It has come to my attention there has been many building companies going into liquidation of late. So I did a little investigating and discovered most of the liquidations are marketing companies not builders at all.

These marketing companies often claim to be builders and register their businesses with names that are often very misleading with the use of words such as homes, builders, build etc so beware.

How do they get away with it you may ask?

What they do is advertize as a builder take all your payments and when it comes to the actual building
of your home they sub contract the building of your home to a second party.

Who is the second party ?  that’s a good question.

You don’t in most cases ever get to meet them and this is only one of the many problems associated with this arrangement. The marketing company receives a margin off to top of the build cost for its services and in most cases leaving very little for the second party to build your home. This creates many problems, one that springs too mind is the cutting of corners in the building of your home.

So what are some corners can be cut in the building of your home?

Its starts with the concrete slab many wont use bore piers or screw piles when they are required. Which can save them $5000 to $15,000 depending on the size of the home it could be substantially more.

How can they get away with this?

They will shop the engineering around until they find someone who will give them the go ahead. The wall framing and roof trusses are the cheapest you could find and just pass the bare minimum of specifications.

They will not use battens on the underside your homes trusses and by not using battens they will save $1,200 to $1,600 depending on the size of your home. The use of battens on your trusses is a way of taking the stress of the plaster ceiling linings, reason being a truss is designed to move and flex depending on climate conditions, where plaster is not.

Cases of plaster ceiling linings falling down due to the lack of battens is very frequent, with one high profile builder finding themselves on today tonight with their name being severely soiled and rightly so. The particular builder is still not installing battens go figure.

Two of these items are the most important in your home build.

The slab, wall framing and roof trusses will crate most home build problems as the years go by with major cracking caused by movement. In some cases the marketing companies and there second party builders that are involved in poorly constructed home builds are being taken to court and homes are being ordered to be demolished.

Who needs or wants all that hassle!