How to Choose a Home Builder On The North Shore (5 Things To Keep an Eye Out For)
The home building process can be stressful… but it can also be pleasant depending on whether you’ve selected a home builder that’s perfect for your needs.
Finding the right builder you can trust is an important step in the home renovating process. The best house builders will lead you through the steps, listen to what you want, and build you your dream home.
Before you sign any contracts, here are 5 tips on how to choose a home builder for your house.
Choose certified builders who have a licence and insured contracts
When you do your research on builders, make sure to come up with a short list of certified builders.
There are basic credentials that they should have like being members of The Housing Industry Association (HIA) or Master Builders Association and fully licensed with the NSW Department of Fair Trading. Reputable builders work in strict accordance with the Building Code of Australia.
An even better home builder provides indemnity insurance (insured with the Home Building Compensation Fund), which covers you for financial loss should the builder die, become insolvent, or happen to skip town.
Select a local, reputable home builder
A high-quality home building team can give you firm price quotes and are transparent at every stage of your house project. There should be few or minor surprises during the build.
Be wary of cheap builders who try to lure you in with the lowest price point. What often happens is that the price keeps going up during construction. This is because of lots of things that were never included but really should have been.
Choose builders who can give you a firm, all-inclusive quote before you outlay any large amounts of money. Your builder needs to have local experience, to avoid unexpected surprises with local regulations and ground requirements.
Choose a home builder with good testimonials
Creating a short list of local home builders allows you to actually compare home builders. Give points to those who have held the same building licence for over two decades. What this means is that they’ve never been bankrupt or involved in unlawful activity.You may also ask contact details of at least 3 previous clients, reputable home builders would generate enough word-of-mouth. You should also find home builder reviews on their website.
Good home builders make use of innovative software programs
The best home building team has in-house architects or home designers to help you design your house. Do you want a contemporary home design or a sophisticated first floor extension? Your architect will be able to add professional suggestions that complement your existing home’s floor plan and structure.
Using a design software program like ArchiCAD, you can create a final design that reflects your personal style and provide a valuable return on investment.
These programs enable you to visualise your new home before construction even starts. Seeing your home’s appearance in 3D can be invaluable, as it is often hard to visualise what a design will “feel” like.
Use a full-service home builder company
A full service company provides both design and construction within the same company and team. Which means they take care of all details on your behalf, like applying for CDCs or DA approvals from your local council. They will also obtain structural certifications, advising on materials and fittings, site preparation and rubbish removal, organisation of trades and final handover.
This has many benefits:
reduced overheads, saving you time and money
more accurate project cost estimates
seamless transition from design to build
one single point of contact and project ownership
a well coordinated team effort from start to finish
Use a company that specialises in your type of project
If you know what kind of renovation you will be undertaking, you should try and find a company that specialises in it. For example, a knock-down and complete rebuild or a first floor addition are two very different things.
This makes a lot of sense, as the benefits are obvious. The more a company provides a certain type of service, the better and more efficient they will be at it. Just like you would not ask a brain surgeon to perform a liver transplant. The benefits of specialisation are self evident.
This is one of the reasons we decided to specialise in first floor additions. We have gotten so good and efficient in delivering the entire process that we now actively turn away any other projects.
If you want to build your dream home using an upstairs addition on Sydney’s North Shore with a home building team you can count on, contact us today.
With Add-Style, there are no surprises, just transparency.