Is this build time excessive?

Hi all

Long time forum reader/stalker but this is my first post. I have learned so much from this forum so far so want to say a big thankyou to everyone first.

As a bit of background, we are building a 2 storey home NOR in Perth (bought the land last December), approx 350sqm with double brick ground floor and brick veneer upstairs. Things have been going ok with the builder, prestart is all done and we have just received our contract. It's a HIA contract and seems to be fairly standard but my query is around the build time?

They have stated 45 working days to commence and then 325 working days to completion. There is no allowances for incumbent weather etc included in that so presumably that would be on top. This seems like a very long build! Taking weather and holidays etc into consideration, it could be over 18 months which seems excessive?

Anyone else built a similar size home who could advise what their contract build times were?

Thanks in advance for any advice or previous experience you can give.

Hmm ... things are busy at the moment, very busy (from what I can tell), and this may have pushed out build times.

However, in Sydney, when we signed the contract about a year ago it was normal to have a 9-month (39 week) build-time for a 2-storey house for a project home builder. Ours is about the same size as yours if you include the alfresco, and we've got an extra external double-garage as well. You add Christmas holidays and rain days on top of that.
However double-brick is unusual over on this coast, I don't know if that makes a lot of difference.

I've sent you a PM

Doesn't seem excessive. Our builder was 75 day to commence and 350 days construction. It's a 2 storey but the upper construction method, in theory, should be quicker than than brick veneer.

If its a standard HIA contract it should have allowances for inclement weather and holidays built in.

Builders should only be able to claim for unpredictable events, that is

Weather that is significantly worse than average.
Unpredictable non availability of material.

Average rainfall, public holidays, and RDO's are all predictable.

Thanks for the info - looks like it is not excessive compared to others.... It just seems like a potential 18 months is a very long time! Can only keep our fingers crossed that they don't use their maximum allowable time.

Hi,
I've just received our contract from RedInk. Their terms are 45 days to commence and 350 to build! I am defintiely going to query the build time, purely on the 'if you don't ask....' proviso!

I'd be interested to hear their response Nikkis2000, that seems a long time for a single storey home!