughout the existing house. I clearly remember that and I clearly remember someone telling me they'd had to do it.