Nigel Harrison
Have had a look at many of these comments and my comments as follows.
I am considering a new or major refurbishment and I have time to do considerable investigation. Some observations.
Most people do not read the contract before signing or if they do skim over it and any queries whitewashed by the sales team.
You cannot tar the franchisees of a particular franchise with the same brush. One might be useless in one area and good in another.
I believe its too much effort for a franchisee to change their standard contract, most likely supplied by the franchisor and perhaps a few extra mods/additions by the local franchisee.
While investigating a new build during 2015, Platinum Homes in New Plymouth would not change their standard contract. The contract is waited in the franchisees favour. The one post on GJ Gardener confirms my statement. Would be useful to hear from any one else on this aspect.
Contractors in general, not just builders rub their hands if you make specification changes during the contract. They make money out of this.
PC sums. You can do your own homework on this from a cost perspective. PC sums usually for kitchens, tap ware, bathrooms and lighting.
If you don’t have time to do any legwork then be prepared to pay extra on PC sums as what you select is likely to exceed the sum allowed by design.
One advantage with one of the bigger franchises is the possibility of them having tied up material supplier to get volume discounts not available to the small one man builder. This has to be weighed up against possible better service and lower overheads of the small builder.
Having lived in SA most of my life and in NZ for the last 18 years I’ve come to the conclusion that builders are opportunists and will take as many shortcuts as possible and more if given half the chance.
This is probably a world wide phenomena as well. As an Engineer I am glad that since the leaky homes debacle and Chch earthquake that the building standards have been tightened up and Licensed Building Practitioners are required to do building work. There are some people who call this red tape. I welcome it even if it adds $10 to $20k to the cost of a house.