Volume builder vs Private builder

Vpande…..I’m not sure if have noticed my past replies to volume builders…..project builders, but I for one favour a private builder any day!

Ask around, find who is good, you may pay a little extra for him….but in the long run, you will much better off.

You can have trouble with all builders. And all builders can and do make mistakes or bad decisions - or their employees or trades do. The big guys will make more mistakes because they build more houses. Clar* = 4000+ Met* = 2000+, Hen* = 2000+ p.a.

I have a freind who built with a private builder, 40 sq home. Started 3 yrs ago, designed with easy access for her husband who was becoming disabled through illness. It is still far from complete, now the frame must be replaced as it has been through months of weather. She is trying to get the current guy out so she can get someone else to complete her home. And she can tick a box on the "how old are you..." thread!

Sadly, I went to her hubby's funeral 6 months ago.

Now a volume builder can and does make mistakes but he has the resources to fix these and generally he has a name he wants to protect. He also has the buying power which gets him not only a competitive price but also the service from his suppliers who look after their larger accounts.

If you go with any builder always check their track record and be ultra vigilant with the smaller guy. Check with the owners of the last 3 jobs he did and the owner of an in progress job. I think that's fair. With a large builder check their after sales service - all mistakes can be rectified - do they do it quickly?

Not everyone in business cares about their customers so you have to be careful.

Don't interpret the sales guys' eagerness as the positive attitude of the company when they come to build your home. The private guy is his own salesman and needs time. Ask his customers.

Check, check, check.
Ed

Vpande, we recently went through the experience of weighing up Private vs Volume builders.

YSSIM is absolutely right, there are pro's and con's on either side of the argument, at the end of the day either builder can and will make mistakes. It comes down to your value system - the criteria that you set and how much emphasis you place on each of those. Whether they are private or volume is really a secondary consideration.

For us, ability to communicate effectively with the builder was of prime importance. Were you able to effectively translate your ideas/requirements to them? Did they listen to you and how did they respond? The second important criteria was quality in their building.

Other important factors were the obvious - References in the area? Have they built similar house to yours (especially of your project is complex like site excavation)? What is their policy on variations? Did they provide you with detailed documentation which includes Prime Costs and Provisional Sum's? How responsive have they been to your questions/concerns? Value for money (of course!)

In the end, we decided to go with a medium sized developer who struck a good a balance between our requirements. Although they build 30-40 properties a year, we got personalised service from the two directors (one which will be our Project Manager). They proved to have built some quality homes and showed value for money vs the private builder.

No matter what the smaller builders say, larger builders are able to secure materials at better prices due to their volume. The larger builders may also own their own equipment (ie. excavators, scaffolding, etc) so they don't have to hire them at high prices like the smaller builders. I have also found that they are prepared to negotiate and take a lower position on each project since they can spread their risk across multiple projects. All this adds up to being able to offer you a better price.

My end experience still remains to be seen, we are just about to sign contracts however I would not write off the volume builders without taking a good look at what they have done.

Good luck!

We went volume builder because they had the exact house layout we wanted anyway! So if we had gone to see a private/custom builder we would have shown them the plans hehehe.

Other positives to volume builders I find are speed of construction, price very competitive, big company so it's unlikely you'll be in the position where people won't return your calls or builders disappear. Flexibility depends on the exact company but the builder we're going with was happy to change anything we wanted on the plans (for a price).

I realise this is a totally biased statement but it is my experience - can I say the overhwleming majority of building "horror" stories I have heard of seem to be smaller builders. I feel we have peace of mind that it's very unlikely to end that way if we choose the biggest builder in our state! Obviously not fool-proof but we feel more secure and confident.

Let me add to my last post.

I have since cancelled my volume builder contract based on the following.

I have no problems with what I wrote above but reasons for me pulling out are that I ended up loosing faith on the accuracy of their quotation and pricing on variations. This to me was too big a risk to take and I wasn't going to be locked into a contract that had site costs as provisional.

So just a bit more to consider... They will get you in and then start bumping up the provisional items.


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Yes some good some bad but in my instance nearly everything was a provisional cost and that's just not acceptable in my book, just plain lazy considering these companies have estimating dept that do this day in day out.


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Totally agree - That's why we ditched the large project builder we were going to build with for a 'small' local builder.

As "mcarthur" mentions above, you can still have issues with small builders. The major factor in closing the deal with our 'small' builder was talking to his previous clients, and how he dealt with issues during and after their build.

We've been in our home for just over 6 months now, had the 6 month inspection to identify a few minor faults with the build and I am quite happy knowing that he has already/will be back to rectify the remaining problems (most of which are with his suppliers products or sub-contractors standard of work).

The best answer to "Volume builder vs Private builder" is who do you trust with thousands of your dollars to build the home you want. The only thing I found reassuring was to get real feedback (by making face to face contact) from their previous clients and focus on not how well the build went but how the builder worked through issues during the build and after handover.

Personally, after building our first home, I'd go with a small private builder every time. You do have to a good relationship with them, one where the builder is comfortable telling you 'no' you can't have something and where you can let off steam telling them that you are not happy in how something is going. As long as the next day you area both still talking to each other - all is well.

The big plus is that the small builder invests far more time/integrity/care/pride in your build than any builder working for a major project home company. If they do a good job (which everyone bank's on will happen) they use your home in their portfolio of work and refer potential new customers to you for comment on how they have performed.

Just my 2c worth on this very broad question........

Also don't worry too much about the little issues, but be confident to raise the important issues with your builder. There have been one or two issues where my builder has worked to make sure I am happy. Also, in one case they let me know there was a bit of a problem and would fix it.

They have also been quite generous in a couple of situations.