Queencylulu's Blog: 12/01/2011

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Developer Disaster - The Aftermath

10 December 2011, after the fence dropped into the drain, work in progress in putting up temporary fencing so that the dogs could run free again!

It took four hands to do the work.

More and more soil broke off and sloped down into the drain.

Only the second day and soil erosion is underway. From the look of the condition of the soil and cracks below the yellow pillar, this part of the fence is likely to fall down soon.

Luckily no rain from the time of the disastrous incident till now.

Evidence of soil erosion.

Knocking a post into the ground to support and hold the chain-link fencing together.

Laying the large plastic sheet to alleviate the problem of soil erosion in case it rained.

Holding the plastic sheet in place with bricks.

That's the spot where the hippo slipped and lost control and nearly sprained his back.

What is the boy doing in the photo? Oh, he's playing with the brick.

Work in progress.

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Saturday, December 10, 2011

Developer Disaster - the final straw

It's everyone's dream to own a home. I'm one of those everyone whose dream was to own a house - not a mansion but a house. So I looked around and saw a sign standing upon an empty land advertising a housing project. I went to visit the developer. I remembered it was a nice visit. As soon as I walked into the sales room, I felt like I was VIP - "Very Important Person". Tea arrived together with brochures and photos and location plans and I vividly recall sales talk of how solid is the foundation and what tiles will be provided and how strong the car porch will be. However, as soon as a sale is secured and deposits made, they forgot all about you and refused to entertain complaints from you. I guess that's how developers work to make a living. Even within the warranty period, they delayed repairs/fix defects. They were slow to entertain complaints and refused to fix problems/defects.

I remembered speaking to the neighbours and each had a different story to tell, lamenting on defects and the lack of response to their complaints. There were so many complaints that I remembered one of the developer's manager resigned because he could not handle so many complaints from purchasers. Stories of defects were leaking roofs, leaking bathrooms, bursting water pipes, collapsing water tank, sinking septic tank, pest infested doors and windows, uneven walling, just to name a few. I faced the same problem like my neighbours with the various defects. I even got the house without all the water tapes because when the keys were handed over, it was verbally agreed that the contractor will hand over the water tapes at a later date. Since there was no signed document to state this, I had to buy and install all the water tapes in my house.

"What to do? We had to engage our own contractor to rectify all the defects else we can't move in." That was what everybody did so that they can move into a house that's livable. I suppose in Malaysia we are more complacent and docile and do not have the habit of fighting and standing up for our rights. So everybody happily or unhappily engage their own contractors to rectify defects and carry out renovations. However, the story doesn't end there. Slowly things happen, lines appeared on the walls and walls started to crack...........

............ and one day, ............

On Thursday, 8 December 2011 at around 11:50 pm - a loud boom was heard, then the dogs barked. This happened - the fence running along the side of the house collapsed.

The whole two-third of the fence together with the monsoon drain collapsed and left hanging in mid-air one of the hollow grille with one side attached to the back fence.