Pitfalls of Building
The reason for this post is to highlight some of the pitfalls of building a new home. Our new home was the first house to be built in a new eco estate development in the Winelands. After 5 years, the dream of our first new home build remains just that, a dream. This cowboy builder turned our dream into a building nightmare. And yes, a nightmare is also a dream, but not the kind you wish for!
- Easy prey – inexperienced home consumers are easy prey for property developers and builders.
- Cowboy builders cause heartache and the remedial work left in their wake costs a fortune.
- Unethical developers are even worse…they really know how to work the system and they usually have money backing them.
When the unethical developer is a vexatious litigant, the troubles are multiplied exponentially. On Rocky Ground points you to various posts on the building and litigation processes so far. Our post Vexatious and Frivolous Litigation shows the extent of the litigation involved.
NEW ECO ESTATE
The whole saga began in 2016. We bought a self-catering business in this pretty Western Cape village. While renovating the cottages a new development came onto the market: an eco estate on the outskirts of the village. We had not intended to build but we fell for the idea of building our forever home on an eco estate. Solar power, double glazing, light steel construction, borehole water, eco pool, everything we wanted and as off grid and self-sustainable as we could possibly be.
Visiting The Site
Off we went to see this new development. It had been raining and the site was a sodden muddy quagmire. Even with the clouds and the rain, the view of the towering mountains drew us in. These were the very early days.
To be involved at this stage of a new development was intoxicating! We had never before built our own home and now to be part of this was so exciting!
Choosing A Plot
We chose the plot
- furthest away from the busy road,
- far away from the entrance and importantly
- closest to the pedestrian gate into the green belt – perfect for taking our dogs for walks.
In hindsight we should probably have bought the plot above ours. We are the lowest site, not good for damp, not good for a cellar and the municipal electrical boxes are immediately outside the fence.
Having never built before we loved the thought of building our own new eco home but not actually building it ourselves. Someone with all the expertise and know-how would manage the whole process and avoid any of the normal pitfalls of building.
Our grand design would not be in the grandeur of the house but rather in the expectation of excellence in the execution of the design. After all, we were paying a premium price.
We could tweak the plans presented by the developer and get exactly what we wanted. At the end of the process we would be handed the keys and our new lives would begin!
PLAN OF A TYPICAL 3-BEDROOM HOUSE
We signed an Option Agreement for our plot and attached to that agreement was the house plan for a 3 bedroom home. The 3 bedroom house was a Type D unit and all the Type D units bordered existing houses on the north-west boundary.
OUR TYPE-D HOUSE
The Architect designed the Type D house to fit in with the title deed restrictions. The houses could not be seen to be double storey. The upstairs would have exposed trusses and vaulted ceilings in order for the bedroom to conform to the South African National Standards SANS10400 for a bedroom.
Cowboy Builder & The Cellar
We didn’t change the plans much. We added some extra windows as we wanted to make better use of natural light in our eco home and then we added a cellar. Being in the Cape, why not? But the cellar needs an expert builder who knows what he is doing. That was our first big mistake, believing this cowboy builder was that expert. The marketing material calls him a master builder and we believed it. We believed he had the skills to build a usable cellar. But instead he created our building nightmare – an unusable seasonal indoor swimming pool. “Believing” is a big pitfall of building. Take a look at Photos Then And Now.
THE BUILD PROCESS
The whole build process was due to take about 4 to 5 months, (light steel construction is fast), the same length of time we expected it would take to sell our house in Johannesburg. Our new house would be complete in June 2017…then August….then November … and then, well who knows… our building nightmare continues and we are not there yet. Take a look at Earthworks and Realising the Concept
PLANS AND THE SHOWHOUSE
The problems did not begin immediately. In any event, this unethical developer failed to disclose any hiccups along the way, no matter how big or small. We were deliberately kept out of the picture. Plans were submitted to the municipality, rejected (not unusual) and re-submitted calling our house a SHOWHOUSE (unbeknown to us). I’m sure the developer believed it was their showhouse: we were merely funding the entire project. And being their showhouse they changed what they wanted, how they wanted without ever consulting us. We were their private bank – no fees to pay and no forms to fill in, just a free bank!
- The architect knew what he was doing when designing this house, so what went wrong?
- Why did the builder not follow the plans?
- Does this cowboy builder not know how to follow plans?
- The developer still cannot get an occupation certificate for the house and we still cannot live in the house 4 years later.
SIGN-OFFS
The developer told us the architect and engineer would be on site checking the whole process and signing off each stage of the build. But a cowboy builder doesn’t need experts checking his work and this cowboy did whatever he wanted. As we do not live in the area we were relying on the architect, engineer and NHBRC overseeing each stage of the build as we were told they would. We needed the experts and their knowledge to protect us from the pitfalls of building. We had no reason to doubt that the competent persons would be on site… no reason to doubt, until the building nightmare began.
WHAT WENT WRONG
Perhaps things would have been different if the architect had been there to ensure the builder was following the approved building plans. It was never part of his contract…a fact we only learnt 2 years later.
Perhaps things would have been different if the build had been enrolled with the NHBRC as is required by law for all new home builds. After all the enrolment fee was included in the costs and we had paid all costs.
Perhaps things would have been different if the plot had been transferred to our names as it should have been before building began. The Building Agreement specifically states the conditions to meet prior to commencement.
Finally, if building plans were approved, the Building Inspector would have made regular inspections of the site.
CONCLUSION
It is a sorry home and a sorry state of affairs. We were so trusting like many new home builders, and so excited at the thought of our first home build. This is where unethical developers and cowboy builders really have the upper hand: they’ve done it all before. For a new home builder this may be a once in a lifetime experience to build a home.
Is “not knowing” the greatest pitfall of building a new home? You simply don’t know if the builder really is competent?
- Getting references and seeing past builds is so important and must be part of your due diligence.
- Keep your ear to the ground and listen out for what suppliers and others have to say about the builder. If the builder does not pay his suppliers, ask why?
- If you hear rumours, investigate them – in the long run, it may save you months of anguish and plenty of money. It may also save you from having a building nightmare that goes on for years.
Helpful Sites
For further guidance on house building in South Africa with a checklist for first time home builders, NHBRC enrolment and a whole lot more, take a look at : SA Bauhaus
Another very helpful site on building in South Africa is All About Building
Also, for telltale signs of a cowboy builder, look at: Signs of a Cowboy Builder
Let’s work together to rid South Africa of unethical developers and cowboy builders. If you have had a good building experience or a building nightmare, please share your story with us.
Dear OnRockyGround,
Thank you so much for sharing your story. I’ve spend some time reading through your documented journey and it sounds horrendous. From some of the photo’s it’s easy to understand why you purchased in such an area, its a beautiful surrounding. But YIKES! Scroll down to see the inside of the house and the absolute disaster the developer has left you with is just shocking. It seems like this was meant to be an exciting journey that has turned into years of heartache.
My wife and I have never built but we did buy a newly renovated home a couple years back. Our experience there was also unpleasant. We found out afterwards it’s very easy for these “cowboy” renovators to quickly do a “renovation” that may look good but is not up to code at all (and won’t last). Just a few highlights from our experience:
– The renovator left tons of waste that needed to be removed from the property despite saying it would all be cleared (get everything in writing!)
– Despite having a “recently certified” electric fence we discovered that it didn’t work and they had in fact cut the alarm siren because it just kept shorting itself and was permanently going off.
– The electrics in the house had to be completely replaced. Again, there was a recent certificate of compliance. They had reused old wires and made joins within the conduit so couldn’t be removed and replaced. We had to cut into all the walls in the house and run new conduit and wiring. An entirely new distribution board had to be installed at our expense.
– We had issues with what we thought was damp. The walls appeared to be dissolving. After having damp proofing experts come in we were told the developer just never bothered to mix the plaster correctly and skimped on the cement so it was basically water mixed with sand on the walls.
– They built an extension over the mains pipes to the house so when there was an issue with the water pressure that needed to be investigated we had to replace all the mains water pipes running from the street to the house.
Now the above is small stuff compared to your experience but as first time buyers we didn’t have the money to try hold the seller accountable through a lawyer. Both the estate agent and transfer attorneys wouldn’t get involved at all so you are left a bit in the dark. We just accepted the cost because we new it would cost more to fight it than to just accept it. So it seems like a fantastic opportunity for these “cowboys” to rip off first time buyers looking to break into the housing market with little chance they will be taken to task.
We didn’t know much then about buying a home or renovating. After a few years we are now much more savvy. I’m glad you are putting this blog together. Hopefully it will help others out there before they look to building or buying.
Thank you!
Thank you for sharing your renovation experience.
I’m sure there are many builders out there who just want to do a good honest job and move on.
But the cowboy builders who do shoddy and / or dangerous work cause so much harm to the building industry and to us the home consumers.
The stress of dealing with building disasters takes its toll financially and emotionally. When the builder is litigious the costs are exponentially worse.
Making home consumers aware is the best we can do.
Thanks for the feedback.