Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Questions to ask a builder before you begin? 4Aug 22, 2023 9:48 am Ask the builder for a copy of their contract template, wirh all their special conditions and amendments included. Read it and ensure you understand every clause and definition. Understand all the implications for ypu. You can ask the bulder, a solicitor or homeone forum members to help here.. No question is silly. If the builder wont provide their contract template, thank them for their time and go elsewhere. Re: Questions to ask a builder before you begin? 5Sep 01, 2023 11:34 am You need to ask exactly what their inclusions are. Don't get a verbal list or rough dot points. You will be surprised what builders don't include and how much extra it will cost you to get them to include them or do it yourself. Ask them for their base inclusions of joinery and sanitaryware. This will give you an idea of how crap the base level of finishes are of most builders (deviating from these is costly). Find people who have built recently with these builders to get their experience. Doing your diligence now will save you in the long run when you've put down money and feel locked in to a crap builder. Re: Questions to ask a builder before you begin? 6Sep 02, 2023 10:10 am You just have to be careful with their financial status. We got taken advantage of with a builder who is going bust but thank god we found the best Design and Build company now. Saving grace. They showed us all their projects and we contacted all their past owners and they gave raving reviews so that’s such a confidence boost! Re: Questions to ask a builder before you begin? 7Sep 02, 2023 10:39 am Hajra28 You just have to be careful with their financial status. We got taken advantage of with a builder who is going bust but thank god we found the best Design and Build company now. Saving grace. They showed us all their projects and we contacted all their past owners and they gave raving reviews so that’s such a confidence boost! That is really good advice. We do the same thing with most of our new clients. We are more than happy for them to speak to our other clients and have a look at our builds so they can see the good, the bad and the ugly. Not every job goes perfectly well, there are ups and downs on every build, but it is how the builder communicates and helps deal with the issues. We have had a few jobs with problems this year, most people know about my steel frame issue on our Turramurra build. The job ended up being on hold for 9 months, which was super stressful for the client and us as we did everything we could to resolve it. We ended up losing close to $120,000 on steel frames, but we always knew that we had a responsibility to deliver a home for our clients. We finally got started with timber this week and I was having a heart to heart with our clients last night ( absolutely gorgeous people) and they said that they appreciated that we were able to work through the issue together and keep communication open. We were speaking/messaging 3 or 4 times a week, sometimes more. Side note, we waited 9 months for steel frames, then switched to timber ( cut on site) and have smashed all the lower frames in 4 days. I swear if you have a good crew, cut on site is quicker then prefab. If anyone wants to come and see how high quality timber frames look like, hit me up for a site inspection. Back to my main point, it's highly unlikely you will get a perfect reference for any builder, so ask what issues there were and how were they dealt with and would you use that builder again. All the best with your journey Cheers Simeon Architectural Homes & Duplexes - specialising in custom designing homes to your budget Get a Free Onsite Consultation Today or send a PM for information, questions or advice. Re: Questions to ask a builder before you begin? 8Sep 02, 2023 12:10 pm Agree, in the end of the day, it is all about right attitude and communication. I experienced many times that customers are happy to provide their assistance (e.g. wait for more or pay a bit extra) if they feel that you are sincere with them as they get confidence that you will deliver them a good quality product. Re: Questions to ask a builder before you begin? 10Sep 02, 2023 2:52 pm Ardo You must have Larry haun and his brother cutting frames. Ardo That is so funny! I wonder how many people know who Larry Haun is these days. I have a couple of young guys we call Mo 1 & Mo 2 who run a crew of 6 boys and everyone has a role like a production line, of one guy measuring, a dedicated cut guy, another guy nailing, two guys standing frames etc. Larry used to do it all by hand though. Imagine how much faster he would have been with power tools. Turramurra frame day 1I took this photo at 2.44pm on their first day. Look at all the frames on the ground ready to stand. After 3 days the entire ground floor was erectedLike ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Architectural Homes & Duplexes - specialising in custom designing homes to your budget Get a Free Onsite Consultation Today or send a PM for information, questions or advice. You should check your detail drawings, it may show downpipe within brick pier. 14 14426 I work with owner, he/she is my man on the ground and I instruct them when to visit the site and take photos and I have other tools in the bag. 4 15721 I am in the same situation, would you be able to give some insights in to this? I am in SA 8 17516 |