Standard guarantee for new residential buildings in Indonesia

[DenpasarHouse]

Halo Everyone,
I was hoping to get some advice about the standard guarantees given from builders/developers after completion of new houses.

I'm just about to sign up to building a new house in Denpasar and they only guarantee the building for 1 month after completion.

Basically, I don't care about paint or tiles or things that can be easily replaced. But if they do a poor/dishonest job on the concrete foundations, pillars and floor slabs then this would be extremely costly to fix and problems are unlikely to show up in the first month of ownership.

I've asked a local Balinese man how long his guarantee was and he said 3 months. However, this also seems too short. I was thinking 1 year at the very minimum would be reasonable.

Terima kasih sebelumnya.

 

[davita]

We bought a new villa in Kerobokan and the guarantee was for 6 months.

 

[joji gulapetis]

I doubt that there is such a thing as a "standard" guarantee as such. When you make the deal, write in a clause with-holding a certain percentage of the price for the length of the agreed-upon guarantee period. This with-held amount can be used to make repairs during the guarantee period if he refuses to repair any faults.

I think the 6 months that Davita got as guarantee is about as much as you could expect.

:topsy_turvy:

 

[Markit]

Welcome to the forum and reality, both here in Bali are flexible.

The only way to guarantee your new building is if you are there every day and all day. You look at the mix they are using and buy the steel they put into it. This way you know if the building will stand up for longer than 6 months.

All your construction, unless done by one of the very few international builders, will be done by a local contractor - and that is good and the way it should be. We want to be accepted here then we need to add something to the mix, not just take. This is one of the many up-sides of building here - the down side is that if at a later date some diabolical mistake in the build makes itself evident then your builder will conveniently go bankrupt, thereby negating that wonderful 1/2/3 year guarantee you searched and fought so hard to get.

Oh, if you decide to go with one of those western construction companies then surprise, surprise you will be paying western prices.

Your choice?

 

[DenpasarHouse]

Wow, such quick responses.

Thanks Davita and Joli, I think you're right. 6 months will probably be the maximum.

Thanks Markit, looks like I'm about to become intensely interested in cement and steal.

 

[davita]

Wow, such quick responses.

Thanks Davita and Joli, I think you're right. 6 months will probably be the maximum.

Thanks Markit, looks like I'm about to become intensely interested in cement and steal.

Sorry DPSH ........I know you just made a typo but...it is funny!
Welcome to the forum.

 

[DenpasarHouse]

. . . STEEL! I mean steel! Ha! Thanks Davita.

 

[Mark]

I've been quoted three months by a Balinese builder, which I understand is pretty standard but totally unacceptable in my view - it's really as good as no warranty at all and essentially just amounts to a standard snagging. On the other hand, a Javanese firm called Populaire is building homes in Bali and offers 2 years warranty on finishings, 5 years on the building envelope and 13 years on the structure. I've visited some of their builds, both finished and in progress, and they definitely seem to do things properly, which I suppose is necessary in order to offer the type of warranty they do. Of course, their prices are a bit higher than some of the local cowboys but then again you get what you pay for. Anyway, I agree with Markit that you need to be onsite or have your own project manager double check everything as it is being done.

 

[DenpasarHouse]

Thanks Mark, I'm not really in a position to shop around as the developers own the only available land is this area. They've upped their guarantee to 3 months and I think that'll be the best I can get. Oh well, we're currently renting very close by, so visiting the building site everyday isn't going to be much of a problem.

They are perfectly willing to answer all my questions and show me all the required documents, but they always seem a little surprised to be asked. For example, it took awhile for me to get them to understand that I wanted to personally check the location of my block within the development (e.g. 50 metres from the main road. 50 metres from the side boundry.) It turns out that it's fine, but I could tell that they'd never actually checked themselves, they just believed that the guys from the government had done it right.

I'm very fortunate that I've never had any problems with dishonesty or corruption in Indonesia, but I've had PLENTY of problems with people not checking things.

 

[lumumba]

I bought a new house, in 2009 near Tanah Lot and the guarantee was for 3 months with only 2 claims within the 3 months. I immediately got an insurance for the building and content

 

[DenpasarHouse]

Hi Lumumba, I think you're implying that your building insurance will cover you for faulty workmanship in the original building process (apologies if you're not). I don't think this is correct.

For example, if your building collapsed because there was no steel reinforcing in the cement, I doubt the insurance company would pay up. I think it's similar to medical insurance not covering you for pre-existing conditions.

However, I'm yet to buy Home Insurance in Indonesia. So maybe they do cover it. Can anyone else clarify this?

 

[lumumba]

You are 100% right, but there is plenty of steel in the cement. I was thinking of other problems like burst pipes, not properly connect pipes, liking roof do to not properly laying down tiles.......so on. The insurance will never come to check if there are mistakes made by the contractor for this sort of problems and this could show up even after the 3 or even 6 moths period, did happen to me in my house in Bandung, no problem with the insurance. Never heard that a building did collapsed because of not enough steel in the cement, but who knows.