Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Oct 01, 2009 11:36 pm Hi there, have stumbled upon this forum thankfully! Please help! We have an architect designed house and are about to go to builders to get them to quote and I was just wondering how others did it please eg. did you just give them your plans or detailed specifications of everything you wanted? how did you make the final choice - just price or other factors? I know there is alot more to it, but any advice from your experience would be sooo appreciated! thanks Re: please help - how did you choose your custom builder? 2Oct 01, 2009 11:49 pm we have a custom builder, but they also have a small range of their own floorplans. We wanted to design our own, but unlike you guys, we didn't want expense of architect so asked builders if they would draft and build what we wanted. Our builder said ok, so did a couple of others. The way we decided on who to sign with was by asking what a comparative home they had on their books was priced, and specifically, want inclusions (upgrades) were included with that price. It's so important to nut out every little detail, because believe me, later down the track if you hadn't thought about it prior to signing, you will probably pay for it later. So don't just go to builders with your plans, be very specific about every detail you want included in price. Here's a short list of examples of what you may not think so important now, but you will later if you want them: - privacy locks on toilets - flyscreens to windows - down lights - Duct heat/cool - what size/brand appliances - quality of carpets/tiles - what are their site costs - what are ALL of their fees etc etc Be very vigilant with this, and YOU MUST get EVERYTHING in writing - seriously, this comment is written so many times, and yet so many forumers find they miss this point sometimes, and live to pay the price! Don't be one of them! Finally, you asked why we went with the one we did, we looked at their overall quality, price def was a very guiding factor, reputation, personality of staff/sales and just gut feeling (*closed eyes and prayed we made the right decision*) and now of course, we are very happy... GOOD LUCK!!! A thankful person is a happy person. [/color]My hobby design blog: http://aviewondesign.blogspot.com/ Re: please help - how did you choose your custom builder? 3Oct 02, 2009 10:16 am The question has two aspects. Firstly, how did we decide who to present our designs to and secondly how did we discriminate from the responses that we received. In the first case it was about talking to many different custom builders and looking at their display homes. We got gut feels more than anything about who we felt we could work with , but I think it is also luck, I know for a fact that one of the builders that we felt Good about, has a very poor post contract persona. Luckily we didn't go with them. I think that an appropriate thread might reveal some good candidates for you, I don't know where you are building so am not sure if ours would be of any use to you. In response to the second point about discriminating. I found that from when we were getting budgetaries off conceptual drawings that there was a lot of variation in the expected price. In the end my approach to bring about a mechanism for discrimination was to prepare a specification that talked about minimum inclusions and quality of build. I gave builders: Our architecturals Our DA My mini Spec Gas/Electricals/lights requirements Landscape plan Basix certificate My spec covered the following: B. Introduction 4 C. Construction Standard 5 1. Slab 5 2. Drop Edge Beams 5 3. Timber Framing 5 4. Termite Protection 6 5. Upstairs Floor 6 6. Insulation 6 7. External Veneer 6 8. Floor to Ceiling heights 7 9. Garage 7 10. Terrace Area standard 7 11. General 7 12. Basix 8 13. Construction standards over and above specification 8 D. Water Management 9 E. Fitout 10 1. Roof Tiles 10 2. Windows 10 3. Doors 10 4. Room linings 11 5. Floors 11 6. Painting 11 7. Wet areas 11 8. Gas Provision 12 9. Hot Water System 12 10. Toilets/basins/taps plumbing 12 11. Communications 13 12. Lighting 13 13. Power 13 14. Kitchen 14 15. Laundry 14 16. Air Conditioner 14 17. Stairs 15 18. Wardrobes/Linen cupboards 15 19. Alarm System 15 20. Garage 15 21. Driveway 15 F. Contract 16 1. General 16 2. Construction Support 16 3. Rates 16 4. Pool 16 G. Appendices 18 1. Window Schedule 18 2. Electrical and gas 20 3. Optional Prices Schedule 21 H. Illustrations 23 1 Future cover over terrace, fascia shall provide for fixing strength to support the cover. 23 2 Roof Ventilation 23 3 Typical Architrave/skirting 24 4 Typical Blue pine 24 5 Cornice, Classic cove Cairo, 4 step 25 6 Kitchen Sink with accessories 25 7 Electrical Switch types 26 8 Front Door with sidelights and transom overhead Corinthian 27 9 Hume Doors to Formal Dining and Games room 27 10 Hume internal doors as noted in plans 28 11 PGH Haberfield Bricks standard 28 12 Austral Bowral Brown Bricks Option 28 13 Austral Murray Grey Bricks Option 29 14 Storm water tanks 29 15 Stair railings style 30 Attachments Contour Plan Architectural drawings (Site Plan, Ground Floor, First Floor, Elevations) Landscape plan Stormwater Management Plan Basix Certificate Electrical/Gas provision requirement drawings Various Brochures Hope that it helps Dan Yep, very good point. I’ll do more research and see what figures I get. Thank you! 8 2449 Anthony Firstly, wow you have put a lot of work into your list of questions! Great job and they are mostly valid questions that a builder should be able to answer. As… 14 9082 Hello, we can help you please get in contact 0421019219 thank you 3 24486 |