Apparently it sounds like an email alert...
We received the tenders from the builders for their quote on the working drawings on the house. They were double our budget.
Yes. Just over two times (!!) what we had planned. We have been designed a lovely house that we can not afford to build.
We received the tenders early in the month. It has taken about this long for me to come to grips with it enough to be able to write about it. You can imagine the frustration... anger... fear... STRESS... that we have been experiencing. It feels as though we have passed through most of the recognized stages of mourning. (Although one of us has had a hard time getting away from "Anger")
We made our budget very clear from the beginning. It was our initial question for whoever we met with. We didn't want to waste anyone's time going through an architectural process if our budget was too small for them to work with.
We were assured that it wasn't.
The reason that we wanted to go with an architect in the first place was with the hope that they would be able to stretch our budget in ways that we hadn't envisioned. We thought we were hiring a trained professional that would be able to make the best use of space and materials for us. Guess we were wrong. So much for professional training.
It is SO disappointing.
I think what might have happened was that our architect didn't adequately research the cost of materials. Frankly, it's difficult to come up with any explanations as to how he could have missed the mark so badly. It's a pretty basic mistake, but one that has HUGE repercussions for us.
Not only are we out a large amount of "professional" fees, but we've also wasted quite a bit of time.
So, what do we do now?
We have been spending the past couple of weeks doing a bit of research of our own. We've talked with; a couple of building companies, friends who are in the building industry, another friend who happens to be an architect in Wellington, and the head carpentry tutor at NMIT (the guy who trains most of the local builders out there). Irritatingly, we seem to get a different idea of where to go next from each person that we talk to. However, a surprisingly consistent response is that this situation happens all to often. Nelson architects seem to have this nasty tendency to ignore budgets. (Although, our $170K over budget is rather extreme.)
Many people just swallow the extra and carry on. We just can't do that.
We are planning on going back to the architectural firm and meeting with our architect and the other partners. We will point out our budget (meager though it may be) which was clearly printed in our initial agreement. We also have a consistent history throughout our emails that show how we were concerned with budget. At no point have we given any indication that our budget was larger than initially stated. (Thank goodness I kept all those emails!) We will then (firmly) request that they redesign the house within our budget at their own cost – even if that means starting over. Hopefully, they will agree and things will carry on. If not, I'm sure that there will be angry, raised voices and much waving of hands... to say the least.
I'd love to sue, but don't want the added stress.
More than one person has suggested we contact a NZ consumer affairs show called "Fair Go".
If we can't continue with the architects, we will start looking into the building companies. We feel wary about them, but what other choice do we have? We've had friends suggest that we relocate a house. Unfortunately, those houses aren't as readily available as people seem to think. They also generally require so much work that you may as well build from scratch. We'll get a house up. It just may take a bit longer than we had initially planned.
Hope still springs eternal.
