Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Dec 06, 2013 9:05 am Hi. We have signed & paid our deposit to build. Our master plans are in the making & colour selection will be early next year. We have included pretty much everything with our builder - driveway & perimeter paving, front landscape, aircon, flooring throughout, solar, the list goes on. What I'm wondering is if we should try haggle for upgrades at colour selections? Like upgrading splashback, try to get tiles to ceiling in bathrooms ect. Is it normal practice to haggle with a builder?? Re: Should I haggle with my builder?? 2Dec 06, 2013 9:57 am It cannot hurt but I find that once they have the deposit and know you are emotionally invested they generally take their pound of flesh. As they are supplying everything there may be a little wiggle room to reduce margins a little. Try your luck but do it sooner rather than later. Cheers Mark Re: Should I haggle with my builder?? 4Dec 06, 2013 10:07 am We haggled over the price before signing and paying the deposit. We got $3000 off the price and $2000 thrown in as a bonus to use at prestart. It is always worth asking the question, even once you've signed. We've not agreed to any variation price either... always question, always ask for a discount or if that is their best price, or what else can they offer. There is never any harm in asking My build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=68002 Re: Should I haggle with my builder?? 6Dec 06, 2013 10:22 am you can do your homes work too by finding out how much they are charging you for say driveways and then compare to a contractor. That will give you an idea of mark up and wiggle room. Same goes for tiles. they have to be able to build a price up by the underlying components so if they are supplying over and above their standard spec you can see what they are making. Re: Should I haggle with my builder?? 7Dec 06, 2013 10:59 pm I agree with Mark. Once you hand your deposit its a lot harder to haggle. As above builders from my understanding have at least 3 price points for each item. There is still room to haggle. Ask ask ask. Do price comparisons. There is posts here that reveal what builders charge for a specific variation. You will soon see there is a variance from builder to builder for the same items and from one customer to another building with the same builder. I'm not claiming all builders use this but most use the 3 tier pricing method. Best wishes and congratulations on taking a step closer to achieving a dream. Re: Should I haggle with my builder?? 8Dec 07, 2013 3:29 am It depends what your priority is - if you want less hassles and the highest quality build, then haggling over prices is probably somewhat counter-productive. If you want the cheapest possible build - then haggle over prices along the way. Things can always been done cheaper - the question is what is going to suffer as a result? Sometimes you will genuinely get a good deal - and sometimes it may mean shortcuts are taken. So what is the most important thing to you? Demo + Build in Rivervale, Western Australia Moved in June 2014 http://rivervale.tumblr.com/ Building Thread Re: Should I haggle with my builder?? 9Dec 07, 2013 3:31 pm No harm in trying - politely. He has to make a profit on the job - but may be able to help if you have a strong argument. Re: Should I haggle with my builder?? 10Dec 07, 2013 3:33 pm By the above I also mean ask for extra's to be done at cost - ie if you want a splashback all the way up a wall - ask for a rebate on the painting, tiles etc etc. Ask him to meet you half way etc. Most people are willing to come to the party if they think its in their interests as well as yours. Re: Should I haggle with my builder?? 11Dec 07, 2013 5:43 pm "3 price points for each item"? I doubt that. What have you signed, what have you committed to? I told them the deposit was chump change and it was. The leverage of that deposit on my signing further was zero. They got me in a room and told me I had to sign all this stuff to proceed and I said Nope.."Im not signing anything at this stage". The Prestart Girl disappeared and someone else came in. I conclude that they went to plan B. I was told that they wouldn't build in the brick we wanted, I said "are you sure" because if that's the case I'm going to need another builder" within 10 minutes they were back on board. Before the final signing of my plans I put the thumb-screws on. A mate was building 3 units with them and been given a bag of free goodies that weren't being offered to me. I told them who my mate was, who his consultant was and reminded them that my home was the biggest they built and there was a big drink in it for them. I got some of the stuff I wanted at a discounted price. On balance I was happy with the transaction. I got maybe 3 grand worth of stuff. I dunno it wasn't much. I made the point that it was a matter of goodwill and if the transaction started with me feeling I had been screwed from the outset, it was probably only going to deteriorate from there. Probably a majority of the people buying will try to haggle, I don't know how many might be successful. Its not a roadside stall at Bali. I had the example of someone who had a sales consultant who wasn't an lazy amoeba like mine , this I used to present a rational case for some "sugar" later in the deal. I caused my wife some stress because we had to give the impression that we might walk away from the deal, in hindsight................I would have. That I think would have been much harder for her than me. For me it was just another transaction. I'd say I got the standard offer of trinkets for those from the "Mad & Bad" category. Was it worth it..............yeah. Theyre not going to start knocking down the price of your splashbacks and as for having 3 prices for everything???? really that sounds like something from a "powerpoint" for shop assistants. Saving money on quality stuff done right firstime Our Build Thread https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=66810&p=1094349#p1094349 i imagine you also have another contract with an architect? and yeah, whatever other's said about special conditions and appendices 16 16133 Hi All, I just wanted to close this topic out with an update. So we ended up agreeing to a number with the insurance company, and after an extensive amount of hand… 8 23799 |