Start Strong: What You Must Know Before Building

Homeowners preparing to build their dream home in the next 12 months and beyond.

You need to go talk to your bank or a broker and sort of see what sort of limitations you might have, collect a bit of information for where you need to start, what block of land you want. If you can secure a block of land, then you can sort of start talking with the builder and start evolving that conversation a bit further as well.

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 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 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 hope you enjoyed and thanks for watching, Norm.

Thanks. In this episode, I want to talk about homeowners preparing to build their dream home in the next 12 months and beyond. What are some ways that homeowners can prepare themselves to put themselves in the best possible position to succeed when preparing to build their dream home?

Yeah, look, if you're looking to build, you know, give or take the next 12 months or so, it's important that I guess, you know where you're sitting financially, you know, most importantly. So that might mean you need to go talk to your bank or a broker and sort of see what sort of, I guess, limitations you might have and, you know, where you can sort of go to. Like, really, once you sort of sort out your finances, you know, if you haven't actually got a block of land or not yet, you need to start actually happily researching what new estates or what blocks are available there. The sooner you can actually, I guess, collect, you know, a bit of information for where you need to start, what block of land you want. If you can secure a block of land, you know, then you can sort of start, you know, talking with the builder, you know, and start evolving that conversation a bit further as well. And you can go into the building and say, look, you know, we're looking at this estate. We're looking maybe at that estate, what do you think? You know, and just start those early conversations and try and find out, you know, if there's any little hidden obstacles that could potentially derail or, you know, hold up that actual build.

So what else, what else can they do in that part?

Look, when it comes down to giving yourself time to build, you know, the more time you can give, the better. So you know, if you are within that 12 month window, you know, once you've got your finances sorted out, you know, and you start working with your builder, you can start with early concepts even, you know, so if you know roughly what you're wanting, you can start layering those plans up and that'll just give you more time to digest all the little pros and cons of, you know, that Pacific Home.

Yeah, yeah. How do changing market conditions impact building costs and timelines?

Yeah, so like, obviously people that are more long term thinking of building different, you know, things can change with like interest rates and we've seen covert come through and all sorts of things like that. So that there can start changing the cost of build, you know, so prices, materials go up, fuel goes up, freight goes up, you know, so it is a bit of a knock on effect. So these sorts of things, you know, can heavily impact, you know, what you think you're going to do today to what's going to happen in 12 months time. Like, you know, will that budget that you first thought was going to build your home, will that actually cover that there? So you still need to make sure you've got a little bit of a contingency there as well. But you know, working closely with your builder and sharing the journey where you are, they should be able to help you navigate through that as well.

Well, well, on that, how can you lock in pricing or avoid cost increases over the next 12 months?

Yeah, look, so when it comes down to trying to lock in cost ins and out there, if you do a full preliminary package up and get your full plans and specifications done there, the suppliers and that are more than happy to actually secure those processes if there's contracts in place. Now not every one of them can do that there, but the sooner you have a contract in place, the more chances you've got there to secure those costings. Now if you don't have a contract in place, you can't go securing anything. So you've got more chances of trying to save money by locking a contract in early than not having a contract in place.

I mean, what, you know, you're saying all these kind of tips and best practices, if you like, for families and homeowners to do. And you know, you've seen a lot of builds over your career, what would you say is like the, the emotional impact or the mental impact it would have on a family being well prepared, going into the building process, knowing that they've done their due diligence in the beginning, they've secured all the, the correct finances, they've done their due diligence of selecting the right builder, how does that impact the next 12, 18 months of their life?

Look, by doing that groundwork there, that's going to set you up for more success there because you've invested in yourself. Now if you hadn't invested in yourself there, there's going to be a lot more hurdles there that I guess you haven't ticked off. That's going to be a lot harder for yourself. But yeah, definitely going down that path and, you know, taking those right steps forward, that's going to make the, the process itself a lot more enjoyable. But you definitely will be rewarded by taking that course of action there. And you got more chance of knowing the path that you're taking isn't going to be as disruptive because it's a nice little roadmap being planned out in front of you.

Is there a way for you to help people who are perhaps coming to you, they're unprepared, they're perhaps, you know, it's more of a rapid decision with what they've done. Is there a way for you guys to kind of help them out, slow them down a bit and actually correct their course? And, and if so, do you guys get many of them?

Look, there's not a lot of that there. Now, look, I do believe people do their best in trying to research. Obviously, there's always people that move a little bit quicker than others. And just because they're moving a little bit faster doesn't mean they're not going to be making the right decisions. Some people are just very good at sort of making quick decisions, you know, so there's no right or wrong when it comes down to that there. But yes, if people have had a bit of a spontaneous decision and they're jumping ahead of things there, we definitely can help, you know, put them in the right path there to put them back on course if necessary.

Yeah, gotcha. So if you were, to sum it up for us, you know, had. How would somebody make the Most if they're 100 certain they're going to be building the next under 12 to 18 months, how can they Maximize that period of time to ensure maximum chances of success when it comes to building their dream home.

Yeah, look, if they're 100% committed to building, you know, in that time frame, they're putting the front foot forward. And after they've done all the due diligence, you know, investing in themselves and working through their concepts and plans and trying to get to full plans and specifications as soon as they possibly can so then they can start dealing with real numbers. So the power was being able to deal with real numbers and have that information there in front of them before they sign a building contract gives them all the power to be able to make the right decision. And if something needs to be adapted or fine tuned, and let's just say the industry market does change, if interest rates go up or whatever they happen to be, you still haven't committed yourself to something that you can't change. So it gives you more flexibility and empowers you to make a better informed decision.

Yeah, love that. That's super practical tips and I'm sure if people listen back to that, they can actually get a lot from that. So thank you so much. I'm going to wrap up this episode, Norm, with another get to know your Norm question. I'm going to get you to pull up this question for me.

Thank you.

Alrighty, what have we got here?

Oh, this is an interesting question, Norm. What's the most difficult aspect of being true to yourself in today's world?

Difficult aspect of being true to yourself in today's world?

Take your time.

Look, I think that the difficult aspects for myself there would be like, we are very focused on the quality control and a product that we deliver the world we live in now, as I've said before, but we are a throwaway society now. And that really doesn't work well with me because I guess I don't throw anything away. And for myself that you see other competitors, let's just say, making changes to the methods of construction that I personally don't agree with. And that's all to do with just keeping, I guess, cost down. So I would say that would be the, the biggest challenge for myself there at the moment there and not being willing to shift and adapt two times, I guess. But I do believe you need to stand by your product and what you believe in. And, you know, by doing that there, you'll get that consistent outcome each time, you know. So, yeah, that would be the biggest challenge. I love that.

That's deep. That's awesome. Well, as always, Norm, thank you so much.

Pleasure mate. Thank you.

Cheers.

Ciao.

It.