E44. Implications of changing your mind during and after the build

In this episode of the Building Design, prime Time Podcast Frank and Amelia delve into the implications of changes that are made during the construction stage of building. 

Changes during construction can create a domino affect extending the time it takes to complete the build and the cost of the project. 

Frank share real accounts of when changes have affected an outcome on a build.  He has seen changes that the client has made at the last minute and changes that a builder may have made onsite, In some cases leading to massive implications to the project. 

Frank also discusses implications after the build is complete and how landscaping can affect the drainage and breathability throughout the home.

This is an episode not to be missed be sure to subscribe so that you don't miss an episode.  We drop a new episode each week!

About us
Prime Design is a building design company locally owned and operated in Tasmania since 2004.  Our goal is to share as much valuable information as possible about the process of building design, extensions, and more. We will talk about a different topic each week. To suggest a topic you would like us to talk about contact us at info@primedesigntas.com.au

Disclaimer
The information provided on this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice, individual circumstances, or remedy. We strongly suggest you consult a qualified professional before taking any action based on the information provided in this podcast. The views, opinions, and information provided in this podcast are those of the hosts do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organisation, employer, or company. All content provided on this podcast is provided “as is” without warranty of any kind. We make no representations as to the accuracy, completeness, currentness, suitability, or validity of any information on this podcast and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, or damages arising from its use. We reserve the right to change content or delete any information provided on this podcast at any time without prior notice.

Transcript

E44. Changing your mind during the build

[INTRO] (0:08 - 0:24)

Hello and welcome to the Building Design, Prime Time Podcast, focused on providing valuable information for anyone looking to undertake a new build or extension project. We'll share our tips, tricks and stories from a building designer's perspective.

[Amelia] (0:26 - 0:44)

Hello and welcome to the Building Design, Prime Time Podcast. I'm your host Amelia and once again we're joined by our regular Frank Geskus.

[Frank] (0:44 - 0:45)

Morning Amelia, how are you?

[Amelia] (0:45 - 0:46)

Good morning, I'm good.

[Frank] (0:47 - 0:50)

So we're going to talk about something that ticks me off.

[Amelia] (0:51 - 0:53)

I think you're going to get on your soapbox a bit with this one.

[Frank] (0:53 - 1:07)

Maybe. I reckon. And a few designers I know and building surveyors would be on the same soapbox, would be shoulder to shoulder on this one and it drives us nuts.

Changes during construction.

[Amelia] (1:07 - 1:10)

And it's more common I guess than what people would think.

[Frank] (1:10 - 3:16)

It is, it's starting to settle down a bit due to the liability and the potential problems. So what we're talking about is you've got your permit, your builder's made a start on the house and everything's happy days and decide to make a change during the build. One of my favourites and horrifies me and a lot of people don't get until you explain it to them is I think polished concrete's a good idea.

Let's not put tiles down, let's put polished concrete or burnished, whatever you want. There's a couple of different ways you can do it. And people who listen to this might be thinking what's the big deal?

The big deal is the actual concrete slab has to be designed to cater for either polishing the slab or cutting the slab so you're reducing the thickness of the slab or if you're burnishing it, two different processes. But it has to be designed in a way to be able to deal with it because most slabs you'll find will form shrinkage cracks in there, little hairline cracks. So when we talk to our engineers, hey we've got a client that wished to have a polished slab or a burnished, so it's thickened up, it's also additional reinforcement goes in and the position of that reinforcement's very, very important.

The way they pour the concrete is even different for even consistency in the concrete. So there's all these techniques. Sometimes there's colours, sometimes there's glass beads and special aggregate put in there just to make it a certain look.

So when there's an actual change, and I'll use, if you've got a waffle type slab which has got the polystyrene boxes or a couple X which has got the plastic domes, the slabs might only be 85mm or in some places 65mm at the shallowest point, the thinnest point. So when you're grinding that, you're actually taking away the effective thickness which then can potentially affect not just the strength but also its long-term capacity. That's debatable and there's all different debates about it.

But when you're expecting a certain result after you've spent a considerable amount of money to do this because polishing or burnishing a floor is not cheap, to do it well it is quite expensive. But then cracks will form and then it doesn't actually give you the finish that you want.

[Amelia] (3:16 - 3:18)

But that's common no matter what isn't it?

[Frank] (3:19 - 3:19)

What do you mean?

[Amelia] (3:19 - 3:23)

Well concrete generally will crack over time.

[Frank] (3:23 - 3:41)

Oh yes, 100% because it's got 28 days to cure to about 90%. But the expectations of everyone out there, it's a perfectly, perfect finish surface. It's very rare to get a perfect finish.

That's why there's a movement going on where you put your base slab in and then you put a topping slab over the top.

[Amelia] (3:42 - 3:43)

Oh that makes sense.

[Frank] (3:43 - 4:26)

It is hugely expensive, a lot more work. And then it gets more complicated if you decide to put hydronic heating where you run the water or coolant through or the liquid through pipes in your slab to heat up your slab. Brilliant stuff, love it, it's magnificent.

It's the best heat you'll ever have because your feet are all this toasty wool and the heat rises. So it's a great way of doing it. Very expensive to set up but very cost effective to run.

And you get some great finishes but there's a lot of tricks and tips to these. So people actually change that without talking to the engineer. So that can actually cause problems later on.

And people think they save money, they're not. It's actually more expensive than most floor coverings.

[Amelia] (4:26 - 4:26)

Wow.

[Frank] (4:27 - 4:56)

Yeah, so it's a little thing. The other thing people like to change is sometimes the fixtures, fixtures in their bathrooms or the location of it. Had that before, got to go through a new plumbing permit.

Changing your wall cladding. Now in our current regulatory world, doing that has to go through a process and the building surveyor has to approve that due to the requirements because your cladding that you may choose may not comply with the bushfire regulations.

[Amelia] (4:56 - 4:57)

Domino effect.

[Frank] (4:58 - 6:48)

It is. I had one where they changed, went from a smaller window and doubled the size of the sliding door because of the view. No problem with it, except we had to put a bigger lintel in to hold up the roof.

The thermal assessment, the thing we call your energy assessment to figure out what star rating it is, had to be redone. So I had to get a structural engineer, had to get the thermal assessment to redo their job and the time and delay it took. So those types of things, making a deck bigger, that's not a hard one to do.

I've had one where people have added toilets in, just put an extra toilet in, just randomly put one in the laundry or something like that. So it's really important to get this stuff well thought out because as we're finding building surveyors are making us redo the drawings, there's no we need as constructed or what was built, I need those drawings and I have to reapply for an amendment. And each one of those things cost monies to do that as well.

Another thing which we find very difficult to deal with at times is where the engineer has specified a steel beam within the house. Now, it could be for holding something up. Everyone thinks it's purely about holding stuff up, but sometimes it's to do with racing the structure.

So you've just imagine you put lots of windows in a wall, there's not a lot there to stop it from moving around, what I call flopping in the wind. So sometimes the solution is it could be a big piece of timber, it could be a steel, a steel beam goes on, welded to the post, a very rigid structure. And then we've had a couple of times where the builder said, no, I can do that in timber.

I can save a little bit of money. No worries. And it's easier for the builder because he can do it himself too.

But not understanding the purpose of what it was there for. Then we're stuck with a situation where the wall was not braced well enough.

[Amelia] (6:49 - 6:55)

And most people, they wouldn't even know, you know, that the people move in, they don't know what to check.

[Frank] (6:55 - 6:59)

They don't know. The interesting thing the building surveyor knows when he does a frame inspection and then there's questions asked.

[Amelia] (6:59 - 7:00)

Oh, yes, that's true.

[Frank] (7:00 - 7:31)

So generally it gets picked up by the building surveyor. So that is a more common problem because they don't understand what it's for. They don't ring up the engineer.

Now, if they ring the engineer and understand why it's there, okay, then that's fine. But it's when someone says, I can make it cheaper. You know, I've had some timber merchants say, hey, I can do it cheaper by putting a glue lamb or a LVL type of timber in there.

Yeah, no worries. Happy days. And then they realise, well, it wasn't for that purpose.

It was to brace up the whole wall. Another favourite is changing your heating.

[Amelia] (7:32 - 7:34)

People change their heating at the building stage.

[Frank] (7:35 - 7:52)

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So for argument's sake, you might have, like in Tasmania, we love our, we call them heat pumps because of our climate, everyone else calls it AC reverse cycle. Wonderful little contraptions, very efficient.

You know, like in our room here, we've got a split on the wall. You know, just a single outlet. Ugly, ugly looking plastic units.

[Amelia] (7:53 - 7:53)

Yes.

[Frank] (7:53 - 7:53)

They're horrible.

[Amelia] (7:53 - 7:54)

They're not pretty.

[Frank] (7:54 - 7:57)

No, aesthetically, they look cheap and nasty.

[Amelia] (7:57 - 7:58)

They serve a purpose.

[Frank] (7:58 - 8:45)

Well, yes, with the decor of the room, I tell you. So that's why people go for ducting. So it could be through the ceiling.

It could be through the floor. That's all fine. But past experiences is where people have changed that, but say if they're on a two-storey home and they're running it through the floor, the floor may not have been designed for all the ducts to run through.

So if we know we've got ductwork going into a two-storey house and you put it all through the floor so it can do the upper floor and lower floor, it makes a lot of sense. So then you design the floor, not just for carrying the floor load, but you can run your ducts through there. And then you've got to change probably the type of flooring you do.

You might go floor trusses or something similar. You can just run all the ducts. It's super neat.

Works really, really well. Changing it last minute causes mayhem because the floor has not been designed for that.

[Amelia] (8:46 - 8:46)

Mm-hmm.

[Frank] (8:46 - 10:19)

So those things have to be considered or well-planned. Otherwise, you might end up putting two systems in or you've got bulkheads in the ceilings, and it's just not pretty. You go back to putting ugly plastic things in.

Yeah. I wish someone... There's a couple of brands that do some nice ones, but, yeah, I wish everyone had nicer-looking split system head units in the room.

I like the ceiling cassettes. They're still plasticky, but, yeah, but they're a lot more expensive. So when you move into your house, this is an interesting one.

You move in your house, you've got your occupancy certificate. And, sorry, we talk about certificates because these are all the processes and completion certificates. You haven't done your garden landscaping and you're starting to think about that.

Think about your footpaths and decks and garden sheds and retaining walls and those types of things. A few things to watch out for. If you've got a brick-veneered house, at the bottom it's got these little open slots.

If you've got a concrete slab, they're called weep holes. Do not cover them up. They're designed to drain the cavity in the wall and also ventilation.

If you've got lightweight cladding, it could be tin, cement sheet, timber, you've got to have a gap between where you put your footpath and where the cladding is so there's ventilation. I've seen a few times where they've poured concrete right up to the house, right up against the cladding so the cladding can't breathe. If your building can't breathe, you're going to get moisture in there.

If the moisture can't get out, what happens? Gets trapped. And?

[Amelia] (10:19 - 10:20)

Goes mouldy.

[Frank] (10:20 - 11:01)

Goes mouldy. And I've seen landscapers do this. No offence against some landscapers or concreters, but the fact remains I have seen too many houses where concrete or pavers have been put up too high and they're trying to make it all look nice and sexy and, you know, it's up at window level and stuff, but they've actually buried the cladding, you know, the butt of the pavers or the concrete straight up against the cladding.

That could be tin, could be concrete, could be whatever. Not a great idea because then the warranty is void on the cladding, it doesn't breathe, and you may not see the result for another 10, 15 years. So you've got to be real careful with those types of things and also the direction of the concrete, make sure it falls away from the house because if water heads towards the house, what do you think is going to happen?

[Amelia] (11:02 - 11:03)

You get water inside.

[Frank] (11:03 - 11:18)

Inside or sitting up against the house and under the building code and a few other publications, very bad idea. Here's another change that might shock you, is changing the location or spinning the house around on a site.

[Amelia] (11:18 - 11:22)

This one really baffled me, to be honest. I didn't think you could do that at all.

[Frank] (11:23 - 11:28)

Not during the build. Physically, you can. You can do whatever you like.

Whether it's the right thing to do is another matter.

[Amelia] (11:29 - 11:36)

Yeah. But what's the point of going through all the planning and building permit stuff if they're just going to go and change it and put it somewhere else?

[Frank] (11:36 - 11:54)

Well, and I'm not talking a lot, and this is more on your bigger blocks too, but I have seen it happen. You know, they've changed the orientation slightly, you know, moved a position due to one thing or another or had a rethink or whatever, but it has happened and it can cause other problems.

[Amelia] (11:54 - 11:56)

So what happens then? Is it an amendment?

[Frank] (11:57 - 11:57)

Yeah.

[Amelia] (11:57 - 11:57)

Yeah, okay.

[Frank] (11:58 - 13:50)

Yeah, you've got to go for an amendment, planning and whether it needs planning, whether it needs building. Yeah. But it could put a stop on the project too.

So that's what people don't consider. It could put a stop. And this is why good design, good planning with the client and that's why I keep saying I love working with builders.

Work with us as designers, working with builders for the design process. So when we're surveying, say if we're on a nice sized lot, rural lot, I like pegs going in on site, saying, you know, is this the orientation? This is how it's going to sit.

How do we get access to it with your car? From a buildability point of view, is this the best location? All those types of things.

Then when we engage a surveyor to go do a, you know, really high quality detail survey, picking up the corners, all the pegs, but also where the wastewater, where the parkings, if it's bushfire, where are the trucks going to go? You don't want to change that because it affects a few things, you know? One of my favourites was also changing the floor height.

It doesn't happen so much anymore, but I have seen it in the past where the builder puts in a floor, puts it in below the floor level that has been nominated on the drawing. And then the house is sitting really, you look at it, yeah, it looks really neat where it's blended into the surrounding environment. But you get any decent water in there and the water's going to pool around the house.

It's the worst thing you could ever do to your house. If anything, you've got to lift it up out of the ground and make sure water gets away from your house. I know, like, there's one up at Grindelwald, just outside of Launceston, past Lugana, where this house was put in, it was like the floor was at the same level as the ground.

It looks, you look at it as a designer or anyone in that space going, wow, that's sitting low. And I have since found out it's been flooded twice.

[Amelia] (13:50 - 13:51)

Oh, wow.

[Frank] (13:51 - 13:52)

Yep, brand new build.

[Amelia] (13:53 - 13:53)

Brand new?

[Frank] (13:53 - 14:08)

Yeah, it's sitting too low. And then all the footpaths were put virtually at the same level as the floor. So this whole thing I was talking about, so then the claddings can't vent, water can get in.

It's just long-term disaster, health problems long-term.

[Amelia] (14:08 - 14:11)

It goes back to that healthy home that we've been talking about too.

[Frank] (14:11 - 14:52)

Well, that's one of, but it also is just a dumbass idea of getting it too low. You've got to get it up out of the way, out of the zone of influence of water coming into your house or even coming up and resting up against the footings or the concrete slab. You've got to get it away.

So anyone that does have a brand new house, make sure that your landscaping is well thought. As I mentioned about the footpaths, pavers, decks, patios, all that, you need to step down, fall it away, so water will fall away. Sounds common sense when I say it, but you'd be blown away how many I've seen where water is pulling up against the house and then the house will deteriorate.

Another thing is not putting enough drains around your house.

[Amelia] (14:52 - 14:55)

Yeah, I know you always say you can never have too many drains.

[Frank] (14:56 - 14:58)

Yeah, too much drainage is never enough.

[Amelia] (14:58 - 14:59)

Too much drainage is never enough.

[Frank] (15:00 - 15:22)

Yeah. Having seen so many in my life where I've seen water go through in underneath houses, I've seen what looks like rivers going through houses, retaining walls with not proper drainage behind them, retaining wall failures. I've seen retaining walls literally explode under the earth pressure.

And you come here and it looks like someone's just let off a bomb and there's bits of timber and bricks and blocks.

[Amelia] (15:23 - 15:23)

Oh, wow.

[Frank] (15:23 - 15:58)

I've seen concrete, big concrete block retaining walls reinforced, snapped clean over due to the sheer force of storms. It's pretty extreme stuff. So water is very powerful.

So keep water away from your house. Yeah, so these are the things you've got to consider. Also, putting in too low, what happens if you can't get the full, say, for your stormwater, to the connection?

Yeah. Or your, heaven forbid, the sewer can't get to the connection. So it literally cannot, on a legal gradient of pipe, meet the connection.

I've seen this happen. The only solution there is a pump station.

[Amelia] (15:58 - 15:59)

Yeah, right.

[Frank] (16:00 - 16:06)

Doesn't happen as much anymore because, thank goodness, in Tasmania, the state government actually did something smart. I'm going to leave that alone.

[Amelia] (16:07 - 16:08)

That's a can of worms.

[Frank] (16:08 - 16:46)

But there's a minimum documentation standard that we have to abide by. And part of that is getting a high-quality detail survey. Then on that survey, we need to know the invert level of our connections.

Now, invert is the depth of the pipe. To make sure we set a floor level and we've got an invert, will it get there under the plumbing code, what the minimum floor is? Sounds very basic, but it's good to have all that checked voluntarily beforehand.

So these are some of the things that you've got to watch out for during the build and then after the build. So making changes and thoughts. Yeah.

[Amelia] (16:46 - 17:05)

Just going back to landscaping, I guess, too, not everyone even employs a landscaper when they do their landscaping. They just do it themselves. Of course.

They've just moved into a brand-new house. They might not have the capital behind them. But even that's fun to do.

Yeah, well, exactly. Bit of a project.

[Frank] (17:06 - 17:36)

Of course it is. Just do it bit by bit. It's a lot of fun.

So key things in the waypoles. There's also a thing if you've got a timber floor, there's vents on the side. Do not ever, ever cover them up.

You block it up, the underside of the floor can't breathe. It gets wet, causes mould. It also can play with the moisture content in the clay.

So again, we've seen that where the piers that hold the timber floor up have shrunk away. So that means the floor drops slightly internally and it cracks all the inside of the house.

[Amelia] (17:36 - 17:37)

Oh, okay.

[Frank] (17:37 - 18:39)

Not a hard fix. You can just wedge it up and it all comes back. That's actually not too bad.

But it's the outside. It's your problem that that has, I'll say where it's super dry on the inside, super wet on the outside, and the footings can do some weird stuff because clay swirls with moisture. So you need to keep consistent moisture for the clay inside and outside underneath your floor.

Slabs are a little bit different, but this is where under the recommendations, CSIRO, the National Construction Code says, well, make sure you put paths all the way around, falls all the way below the floor level, below the weep holes, all this type of stuff to make sure moisture stays away. So you've got equal moisture content in the clays around because we have a lot of clay here. If you're up in Western Australia, a lot of that's sand, Hobart, clay and sandstone.

You've got all these different conditions, but look, when you're dealing with clay, that's why I'm pointing that out. You've got to have equal moisture content. So be very careful how you do your landscaping.

Don't necessarily put plants up against your house. You've got to be real careful with that.

[Amelia] (18:40 - 18:45)

What about soil and pine bark and stuff like that? Should you still put that below the...

[Frank] (18:45 - 18:46)

Yes, definitely.

[Amelia] (18:46 - 18:47)

...the vents?

[Frank] (18:47 - 19:06)

Yep, yep, keep it well below the vents and the vents will do their job as they're supposed to. And same with your wall claddings, like the lightweight claddings that we use, they have a cavity behind them. In Tasmania, it's mandatory to put cavities.

So then that cavity space can breathe. So make sure you don't cover the bottom.

[Amelia] (19:06 - 19:13)

So what are the take-home points for anyone that wants to change their mind during the build?

[Frank] (19:13 - 20:01)

Talk it over with the builder and be very clear. If the builder makes changes, this is probably the other side, for you to make a change, it is called a variation. And the builder should give you a price for that variation before he proceeds and it's all in writing, okay, as per the part of the contract.

If a builder changes the specs on the drawing, that's a different matter. They have to get approval from the designer and the building surveyor. So they have to make sure they go through that process.

Unfortunately, I've seen a few cases they haven't and it's caused a bit of mayhem. So my recommendation to people, you go visit site, take lots and lots and lots and lots of photos all the way through the whole stage. You're not expected to know everything about building or the construction, but if you take lots of photos, photograph it, evidence of saying, you know, just look at the progress of your job, may save you bacon too, especially if builder has done something wrong.

[Amelia] (20:01 - 20:03)

And then you can give it to the building surveyor.

[Frank] (20:03 - 21:21)

Yep, and then you can deal with it from there. I know one case we had a builder did not install a steel lintel in posts as per the drawings on a two-storey house. So it was holding up the floor.

It was holding up the upper floor and it was big open for a door. It didn't put it in as per the drawings. How did we know?

Some funny had gone on. He came, the client came and saw us and said, something's not right here. And the reason is this is leaking.

This is a problem. And this is during the build. I said, okay, I went and investigated.

And it was a case he put the driveway slab not as per the drawings and he didn't put the right graded trench in. But what it ended up doing, we explored a little bit more and I could see there was something funny about the rebate at the garage door. It didn't look right.

Anyway, it was leaking. So water was coming in underneath the garage door. There was no rebate in there.

So nothing's stopping the water. The door comes down. It doesn't seal.

Anyway, we started feeling around. Then I felt around, sounds stressful, underneath where the brickwork and where the door frame meets. I could feel my fingers underneath.

So this is a bit weird. And it didn't feel right. Anyway, I said, I don't think this has been installed as per the drawings because I should be able to feel this and it's not the case.

Anyway, he showed me some photos. It had been installed completely wrong.

[Amelia] (21:22 - 21:22)

Wow, really?

[Frank] (21:22 - 22:48)

It wasn't fixed to the concrete correctly. So it wasn't bolted down correctly. And then later on, we found the steel beam that went in.

And this sounds odd too. It was facing the wrong way. So it was designed to be facing a certain way and that's where its strength is.

It was spun around the other way. And we went back to the engineer. We showed photos as well.

This is as per the drawings and also how it was connected. The other side of it was never coated. So the steel was just raw steel.

It had rust all over it. It was never primed. And it has to be primed.

But also, we were within a kilometre of breaking surf. Oh, that would make it. So you've got that corrosion element.

Yes. So he never put a coating, not one thing on there. Had the photo evidence, went back to the buildings fire.

He was made to redo it and pay for all these calculations. Pull the plaster out and fix it. He thought he was doing his steel.

Maybe it was his steely, I don't know. But someone didn't install it right. But they took lots of photos.

Well, that's a good thing. So there's a take home. If you're getting a house, reno's built, just take lots of photos.

Lots of interest. Keep a scrapbook. It's a good idea.

You don't have to look at this stuff. But if there was a problem, you've got a ton of photos there. With your landscaping, key thing, if you see vents, stay well below.

If in doubt, ring the designer on the drawings. Hey, I want to do this. Can I do that?

And they can quickly give you the advice. And same with your building surveyor. You don't want to mess up your own houseboat in installing, messing up your landscaping.

[Amelia] (22:49 - 22:53)

No. And I mean, it's just, you just don't know what you don't know. We've said it before.

[Frank] (22:54 - 22:58)

Of course you don't know. But ask your designer, ask your building surveyor, definitely.

[Amelia] (22:58 - 23:03)

All right. We might wrap it up there, folks. Thanks for listening to the Building Design, Prime Time Podcast.

[Frank] (23:03 - 23:03)

Catch ya’s later.

[OUTRO] (23:05 - 23:16)

You're listening to the Building Design, Prime Time Podcast.