Builder says our bricks are rationed so do we switch to frame

kiln-queue-7

South of Perth. Double brick contract, slab booked for early November. Supervisor rang yesterday and said our face brick colour is in a queue. Yard is only releasing so many packs a month and bigger builders are in front of us. He made it sound normal. It did not feel normal.

They offered to redraw as timber frame with cladding so the slab date holds. I grew up in brick houses. Frame feels like a different build and Im not convinced the credit covers the redraw, the cladding, and whatever the energy bloke then wants changed.

Has anyone in WA actually been told their bricks are on allocation this year. Did you wait or switch. If you switched, what happened to the contract price, and did anyone get stuck redoing approvals.

Not after a lecture on housing targets. Just want to know if waiting two months is less painful than signing a variation I dont understand yet.

FairGo-Frem

Freo. Not a full new build but our brickie has been cranky about maxis as well as face bricks for weeks. Jobs sitting there because a colour that used to be a phone call is now "when the kiln catches up".

If your slab isnt nailed to a hard date, waiting can be the less dumb option. If you switch, get the frame option as a proper credit with cladding spec written down. A verbal "itll be similar money" is how variations go feral.

davefrom-2009

QLD doesnt run on full double brick the same way, so grain of salt. Pattern is the same though. Once a supplier starts allocating, small jobs wait.

If you do switch, lock what happens to the energy side before you sign. Frame can be fine. Finding out later the rating package moved and nobody priced it is the bit that hurts. Also ask if the engineer letter is a note or a new approval. Those are different kinds of late.

gumleaf_88

Newcastle, different material, same trap. If the email doesnt name a month, it isnt a date. We learned that waiting on glass.

Get them to write expected delivery month and what the programme does if it slips again. Otherwise you are just paying rent while someone shrugs. Frame might still be the right call. Just dont accept it as a vibe.

kiln-queue-7

Asked for the allocation in writing. They put "indicative December" which is not a date. Frame option came back 11k less on paper but cladding and a fresh energy note were excluded. So the saving is fiction until those are priced.

Leaning toward waiting unless December turns into a shrug. Slab can slide a few weeks. A variation I dont understand cannot.