Where to start…
As a result of our third party inspector, we have issued a list of problems with the frame to our site supervisor. After some interesting discussions, I have been basically asked if I wasn’t just nitpicking for the sake of it. The answer? Ummm, no… This is what our third party inspector came up with – you know, the one who knows all the building codes and standards, and has said “these things are problems”. I’m not doing this for my health.
This is the letter that I felt compelled to share with head office today:
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further to my fax, herewith the photos to display some of the problems. Please feel free to share these with ***construction manager***. Let me know if you need any of higher resolution and I will send them immediately
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bathroom_111109.jpg displays where a decomposable material has been used to shore up the stud framework in the wet areas. This is a big problem should any leakage occur in these wet areas as that will result in rotting through that entire section of frame (and any connected sections should it not be discovered in a timely manner). According to our inspector’s advice, the building standards followed in Australia would state that a non-decomposable material be used in these areas.
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cutstud_1111090.jpb shows the stud in the kitchen where the wood has been cut away to allow for the pipes. According to our inspector this also does not follow standards, and this wood cannot be cut into more than 20mm – this cut is a lot deeper than that. Our inspector suggests that a further stud be placed along side this one (preferably one on either side) that does not require to be cut away from the pipes. Our inspector says that this is a load bearing stud.
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ensuite_111109.jpg shows where the wood bordering the slab has been cut away completely to make room for the pipe work. We have been informed that standard procedure for this would be to supply a steel brace or the likes to complete the border and allow room for the pipe, but that it is unacceptable to leave the break here.
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sheetbrace_111109.jpg shows the distance between some of the nails in the steel sheet used to brace the walls. According to ***SS***, this material requires nail spacing of 150mm or less, and you can see from the A4 sheet in that picture that the nail spacing there is far greater than that. This is a problem on ALL of the sheeting throughout the build, although some of it has now been covered with sarking. This is important to have it remedied prior to external walls being fitted. Our inspector has also made mention of the corrosion on these sheets, although I have been in contact with bluescope (the manufacturer) who have said that they believe it is only the protective coating that has corroded, and therefore the structural integrity is still intact.
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tiedowns_111109.jpg shows where the tie downs have not been secured at all. I have a photo of one next to this set that clearly shows the tie down secures properly. ***SS*** assures me that these were not completed because the carpenters have yet to come back and fit the sliding cavity door.
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tiedowns2_111109.jpg shows an example of where the tie downs have been secured, but are quite loose. Our inspector assures us that this can result in lifting of the roof structure during high winds, which in turn can result in structural damage to the studwork and severe cracking to the internal linings (and possibly external linings)
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Our inspector also made note of the bolts holding the frame to the slab. In many cases these bolts are quite loose (you can sometimes physically fit a finger between the head of the bolt and the wood that it is supposed to be holding down, and frequently the washers spin freely where they should be tight), and in some cases where the bolts have been placed too close to the edge of the slab. ***SS*** mentioned that they need to be 40mm from the edge of the slab, whereas some of the bolts are so close to the egde that you can see the length of the bolt poking through the concrete, therefore no longer structural at all. This has also now been hidden by the introduction of sarking/damp course.
There are more issues in the report, although these are the ones which concern us the most. If we can be given valid reason why any of these are not to be worried over, we’d be more than happy to read about it.
I have to reiterate – I am NOT doing this to be painful. We are simply following the advice given by our third party inspector who knows better than we do. As mentioned in our phone conversation, I have built a house before. In that scenario I didn’t use an inspector and I had untold problems with the house upon completion. Severe cracking of the plaster above all windows. The shower drain was >2cm above the level of the tiles (so the showers pooled water – both of them). Extroadinarily poor workmanship in general. I fought tooth and nail for things to be fixed and even had to have my certificate of occupancy revoked to get the builders to address some of the issues. I don’t believe for a moment that your company is of such a poor calibre, but I need to protect my own interests. I beg your understanding.
Thanks,
Kelly
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btw – will post pics of the house + sarking tomorrow if I get the chance!
This stuff is starting to scare me now … clearly we’re going to have to keep a much closer eye on the build than I was aware of. Sounds like these builders will cut corners where ever they can.
I think its definitely worth getting an independent inspector to check the major stages. Even with an engineering background I don’t have the experience to know what is ok and what is not (eg how much of a stud can you cut away and it still be suitable for load bearing) but it does make it easier to understand what the inspector says. And I don’t think its always that the builders cut corners, but instead that they don’t check their subcontractor’s work closely enough.
Well Done Kel!
It is so important for these structural issues to be sorted out. You’ve gone to such an effort and invested so much of your time and money in planning and designing your home for them to not get it right. Thank God for your inspector. If your site supervisor is so simple minded that he doesn’t take your complaints seriously because you dared to double check the integrity of your slab then who cares what he thinks. I’m very proud that you are able to stand up for the integrity of the entire project and make sure you get what you want.
Love ya’s xxxx
Absolutely yes!!! The thing that amazes me is that these are really quite simple fixes – the SS just likes to make things as difficult as he possibly can. I believe that it is a personal vendetta against me because he probably got into a bit of trouble with regards to our slab and him not bothering to have the leaky water meter fixed in a reasonable time. Or at all, for that matter (seeing as I had to have it fixed myself). The way I see it, the man owes me a debt of gratitude for doing his job for him. I think with HIS mistakes that I have picked up and either fixed myself (the water around our brand new slab) or warned him or his contractors of (the plumbing required to separate grey and black water, the requirement for sarking, etc) I have probably saved his company in excess of $100k in fixing his screwups (or lack of attention to the contract). Instead I get snarkiness, contempt and others in the company questioning my motives for wanting my house to be built correctly (like it is MY personal vendetta against HIM!!). Our issues with him run deep – he’s been unpleasant from the outset. I have diary entries of my dealings with him – it would be almost comedic if it weren’t regarding my house!!
Having said that, since sending this email (to which I am STILL waiting on a response that was promised to us by end of the business day on the 13th – one whole week ago) the carpenter HAS been back. He has addressed the tie downs (tightened the loose ones, strapped down the ones that weren’t strapped down at all, etc), tightened most of the bolts holding the frame to the slab, moved some of the others that were too close to the edge of the slab (although still needs to address the garage as MOST of the bolts there are still way too close to the edge – leaving a large portion of our house at risk of movement), put a cross section in above the cutaway part of the frame to give it more strength and removed the wood that would likely rot from the wet areas. He has not addressed the insufficient nailing of the sheet metal braces, nor will he get the chance to now as the external walling has all been fitted. They will now have to re-brace it from the inside. I find this ridiculous as all it needed were a few more nails, but I checked it after the carpenter had been and gone, and have checked it every day between then and when the sarking and external walls were placed over it.
We have tried SO HARD to build a good relationship with the site supervisor. We’ve worked super hard to prep the site for him and avoid delays – often causing ourselves physical (and mental) exhaustion. We’ve organised baby sitters at the very last moment (and screwed around family members into cancelling their own plans) because he has given us one day notice of work that we need to perform of a weekend (such as UV protecting our window frames in >35C weather) when he has known about it himself for WEEKS (if not months). We’ve swayed to make his job easier for him when he has complained that something is too hard (even though it is specifically written into our contract) and generally gone out of our way to make his life easier in MANY ways in an attempt to encourage some form of alliance with him – he is just a really horrible person… I actually asked him the other say WHY he is so difficult when we do so much to try to make this work, and his response was “well, you started it when you complained about the slab. You’re continuing it now over the frame, and I suppose you’ll be like this all the way through!”. Ummm, yes. If it isn’t done correctly I believe that I have a right to have it fixed! Get it right to start with and we’re happy – got it?!?! Argh! And yes – he is much worse with me than with Chris. I wonder if he’d be nicer if I was meek and mild and kept quiet as a woman should…
I’m very disappointed that our builders do not have other site supervisors on staff who can take over where there is an obvious clash of personalities… I could accept it if we got attitude BUT he made up for it by being exceedingly good at his job. The fact that we have to deal with the attitude AND deal with all this stress from attempting to get issues addressed (and reminding him and his contractors of works required that he hasn’t even noticed because I’m not convinced that he’s even read the contract) has me really questioning myself if I would ever use this company again or recommend them to anyone else… I’m leaning heavily towards no. The only saving grace at the moment is that I KNOW that they have a beautiful product – this is one of the reasons why we chose them!