Nail It Early: How to Avoid Regrets in the Building Process

Start asking questions early. The same question to multiple builders, how many projects they actually take on or list of their trades and suppliers. Have you ever been let down by this firm?

Hey guys, welcome to the Builder's Edge. I'm Norm Wales from Norm Wales Constructions. Now for me, the whole purpose of this podcast here is, is to bring a little bit more awareness around the construction industry. I've been feeling for many, many years that there's not enough helpful information out there to support you guys to make the right choice. Now, we are a smaller family independent building company and we're not here to build everybody's home, but we would definitely love to be able to work with you to facilitate your dream home. But every if we don't build your new home, we want you to be able to make the right decision in choosing the right builder for you. So hopefully the information that I'm able to provide through this podcast can be informative and helpful that you can now create your dream home. So I hope you enjoy and thanks for watching.

Okay, Norm, in this episode I want to talk about some of the missed opportunities that homeowners miss at the early stages of the building process. What are some of the things that if people did early on in the building process would benefit them greatly throughout the process, but then also at the end.

Yeah, look, the biggest thing that people can do there is actually start asking questions early, you know, like being a little bit more relaxed and a bit more engaging, you know, with the builders, you know, and at these stages this is the early on. So it might be, you know, several builders that they're talking with there. But I guess, you know, everyone gets a little bit time poor and I guess we get a little bit caught up in the day to day sort of life of things there. And we may ask one builder one thing and another builder another and then it's, it's not exactly anything to gauge things by. So I think asking more questions early on and the same question to multiple builders to see what responses you're getting. So you can actually, you've got somebody to gauge and compare to.

I mean next, next to that you've got, you know, the conversations with builders, but you know, what else can that can people do? Like is there, you know, we talk about research. What are, what are some methods of research that people can do? I mean, you know, is watching the block on TV considered research?

Yeah, look, definitely the reality TV shows that not definitely the best research. It might give you a little bit inspiration for a visual aspect maybe. But yeah, look, there's plenty of great content out there. You know, any good building company there now should have quite a good media presence, you know, across all the avenues. So, you know, getting out there and diving in deep into, you know, the world of content that's out there, the more you can consume, the more empowering that's going to be for yourself. So definitely absorb as much as you can. Be like a sponge and take all that in and then take that information that, you know, you've taken on board and take that into your meetings with the builders and, you know, start getting more clarification on, you know, those little points that might be a bit more appealing to yourself.

Yeah, and, and, and so you're talking about conversations with the builders. What, in the early stages, you know, when they're at a point, when they are talking to multiple builders, what are some of the, the, what are some good questions to be asking at that point?

Look, in the early stages there, if they start asking builders about how many projects they actually take on each year.

Asking for a list of their trades and suppliers is another good start because then they can start getting a gauge on the caliber of the trades and that they engage. So even further from that, you know, they shouldn't have any hesitations in you ringing any of those suppliers and trays to sort of see how you interact, engage with them as well. You know, they can ask the questions to them, you know, to the suppliers and trades. Like, you know, does, you know, that company pay their bills on time? You know, have you ever been, you know, let down by this firm? You know, going through that process, there's going to give you a little bit of a back end of the building company that you're looking to get in there with, you know, so it's one of those things that it's a matter of asking as many questions as you can, you know, and, and trying to tie that in to see if it's going to be a good fit for you.

So next to, I mean, I would consider that what you just said there kind of the, the selection process of choosing a beauty, kind of vetting out your builder, that's kind of thing. But what else would you do in that stage? Like, okay, cool, so you've got the list of questions. Because if I'm a proactive couple or family, homeowners, and we want to set ourselves up to build, you know, our dream home in the next 16, 18 months, we go through the due diligence of selecting the right builder. We've got a bit of time, bit of Runway. What else can we do to research or to set ourselves up to ensure that when we hit the ground running, it's all systems go?

Yeah, it is. So, like, other than going out there and looking at all the content that's there, you know, asking previous customers that their build was built for, you know, interact with them actually one on one personally, you know, and more importantly, ask around, you know, so obviously you're gonna have your trades and your contractors and supplies and things there. But a good reputable builder should also have a good presence, you know, in the local community there. So asking random people about that specific building company and getting feedback from there could also be another way of finding out other information.

Does the style of build matter? Like, if you're looking to build a specific type of home, would you choose a builder that kind of does has previously done more of those, and if they haven't, would you consider that a bit of a red flag or.

Yeah, look, ideally, the style of the home that you're looking to construct, you want to make sure that your builder can facilitate that there. You know, if the build that you're looking at doing there is a little bit more unique and the builder hasn't ever done something like that there, it would be something that you'd have to think twice about, engaging them about, because you don't really want to be the guinea pig. You want to make sure that that builder has a skill set and the knowledge and I guess the actual support network and the people around them to be able to facilitate that build.

So next to you got the researching of the builder, what else is it? You got the researching of the builder.

And within that you've got them, you know, talking to their trades, their suppliers, previous customers, consuming content. Is there anything else, you know, in, in this early stage of building, is there a thing, you know, consulting with different designers or is there anything else that they can kind of do at that point, or once they've done that and they're happy with that, they're pretty much ready to commence their building process.

Well, it is like, it's got to make sure, most importantly, that the builder is ticking the criteria that's more accommodating to yourself there. Everybody's going to have different requirements and as I said before, that, you know, every builder is a little bit different and unique in themselves there, but you want to make sure that they do have the skill sets, most importantly to be able to construct what you're wanting there. But you know, if you've gone through the research phase, and found a couple of builders that seem to fit. That's where you start taking that next step then going, okay, you know, narrow it down to a builder of your choice that you think you'd like to work with that can actually deliver the actual product itself. And that's where you start the early stages of doing your concept plans and start layering that up there.

And would you say that, you know, obviously when people go to plan to build these homes, they obviously want to have a budget in mind that they're trying to stick to you. You would recommend that these are the best steps to take in order to ensure that you guys stay within your budget, that the builder is not going to go over that budget, etc.

That's right. Like once you sort of start getting to that stage of starting concepts and prelims and things like that there, you know, it's really important that the journey to that date there, that the conversations have been really clear with the expectations, budgets and what's going to be, you know, put into that project. Now if everyone's on the same page there and everything that's gets laid up from those plans moving forward, as long as it's being communicated backwards and forced there, it'll end up being much more enjoyable process because everyone's on that same page. Keeping people on track to staying on budget. But also then meeting the criteria is really important.

How often, I mean, how long are some of the, we'll call it pre construction conversations that you have with some of your will say at that time they're still prospects, they're thinking of building. In your experience, how long have some relationships gone for without them even committing anything to you first?

Yeah, look, most people are on a journey of say that four to six months give or take on the averages there. Look, we have had many people, you know, 12, 14, 15 months.

Wow.

I think the longest customer we've had there that they came to us and they said, look, they've got about a three year vision in mind. And we started very early on with the concepts and just continued to layer that up and yeah, it was, I think it's about three years, four months actually that we worked with them there until we actually started construction.

And that's just conversation, emails, phone calls.

Yeah, conversation, emails, you know, backwards and forth. And that's obviously part of the, the preliminary process of, you know, designs and layering the plans up and that, that attention to detail in the plans as well. So everybody's on a different journey. We're happy to accommodate that there as long as we're all communicating with where things need to be going and giving people the time frames and the expectations, you know, that it's actually really clear so you know what the next step is, is actually so empowering for them to know where they're going and the right steps to take from there.

Yep. Love it. So get in nice and early, have those conversations, use that time frame to vet the right builder, deselect the wrong builders and then go from there 100%.

That's the best course of action for sure.

Yeah. Love it. Well, on that note, Norm, I'm going to wrap up with a get to know your Norm question. Stand by. Alrighty.

Okay.

All righty. Our last question to wrap up this episode. I've actually always wondered this about you, Norm. If you could switch professions tomorrow, what would you choose and why?

Okay. I. If I had to switch professions there, it would be more of. Of an explorer, I would believe. Like, you just have to. It'd be good to involve that around the animal sort of side of things. So like. Yeah, like I guess the old Australia zoos would be a lovely, lovely job to have, you know, but like that. No, it'd be definitely something down being out in the wilderness, I think, and like researching, you know, know, and helping to sort of improve, maybe like extinct, like all animals that are sort of going, you know, on the extinction level. So thing. So. Yeah, so in around that sort of avenue, I think it'd be a really enjoyable sort of. Yeah. Place to sort of experience.

Yeah, I can totally see you doing that. Well, as always, Norm, thank you so much for your insights.

Thanks, mate.

Cheers, matey.