Family’s ‘dream’ dashed over $100k dispute

Shocking pictures have revealed how a family’s “dream” has turned into a nightmare with harsh financial consequences.

A customer of Australia’s biggest home builder claims extensive delays by the company has seen the price of building his dream home skyrocket by more than $100,000 meaning the family has no choice but to sell the land and abandon their plans.

It comes at a time when building giant Metricon has been hit with five conditions on its construction licence by the NSW Building Commission.

Metricon faced intense speculation it was on the brink of collapse back in 2022 with reports it was in urgent crisis talks with clients after falling into financial strife, while last year it briefly featured at the top of NSW Fair Trading’s list for builders’ complaints, prompting an investigation.

NSW customers have complained that their fixed-price contracts had been terminated and renegotiated at a higher price.

Melbourne customer Nathan* claims he has also had problems with Metricon’s fixed-price costs and has been trying to build for almost three years.

He can’t reveal his real name as he struggles to sell the land where his dream home was meant to be built.

The IT worker was provided a quote by Metricon in November 2021 to build the “home of their dreams” for $535,990.

The family said they are struggling to sell the land. Picture: Supplied

He paid a $1500 deposit to lock in the price for 12 months “with the expectation that construction would begin” and at the same time they had their second child.

The family waited to hear from Metricon to advance the building process, he said. In the meantime, he said someone illegally dumped their renovation waste while he was waiting for Metricon to start construction.

“This incident ended up costing me a significant amount of money to clean up,” he said.

Nathan claims he didn’t hear anything from the home builder for up to six months and then in May 2022 news reports emerged about Metricon potentially going bust.

“Unfortunately, Metricon failed to communicate any delays on their end for over nine months. When the price lock expired, they demanded an additional $77,000,” he claimed.

The 38-year-old said the family refused to pay the extra $77,000 and took the matter to the Domestic Building Dispute Resolution Victoria (DBDRV), which led to an additional delay.

“Eventually, DBDRV referred the matter to VCAT, where there’s a wait time of over 18 months,” he said, leaving the family feeling helpless.

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A family trying to build their dream home with Metricon has claimed there were extensive delays and rubbish was illegally dumped on their land. Picture: Supplied

Nathan said Metricon has demanded an extra $100,000 for the construction which was “unaffordable given the current financial climate”.

A quote from Metricon showed a price of $679,971 to complete the build.

“Now we are in the position where neither we can sell the land or build the house that we ever dreamt of due to Metricon Homes’ lethargic approach in building our home,” he claimed.

“Every house on our street has been built except ours. We have been holding the land for more than three years and don’t have the house on the land.”

He added the “ordeal has taken a significant toll on our family’s mental and financial wellbeing”.

The Melbourne family have been left to fork out for water and council bills while the land tax bill jumped from $450 to $1750, he said.

Trying to sell the house is impossible, he said, claiming people are nervous about building given the troubles that have plagued the construction industry.

“The land is vacant and people are dumping everything on there,” he added. “It’s a headache.”

A Metricon construction site in April 2024. Picture: Richard Walker

Nathan said he suffers “nightmares” every night about failing to build their dream home.

“I find it very difficult to move on. When I walk on a street I can’t look at a double storey house as I had dreamt of that house but I cannot build it,” he said.

“Even when interest rates were rising, to save up the deposit we stopped sending our kids to childcare to save a 20 per deposit as that was the last opportunity to build. If we couldn’t do it then it would never happen and now it’s not going to happen.”

A Metricon spokesperson said during the sales and pre-site process when building a home, there are often delays caused by factors outside the builders’ control.

In the case of preparing the building contract and finalising plans for Nathan’s home, there were delays, they said.

“Some of which were driven by building requirement compliance at the land estate where his new home was to be built, as well as rescheduling of studio appointments to select fittings and fixtures because he was travelling overseas,” they noted.

A Metricon house at SkyRidge sold for $2.8m. Picture: Supplied

It is important to note that Metricon had never entered a contract with this customer and the pricing provided was an initial quote, the Metricon spokesperson added.

When the company issued a building contract in June 2023, the price of the build supplied two years earlier had “regrettably expired” after first quoting for the project in November 2021.

“The price had increased due to wider industry price hikes across the supply chain which were outside of Metricon’s control and which have been well documented,” they said.

The $1500 deposit paid to Metricon was to obtain third party reports required to properly prepare the building contract, they added.

“In doing this, Metricon incurred $4,373.61 of costs with consultants and authorities including to obtain pre-site footing designs, soil and survey reports,” they said.

“Despite electing not to enter a building contract with Metricon as he was unhappy with the new pricing, Metricon refunded (the) full deposit of $1500 deposit as a gesture of goodwill, reflecting our understanding of the current cost of living pressures that many in the community are facing.”

The spokesperson added Metricon tried to work collaboratively with the customer to find alternative solutions, but this was not possible here.

“This matter was recently taken to DBDRV and the customer did not obtain the outcome they were seeking,” they added.

Display homes at West Lakes back in 2022. Picture: Dean Martin

Meanwhile, the five conditions imposed by the NSW Building Commission came after concerns were raised over the company’s handling of complaints and contracting practices. One condition includes certain senior staff of Metricon to sit a three-day course at a cost of $2250 per person.

The course focuses on implementing a quality management system to boost customer experiences.

Another condition calls on the building giant to find the “root cause” of complaints in the last six months from August and pay an independent expert to prepare a report to address any underlying “system failures”.

Metricon must also engage an independent auditor to make sure it complies with its legislative obligations each year, according to another condition imposed by the building regulator.

In June last year, NSW Fair Trading began a formal investigation into Metricon. The ongoing probe is examining whether “contracts are being prolonged and extended, subsequently terminated, then renegotiated with the consumer at a higher price”, said Fair Trading Commissioner Natasha Mann. The investigation is continuing.

Metricon Homes have been forced to renegotiate contracts with clients amid soaring building materials prices. Picture: Ian Currie

A Metricon spokesperson said the licence conditions in NSW were finalised many months ago and were established collaboratively with the NSW Building Commission.

“These licence conditions relate to the application of ISO Standards (an internationally recognised way of doing something) and we believe this is a great new benchmark to be applied to all participants in the residential construction industry,” they said.

“These conditions were applied as part of the NSW Building Commission’s extension of our NSW builders licence until mid-2027.”

*Name changed

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Originally published as Family’s ‘dream’ dashed over $100k dispute