Home building contract services

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Building a new home to your own design is the longed for dream of many homeowners.

 

A contract to build a home will almost certainly be, in money terms, the largest transaction you will ever enter into. This means that the financial losses if something goes wrong may be the largest such losses you will ever experience. Beware, the dream may turn into a nightmare.

 

If you are going to enter into a contract to build or renovate your home you will want the building work done:

• on time

• on budget

• free of defects

• in accordance with the plans

 

We can help you make sure that the words of the contract require that you get those things.

You will need help in negotiating the terms of the contract, even if the builder is using one of the standard form contracts. This is because:

• The builder has entered into these building contracts many times and knows how to protect its own interests. You may have never seen a standard home building contract before.

• The standard home building contract is usually one prepared by the builder's own association, such as the Master Builders Association or the Housing Industry Association, and has been drafted to suit its interests, not yours.

• Even if the contract the builder is proposing to use is the Office of Fair Trading Contract, it can be manipulated to unfairly favour the builder because what is inserted in the blank spaces of the standard form contract can radically affect your interests. See our Comments on Standard Form Home Building Contracts

• If, on the other hand, the builder is proposing to use his own form of contract then you will really need help. There are some extraordinarily unfair contracts currently being used by some builders.

• You have a huge amount of money at stake and you can't afford to have things go wrong.

 

If you'd like help in negotiating your home building contract, you can contact us through the contact form or call Peter Merity Solicitors on (02) 9689 3992.