Family’s four year battle with builders
Pictures of what was meant to be a young Aussie’s dream home reveal why she calls it a “haunted house” and her partner is urging her to sell as is.
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A young Australian who has been desperately trying to build her dream home was hit by the shock collapse of her first builder, and now faces potentially having to sell up as she struggles with the new construction company.
Karishma Seechurn originally chose to build with Snowdon Developments in 2020 before the company collapsed.
“It was a lot of hassle and stressful, emotionally and financially,” she said. However, she did receive an insurance payout.
Then in March 2023, she signed up with Victorian builder Grandeur Homes for the contract price of $349,000. Grandeur Homes currently has 110 projects it is working on.
But once she paid the deposit to the construction company, she said the “nightmare began”.
“I can’t even tell you how many emails I have sent and phone calls I have made. There have been four supervisors changed in the year and I’m still at frame stage,” she said.
Grandeur Homes lawyers said the company was not aware of calls and emails going unanswered.
“But if this did occur, Grandeur Homes regrets it and apologises to Ms Seechurn,” they said. “One of the reasons for changes to site supervisors has been the attempt to improve communications.”
News.com.au previously reported on other current and former customers of Grandeur Homes who shared their own experiences with the building company, which they described as a “nightmare”.
The 32-year-old said she has received minimal responses from Grandeur Homes and had to resort to the Domestic Building Dispute Resolution Victoria (DBDRV) to try and facilitate progress.
Even then she feels like she can get no straight answers on when the house, which is being built in the Victorian suburb of Strathtulloh, will be completed.
“The only tangible progress made is the installation of frames, which have unfortunately been exposed to weathering,” she said.
“It looks like a haunted house. It doesn’t look fresh anymore,” she added.
Do you have a story? Contact sarah.sharples@news.com.au
But Grandeur Homes lawyers said the circumstances in which the project was handed over to their client contributed to delays.
“Engineers, who had been retained by Snowden Homes (sic), refused to hand over engineering documents which were required to progress the project because they had not been paid by Snowden Homes (sic),” they said.
“Our client was eventually able to obtain the engineering documents itself in March, even though it was not our client’s obligation under the contract to source these documents, but rather, Ms Seechurn was obliged to supply them.”
Since obtaining the necessary documentation, Grandeur Homes has had the frame of the property approved, finished the ground floor brickwork, and the scaffolding is currently being erected, Grandeur Homes’ lawyers added.
Ms Seechurn, an instrument technician, said she believes the company has just two months left to deliver the house, while the company has disputed this and said it has four months left, although it did not respond to questions from news.com.au on this issue.
But she said the delays and battle to get updates has left her in a financial “mess”.
“We signed up to a lease for year and after that one year I emailed Grandeur Homes asking them to give me a time frame as I was having to extend the lease and it was becoming really hard,” she said.
“We have to pay for electricity, water and council, plus whatever I’m currently renting. It’s too much. We are struggling to make both ends meet, our rent has gone up.
“I’ve waited so long and it’s now 2024. My last resort to sell the house the way it is. Financially it’s becoming next to impossible to cope. My partner and I fight all the time. He wants me to get rid of the house.”
She added despite mediation with DBDRV, they were unsuccessful in reaching an agreement with Grandeur Homes.
“The GH representative was unable to provide a concrete timeline for the completion of the build, despite the limited time remaining as per my contract,” she added.
Grandeur Homes lawyers said the company are willing to discuss the progression of Ms Seechurn’s matter with her.
sarah.sharples@news.com.au
Originally published as Family’s four year battle with builders
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