PRE COUNCIL SUBMISSION

It has been awhile since my last post! A couple of things have happened since our Land has registered! Bore Hole Report and Contour Surveys have been conducted on our land. These reports were ordered by Wisdom and will determine what our Additional Site Costs will be. Our CSR has also lodged Plans for Developer Approval which came back approved within two weeks (Good on you, Newpark!) I actually thought it would take awhile as i imagined there would have been many submissions following land registration!

A week after Developer Approval, our CSR sent us a copy of Council Submissions Plans, reminding us that internal variations will be reflected on the Constructions Plans as they are not needed for Council Approval. However, upon receiving these plans, i noticed some windows and doors were incorrectly coded (ie incorrect heights). I'm one of those people who though i am relaxed about certain things, i can also get antsy about other things depending on the scenario! So i debated whether i should bring these errors up now or wait until End Panel to bring them up. My self diagnosed OCD always gets the better of me, so the very next day, i am drafting up my email to CSR to point out the discrepancies.

I received an email back from our CSR that an Admin Fee of $1,500 would be payable as they are "structural changes". This is the first time in a long time i have felt my ears go red hot and my face flush red! I was seething. First of all, these Submission Plans were the first time we have seen the door and window schedule. Our first "draft" plans received before and after Tender Presentation did not have stacker door models indicated, so this would have made it difficult for me to know or pick up the heights. I was under the impression these would be changed at a later stage - how naive of me!

The plans we received were so basic, it literally only had room dimensions! Needless to say, i was so upset we would be getting this charge because we were not given information in the first place! Out of principal, i didn't want to pay this fee! I know my plans like the back of my hands because i have stared at it for hours, but if you don't have a second set of eyes (like an expert!), you can miss a lot! This just happened to be one of them!

So this morning, after a bit of phone tag with the Customer Service Manager, we managed to spend close to an hour on the phone trying to nut it all out!

I actually half expected to take out my boxing gloves this morning because i knew i had a solid leg to stand on and i was prepared to argue my case. Not argue the Admin Fee and the purpose of why it exists but more so why we were charged it, it seemed in my opinion a little unjust given our circumstance.

In essence, we both acknowledged the fact that whilst it was on our Sales Rep to notice the discrepancy in the heights prior to Tender, the onus is also with us to bring it up it too. She pointed out that there are Drafting errors on the Submission Plans and because they needed to be corrected, she was going to waive the Admin Fee (hooray!) - taking into consideration that: 1) Sales Rep didn't bring up the door heights during Consultation, 2) we weren't given a window/door schedule and 3) the plan given to us at our initial Consult did not have the windows and/or doors indicated, which would have made it difficult for us to pick up the heights.

I'm extremely grateful that she was able to understand my point of view. And i must admit, she has the title Customer Service Manager for a reason! She was pleasant to talk to and understanding - empathy goes a long way when you are dealing with upset customers like me and she handled me very well! At the same time, i knew where she was coming from too. I understood her reasoning and she understood mine.

The rest of our phone call, we looked at the Plan together and brought up some issues regarding windows and doors. We ended up upgrading Leisure and Dining Room windows to be consistent with the door heights (another thing that wasn't picked up!). So in the end, while we avoided the Admin Fee of $1,500 we will actually are spending more now because of the upgrades to windows and stacker door heights, but that was fine - it is what it is and i'm just happy and glad now that it's all sorted. There is nothing better than dealing with someone who genuinely cares and wants a good outcome for the client!

The building journey while looking from the outside can seem exciting - but it is also very daunting! Especially when you are heavily invested in the project - financially and emotionally! There are lessons to be learnt in every experience but i guess the most important thing to try and remember is to stay level headed. It is so easy to blow things out of proportion. There's a solution for everything, especially when you are still in the Admin stage. If you are vigilant and reasonable, then you can almost guarantee your builder will be willing to work with you to achieve a favourable outcome in the end!