Wednesday 24 December 2003

Christmas Letter 2003

Greetings from the Darts of Davidson
A curious combination given Belinda’s maiden name!

No, we haven’t moved again; instead the boundaries of the suburbs of Belrose and Davidson seem to have changed, although we are not really sure when this happened.

Well, what an incredible year we’ve had…

Termite Nightmare

For those of you who haven’t heard, we discovered extensive termite damage in our new home in January of this year, barely a few weeks after we sent our last Christmas letter. It seems that the previous owners would have been aware of the problem, but failed to disclose it during the sale. By the time we realised there was no legal recourse possible on them. ‘But didn’t you get a pest & building inspection?’ I hear you asking. The answer to that question is yes, which is why the story ultimately has a happy ending.

It seems that the pest inspector failed to detect any termite damage, when in fact it was clearly visible in the roof if he had taken a more careful look. Fortunately he had professional indemnity insurance, so after protracted correspondence, reports, inspections, photographs and negotiation, the insurance company eventually chose to settle our claim for compensation. This money will allow us to make the necessary repairs early in the new year!!!

Church Life

We have had an exciting year at Bridgeway Community Church (www.bridgeway.cc) previously known as Christian Worship Centre. The year began with a ‘School of Church Planting’ run as a mid week conference in February. We enjoyed excellent teaching input from Terry Virgo, Simon Pettit and Pete Brooks.

We recently left the Baptist Union of NSW and are now in relationship with the New Frontiers (www.newfrontiers.xtn.org) family of churches. It is not a formal denomination as such, more a group of like minded churches with leaders relating to each other via an apostolic network. If all that sounds a bit confusing and you would like to learn more, please take a look at the web site or give us a call.

The church has doubled in size over the past twelve months and we look forward to what God will do in our midst during 2004.

Holidays

We have enjoyed the opportunity to get away a couple of times during the year. Perhaps the most memorable is our touring holiday with the Lea Family over the Easter school holidays. We travelled with camper trailers and stayed at a variety of caravan and national parks along the way. We visited Tumut, drove through the Snowy Mountains, stayed at Bright in Victoria and spent a number of days in the Victorian Alps. We climbed Mount Sterling and visited Craig’s Hut, built for the classic 1982 movie The Man From Snowy River. We then drove to a little Victorian town south east of Melbourne called Korumburra, stopping there for a number of days while visiting the surrounding district. The highlight was a trip to Philip Island to watch the Fairy Penguins perform their nightly march up the beach. We returned home via the Princes Highway staying at Buchan Caves, Eden and finally Nowra where we celebrated the trip with an excellent meal at the Shoalhaven Ex-Servicemen’s Club.

About The Children

Thomas, our firstborn, turned 9 this year and has completed year 3 at school. He has had an excellent year school wise with outstanding results in all his subjects. His teacher, Miss Christian, was great and really seemed to bring the best out in him. Earlier in the year he was awarded a Student of the Week award and received a special award at assembly, which is a great privilege as only a few of these are given out to each class every year. This year has also seen Thomas develop a few special friendships with other boys in his class, particularly Alex and Ryan. As the only sporty person in our family (so far) Thomas has played soccer during the winter and is playing cricket during this summer season. As parents required to watch such games we can only say give us a soccer game in pouring rain and below zero temperatures that only takes 45 minutes compared to a 2 - 2/12 hour game in the scorching sun that moves SO slowly! He also loves his swimming in our pool, riding his bike, playstation, people, talking, eating, people, talking, rugby and now Ford cars. In fact Ford Cars have become quite an interest after he was invited to go to Bathurst with Ryan and his family. Our car innocent son came back a Ford supporter and now we are given intricate details of any and every Ford car that we pass on the road. We are hoping that the interest will fade but it's not looking that way so far. Thomas has also been attending the Friday Nite Program at Church and Kosmic Kids on Sunday mornings. Thomas is developing into a lovely young man with a good heart who is physically growing at a tremendous pace - he now stands as tall as half way up his mother's face and he is only 9!!! He is very much loved by his brother and sister who see him as "the best big brother in the whole wide world".

Our second born, Bethany Joy, has had a huge year as she started school this year. She also has done very well academically and we can really see the benefits, for her, of having held her back one year so she commenced school in the year she turned 6 instead of 5. Her reading and writing is coming together very well and while she enjoys that, it is the social networking of school that has taken up most of her time - making friends, changing friends, making friends etc. She was nicknamed the class "care bear" by her teacher as she is always on the lookout for people to help. She finished the school year exhausted and we know that she will really need every day of the school holidays to rev up for next year. Bethany went to dancing lessons once a week to have fun and also develop co-ordination and gross motor skills, she was glad however when the year came to an end. It is her plan to play soccer next year (great - another sporty person!) although if we can manage it we would like to put her into art lessons as she is an incredibly arty and crafty/creative person and we would like to let her develop her skills. Bethany enjoys playing in the pool, playing with her toys, people, talking, creating wonderful things, and talking. From time to time she does concern us with her health as she gets far more tired than the boys and often suffers from a sore tummy and sore legs, however various trips to the doctor have turned up nothing. Bethany is a delight to us and is an incredibly sensitive gently little thing who is dearly loved by her brothers.

Our last born, Simon, Mr Personality, easy to please and going places in the world, turns 5 in a few weeks and is off to school in 2004. He has just completed his 2 years at pre-school and couldn't wait to finish so that he can go to big school like Thomas and Bethany. He is very ready and seems to have the personality to cope with all that school will bring. He and his mother have both enjoyed this last year, spending special time together before all the little chicks have left the nest. Simon suffered again with constant ear infections, despite having grommets, in the first part of the year until our doctor was finally able to stumble on a treatment that has kept him clear of infections for the second half of the year. As a result his speech is becoming much clearer and his health has improved greatly. You'll never believe it but he also wants to play soccer next year so we're not really sure where we'll end up with all 3 wanting to play. Simon enjoys playing the playstation, having friends over, talking, playing with his brother and sister and having wonderful cuddles with his special friend "Ooty". Simon makes us all laugh and is an all round good fellow who has an outward looking nature, he is dearly loved by his brother and sister. He also has the distinction of having named our first family cat “Saucer”, and in case you are wondering, there are no plans to obtain “Cup” at this stage.

About Us

My wife is a constant source of fascination to me. How does she manage to achieve so much in a 24 hour period? Surely she must have found an extra hour or two buried in some hidden space/time continuum the rest of us mere mortals simply don’t have access to! Belinda is much loved by her adoring husband, three delightful children, and many adoring friends and fans. She celebrated her 40th birthday this year, amid a chorus of disbelieving fans; ‘Surely this woman could not be forty, her husband must have typed a 4 instead of a 3 on this invitation?’. In true Dart tradition, her birthday festivities lasted well over a week after celebrations in a variety of homes and restaurants. Belinda has continued her casual cleaning work this year, but is hoping to find something a little more permanent during school hours in 2004 as Simon starts at OFGS. Once again, she has done an excellent job running the ROCKETS group for 3-5 year olds at church this year. Belinda also did a computing course early in 2003; she now has her own email address (belindadart@yahoo.com.au) and is much more confident on modern software. It’s amazing how much the IT world has changed since she left ABWAid nine years ago.

I have had pretty intense year. I am still at LSE in the role of Commercial Manager with special responsibility for all things financial. Belinda & I together ran a pilot course entitled On Becoming Childwise, The Series, a 10 session video based program for all parents, providing clear strategies for parenting. It is based on the very successful Growing Kids Gods Way course by Gary & Anne-Marie Ezzo. We are already promoting our 2nd course to commence Term 1, 2004. I continue to be a member of the music team at Bridgeway. Looking after the house and pool has tended to fill up any remaining ‘spare’ time on the weekend. Despite the maintenance, the pool is a tremendous source of fun for the children, their friends and Dad too!

Signing Off

Thank you for being our friends and we trust that you will forgive us for the fact that this Christmas letter has arrived so many days after Christmas. We send you our love at this time and pray that you will have a memorable 2004.

With love from the Darts of Davidson.

Monday 17 November 2003

My Mum

Dear Mum

Life with you has always been an adventure. I am amazed at how many freedoms you gave us to explore the world around us as we grew up under your care. Looking back it is instructive to contrast the way the ‘Two Pams’ each approached life. Murray and Jonno Shanks always seemed to need to look for ways to hide things from their mum, whereas you seemed to encourage transparency and rewarded us with opportunities to show that we could be trusted.

You always seemed to be pretty fearless – not sure now whether this was more perception than reality, but it helped me to take life by the horns. Neil and I had pretty similar mums and consequently approached the world in much the same way. I’m sure this is one of the reasons we became and have remained such good friends.

I am thinking now about an acrostic your friends at FFBC recently did for you. From memory, one of the words associated with the ‘R’ in Dart was “rebellious” (Pam Shanks’ contribution?). I laughed out loud when I heard it, they seem to know you pretty well!

For example, I grew up believing that a sign reading ‘DO NOT ENTER Authorised Personnel Only’ really meant ‘Proceed With Caution’! Much to Belinda’s distain. Even now I find myself asking; “Authorised by whom, and to what purpose?” Perhaps this is why I have never been afraid to question authority; although I have learned a greater respect for it over time. Nevertheless, I’m sure we always got to see a little bit more of life than everyone else.

From my perception as a child, your life with Dad seemed to have its ups and downs. Despite this, I always felt secure in the knowledge that you were absolutely committed to each other, and to us. My (distorted?) recollection is that you always managed to argue over where to set up camp. Mercifully, the caravan parks that actually insisted on an allocated site number saved some of the arguments, but then there was the issue of the positioning of the tent, further compounded by the relative slope of the ground, coupled with the direction of the toilet block, (all critical issues!) that still required resolution; not to mention where to set up cooking facilities, further compounded by the fact that we had usually been driving all day, it was dinner time when we arrived, and the light was either rapidly fading or had long since disappeared!

There are so many childhood recollections, most of which seemed to involve Carey, I guess because we were so close in age. The time Carey fell off his bike and stood bleeding in silence while you “finished peeling the spuds”. The time I fell off the back of Tim Cooper’s bike in Carnarvon Drive and was knocked unconscious, and you came rushing down in the car to pick me up after Tim arrived back home very pale announcing “Wesley’s got blood on his head”. The time I fell out of a tree at the Brew’s place and ended up being taken to RNS hospital to have not one, not two, but five splinters removed from my eye; it’s a wonder I still have sight in that eye. The phrase “there but for the grace of God go I” immediately springs to mind. The time you had to virtually stitch Carey’s leg up after he buried a tomahawk into his shin while we were collecting firewood together on the Great Ocean Road. I remember Natalie(?) saying as you bandaged Carey’s leg using a disposable nappy as a dressing “It’s OK Carey, I’ve already used that one” .

Having just finished the above paragraph I find myself wondering why all the above memories seem to involve blood and injury? I’m sure Freud would have a theory.

I also remember being unceremoniously dragged by you in front of the Woolworth’s store manager to give account and an apology for stealing a padlock you had discovered among my possessions. I learned a useful life lesson that day.

There is one other turning point in my life that is worth noting. You may not even remember it, but I always will...

It was a school afternoon, I was probably in year 7 or 8 and was supposed to be going to a Bible study at the Shanks’ place run by Brian Edwards, but I couldn’t be bothered. You could have let me off (unlikely scenario given that we usually needed a near death experience to get even a day off school ), but instead you said “Wes, sooner or later you’re going to have to make a decision, you can’t live off Dad’s and my faith forever”. It wasn’t long after that conversation that I made my own decision to follow Jesus, this eventually leading to Baptism.

I have never regretted, even a moment, my decision to follow Jesus.
I also remember how you opened your heart to Belinda when she arrived in my life. You welcomed her as a friend and eventually a daughter in law. I would however dispute your claim that you were the ‘matchmaker’ who brought us together; although it’s fair to say that the SAO/ABWAid connection was very important in the overall love story.

Proverbs 31:28a says;

Her children respect and bless her (MSG)
Her children rise up and call her blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied) (AMP)
Her children stand and bless her (NLT)

Mum, I do rise up and bless you. I know your weaknesses, but that just makes me love you all the more. It also reminds me of how far I’ve got to go myself.

Thank you for your love and your prayers over the years. My dear wife says that probably the single most important reason all your children are still walking with Jesus today is because you and Dad have so diligently prayed for us.

With love from the one who “never caused his mother any heartache”.

Wes X X X

Wednesday 27 August 2003

Our Termite Nightmare

27 August 2003


RAPID Solutions
Locked Bag 3
Cardiff NSW 2285
Attention: Shane Gallagher

cc. Jim ‘Pest Inspector’


RE: CLAIM FOR DAMAGES: NEGILIGENT PEST & BUILDING INSPECTION
‘PEST INSPECTOR’ BUILDING SERVICES PTY LTD


Dear Shane

Thank you for your letter received by facsimile on 5 June 2003 at 3.11pm. As promised in our letter faxed to you two minutes earlier on the same day, we attach herewith our revised statement of claim, and respond to the issues raised in your letter.

Inspection on same day as exchange

As you rightly point out, the contract of sale was exchanged on 29 April 2003. We need to stress however, that the actual exchange was after the inspection by your client and a careful telephone discussion between us. If he had properly appraised me of the situation, you can be sure that we would not have exchanged on that day. The other fact you fail to mention is that the exchange was done on the basis of a 7 day cooling off period after payment of a 0.25% initial deposit. The seven day period was to allow time for review of the written building & pest reports. If your client had properly detected the damage to our home we could have pulled out and forfeited only $1,587.50. In my dreams I often wish I was back there; this time with a competent pest and building inspector!

Termite activity in close proximity to the property

We’re not sure what direct relevance this has to our claim. Termites are in close proximity to many thousands of homes in NSW. The issue is not the proximity of termites to our home, but the presence of termite damage in our home. This is what your client’s reports failed to note.

Access to the roof cavity

In your letter of 5 June 2003 you said “It would appear that the owner previous to you may have stacked boxes at the front of the ceiling manhole, which prevented Jim ‘Pest Inspector’ from carrying out an inspection of that area”.

I am fascinated by your use of the word “may”. It appears that even today no-one is sure what Jim looked at in the roof that day. If Jim had been “prevented” from looking in the roof, then why was he able to make observations about it in his written report e.g. insulation, top plates, hips and valleys. The most stunning of all is his score of 8/10 for the roof frame, the highest score he gave any aspect of our property! Why also did he tell me in January this year that he had managed to get up there and “shine a torch around”.

Lets face it, what house owner doesn’t have items stored in their roof? Also, what reasonable vendor wouldn’t expect that a few boxes could be shifted to allow a diligent inspector to gain roof access. The agent, as the owner’s representative, was present and available during the entire inspection for Jim to ask permission if he felt he needed to. Any reluctance to facilitate access on the part of the vendor or his agent would have at least rung some alarm bells.

Jim’s recollections

This is even more startling. Suddenly your client has remembered a conversation on 29 April 2002 where he allegedly informed me of his lack of roof access. This is priceless given that nine months later he couldn’t even remember doing the inspection of our home. My telephone call to Jim in January 2003 after discovering the damage could not illicit any hint of recollection. Jim had to wait until returning from his holiday to look up his file reference before “remembering” anything.

My memory of events in April 2002 is sound. On the balance of probability, which I understand to be the legal standard in civil cases, who do you think the magistrate will believe? The man who is about to part with $635,000 based on critical professional advice, or the word of a ‘professional’ advisor who performs multiple inspections every week for a fee and failed to remember even doing an inspection at 5 Langham Place Belrose anyway.

Written vs. Oral Report

The fact that we relied on what your client said and not just what he wrote is not a legal problem so much as a practical one. It just makes it harder to establish what was actually reported. Verbal advice is not “comment” when a fee is being paid for its delivery in the context of a professional/client relationship. Once again, the one thing in our favour is the fact that we would not have parted with $635,000 if we had been properly appraised of the termite damage.

Compliance with 4349.1-1995

- visual inspection

We have no issue with the ‘visual’ nature of your client’s inspection. As detailed in our original letter on 9 April 2003 and evidenced in the photographic record, there is more than enough damage out in the open without needing to take anything apart.

- reasonable access

4349.1-1995 and 4349.3-1998 define ‘reasonable access’ as ‘areas where safe, unobstructed access is provided and the minimum clearances specified in Table 1.1 are available; or where these clearances are not available, areas within the consultant’s unobstructed line of sight and within arm’s length. Note that reasonable access does not include removing screws and bolts to access covers.’

The inclusion of the last point is noteworthy, screws and bolts imply that something has been fastened, and is therefore inaccessible. Interestingly Jim’s original report mentions “household goods” not boxes, but in any case, these items were clearly not fixed or fastened to the building. They did not “prevent” his access, at most they might have hampered it.

None of the inspectors since Jim have complained about a lack of access. They have all even managed to make their way into the 2nd roof cavity. It is clearly difficult for us to understand why it would be OK for other professional inspectors but not for your client.

The paragraph that clouds interpretation of the entire report is in the building report “The clearance in the roof space did not meet the requirements of the Australian Standard 4349.1-1995 and access could not be gained to the Lounge/Dining room area”. This refers to the second roof void which, as he notes, does not have its own access hole. We understood that he had not been able to inspect this area. However, the implication (within the context of the reports) being that your client had inspected the first roof void above the bedrooms which does have an access hole, and which is also where the termite damage is; but not the second. This is also borne out in Jim’s other comments in the report as noted in this letter.

Conclusion

Where do we go from here?

These are the facts:

(1) There was extensive termite damage to our home at the date of the your client’s inspection on 29 April 2002. This is evidenced by the visible repairs that had been effected prior to our occupation, many of which had also been subsequently eaten by termites.

(2) The damage, including various attempts at repairs and bracing was clearly visible in the roof void above the bedrooms.

(3) We paid your client a fee for a professional building and a separate pest inspection, a the core objective of which was surely to ascertain structural integrity of the building and detect any current or prior pest activity.

(4) Your client failed to detect the termite damage, particularly in the roof, since we were not advised of it in either his verbal or written reports. In addition his building report failed to note that the roof above the bedrooms was not structurally sound.

(5) The cost of repairing the un-detected damage to our home as a result of your client’s negligent inspection is significant as per our attached statement of claim. We have also provided further photographic evidence to demonstrate the level of damage to our bathrooms and suspended floor (refer attached).

Your client’s defence all hinges around his alleged restricted access, but neither his verbal nor written report make the level of his access clear as noted above and in our previous correspondence. The fact is, your client’s report is full of so many holes and inconsistencies that you could drive a truck through them. Specifically we note the following anomalies:

(1) Your client gave the roof frame a score of 8/10, indicating that he had examined it and formed an opinion on its efficacy.

(2) Your client makes observations about various aspects of the roof frame which would only be visible to someone in the roof. For example, he noted partially obscured joists and that insulation in the roof space made it difficult to see ceiling timbers and top wall plates.

(3) Your client limited his scope by indicating that he could not gain access to the roof void above the lounge/dining room. This we understood, particularly since this section did not have its own access hole. However, elsewhere in his report he uses vague terms when talking about the roof void above the bedrooms. For example;
i. “in this area” which in context was taken to refer only to the area where the “household items” were stored. Presumably they did not fill up the entire roof void.
ii. He says that “complete inspection of the roof space was not possible”, but the use of the word “complete” in context implies that a significant portion of the roof was at least partially inspected, particularly in light of his other comments. Otherwise he would have simply said “inspection of the roof frame was not possible”.

Suggested course of action:

We have already briefed our solicitor in this matter and had an initial consultation with Mr Paul Evans of Integrated Building Consultancy Pty Ltd. Mr Evans is highly qualified in the area of building reports and disputes, he is also an expert witness regularly called to the Supreme Court. Interestingly, Jim ‘Pest Inspector’ was ‘known’ to him in relation to other disputes he had worked on.

The view that has emerged in consultation with these experts is that your client has failed to make clear the level of his access which would clearly limit any ‘defence’ he might otherwise have hoped for.

We would prefer to see this matter resolved sensibly to everyone’s mutual satisfaction, but we are fully prepared to take it further if necessary. The way we see it, we have far more to gain in continuing this action than we have to lose. We are confident that a good lawyer will find many more holes in your client’s report than we already have.

We suggest scheduling a meeting to discuss the matter in a face to face context prior to taking a legal recourse. We propose a meeting on Friday 5 September 2003, at 2.30pm. We would be happy to meet at your offices assuming this is convenient for you.

Would you please call us to confirm the suitability of this time with you.

Regards,

Wesley & Belinda Dart