Jackson Digney of Enduro Builders breaks down what to ask a custom home builder on your first call. Look for three things: unbiased advice, realistic cost estimates, and a track record of finishing on time. Ask about their online portal, site consultation reports, and how they handle design-to-budget planning.
Calling potential builders for the first time can be a daunting experience. So what should you expect from that first phone conversation, and what questions must you ask your builder before having an initial site consultation? Hi, my name is Jackson Digney, and I'm the Managing Director and builder at Enduro Builders. Today we give you the questions to ask your builder in that first all-important important phone call. When building a custom home, the relationship with your builder is the most fundamental component to making sure your project goes well. Finding yourself locked into a cheap contract where variation after variation for items you need but weren't included not only sucks the life out of the relationship with your builder, it drains your bank account dry for years to come. There are thousands of custom home builders out there. In your first phone call with them, you want to know that they will do the following things. 1, give unbiased advice. 2, not be afraid to give you a realistic idea of cost based on what it actually costs to build a similar home. 3, that they have a good track record of finishing projects on time. In addition to these basic things, you also want to assure yourself that your builder is capable of professionally running the design and build of your new home. This means that they must be able to offer you the following 3 things. Number 1, access to an online client portal that shows you the following information: inclusions, your project schedule, your site diary and daily photo updates of how your house is going. All communication you have with the builder and his project team should also be in this system. He should also provide a detailed initial site consultation report that includes their standard inclusions, their guarantees, their timeline for design and council approval, and an expected cost of your build that is realistic, as well as an indication of any council-related issues that may affect your budget. 3, a plan for taking your design ideas and having them crafted into a design for your home that meets your budget. To help you make sure you have the right questions ready to go for your builder, here is a list of great questions to ask. The first one is, do you have an online client portal where you keep us up to date on how our project is progressing? Number 2, do you back this up with a regular site meeting, and how regular is it? Number 3, who are those meetings with? Number 4, are your contracts fixed price? Number 5, at what point in the process will we have to sign a building contract with you? Number 6, what happens if we sign a contract and you realize you missed or forgot something? 7. Can we have an example of where that happened? We also have bonus questions for you at the end. When you hear the answers to those questions, you will know whether this is a builder you can get to know and trust. If they are able to easily and clearly answer the questions, you know that they are organised and have a proven system for making sure you become a satisfied homeowner. Building yourself a new home means working alongside your builder for a period of time, from the initial meeting through to the final handover of keys, which can take as long as 18 months. Make sure that you don't waste your time meeting with a heap of builders when you could easily weed out the ones that don't work for you with a simple phone call. Would you like to see our bonus questions to ask your builder on the initial phone call? Click the link below to sign up and get the list of questions that will make sure you pick the right builder for you.
