Approaching builders - advice please

Hi everyone,

We are at a stage with our prospective build, that we have our plans finalised and have our engineering drawings.

We had previously had early discussions with 3 builders regarding the project. We would now like to formally request that they
provide a quote based on our finalised drawings.

Is there any specific format or questions that should be raised at this point? - sorry if this sounds like a dumb question.

Or do we just email the plans, advise the sort of spec we are looking for and wait for them to come back. Then once we have
decided on the builder get into the details?

Its all new to us, so hoping for some good advice, thanks in advance.

As a builder, to get the best comparison on price it would be best you put together a spec they can all work from and price accordingly to ensure it is apple's for apple's.

If you're in Vic I might be able to join in

Good luck

Sorry, each builder has their own specification for a cheap standard build, such as without wall painting, only showers tiled to 2000, 28c bricks instead of 31c, 75mm (bad!) slab instead of 100mm, R4 insulation, etc., so you will pay dearly to force any builder to follow your specification with your own taps, shower heads, stone benches, etc. Let them install what is "inclusive" and rip it out later if you do not like it.

However, now that you have a design, get a contour/feature survey and a soil analysis so all three builders can quote more properly. After the contour, why not get a quote for the earthworks also to judge if the builder intends to rip you off; you are not to get your own contractor on board, so this is just an integrity check!

The money you spend with your own design/contour/soil analysis is worthwhile; I found one builder dropped his price by $10,000 once he was told he might be out of the race!

[quote="domwild":yp1q45dv]Sorry, each builder has their own specification for a cheap standard build, such as without wall painting, only showers tiled to 2000, 28c bricks instead of 31c, 75mm (bad!) slab instead of 100mm, R4 insulation, etc., so you will pay dearly to force any builder to follow your specification with your own taps, shower heads, stone benches, etc. Let them install what is "inclusive" and rip it out later if you do not like it.

However, now that you have a design, get a contour/feature survey and a soil analysis so all three builders can quote more properly. After the contour, why not get a quote for the earthworks also to judge if the builder intends to rip you off; you are not to get your own contractor on board, so this is just an integrity check!

The money you spend with your own design/contour/soil analysis is worthwhile; I found one builder dropped his price by $10,000 once he was told he might be out of the race![/quote:yp1q45dv]
Hey domwild,

With regards to slab thickness this is not a specification the builder gets to choose. This is specified by the engineer depending on the soil classification and the type of slab construction they are designing for (raft/pod). So a 85mm slab thickness for a engineered pod system for soil classifications A, S & M are perfectly fine providing they are constructed as per engineering.

I do agree with the rest of your advice though, as every builder has a totally different way of pricing & "standard" inclusions. It pays to read over the tender in great detail!

Cheers,

You are correct, 75mm slab is correct for soil types xyz, but having been told that this also gives the builder tolerances plus some builders drop the slab down to 50mm or less, bad news.

do you guys mean 85mm? last time I checked the standard it was 85mm.

You are correct! Apologies for the typo, I have updated my original comment.

Thanks for the advice, was also thinking about building contracts, which one is easier to understand? From what i understand there is the master builders and hia contacts? Are there big differences between the two?

Both are worded for the benefit of the builder and not the client and you have no choice anyway. One builder had his own idea of first progress payment, which is outside HIA/MBA guidelines, e.g., $5,000 down and first progress payment on slab-down. I like that, but then the productreview forum gave him a 25% of "Do not build" rating, so I dropped him despite giving me the best advice as an architect.