Builder selection
Selecting the right builder for you
Selecting the right builder can be daunting and time consuming.
Generally, to work out which builder is going to be the best fit for your new home, you (as a family) need to have a clear idea as to what is important to you in the build and to prioritize the selection to suit, Clever home designs have had over 35 years of experience in dealing with builders.
Value
Value not to be confused with price, value is inclusive and takes in quality, design, inclusions and even time frames and generally the idea of a dollar per m2 figure is somewhat flawed when taken in this light. Clever home designs can help demonstrate how the value will work in your specific instance.
Quality
Quality is not just specification, the quality of the home comes down to a number of things which include the experience of the trades, the level and experience of the supervision, the level of the documentation. Clever home designs will not engage a builder that they think won’t represent your best interest when it comes to quality.
Design
Design is very subjective, but a good design is not normally something that has been pushed and shoved to fit a budget, a certain site or client’s expectation.
Whilst some builders have inhouse designers, some of them lack the passion to design your home as if it was their own home, if you can’t sit down with the person designing, what for most people will be their biggest investment and lifestyle decision, then you would have to think is this going to be a good fit?
A good design should take into account the orientation and topography of the site, furnish ability, traffic flow, ventilation, the athletics, meeting your brief and of course the budget. Clever home designs sit down will every client one on one many times over during the design stages of your new home.
Reputation
The reputation of the builder should be as important to you as it is to the builder, if the builder is not proud of his work, he won’t be able to deliver your dreams.
In saying that some builders may attach a premium for their perceived reputation. The reputation of the builders that Clever home designs select are equally important to us as it is to you.
Inclusions
Inclusions are generally just a cost item , but it’s prudent to find out what is included and what is not, at the end of the day, if its seems too good to be true… chance are… they are builders and not tooth fairies.
The idea of a free pool, demo, lighting package or anything else is somewhat questionable and at the end of the day it will be built in or hidden in the pricing, the same can be said of most discounts with a lot of the more unethical builders margining an amount into the base price.
Ensure that the things you want are documented in the quote and the things that you don’t want are not, beware of provisional sums, variation fees, prime costs and cost-plus items.
Clever home designs go through the specification and inclusions with you before presenting it to the builder to quote on, it is done specifically for your home, budget, expectation and lifestyle that way you are not subject to the builders standard “ villa specification” or “premium specification”
The market conditions are extremely competitive, and the margins are very tight and there really isn’t any big buying power out there.
If it seems too good to be true, chances are your right and it will end in tears a bit further down the process.
Time frames
It’s important to have a clear and realistic time frame documented along with what that time frame includes, the time frames can be broken down to initial design and quote, approvals and selections, construction times, and finishes.
In conjunction with you the client, Clever home designs goes through the time frames with the builder to make sure it is clear and meets your expectations.
The time frames should be monitored by the builder and site supervisor, but sometimes it can blow out because of trade availability, in saying that it is better to wait for the right trade rather than the available trade.
Capacity
The right builder should be versed in the type of home you’re intending to build, you can’t build Porsche GT3 in the Kia factory, and vice versa.
The more complex quality builders have a certain trade and supplier base along with a different level of documentation, whilst the more budget-based builder will be more time focused, streamlined and regimented delivery.
The right builder should have a number of similar sizes, quality, value homes to the one that you are contemplating, under construction.
Most importantly the selected builder should have the financial capacity to complete the contract, if the builder looks like they are buying the work to get established or to tick off the KPIs of the manager, they may not be the best fit for you, Clever home designs will work through these questions with you representing your interest to the builder.
Insurances and licenses
The selected builder should have all the necessary documentation and licenses including indemnity insurance, work cover for the workers etc.
Small builder/ big builder/ architect
Selecting the right fit goes back to you to and your expectations and values
Small builder
One-man builders or very small builders are good, if you don’t know what you want, want to be hands on, or change lots of things during construction.
Generally, with a trade background, they are excellent with renovations or complex builds, but this normally comes at a price and may lack some of the assistance that you require during the design, selection and detailing stages of your home.
Beware of cost-plus contracts and taking out the license as an owner builder yourself. Also ensure they have the financial capacity to complete the home,
Generally, the small builder is slower by fact of not having enough work to have full time contractors and having to wait for his trades.
Clever home designs have a number of smaller builders that work with specific client’s needs.
Medium builder
This normally is a good fit, if you’re looking at a bespoke quality home, there is generally very little fat in the business and they tend to value add services, like interior designers or interior architects, draftspersons and experienced professionals to pick up all the loose ends.
Whilst family companies are good be conscious of nepotism within the company structure and be careful that the contract is not loaded at the start of the build as this could end in tears with a very slow finish to your home.
Medium size builders generally have a very loyal trade base, which is reflected in the quality and time frames for the construction of the new home.
They tend to be better value (in this part of the marketplace) because the builder doesn’t have to make a living off one job.
If you’re doing a development or it’s a commercial decision, this may not be the right fit.
Again, ensure that the builder has the relevant licenses and insurance and the capacity to complete the works.
Par of Clever home designs brief, is that we walk you through the pluses and minus of a particular builder/s
Large builder
Large builders would suggest that they may have greater purchasing power, this is not my experience, generally the suppliers are very competitive in this part of the cycle and the trades normally charge out the same fee dependent on the quality of work, produced by the trades’ person.
The large builders are very good at the cookie cutter part of the market, where you don’t want anything too different or complex, and generally once they are on site they tend to move quickly but may lack some flexibility.
The larger builders tend to have a fair bit of inter structure in place including designers, interior decorators, prestart consultants, client liaison officers, sales teams, marketing and advertising agencies.
Layers of managers and fairly complex systems work hard to ensure that nothing is missed.
This all comes at a huge cost both in time and monies for all the infrastructure.
Be aware of getting caught in the prestart and office processes in the larger offices, you can lose a lot of time and money, when the builder runs his office like a government department or large law firm.
The quality is normally consistent as most of the staff need to meet targets, KPIs and milestones.
Large builders pretending to be small builders
There are a number of large building companies out there, BGC (Buckridge group of companies) ,ABN(Alcock Brown-Neaves), JWH (Julian Walters Homes) that have a large building company broken down into smaller companies.
They tend to break down the different brands to service different parts of the market, sometimes, you may find that they are using the same office staff, contractors, suppliers and supervisors in the various brands, so it may be, that you may have signed up for a prestige brand to find out that it may be all the same, just a different price point or more flexibility or selection at front of house, Clever home designs can help you navigate your selection process.
Architect
The appointment of an independent architect has both positive and negatives.
The positive is generally the intellectual property belongs to the person paying the bill and given time and funds you can get exactly what you’re looking to achieve with the exception of the shire regulations.
You can work one on one and generally have a very well documented set of drawings and then have the ability to tender the project out.
The negative is that you (or the architect) still need to get someone to build it, and on budget, and this is normally when it goes south.
The architect is paid, generally only to produce the drawings and because of the nature, generally can’t get it to work on budget, I can’t remember seeing a set of drawings that met the clients brief and made budget, and generally by this stage the architect has been paid and onto the next commission (which can be as high as 10% of the total cost of the home).
They then tender the plans out to a number of builders sometimes based on price as the motivating factor.
A lot of the time the builders buying for these jobs are the builders who are focused on meeting the budget only.
If there are any format of builders that are subject to market conditions (financially) it would be the builders tendering on everything from a backyard cubby house to the riverside mansion.
Consultants
Sales consultants generally work on strait commission, and a lot of the time they are pushy, and scripted and very good at engagement, in saying that they are likely to ignore you as soon as the deposit is signed, or they have moved on to the next opportunity.
Clever home designs represents you and your interest directly to the builder/s with an ability to compare apples to apples, both in the design, inclusions and specifications presented.
