We did it - contract signed!

Yesterday we finally signed our building contract after seven weeks of almost daily phone calls or e-mails between us and the building group. It has been a long and frustrating couple of months why we waited for questions to be answered and new quotes to be done. Everything seemed to take so much longer then I thought it would and we haven't even started the build yet.

However I am glad we were thorough, so hopefully there won't be too many surprises during the build.

Now I thought I would give a few examples of things we questioned to give you an idea of what to consider if you are negotiating a building contract.

We asked to see what internal doors, external sliding glass doors and windows they were going to put in - so glad we did as they weren't what we wanted even though we had specified high quality in the beginning. Fittings such as these are worth checking as builders often use cheaper models so they can pass on a lower overall quote.

This was also the case with flooring, cornices and picture rails which weren't what we expected in all rooms.

Timeline - we were given a number of days but make sure you are clear what is considered a builders day and what contingencies have been included. It is also good to have a clear commencement and end date.

Anyway we may have sorted the contract but I am told that now the real fun and games begin especially as we are living in the house for the whole build.

And on it goes - contract negotiations

Yes, we first looked at our building contract over three weeks ago now and we are still trying to sort it out. We had so many questions and items in the contract that weren't exactly what we had asked for or expected.

I know I discussed this in an earlier post but really want to reiterate as it is causing us a bit of angst and I hope by talking about it you can avoid similar.

Sharing our dilemmas with friends I have heard so many stories of delays at this stage. Or in the case of one friend they signed the contract in good faith and then discovered the doors and windows weren't what they were expecting when they were being installed - they proceeded to give the advice, 'it is good what you are doing, you should check every item and look at exactly what they are providing you with'.

This is exactly what we are doing and have discovered the doors aren't the quality ones we wanted and need to upgrade, plus a whole lot of other items we thought were included in their initial quote to find they weren't. This I am told is very common.

So now knowing this I can say to any of you out there about to start a renovation check your builders contract thoroughly!

Building contract

Now for the fun and games! I was warned that the contract stage can take a while and be very frustrating but did I listen, no and now I am exactly that, frustrated.

You may be aware of this having gone through a renovation or starting on the path to one and so have been told by friends that the contract phase can take a while, especially if you are thorough which is a good thing to be.

We had the final builders contract brought around last Saturday, a thick 40 page document and lets just say we didn't get very far as we realised there were changes that needed to be made even before we started looking at it. Over the past week we have read through it and have sent our construction company, a list of questions and changes, now we play the waiting game. So now not sure about our August date for the build start.

At least I have to say our buidling group are very thorough and I am glad they put everything in the contract. As I was told by a friend that didn't have a good contract, 'you are better off finding these discrepancies now then when they start building'.