Does anyone know roughly how long it should take to build a house that is around...

Glen they should easily be able to build a house in 9 months but there are many variables,it can take 6 months to get building consent,then weather delays they factor into it. If they give you a date that is reasonably achieveable and they don’t finish by that date they leave themselves open to a damages claim against them under recent law changes. Unfortunately they will tell you anything to get you to sign on the dotted line then come up with every feeble excuse they can to delay it. There are a great many builds that are taking up to 2 years from start to finish. Most of the reason is taking on too much work. Hope that answers your question.

Thanks for this. We have already got building consent but they are saying 9 months just for build. I suppose we don’t really have many options at this stage – we will just have to wait and see.

Hi there, quite keen to understand where I can learn more about the options for “damage claims” if the work is not completed on time. Is there some materials that you could direct me to please?

Hi Geetha, I’m not a lawyer, but I spent my whole career writing and overseeing construction contracts. So I can tell you first that you could write a book (and people have) on dealing with delays in building contracts. So if you can’t afford a lawyer who knows about building contracts (not all do), try looking in the nearest library. But to keep it brief: I assume you are already part way into the build, so I assume you must have some kind of contract. The first thing obviously is to read what that says about finish date and delays in plain English. My understanding is that if the contract is over $30K, and was signed after Jan 2015, then by law it must give an expected completion date, and how to deal with any delays. Ideally that method would state an amount the builder has to pay you in Liquidated Damages (ie a fair assessment of your actual loss, not a penalty) for each day of delay. After allowing for all reasonable time extensions, due to things like bad weather, and other stuff outside the builders control, or extra time for variations you have requested. This of course is where arguments can arise. In my view the builder just being busy on other jobs is not a valid reason, but if he can’t get subbies in because they’re too busy, or he’s inefficient and doesn’t order materials on time, so they come late, you tell me. But at the end of the day those kinds of delays don’t justify taking 18 months on a 9 month job. If you have none of the above, then look for words like working ‘with due diligence’. Then start keeping accurate records (with photos) of when the weather is fine but he’s not working. That may not get you any monetary damages, but might at least help if you want to take legal action and terminate the contract.