Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Fixed price or cost plus option? 2Sep 16, 2009 8:22 pm Our friends did a major reno on their house without a fixed price. What a drama! Double charging, slow work meaning longer hours, higher costs. In the end through the cttt to settle disputes over costs and charges. On the other side of the fence if you go fixed price you need to do the work up front, ie get good architects drawings, define a series of minimum specifications that you want to see in the reno, these specs might be more than the BCA requires, and then work to get a schedule of fittings and materials defined by the builder, alternatively you develop this, then use the total documentation package for a set of fixed price quotes. The more detail the better. Follow all this up with negotiations to get the best price. Allow around 10% for extras on the way, but remember the more you define up front the better will be the price. The more you change along the way, the higher will be the cost. My recommendation is go fixed price Dan Re: Fixed price or cost plus option? 3Sep 17, 2009 2:40 pm danc12 Our friends did a major reno on their house without a fixed price. What a drama! Double charging, slow work meaning longer hours, higher costs. In the end through the cttt to settle disputes over costs and charges. On the other side of the fence if you go fixed price you need to do the work up front, ie get good architects drawings, define a series of minimum specifications that you want to see in the reno, these specs might be more than the BCA requires, and then work to get a schedule of fittings and materials defined by the builder, alternatively you develop this, then use the total documentation package for a set of fixed price quotes. The more detail the better. Follow all this up with negotiations to get the best price. Allow around 10% for extras on the way, but remember the more you define up front the better will be the price. The more you change along the way, the higher will be the cost. My recommendation is go fixed price Dan Thanks Dan - that was what I was afraid of. Some of the builders are only happy to go with cost plus options. Can we negotiate it on the price with a fixed price option after the builders return with their quote? Re: Fixed price or cost plus option? 4Sep 17, 2009 8:30 pm Absolutely. In my case I was quite open to tell him how much he needed to drop to be competitive. After all the aim of the builder is to win the job. He will have worked on a specific margin, this he can change, and he will look to find ways to move the cost around later by re-quoting with his suppliers or using alternative materials, so again the more work up front you do the less will be the surprises later. In the end the aim of the contract will be for both of you to be happy, the builder should make a profit and you should get what you thought you were going to get and so it shouldn't be a barrier for the scope to get written down. But be as detailed as possible, ie if you are proposing doors, get brand, model, dimensions. Colour choices, types of tiles, get them written down etc etc. It allows him to cost it and then there is no argument when your doors are delivered. In the end, you need to be comfortable with the builder and he needs to be happy with the price he quotes. Another thing, ask for references, call them all! Have you at all considered demolition and construction from scratch, it could be worth a look at the cost of this too. Hope this helps. Dan Re: Fixed price or cost plus option? 5Sep 17, 2009 9:12 pm danc12 Have you at all considered demolition and construction from scratch, it could be worth a look at the cost of this too. Hope this helps. Dan We were initially told by the architect a reno is cheaper. Now we are not so sure - a demolition/build would probably be about the same price but would give us more choices with design. We're sort of stuck down the reno path now as do not want to get another DA (this DA took us a year to be approved!). Good to know you can negotiate on the price. Still waiting for all the tenders to come through but one builder already told me his quote and it was definitely over our budget. I think he told me first to get my reaction. Thank you so much everyone. This all makes a lot of sense. I guess when you talk to a builder who butters up everything to look very polished, you get to start believing… 7 17601 So AFAIk the outcomes of the BAL ratings form part of a clause that allows them to pass these costs on to you. However the more relevant detail is how did it go from 19… 1 9164 1000000% definitely add insulation. I have in my home and it makes a big difference minimising sound transfer. Insulation is pretty cheap and definitely worth it 2 6191 |