As a building company we get all kinds of building industry information.
Some is interesting and some garbage. However, we always get useful
information from Building Research Association of New Zealand
(BRANZ).
Recently I received a BRANZ bulletin which I felt people wanting
to buy a house (not have one built) would find interesting. The
bulletin is a four-page document that strongly advises getting
or having the house you wish to purchase inspected by a professional
for faults and defects before paying over the money.
The bulletin is made up into eight sections and covers the following
subjects:
- Pre-purchase inspections. This is a brief introduction.
- What are pre-purchase inspections?
- Why get a pre-purchase inspection done?
- Who should carry out the inspections?
- How long should an inspection take?
- How should the information be presented?
- What should a pre-purchase inspection cover?
- Inspection standards.
There is a ninth section but that deals with credits, i.e.
who wrote the articles.
Not many people would buy a car before having a mechanic check
it or confirm a warranty on it. But most often it doesn't happen
when buying a house because we either didn't know it could be
done, couldn't be bothered having it done or didn't want to
spend between $300 and $400 checking out an investment worth,
in some cases, hundreds of thousands of dollars. Seems crazy
doesn't it.
You could get a builder to carry out this work but they are
not really qualified, and many have been sued for not providing
the full picture or omitting vital information. It's true, a
builder would be much cheaper than those professionals suggested
by the BRANZ bulletin, but you get what you pay for.
Sad but true, the best person to provide access to this service
is the land agent who's trying to sell you, but they won't because
they might lose the sale if the report is a negative. In actual
fact a savvy agent could gain credibility by referring their
prospective client to a pre-purchase inspector. They could even
make an irresistible offer to their prospective client, something
like; get the inspection done for peace of mind and if you decide
to purchase the building I'll pick up the bill. I know I'd buy
it. And if the inspection proved that the house had faults that
put you off, not only would most people appreciate the help,
they would probably stick with that agent because they knew
he or she was working for their best interests.
If you would like one of these BRANZ bulletins on Pre-Purchase
Inspections, I suggest you phone the BRANZ Advisory HelpLine
on 0900-5-90-90. Tell the reception what you want and he or
she will put you through to BRANZ publications. The whole exercise
will take less than 5 minutes and cost less than $10, including
the phone call.
For years now I've been using the same subcontractors - same
plumber, same electrician, same block layer and the same painter.
Because I know I can rely on these tradesmen to give me a great
service, every time, I don't even bother to have the work priced
by other subcontractors.
I know my tradesmen can't produce a top job for my clients by
being the cheapest. Cheap tradesmen produce cheap work, and cheap
work falls apart. All I ask of them is to be fair and competitive.
Just recently I was having a few problems with my usual painter.
He was doing a great job but letting the team down a little in
other ways. I felt his prices were getting a bit high, and it
was starting to put whole projects at risk for all of us by becoming
too expensive for the client.
I decided to put a painting project up for tender to three other
Registered Master Painters. When the quotes and prices came in
they created more of a problem for me. The first quote was $6,000,
the second quote was $6,500, my usual painter was $16,000 and
the fourth painter was $23,000. How could there be such a huge
difference in prices? They were all Registered Master Painters
that you would presume were all competent tradesmen. They all
wanted the work and knew that by being successful there was a
good chance of further work from a prominent building company
like ours. They were all given the same plans and specifications
to price from.
So how does one choose? It would be so tempting to choose one
of the two cheapest prices but the fact is that with the high
standard of houses we so often build, I knew that these tradesmen
would not be able to produce the goods; in fact I'd be heading
for disaster. The $10,000 difference in price between my usual
painter and these other two cheaper prices is a huge amount of
money, and as I say most of us would be tempted to go the cheap
way, thinking we were making a saving. I decided to stick with
the devil I knew as I know I can always rely on his work and workmanship,
and I can do without $10,000 worth of headaches.
As for the highest price tender, well, I now believed I was getting
value for money with my usual painter and found that the best
way to move forward was to discuss our difficulties so that we
all win, i.e. the client, the painter and then main contractor
all happy.
One thing about my usual painter (or any of my subcontractors
for that matter) is that he understands what service is. In other
words, if there is ever a problem with his workmanship after the
project is complete he goes back to deal with it immediately and
without any questions asked. That is peace of mind for me and
satisfaction for my clients. And after all, service is all about
what happens once the cheque has been paid and not promises before
the sale is made. Some tradesmen's service is more like what happens
when you introduce a bull to a cow and let nature takes its course.
By the way; we have just invested in some of the latest new technology
in 3D CAD. What this means for you is that we will be preparing
plans on the computer. Once we have them in there you will be
able to see exactly what it looks like before we finalise the
plans or start to build. We'll even be able to take you on a journey
around the outside of your new home, looking at it from all angles,
looking through the windows, then through the front door, up the
passage, into the bedrooms, seeing how the furniture fits and
ensuring there is enough room to move in the kitchen. Sounds fantastic
and it is/will be once we learn how to use the ………
thing. You're welcome to come and have a laugh with/at us at any
time.
