Continued...

We paid for our internal linings and were told before we paid for them that there would be a 10 working day delay until they were delivered because thats how Carter Holts works. (Carter Holts told us they only need 2 working days but I wasnt going to bother questioning that statement further). Then I received an email saying that they were going to send someone out to measure the house to find out how much gib we need, and they'd be sending him out next Monday (which was Nov 22nd), a whole week after we'd paid. Then the internal linings would be delivered 10 days after that. I sent the following email below (which was a tame version of how I felt):

No, that’s not going to work. Our bank is still not happy about paying for items before they are delivered. Your builder needs to make this a priority. Considering the amount of times we have had to wait it is not surprising that BNZ are hesitant to allow us to draw-down on our pre-approved mortgage.

This is what BNZ have noted:
1/ In Dec 09 Plans were paid for – we did not receive our working plans till late March 2010 - 4 month long wait
2/ Frames (Stage 1) was paid for in April – Work did not start until August – 4 month long wait
3/ Stop placed on Account by MBC because Foundations had not been signed off -1 month long wait. Scaffold hireage still had to be paid for that month.

Our Bank Manager is visiting the site on the 29th Nov and will expect to see a delivery of our internal linings.

And this is the reply that I received:

Steve will be calling shortly to discuss this.
This is not accurate !
You have a kitset contract Monika, we are not doing a full build. You pay for materials, then it is ordered once we have cleared funds in our accoutn and then you receive it. There are time frames required from confirmed order to our supplier, to delivery to your site. Stage payments ar all set out in your contract.

You paid a plan deposit on December 9th It takes at least 3 weeks for scheme plans to be drawn up for you to approve, then the full working drawings are done, engineering for the raft floor is done, engineering for the truss design is done by Carters, this all takes time. Full working drawings plus all the engineering can take up to 6 weeks.
Then you have Christmas and New Year when no one is working right in the middle of all this! So you got your full working drawings with all the engineering towards the end of March. So from Mid January when engineers and draughting people come back to work there is 5- 6 weeks which on a house your size is normal. Not 4 months.
Frames paid for in April and work delayed because of the wettest Winter in history for the last 80 years!!! Monika we do not control the weather. We had to pay for those frames too to order them so the money came in and went straight out again. There was no benefit to us or “advantage” we achieved from this.
I will let Steve answer you about the compaction on the site. Because of the soil conditions we had to re engineer. The Geotech was a subdivision report and was insufficient to give us any specific information that this may occur. If we had requested a geotech report specific to your site the cost would be another approx $1800 plus gst.
Internal linings was paid yesterday Fund DC-ed so we requested a gib take off from your builder today. He said he will do it Monday. Then We can order the gib, time frames is approx 7 – 10 days delivery.
OR I can just give him the gib we do as standard and it will be more work for him then you will get the gib sooner.
Let me know ?

Please give me your bank managers phone details and I am more than happy to explain your contract to him and how a kitset works. He should be very familiar with this.
We cannot send out tens of thousands of dollars worth of material that is not even paid for! Surely you understand this.

Your bank manager will probably not see the gib on site if we only get the take off from Dennis on Monday. More than likely it will be delivered about Dec 1st.

Monika as I have explained any variations or upgrades to the contract price need to be paid in advance, They do not form part of the contract, and we could send out a granite top or upgrades etc, only to find that you do not hav the fiancea above what your mortgage all was for to pay for this.! Again surely you understand this. A kitset is not like a full build where we are in control of teh job and can sotp work or take back unpaid for materials

I would REALLY appreciate comments about my experiences by any of my readers please. Sometimes it's good to get a point of view from someone 'outside' of the situation.