After months of consideration and planning, you’re finally ready to get started on your home renovation. Your next step? Finalising your renovations contract with your building company. It’s crucial that you take your time with this part of the process, as it could be the difference between your project finishing on time and to your expectations, or becoming a genuine a nightmare. Here is some guidance around the process and the details of a legitimate building contract.
Preliminary Agreement
It might sound a bit unusual to have to agree to something before signing the actual contract, but this allows the renovations company to assess your property and ensure that all the details of your building contract are true, fair and reasonable.
A Building Team, including a Designer, should schedule a visit to your home to inspect the site, before the company’s Engineers, Supervisor, Estimator and Draftsperson should check for any potential logistical problems.
Building Contract
Once you’ve moved past the Preliminary Agreement, you then need to focus on the building contract itself. Firstly, if the contract is supplied by the Housing Industry Association (HIA), you know immediately that it’s legitimate, because these documents have been vigorously scrutinised by various governing bodies. The HIA-supplied contract is legally binding and will outline all the specific details of your renovation or extension.
Apart from the general details of both parties, there should also be mandatory inclusions such as proof that you have homeowner’s warranty insurance, and proof that your builder has a warranty, public liability and construction works insurance.
What’s most important is that there is a section that clearly outlines the costs involved and the timeframe in which the project will be completed. Ideally, you should look for a renovations company that provides fixed costs and completion time, so there are no nasty surprises for you along the way.
Of course, with any project, there could be unlikely minor hiccups throughout the process, therefore you should know exactly what will take place should there be a delay in the timeline or any extra work required.
It’s important that you have a clear idea of what the building process will involve throughout each stage of the renovation, including before work begins, during the building work and upon completion of the work.
As you can see, this process is comprehensive and you should never be afraid to ask your renovations company any questions about the contract. You may also want to receive advice from a lawyer, as with any large financial transaction.
If you’d like more information about our building contract and the process of a renovation through Duncan Thompson Extensions, feel free to contact us anytime.
Related Tag: Home Renovations Melbourne
