Do we have to pay the amount above the fixed price contract

As per the other comment from Chis, a standard Master Build contract which most builders use may specify a fixed cost for the work, however, it also includes clauses that allow the builder to pass on any increase in materials etc during the build. Also if there were any items in the contract that were provisional sums then these are need to be finalised and could increase the contract price. Have you made any changes since signing the contract, i.e. moving walls, changing windows etc?

Nope no changes to the works. We are also unhappy with some of the work that has been done. Ie the finish is bad. He has tried to fix, and has said that the current state it is in now is the best it will get. We are not happy with it as the concrete floor has chips init through out. This was a newly poured concrete floor in garage. Builder is yet to pass another bill onto us and we do not know the amount yet. Can I with hold payment until concrete floor is at a satisfactory level? Thanks for any advise given

Hi Daniel New regulations have a 12 month ‘fix-no-questions-asked’ stipulation but builders not coming back to repair defects is the number one problem identified by BRANZ with customer satisfaction with builders. You can make a complaint to the LBP Board or approach either http://www.hobanz.org.nz or http://www.buildingdisputestribunal.co.nz if you still have no satisfaction.

Hi Mark Was not sure how to place a post on this site, so thought I would try this way to get in contact. We are having our house rebuilt on the same site at present and would like to know how much a newly constructed house is allowed to be out of level please? We have checked MBIE but we unable to find an answer on this. Janis

This is a response to Janis Wignall’s question, about how much a new house can be out of level, as I can’t find the ‘reply’ point on her post. Hi Janis, Not sure exactly which part of the house you think is ‘out of level’. Presumably the floor slab. For this you need to know the ‘tolerance’ on floor slabs. I would have assumed this to be in NZS3604 somewhere, and if you search through you may find it. However certainly there are tolerances for Timber Framing (Table 2.1) and Masonry Veneer (Table 11.5), which would be quite hard to achieve if the floor slab is too far from the position shown on the plans. MBIE document on Building Performance refers to their Guidance to Tolerances, which in turn refers to NZS3109:1997 (Concrete Construction). I can’t actually open this on line, but from info elsewhere I suspect the tolerance on the surface of concrete slabs is +/- 10mm from the position shown on the plans. Hope this helps. Also, in the event of a dispute (eg arbitration) I assume the arbitrator as a last resort (ie nothing in writing) would fall back on what he/she considers is generally accepted in the industry as being a ‘reasonable’ tolerance. What amount of error do you have in your case?