Room to negotiate?

We are working with a project home builder to design and build a custom home.

We are happy with the design and indicative pricing and are reaching the stage of paying our $5000 tender fee (working drawings).

We are wondering if there are grounds to negotiate on pricing. If it can be done. At what point would/have you negotiated, and how much were you able to negotiate off the price?

Are we crazy to think it's a good idea to negotiate on the price of building a house.

Many thanks

M

Not crazy at all, but you need to negotiate before you sign the contract. Problem you have is that you got them to do the design, and they own that, so you really cannot walk away unless you start again. You have more leverage if you bring a design you commissioned separately to a number of builders.

thanks for the reply.

it was our design but they had thier architect do the drawings and elevations. they gave us the drawings and were happy for us to get other builders to price it up as they are confident they can do better.

we started the process with another builder but thier back of an envelope calculation put them 50k more expensive.

i think it may be worth getting a written estimate from at least 1 more builder. for no other reason than to use it to negotiate.

we really like this builder though. nothing is too hard and they really are happy to go the extra mile for us.

Well then, sometimes it’s worth paying for the peace of mind. These forums are littered with the sad tales of those that went with the lowest quote as the consideration above everything else.

The fact that your builder was confident enough to compete against others speaks positive volumes, you like him, he has given you good service and goes the extra mile for you. I think you are onto something special. However you can ruin a good offer not knowing when to deal, the secret is to know when to deal. If you know you have a good deal, that's it.

Regardless of the above the answer to your basic question is yes you can and should negotiate on the price but don't ruin the deal.

mariam
Get someone independent to "Tidy up & Complete your documentation, Make sure you include Geotech Report, Preliminary Engineering Report, Stormwater design, services,etc,etc." If it's your preliminary design then you own copyright, get 3 builders quotes and ask them to sharpen their pencil. BTW he 's not doing you any favours, you have the whip hand up until you sign & hand over a deposit. After that any price benefits gained will decrease with added (overpriced) variations. Goodluck