Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Feb 12, 2012 9:36 pm Hi Guys. I'm newbie to this forum and learned lots of valuable ideas from this site. Today I requested a tender to Wisdom home today. I'm wondering if it's common to request multiple tenders to different builders then choose one of them? I know I ended up wasting the money but it can be used for a comparison checker whether some builders over charge on site cost or etc. What do you think? Also I read lots of good feedback about 'Wisdom homes'. I hope the tender won't surprise me. My home building https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=55844 Demolished: 11/May/12 Approval: 3/Jul/12 Concrete Slab: 20/Jul/12 Frame: 14/Aug/12 Handover: 21/DEC/12 Re: Do you obtain multiple tenders before building? 2Feb 12, 2012 10:43 pm Hi Apue? Where are you building? Yes, Wisdom told us we'd have to pay for a quote too. . . pffffft! We walked away. I'd only ask for a quote if I were totally sure I'd be going with the builder. . . is it really common practise to ask for money for a quote? Re: Do you obtain multiple tenders before building? 3Feb 13, 2012 4:33 am If you are going to get quotes from multiple builders you need to have arranged to have a site survey and had a site investigation done, otherwise they will give you various qualifications that will give them the ability to charge extra site costs. If they don't have much work they may quote for free but if they are busy they could charge. I think it's dishonest to ask for a free quote if you only want comparison prices and want to use a particular builder. The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: Do you obtain multiple tenders before building? 4Feb 13, 2012 8:32 am We have asked for quotes from two different builders and paid their deposits as required. One was $500 the other was $3000. It also gives us an indication of the customer service and efficiency from the companies. We are leaning more towards the company we paid $3000 towards, so we will be $500 out of pocket from this exercise. Building: Beachside Elite Initial Deposit: 26/1/12 Colour Appt: 12/4/12 Contracts Signed: 1/6/12 Electrical Appt: 6/7/12 Construction started: 7/8/12 PCI: 10/12/12 Handover: 17/12/12 Re: Do you obtain multiple tenders before building? 5Feb 13, 2012 9:26 am jodge Hi Apue? Where are you building? Yes, Wisdom told us we'd have to pay for a quote too. . . pffffft! We walked away. I'd only ask for a quote if I were totally sure I'd be going with the builder. . . is it really common practise to ask for money for a quote? I'm building in Epping area. I put $1000 deposit for them to prepare the tender. I thought it's reasonable to charge 1k to customers as it involves lots of effort and money to prepare the cost. They measure the slope, surrounding and soil test etc. My neighbor is a surveyor and his company charges $1200 - $1500 for a day work of survey. My home building https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=55844 Demolished: 11/May/12 Approval: 3/Jul/12 Concrete Slab: 20/Jul/12 Frame: 14/Aug/12 Handover: 21/DEC/12 Re: Do you obtain multiple tenders before building? 6Feb 13, 2012 9:29 am missbelinda77 We have asked for quotes from two different builders and paid their deposits as required. One was $500 the other was $3000. It also gives us an indication of the customer service and efficiency from the companies. We are leaning more towards the company we paid $3000 towards, so we will be $500 out of pocket from this exercise. The reason why I think to get multiple tenders is that I can compare the site cost they quote so I know I'm not getting ripped off. The site cost seems variable from 10k to 40k before they conduct the site survey. I don't trust the builders 100%, they may rip me off by over-charging the site cost. My home building https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=55844 Demolished: 11/May/12 Approval: 3/Jul/12 Concrete Slab: 20/Jul/12 Frame: 14/Aug/12 Handover: 21/DEC/12 Re: Do you obtain multiple tenders before building? 7Feb 13, 2012 3:09 pm There are pro's and cons with multiple tender's to be considered. The biggest con being that you are not comparing apples with apples. If you get a builder to design your home, regardless of whether they charge you a design fee, they will own the copyright. Legally you are not allowed to shop that design. You could get an independent design or a building broker to come up with an original design. This will allow you to shop the design to as many builder's as you like and you are getting closer to comparing apples with apples ... the con of this is you are paying design fees up front and will need to negotiable the cost of this out of the contract. Note that all builder's have different specifications so even with your own design some price may not be completely the same. Re: Do you obtain multiple tenders before building? 8Feb 13, 2012 6:34 pm I think some builders charge now as they do the work for the tender, but the client then walks away and signs with someone else, they have had to spend the time to cost additional items and other variation costs and put the tender together. However I guess that is the case with most building quotes, even just small building projects, it is wise to get a couple of quotes and builders don't expect to get acceptance on every job they quote on. With Wisdom, they actually get someone to complete a soil test and survey the site, so that is where some of the $1,000 goes towards. If you go ahead with Wisdom, the $1,000 is like a deposit which comes off the total cost and not an "additonal" cost. You just lose the $1,000 if you don't go ahead. I guess if you are watching costs and you have to pay a tender with a particular builder, then only get a quote if it is a house you really love and interested in building and not just "shopping" around. I found Wisdom were very transparent with costs so I was able to complete an estimate of costs myself before tender and my cost came within $2,000 of Wisdoms tender price. However if it is worthwhile to get other quotes if one of the builders you are interested in are not so upfront about costs and you want another company tender to compare against. The major variations between company tenders can be the site costs, so unless you have a flat block, it is worthwhile to get another quote from someone else if you find the first company tender site costs are excessive. We built the Wisdom Majestic 40 - moved in! Our blog - http://ourwisdommajestic40.blogspot.com.au/ Our H1 thread - viewtopic.php?t=54156 Re: Do you obtain multiple tenders before building? 9Feb 13, 2012 7:14 pm In my profession if I request quotes from multiple vendors for several hundred thousand dollars worth of equipment, not one would even think of charging me. If they did I would never ask again. These companies make nowhere near the profit margins project builders are one either. Thats business and if they want mine then they need to earn it. I would never pay for a tender for a project builders own home design. They have already done all the hard work in estimating costs and profit margins. When we were choosing we received 2 tenders from different builders, we had no intention of using the second builder, it was purely for comparison. We actually had 2 tenders from the builder we chose before we paid a cent. Charging for a quote just exemplifies how bad the building industry is. If you get 3 quotes from 3 different builders and they each charge differently. ie Builder A $500, Builder B $1000, Builder C $3000. You already have a vested interest in choosing C. I agree though, doing a custom design is a different story as they have to prepare everything from scratch. Re: Do you obtain multiple tenders before building? 10Feb 13, 2012 8:20 pm We did custom design. . . our builder quoted about 5 times for us (kept changing the design). Gawd. . . our builder must be a SAINT! Never charged us a bean for the quotes. (Probably added his labour charges to the final price though) HAHAHAHA Re: Do you obtain multiple tenders before building? 11Feb 13, 2012 8:40 pm Yep, we got to version 5 of our plan prior to getting our complimentery tender, then we changed it at least another 10 times with continual revisions on our tender, and still no money down until finalised. jodge We did custom design. . . our builder quoted about 5 times for us (kept changing the design). Gawd. . . our builder must be a SAINT! Never charged us a bean for the quotes. (Probably added his labour charges to the final price though) HAHAHAHA If you are going to pay for your wisdom tender I would do it on the condition that the survey and soil report will be given to you, so that you can use it with other builders. I could not imagine spending this type of money without first seeing what all my options are then and make an informed decision. While Wisdom may be able to give you a price be very aware of all the inflated upgrade costs as well Re: Do you obtain multiple tenders before building? 12Feb 13, 2012 8:47 pm Our builder gave us the number of our new next door neighbour. . . his surveyor. . . he did a cheapy survey for us. We've got good neighbours. . . and had a good builder! If you were building in our area I'd recommend him. . . maybe you should contact Gogo's builders instead? I've heard they're pretty good Re: Do you obtain multiple tenders before building? 13Feb 15, 2012 9:50 pm Tender, I love how they use that term. A tender for a home would be taking the exact same design and requirements to builders and getting a price so you can compare Apples with Apples. Anyway we are getting quotes with 3 companies and I have sat with 2 others and basically been given the expected costs based on the blocks contours, expected soil class. The other 3 one charges $500 to do it and the other 2 are free, worse case I lose $500 Re: Do you obtain multiple tenders before building? 14Feb 15, 2012 10:19 pm That's pretty good dvestate. . . I just had a thought. . . When we built we were lucky to get a good builder, and after 2 years, everything is still in one piece. I've seen other homes that were built by not-so-good builders, and in the same amount of time, things are starting to go wrong, or weren't right to start with. . . I've seen houses with badly bowed walls, cornice an timber trim cracking, tiles laid badly . . etc. If I were to build again, I'd rather pay a reputable builder a bit more money to build a better quality home (and I'd be looking at personal recommendations, not how many adverts they have on TV and radio.) When we were deciding who to build with, I approached people who were building with / had built with the builders we were looking at. . . We were actually put off some builders with some of the stories we heard. Word of mouth goes a long way. Re: Do you obtain multiple tenders before building? 15Feb 16, 2012 8:23 am Same jodge, I actually noted some homes in my area that were being built by the builders we are talking to and have knocked on the doors to ask about their personal experiences. Our front runner has had good reports from the four people I have talked to, the others had mixed reviews. Makes the decision easier when you can talk to people about their experiences Re: Do you obtain multiple tenders before building? 17Feb 16, 2012 2:58 pm We have our meetings this weekend to get the quotes, your right there is one favourite but the other 2 we would still be happy to build but we will be using the other ones to try and get the best deal possible. Re: Do you obtain multiple tenders before building? 18Feb 16, 2012 4:53 pm Currently waiting on the last of 4 quotes to come back (officially anyhow). 3 boutique builders and a large project builder for comparison. Large project builder is at least $90,000 more expensive than the cheapest quote - and it didn't even come close to the level of inclusions. Second boutique quote was similar to the first with an earlier start date. Last quote is looking to be our favorite - slightly more expensive than the others but no provisional sums for retaining, front wall etc Re: Do you obtain multiple tenders before building? 19Feb 24, 2012 10:21 pm atom_ute Currently waiting on the last of 4 quotes to come back (officially anyhow). 3 boutique builders and a large project builder for comparison. So did you pay the tender fee for 4 builders? I just got a tender from Alkira and I was a bit surprised that the format of tender is rather simple and far from completeness. Now I can't wait from the tender from Wisdom. My home building https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=55844 Demolished: 11/May/12 Approval: 3/Jul/12 Concrete Slab: 20/Jul/12 Frame: 14/Aug/12 Handover: 21/DEC/12 Re: Do you obtain multiple tenders before building? 20Feb 24, 2012 10:24 pm So do builders present different format of tenders? The tender format from Alkira is not thorough and accurate as I expected. They put 'Fixed' price components and provisional components. The fact is it's got several uncertain provisional components so it becomes meaningless to pay the tender fee to ask for the formal fixed quote. What do you think? My home building https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=55844 Demolished: 11/May/12 Approval: 3/Jul/12 Concrete Slab: 20/Jul/12 Frame: 14/Aug/12 Handover: 21/DEC/12 Ardo That is so funny! I wonder how many people know who Larry Haun is these days. 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