KDRB: Boutique Homes Victoria Process

akps · Jan 12, 2025 12:51 pm

Hi all!

My wife and I are planning a KDRB with Boutique Homes in south-east suburbs of Melbourne. We have recently purchased a 1930's bungalow on roughly 570 sqm of land that will need to be knocked down.

We are trying to understand clearly the process of pre-build works as the builder has quoted us ~$25K for the asbestos + demolition works.

As we are on a very tight budget, every dollar counts. So he told us that sometimes its best to organise this outside of the volume builder.

I have read that we need an independent asbestos certificate that will then allow for demolition works.

My confusion is whether there are demolition companies that do everything (asbestos check, certificate, and full demolish) or whether we need to speak with independent companies. Also, which one is more cost effective? Obviously, for it to make sense, it would need to all come under the $25K quoted by the builder in the first place.

If anyone has any recc's or advice, would be great. Thank you!

AlexLawyer · Jan 12, 2025 6:45 pm

akps

If anyone has any recc's or advice, would be great. Thank you!

Hi, not a direct answer to your question about demolition costs, but I've got experience helping clients who are building with Boutique Homes.

Make sure to ask the builder to see their draft contracts and their terms and conditions for all stages of their proposed KDRB process (and that you're happy with the terms for the later stages of the works), before you pay them any money.

Unfortunately, too many builders in Victoria break the KDBR process up into sub-stages (such as for geotechnical investigations and bushfire reports, preparing designs, obtaining council approvals etc.) and ask for separate, non-refundable payments for each sub-stage - but their terms and conditions are such that you don't receive the benefit of that work unless you proceed with the actual build with that builder. It's a commercial/legal strategy that builders use to make you feel locked in with them and less likely to go elsewhere if their tender price is too high.

For example, a client I helped recently paid Boutique Homes for site and geotechnical investigations, but BH's T&Cs said that he wasn't entitled to a copy of those work products unless he proceeded with BH as the builder. (Also buried within the contract for BH to perform the site investigations was a clause saying that BH gave themselves about 6 months to do the investigations - and he was not happy when I pointed that clause out to him).

Point of this reply: if your budget is tight, make sure you understand the costs and the builder's proposed terms and conditions for the subsequent stages for the KDBR process before paying BH for the earlier ones.

(And as a quick plug: I'll be happy to help you understand and potentially negotiate the T&Cs before you sign anything - I specialise in precisely that type of legal work, so feel free to get in touch: Build Right Construction Lawyers)

ponzutwo · Jan 14, 2025 8:40 am

On a more positive note, because BH charges a premium over other volume builders, their upfront pricing is just that. During the height of covid contracts being asked for an extra 100k from other builders, not one BH customer i was in contact with was ever asked to pay anymore than their contract price.