Building 3 townhouses in Melb - advice for newbie

Hi, I'm new to the forum and this is our first time building so I was looking for any advice you might be able to offer.
We're building 3 townhouses in Melbourne. The plans are still with council but we thought it might be worth starting to look for a builder. My questions are
- what should I look for in a builder? My biggest concern is they'll go belly up and not finish the job or that it will take a really long time and they'll keep delaying us.
- How should I go about finding a good builder? I haven't been able to get any recommendations and I've looked on productreview.com/google reviews, are there any other sources?
- How long would we realistically expect it to take until handover? Size wise 1 is about 20 m/2, the other 2 around 17 m/2.
- What is an approximate price by m/2 and is that how all builders price jobs?
Thanks for any assistance you can offer!

Welcome to the forum.
Along with a preliminary Design & Species you should also get a site report, contour survey, preliminary engineering and broad quants.
Having all that information will assist you in making informed decisions when selecting a builder
There are a number of variable that can influence Pricing & Construction time, but here in perth, it's slowed down and rates have realistically dropped eg. 3 town houses 12-15 months cost $1500m2