Entering Construction stage

We were penalised $2000 for delays to the start date. Apparently we were supposed to start in March, but because it’s May, they have penalised us $1000 per month past the start date. I argued that the delay was caused by KC not replying promptly… according to my calculations, we were waiting over 4 months for replies from KC. Despite my protests, PD still refused to remove that penalty and instead told me that any further delays (if we start in June), we would be penalised another $1000. They also did remind me that we did have a lot of changes beyond our cooling off period which we were supposed to be slugged $350 for multiple times and also the cost of the build had increased almost $100k since we signed the contract. Sounds like they are going to end up making a loss building our house today vs last year.

Further to this, we were also told at the last minute (the day before we had to return the documents) that PD does not do provisions for cooktops. So they will not cut out a hole in the benchtop for a cooktop that we are not getting through them. Our only options are to remove those provisions (gas and rangehood) or to keep those provisions. Apparently we were supposed to be told by KC, but that never happened despite us telling them that we were providing our own cooktop months ago. If we had been told about that, then we would have changed to a Fisher and Paykel cooktop because cutting a hole in the benchtop while installed in the galley could cause a lot of issues with dust and dirt, lack of space to work in, etc…

I didn’t want to argue with them anymore and we’ve been delayed long enough, so we just signed everything they sent us. Then yesterday, we have finally moved to construction stage from our administration stage.

Flashback to April 29th, there was heavy rain and my neighbour contacted me to tell me that the top soil from our empty block of land was washed into his pool.

I felt really bad about it, so after discussion, I agreed that we needed to put a stop to it and prevent further soil from being washed through that gap in the fence. Since it was going to rain again pretty much the next day, I couldn’t find anyone to fix the gap at such short notice. So I had to go do it myself. I used some wood and stone that I found and stuck it between the fence. Then I used Black Poly Dampcourse Plascourse screwed into the wood to stop the dirt from getting through. It’s a temporary fix that should last a few months (hopefully) and so far it’s held (I checked a couple of days ago).

I also dug a trench around that area so that top soil from the block will not fill up close to the fence line, in case it gives way. Took me an hour to finish, but happy that it is no longer a problem.