THE BUILDING HOME MASTERCLASS SERIES 5. START HERE – Choosing a Builder Choosing a builder

PLEASE NOTE

Current Market Warning

In many areas of Australia, there has been a lot of building recently due to the attractive government incentives and grants. If you are considering using a custom builder, keep in mind that a lot of them at present could be too busy to quote your job, especially if they don't think they'll win it.

Because of this building boom, some builders are too busy to give you their best pricing becuase it could be a 'take it or leave it' situation for them. If a builder is too busy, they might not have time to give you a price at all.

Our current advice is based on a stable building market where builders have a healthy appetite for competing for clients. We want you to keep in mind that during a building boom it may be more difficult to get three competitive quotes.

beyond the legalities

Beyond the legalities

Beyond the legal requirements, the only sure way to know if a particular builder is right for you is, of course, to build a home with them. However, the chances are you haven’t done that, in which case you should take a recommendation from someone who has. If you don’t have any recommendations, then you might like to do some homework. If choosing a volume builder, keep in mind that their display homes are often showcased with very expensive upgrades and the same floorplan might look dramatically different on a tighter budget. If you are looking for the perfect custom builder ask if you can visit a few homes that they have built for others. At the very least, get some addresses and do some drive-bys to see what their work looks like.

the sensible approach that saves money, time and stress.

Now let’s look at the nitty gritty of the selection process.
In line with the recommended 5 step Building Home Masterclass process, by the time you are ready to approach potential builders you will have:

Calculated your budget
Prioritised your needs, wants and desires
Know where you want to build
If using a custom builder, have your plans

Finding the right builder is now a matter of taking this information to your potential candidates and asking up to three custom builders to provide you with quotes or the volume builders to provide you with floorplans and prices. Remember that custom builders will be quoting your job from your supplied floorplan and supporting information, while a volume builder will be showing you a range of floorplans that will have base prices attached to them. Volume builders will deliver options in a very short time as it is a replicated process. Custom builders will take more time but will ultimately achieve the same result. If you've done your preliminary work, choosing a builder can be a straightforward process.

what next?

Few people realise that once they engage their builder, there’s really not much left to do.

People fear the process of building because they know little about it. The truth is you don’t need to know a lot about it. It is the process of planning to build a home that is the part you play, not the home build itself. We chose to share our experiences about planning to build a home, because that’s where your input matters most. That's where the biggest decisions are made, but also the biggest mistakes.

The ultimate scenario is that once you’ve engaged your builder you can find yourself sitting back sipping pina coladas as you watch the magic unfold before your eyes.

Sure you'll still have lots of aesthetic decisions to make as you go about the next phase with your builder, but the life changing and big money crunching decisions should be behind you.