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Isabella Rounsevell thought she would have moved into her dream home long ago, but lengthy construction delays mean she is still waiting.
Key points:
- Adelaide homebuyers have expressed frustration about Metricon delays
- The company says they have been caused by issues outside of its control
- One buyer says she has been sleeping on the floor for 10 months as she waits for her new home
The 27-year-old signed a 40-week building contract, which is now nearly a year overdue.
"I've been so detrimentally affected by this, financially, emotionally, mentally — I've been in tears on the phone to my dad to try and get some help," she said.
Ms Rounsevell said the extent of the delay had "taken away everything good from the experience of building".
"We've had four or five different handover dates through the whole process and a plethora of different reasons of why," she said.
Ms Rounsevell is building with Metricon, one of the biggest housing construction companies in Australia.
In July, it was revealed dozens of Metricon customers in NSW who were on fixed-price contracts were being forced to choose between paying higher prices or losing their new homes and deposits, as the builder struggled with soaring labour and material costs.
While Metricon said that was not happening in South Australia, it has acknowledged that homebuyers in the state are being impacted by lengthy delays.
Karen Bath is another customer waiting to move into a home that is long overdue.
While she has been able to rent a room at a friend's place, she said the construction delays have had a significant impact on her life.
"I thought I would be sleeping on a mattress on the floor for six to eight weeks when I packed up my [old] house," she said.
"[But] I've been sleeping on a mattress on the floor for 10 months.
"It's just so uncertain ... it's scary. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone."
Metricon's general manager in South Australia, Neil Bisset, said the company had been "wholly reasonable" while dealing with customers.
"We are relying on some external parties and suppliers and trade labour issues, but we are actually over that now," he said.
"I believe we are on the back end of that.
"I can confirm there's been no additional charges for any customers on site with regards to additional labour costs and suppliers."
'Distressing' damage during building process, buyers say
Ms Bath and Ms Rounsevell have also raised concerns regarding the quality of the work and the use of so-called "reverse build" methods.
A reverse build is when internals of a house are constructed before the externals are complete.
"The damage from rain because of a reverse build was quite distressing," Ms Bath said.
"I'm disappointed with the short cuts."
She said insulation was blowing away, leaving "huge gaps", and that she had resorted to putting in the material herself.
But Mr Bisset said reverse build methods allow construction to be sped up.
"We look at avenues that improve efficiency on site," he said.
"There's certainly no issue with that."
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