New Zealanders warned not to be ‘too trusting’ of builders | WATCH

A building law specialist says Kiwis are “too trusting” of builders and need to pay more attention when embarking on a new project.

It comes after Fair Go spoke to Dunedin couple Dave and Gemma O’Neill, who were in a stalemate with local franchisees, Stonewood Homes, and Master Builders when a defect in the build stopped all progress.

The O’Neills were completely broken by the battle with the national brand and its local franchisee.

They’d signed a $900,000 deal in early 2020 for a luxury new build just north of Dunedin and had paid more than three-quarters of the sum to the company. But the build failed multiple inspections requiring significant deconstruction to put it right.

The couple were unable to move into their home, dealing with a bureaucratic nightmare across multiple agencies.

Speaking to Breakfast this morning, lawyer Ian Stephenson said disputes were “very common” between builders and homeowners.

“No builder sets out to cause a problem and create defects. they’re not evil geniuses squirrelling away the millions and building defective homes.

“The reality is that there is tension throughout the build.”

He said that money is often the main issue when it comes to disputes.

“When you sign up to a contract, and you’ve got a set amount of work that’s going to be done, but then the work actually sets outside that scope.

“Suddenly homeowners or new builders find themselves having to pay a lot more than they anticipated.

“New Zealand is known as a building market that lives off variations, increases in price.”

His advice to those having their home built was to always read the fine print of the contract, ensuring there’s nothing that isn’t air tight.

He also said people are too trusting of their builders.

“People often don’t read the fine print. They put a lot of trust in their builder and their builder’s brand.

“We have a much closer relationship with our builders. We put a lot of trust in them as consumers.

“So people often feel like they can’t put a squeeze on the terms when they’re drafting the contract.”

However, Stephenson said a good contract still won’t be able to protect a project from potential defects.

He explained that having someone, like a project manager, to assist in quality control will make a huge difference to the build.

“What we often don’t wanna do, for price reasons, is have a project manager – or someone separate to the builder, who is keeping an eye on the quality of the product.

“It’s that added layer of admin that people gawk at when they begin, but that check and balance can make a big difference.”

When dealing with Master Builders, the O’Neills say they were disregarded by the association, seeing no action despite promises.

Stephenson said a lot of people choose Master Builders because they’re guided by banks due to their 10-year guarantee, but “they don’t stop and look behind the brand”.

“They don’t look to find out what is it that Master Builders does by ways of checks and balances.”

His advice was to look into builders before hiring them, making sure they are solvent and not about to go into liquidation.

“That’s the hardest one, not just in terms of someone going into liquidation.

“One bad, defective product in a small building company can put them under.”