Shoddy builders

PLEASE can you assist me. I had a Nutec house built in Chatsworth, near Malmesbury.

Initially they charged me R230 000 for everything. I paid them the full amount, but when it came to the roof, they said they needed another R150 000, which I paid, and an extra R6 000 for the septic tank.

It is a four-bedroom house (16x8m). They said the foundations cost R90 000, but they used the sand around the house that is not even suitable for building and the area around the house floods when it rains.

When I moved in, the floor was cracked, the divisions were not in (no boards), rain came in the windows and doors, the roof was leaking and there was a clapping sound on both sides of the house when the wind blew.

There were no inside walls and no ceilings and a wide opening between floor and wall in the main bedroom. I insisted on a contract from the start, but I never received one. When I spoke to them about it, they said there was no need for a contract, as they worked on trust.

About a month ago, one of our landlines became faulty. We expected a technician to arrive and fix the phone, but he presented us with one of their new cellphone-in-disguise desktop phones. We were told we have to top up the device like a cellphone (which it is). Crafty, Telkom. This implies the following savings on staff and other infrastructure, namely: A. No more landline technicians required – cost saving; B. No more accounting staff, with no bills to generate with potential bad debts – cost saving; C. When we enquired about the purchase of a replacement battery, they said they did not sell them!

Sam McCrorie