Most people don’t give this a second thought, but did you know it’s easy to get sued when selecting the design for your home?
It’s true. You may have been told you only need to change a design by 20% to avoid copyright infringement… but nothing could be further from the truth. Here’s how many people fall into this trap: they get a free drawing from a new home builder and then want to make sure they aren’t getting ripped off, so they get other builders to quote on it. The problem is, once they have shown the design to another builder (even if the new builder creates a completely different option)…If they use any of those ideas, it’s copyright infringement
Hard to believe, right? And it gets worse. Believe it or not… Click Here
The Builder that Owns the Design Can Sue and Even Halt Construction on a Project that’s Already Underway
This can lead to massive cost blowouts you will be liable for depending on which country you are based. For instance, the Australian Copyright Council goes as far as to say this:
“If you decide not to build from that plan, it is advisable not to show that plan to anyone else you might subsequently ask to draw a new plan for you. If the second person does see the earlier plan there may be an inference that person has consciously or subconsciously copied original elements of the earlier plan.”
So how do you avoid this situation?
First, while you may be excited about getting the design of your home finalised first… Don’t do it. Instead, you must decide on a home builder before you begin the design process.
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Best Practices
- Do your research.
- Talk to lots of people.
- Check out the online reviews.
- Meet with your builder and ask them lots of questions.
- Remember, it’s worth taking the time to do this, because choosing the right home builder over the wrong one can save you a ton of headaches later.
- And when you do decide on a new home builder, make sure you choose one that does both Design and Construct – rather than just one who simply quotes on other people’s plans.
Click Here to find out The 7 Things you must ask before signing your building contract
