Is it possible to have a smooth and stress-free build?

Learn how Janet prepared for her new build construction to make it as smooth and stress-free as possible.

Their new build is on a challenging site, and is a really unique, custom design so that it makes the most of the site’s constraints.

And that meant that their Pre-Build phase required some specific steps and decisions.

Listen to the episode now.

Hello! This is Episode 327, and I’ve brought Janet back to talk more about her project of building a new home on a challenging block for her family in Brisbane, Queensland.

We’re talking all about how they selected their builder, tendered their project, made their selections and got ready for construction.

We first met Janet back in Episode 319 and Episode 320, where Janet shared how she and her partner Paul, and their 3 children, started on their project journey in 2021.  

Janet shared that they’d lived in their existing home for almost 19 years, and renovated it whilst their two oldest kids were really little. 

Janet felt, in hindsight, they rushed it, and now were living in a home that isn’t adapting to the changing demands of family life. AND she knew they didn’t want to renovate it again, as they felt they’d have to undo things to make the necessary changes.

Whilst investigating what to do next, they unexpectedly found a block of land nearby, and after some deliberation, they purchased it.

And then began their design journey, which is what Janet shares with us in those episodes. If you haven’t listened, it’s really worth doing so, or downloading the transcript, so you can hear all the amazing learnings that Janet shares.

To summarise: they worked with one company to amend the floor plan of a two storey home in an attempt to get it to work on the site. 

However, the site constraints meant it wasn’t going to deliver the outcome they were seeking, and a custom approach seemed to be the best option.

Janet and Paul then chose their building designer, and worked with them to create a super interesting design for their new home.

Nicknamed ‘the house with a hole’, the rooms in this home circumnavigate an external landscaped courtyard area in the middle, shaping a central courtyard.

This enables their home to create a privatised outdoor area, helps light to enter the home really well, and a super interesting floor plan and living experience … all on a super constrained site.

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE NOW.

Janet is back in this Episode, and you’ll hear how she and Paul interviewed and vetted builders, to ultimately decide on their chosen one.

And you’ll also hear how they navigated the pre-construction and tender phase to get ready for construction. 

Janet discusses what worked, what learnings she had, and improved her project overall.

Before we dive into the conversation, let me give you some context on the timing of Janet’s project. 

Janet and Paul purchased their block of land in 2021, and joined HOME Method in October of 2021.

They worked through their design in 2022, and went to tender in November of 2022. Work started on site in 2023, I had this conversation with Janet in April of 2024. She was only a few weeks away from moving into their finished home.

Now, let’s dive in!

This is the transcript of my conversation with Janet about designing a new home with a difference.

Amelia Lee
Well, Janet, it’s so fantastic to have you back. Because obviously, a lot has changed since the last time we spoke. When we chatted last time, you brought us up to speed on who this project is actually for, why you’re creating it. And we went through how you actually got ready and navigated all of the design and the documentation process, and then your experience through that and the lessons that you learned and the incredible wisdom that you could share from that experience. So in this conversation, I want to dive into the construction phase and understanding how you set yourself up really well for the construction phase, and then also how the construction phase has been going. Because you are currently only weeks away from being able to move into your finished home, which is so exciting, because it’s such a long process. So I always get it, it’s like they’re waiting for the impending birth of a baby, I think you said in your email to me. It’s like being 38 weeks pregnant, you just know it’s around the corner. Feels like forever, but having been doing this for a long time, I’m really looking forward to being able to share what you’ve learned and listeners being able to understand more about how it’s gone for you, and hear your story updates.  

So I want to step back to, in terms of understanding how you, I suppose, what you expected about the construction process and the concerns that you had about the construction process. How were you thinking about it? Were you nervous about how it was going to go before you started, even right back, I suppose, when you started your project, how you were thinking about, “Okay, what do we have to do to get the build phase itself right?”

Janet
Absolutely. Having renovated, I knew that the construction phase went very fast. Once things got started, that was it. It was like a freight train that doesn’t stop. Having not done it on such a big scale before, though, that was a little bit daunting at the beginning of the process. There was a lot of it’s the great unknown. And then, as we got further into it, as we listened to lots of podcasts, your podcasts, the build phase started to be a little less unknown.  

Looking at HOME Method, that was really helpful because we’re still in design phase but we’re able to say, “Oh, this is generally how a build progresses. Okay, that’s good to know.” And then, I guess, as we had more of an idea of what to expect, our fears of the construction phase were starting to be allayed. The main concerns were just around will we have major delays? Because we started the process 2021 when all the major delays were really happening, all the price hikes were really happening. We sort of hoped that by the time we’d got to the build phase, maybe that would have all settled down. And sure enough, actually it had. 

So I think the first conversation we had with our builder, it was 2022. And he said, “Look, up till this point, things have been pretty bad. And I’ve been having to order windows before we even signed a contract. But I think from here on in, things are starting to settle down. So the major delays, major price hikes, they will settle.” So that was a slight concern, but it was at the back of our minds rather than, “Oh my gosh, what are we doing?” And then we had more expectations than we had consents. Only at the very last minute, as we’re signing the contract, I had that small concern of, “Holy cow, I hope we’ve got this right.” But yeah, we didn’t actually have any major concerns. 

Once we got to that point, we didn’t actually really have any major concerns about the construction, because I guess it had all been quite well communicated to us by the builder. And we’d learned a lot from Undercover Architect about what to expect. And we knew everybody else’s horror stories. But having had a 12 month relationship with our builder, we were not concerned. We went, “Well, that’s them. That’s not our builder. He’s really great.” So we expected things to go smoothly. And we had confidence in our builder. And we expected that it would be quite quick. We expected, because he communicated to us that, “Oh, look, this floor plan is probably five months start to finish, no delays.” And this was back in 2022, like 12 months before we started constructing, he said, “So you’re looking at your floor plan. I’m thinking it’s a five month build, I would give you, I’d say, it’s eight months, but I’ll put you on a 12 month contract, but you can expect to finish within eight months.” True to his word, on the schedule. It said handover week, the 29th. Handover is the week of the 29th of April, bang on.  

We expect it to be streamlined because we’ve done all the work prior. We expected there to be no major decisions. We hope there’d be no variations. And we expected no major price hikes, and we expected to be guided by Dwain because that was the relationship that we had up to this point. And we also expected that we’d have access to him and access to the site and access to ask questions and meet whenever we needed to.

Amelia Lee
And I want to talk a bit more about how you ended up actually choosing Dwain, because I know you did that quite a while back, because you were involving Dwain during that pre construction phase. But all of those expectations, were they actually explicitly communicated by Dwain through that pre construction phase? Or were they things that you gleaned from being able to have that opportunity to have a relationship with him over a longer period before you signed the contract? How did that expectation management process go for you?

Janet
I think it’s a bit of both in the way he speaks about his construction phases, and the way he speaks about the way he runs his business. It was clear that he’s very on schedule, he has really high expectations of his trades, that he doesn’t accept any nonsense or any dramas, he doesn’t accept any shoddy workmanship, he was telling us stories of how he’s sorry, “I wasn’t available because I had this issue that I had to sort out.” And that is really valuable, having those conversations with your builder beforehand because you can see, when it’s not you, how he solves problems. 

And that was really helpful, because we then had confidence that, “Oh okay, so little things happen here and there. It doesn’t ruffle your feathers, you just get on and you solve the problem this way, that way.” And also, we could see that his communication style was really open and upfront. Because if he’s able to speak to us, who weren’t technically his clients yet, in such a straightforward manner, then surely with his trades and his clients, then he’d be even more straightforward and open and honest, and things would just flow. I guess he explained his processes, sometimes voluntarily, sometimes in relation to questions that we had. And then a lot of it was incidental as well through just general conversation, and email conversation and things like that.

Amelia Lee
And did you find, because you mentioned that you were navigating that design phase and then also looking for it in the HOME Method content… We’ve got the Build phase, takes you through with the Manage Your Build component of the Build phase takes you through all of those phases of construction, so that you can understand each step of the way what you should be expecting to see on site. Did that change the kinds of conversations that you’re having during the design phase? Because you were investing in that learning experience? Or was it more about it was helping reinforce what he was saying, which then built trust that you were getting the information that you needed and that things were going as they should?

Janet
Yeah, probably more like that I think, yeah. Certainly, from things we learned in HOME Method, that did raise things that we could ask in design meetings. I did write notes and go, “Okay, make sure I raise that with Dwain. Or make sure I raise that with Aaron. Or ask this question, or what about this or that, the other?” That was really helpful in the design meetings. But when they were feeding back things to us, we go, “Ep, good, that’s it, that’s it.” I think I mentioned last time that Aaron said he felt like we didn’t need it. It was nice for us to have Undercover Architect but we didn’t need it because that was his job to educate us. But they don’t know what their clients don’t know. 

And some people are better at doing that than others. Some people can be really focused on the task and really focused on the job, and just get absorbed into that so that they can’t think outside of, “I know this, I’ll bet you don’t know that.” Other people in our journey, we’ve noticed, are quite good at knowing the job at hand, but actually can remove themselves from that and hear where the other person is coming from and go, “Actually, I’m not sure what you know. So are you aware of this issue, this issue, this issue? And if so, fantastic. I’m not trying to push you but just be aware that these are things that might impact your desired outcome.” Our painter was one of those people who we didn’t have a relationship with him at all. But we’d chosen Lexicon Quarter. 

This is probably out of your order of questions, but here’s a fun experience. So we went for a meeting on site to talk about some decks that we were having added into the contract for the courtyard and the drying deck. Anyway, so we’re on site, the painters were there. And prior to us going on site, the painter had spoken to Dwain and said, “Oh, look, they’ve chosen Lexicon Quarter. Do they know that it’s quite blue when it makes the architraves?” He’s like, “I don’t know.” He’s like, “I think they should probably look at maybe Snowy Mountain Quarter instead. Because it’s a little bit warmer.” He’s like, “Oh, yeah, okay. All right, we’ll talk about it.” He’s like, “Do you want to let them know?” He’s like, “Oh, I’ll talk to them tomorrow.” So we turn up on site. And then he’s like, “Oh, yeah, while you’re here. Paint, you guys, you think you might want to change paint colour? Now Paul and I, we looked at Lexicon Quarter for like, 10 years. And that was one of the decisions that we had locked in stone, it was easy, not an issue. 

So we’re not quite two months out from moving, you’d think all the decisions are made. And then we’re there on site and going, “So we think you need to change your paint colour.” “Um, okay.” But, you know, that was a moment of the painter that going, “I don’t know if you’re aware of these issues. And if you’re not sure, and if you know this, then that’s fine, and you’re happy to go that way. But if you’re not, then take this into consideration, here’s an alternative that actually might work better for you.” And I just really appreciate that Dwain’s professionals, he allows them that scope to be professional, he allows them and he values his professionals so much, that they have that really positive relationship with each other. And then that flows on to the client as well, so that everyone feels like they can have some input and give their professional opinion. And that was really valuable because the colour looks amazing. It’s really good.

Amelia Lee
And so you changed it?

Janet
Yeah. Although after saying okay, I went home and then looked at different things like, “Um, if I had known that paint was up, then maybe I could have decided something else.” But no, it’s fine. Honestly, it’s fine. It just was something I didn’t even look into. Because we’re like, “We like this, it’s good.”

Amelia Lee
If you’ve been living with it, then you’d assume that it would be okay. But it’s that thing, isn’t it. And I’ve had HOME Method members who will actually paint out big swatches, and then they’ll take them out to site to test them because we talk about how different colours can look in different lights. And you need to actually use the real paint, not the not the paint swatches to test it. But if you’ve lived with it, you would make that assumption that now it’s going to be okay. But it is, Lexicon is quite a cold blue based white. 

And I mean, it’s really interesting that you talk about how important it was for you and the value that you got from seeing the relationship that the builder had cultivated with their team and their subcontractors to then be able to bring that additional expertise and thinking process to the journey. In terms of selecting Dwain, you did it a fair time before all of construction and got to test that relationship.  

When you were thinking about choosing a builder, we have the question checklist inside HOME Method, I know some HOME Method members feel a little bit nervous about using it as a template because it’s a lot of questions, and it can feel a little bit nagging and like an interrogation for some people, if they’re not used to interviewing somebody that way. How did you go about finding Dwain and interviewing him and making sure that this was going to be the right fit for you? And at the same time, did you have in the back of your head, well, we’re not signing a contract for a build yet, I will have the chance to test this out and see whether we’ve got this right. How did that all come together for you?

Janet
It’s funny, because he actually was more on that side than we were. He was definitely more on the side of, “Oh you haven’t committed to anything yet.” Whereas we were like, “No, we’re choosing you. We haven’t got anyone in reserve. That’s it, you’re it now.” We could have, but we were further down the path to have committed. So initially, what we really wanted in a builder, we wanted good communication. We wanted someone who would work with Aaron and us in the pre design phase. So that was one of the most important things. And so because of that, even when we’re in that pre design phase, we started looking for builders, because we wanted somebody who was going to be available in that time frame. So there’s a little bit anxiety, “How are we going to go with this timing?” Just chill. Honestly, if there’s anything I could say to anyone about the whole process, just take a deep breath. It’s going to take a long time, just chill, and it will work out. This is words to my past self.

Amelia Lee
An advice for future self homeowners listening to this.

Janet
Exactly. Advice to future people going through this process, just take a deep breath, it’s going to take you way longer than you think. Hard, horrible reality, just come to terms with that. It’s going to take you a lot longer than you think. And also, yeah, it will work out. Just take a deep breath. Yeah, so we wanted somebody who was going to be solvent, that was a very big, important thing. Because having started the journey with a volume builder who then became insolvent, and though you were having a lot of conversations on the podcast at the time about that… And it was actually in the checklist, I think, you had some good questions about how to pick the solvent from the insolvent and those with good business practices. And that was really good. 

And you can tell the builders who are most professional aren’t uncomfortable with those questions. If you make it clear that you’re like, “I don’t want your figures, dude, but just tell me what’s your structure?” And the good builder’s like, “Hey, let me show you. Okay, this is how I run my things. This is how I make sure that we’ve got cash flow.” And so Dwain was so laid back with those kind of questions. That was a big green light for us, that he was so open with, “This is the way I run my business. And yeah, I’ve definitely always got cash flow. Yes, it’s hard. And yeah, I’ve got to have a lot of money behind me. But it’s okay, we make it work.” Whereas others were a bit more bluster, a bit more just smoke and mirrors, a bit more evasive, less comfortable talking about that. 

And yeah, we just wanted someone who shared our values. And also willing to work with our budget. So yeah, our main really big concerns were, “Are you willing to work in our area in the south of Brisbane? Are you willing to work with that budget?” Because a lot of custom builders, well at the starting point, we were thinking under 500,000. And custom builders were like, “No way, I don’t do with under 500,000.” Or we’d say, “Hey, this is our time frame.” And they went, “Oh, that’s lovely. Sorry, too busy. You can book us for 2025.” Yeah, so I think even some said 2024. We’re like, “Oh, no, no, no, we’re totally starting before 2024.” We did, just. Yeah, so that was the first thing, to find a builder, we looked on the builders that we knew that we would have liked to work with but weren’t available. Contacted them, for whatever reason if they rejected us, we then looked on their socials and went, “Well, who are you connected with? Who do you follow?” Or there is some relationship and it was some network, so it’s worth following those leads, we did that a lot. 

And then so I had a spreadsheet that I kept track of who I wanted to contact or who I had contacted. So evenings were on the couch on Instagram, “Right, builder, okay, who do you follow?” Okay, let me write down this person. Let me find out, okay, go to you, go to you, and write down all these names. And then the next day, I’d find out, go to the all their websites, find all their contact details. And then I’d pull up this stock email that I had that we sent out to all these different builders, and then just personalise it to, “Hi, fill in name here.” 

So yeah, I sent out probably, I guess, 20, 25 of those emails. Probably, actually, maybe even getting on to 30. We got responses from about 10. We interviewed 4 in the end. And then I think we were going through the design phase with Aaron, and I’ve mentioned he wanted to check his pricing, he presented to Dwain. Dwain’s like, “Oh my gosh, this house, want to build it.” “So can you tell me, am I on target with price?” And yes, he was. So then Aaron came back to us at the next meeting and I think he’d mentioned, “I think I’ve got a builder or two who you might like to meet, but we’ll save that, we don’t need to do that right now. We’ll still keep going with this concept.” 

Until we had a resolved concept, I don’t think he wanted to go down that path with us. I guess because he knew that those builders weren’t necessarily PAC Process builders in the way that he was used to working with Duayne Pearce. And it’s not that he was against PAC Process, per se. I mean, of course, he’s not. But I think maybe just he feels differently about working differently with different builders maybe. Yeah, so once Dwain was, I guess, theoretically on board, he said, “So are you interested? Would you like to see?” So I said, “I’ll go have a look.” So checked him out on socials, saw what projects they’d had in common, saw what projects he has done, and we were pretty impressed actually. 

So we still had the other guy in the background. And we were making semi regular contact, we’d sent him out our concepts. He’s like, “Oh, that’s really good. I’m interested in building it.” And I think to the point where we spoke with the other guys, another of it, he was building something in Wynnum at the time, and he said, “Well, if you want to speak to my clients, that’s totally fine. Here’s their contact details. They’re happy to speak to you.” So we drove past, we spoke with their clients. And that was really helpful. So even up to the point of even meeting Dwain, we still had these two babies. But then once we met with Dwain, we went through the interview process, Paul and I walked out, and I went, “You’re sold, aren’t you?” He goes, “Yeah.” He’s like, “You?” “Yeah. He’s it. He’s the one.”

Amelia Lee
Ding ding ding ding.

Janet
Yeah, so I mean, before meeting him, we’d already had gone through the QBCC checks. We’d already looked at all his socials, I think we’d already had a phone conversation with him anyway. So yeah, once we had that face to face meeting, it was, yeah. What really won out in the end between him and the other guy was that he had that relationship with Aaron. And we knew they worked well together, we knew that Aaron would be happy to meet with him. And there wouldn’t be the, “Hi, nice to meet you.” Work out things.

Amelia Lee
Now let’s figure out how we get along on a project.

Janet
Exactly, how do we professionally get along? How do we personally get along? That was already done years ago. They knew each other’s suppliers, they knew the way each other work, they already had a bit of a shorthand going. So getting them all in the room together was super easy. It was a really positive experience working with both of them in those couple of design meetings that we did have.

Amelia Lee
Fantastic. I love your comment about the fact that the challenging questions about finances and those kinds of things didn’t faze Dwain, because that’s my experience is that the good builders are able to speak openly and candidly about those things. And understand that those questions are about demonstrating their financial business ownership and their understanding of running a business which you, as a homeowner, when you’re investing in your build with somebody who’s then going to be handling a lot of cash and making sure that things get done, have a right to know. So it’s a really good observation that the good operators don’t find those questions problematic.  

When somebody does get defensive about them, or blustery, as you said, and you will have heard me say this inside HOME Method, those questions are as much about gauging how the person responds as much as the answer that they give. So that you can see the communication style of the person, at the same time as gaining the information that you need about that person and business. So it’s really great that you were able to use it that way. 

Now, in terms of you getting ready for construction, we’re really big on bringing forward decisions and those kinds of things, inside HOME Method, you get lots of tools to be able to do that. How did you find that process of getting ready for construction? And, obviously, having Dwain involved during pre construction would have been helpful in that regard, what were you really focused on setting yourself up for so that construction could go smoothly? And was there anything that you caught yourself, I’m going to leave that, you know, you mentioned the paint being a surprise on site, you thought that was a decision that was made and then that coming up, how were you going through getting all of that decision making in place? Was it a priority for you? And how were you navigating that process?

Janet
So it’s certainly working with Aaron, that was a lot easier. Although we chose more of a budget option with the designer, we didn’t go full service and we didn’t get any interior design. Partly because I was quite confident that Paul and I knew our style, we knew the level of finish that we wanted, and we didn’t particularly need help selecting materials because I know what looks good. Well, I feel like I know what looks good. I get good feedback. And yeah, so I didn’t need somebody to go, “Oh, so here’s a selection board.” Off we go. 

What would have been helpful in streamlining the process is if Aaron or Dwain had have gone, “Before I tender, here’s a list of selections, go do. Here’s your price guide, off you go.” If we had have had a, “Here’s your list of selections, here’s your price guide, here’s your suppliers that I like to deal with.” They were so helpful in that Aaron’s like, “Well, it’s custom. You can go anywhere.” And Dwain’s like, “You can choose anything.” Which is lovely, but when it comes down to it, you can’t because you’ve got a budget. And there are also constraints in that each builder has their own preferred supplier, they’ve got their own relationship.  

And for example, we did go and choose a flooring prior to contract, prior to tender. And then when it came down to it, he said, “Okay, I see that you like this floor, but I’ve never dealt with them before. And I’ve not used any of their contractors or anything. And look, this is my preferred supplier, because I have full confidence that the product they deliver is excellent, and I have full confidence that their tradespeople are excellent. I would like to use that one. It’s going to cost more, it’s up to you. I’ll use your people if you want. But it’s not my preference.” And initially, I went, “What?” And it was significantly more, I think it was like $1600-$2,000 more to go with his supplier. 

But because we’d built a relationship with him at that point, and we went to site, we went to his supplier, we saw their products, they were comparable. We couldn’t see anything majorly different. We went, “You know what, having that confidence, it’s worth it to us, we’ll go with your supplier.” And it’s funny because it’s the little things like that, when there’s give and take, that really helped to build that level of trust in a relationship. 

So it meant that, I guess, at other times, when we wanted something that was outside the scope, or when something came up, Dwain was happy to go over and above for us because he could see we were willing to do the same for him. And when we explained, he’s like, “So are you sure?” We’d said, “No, we’ll go with your supplier.” And then later on in conversations down the track a month or two months later, he said, “This is a lot more expensive. Are you sure you want to go that way?” We said, “Yes, because you trust you. And so we’ll go with your supplier.” I think that resonated with him. I think it hit a chord with him. Building, it’s an intensely personal process, as you say. It’s a business, but then it’s also not. So selections, most of them we made beforehand. But a lot of them we made after tender. So that slowed the process down a lot.

Amelia Lee
And why did it happen in that order?

Janet
Because I had no idea what we were doing. And because we didn’t have the interior designer. And because we kind of felt a bit paralyzed or a bit stuck, because prior to tender, we didn’t know well, who do we go to? And we’ve raised it with Aaron, we’ve raised it with Dwain, “So when do we choose stuff?” He’s like, “Oh, whenever you like.” So because it was too open, it left us stuck and paralyzed. Having a bit more guidance would have been really helpful at that point. “Oh here’s what I want you to choose for tender.” That would have been really good. But he’s used to working with a really big range of people. At that point, we’re still a fairly new relationship and so he wasn’t about to go and tell us what to do, I suppose. So he was willing to just be guided by Aaron and what was already spec’d on the tender, and to just use that as a guide. 

And at one point in the documentation that we were giving for tender, it had ducted air conditioning written. I said to Aaron, “Aaron, it’s got aircon in here, we don’t actually want any aircon at all.” He’s like, “It’s okay. Because that just gives an indication of the level of finish that we want.” “Really? You sure?” “No, it’s all good.” “Okay.” Because what can you do but be guided? I think to do it again, I would have pushed back and said, “No, take it out. Because we don’t want aircon.” And it’s a waste of time for our builder. It’s a waste of time for that pricing, we don’t want that.  

And at the time, I think when all the specs were being done, it would have been fine. Except that prices, there was still that price creep in, not on our side, but on supplier side. So by the time it went to tender, things that had been spec’d were just that much more expensive. So November 2021, it went to tender with Dwain, and that was after we’d had a final meeting of just collating all of our changes. We had a meeting, just went over everything. He said, “At this point, before I tender, is there anything you want to change?” Aaron’s like, “Is there any way we can make this cheaper?” And Dwain’s like, “Look, I’ve had a look at this and honestly, short of completely compromising the design, I don’t think so.”

Amelia Lee
Was that November 21 or 2022?

Janet
That was November 21. So hang on, it’s 22. That’s right, we’ve been going at this for a really long time. It’s 24 now, isn’t it? Yeah, so 23, we were with contract. 22 was tender, that’s right. I think we got the tender somewhere around December, late December. And had I known a bit more, I probably would have gone, “Can we go to tender in January? And can we have a list of selections to make before we go to tender so that we can get back to you with those?”

Amelia Lee
All right, yep. Is there a reason that you didn’t use the selection schedules inside HOME Method and the shopping list?

Janet
I used them as a checklist afterwards. Yeah, I just forgot they were there, to be honest. I was really busy.

Amelia Lee
I’m sitting here going, “You needed a list, and there’s one inside HOME Method.”

Janet
Well look, it’s not even that I needed a list. I knew what we had to choose, but I just didn’t know where from or how much we had to spend.

Amelia Lee
And they’re very reasonable questions to have for the builder and designer to say to you, “Look, this is the kind of benchmark.” So that when you walk into a tile shop, you’re not looking at the $120 a square metre tile, if that benchmark or finish is only ever going to be a $60 tile so you’ve at least got somewhere to hone in your decision making.

Janet
And we didn’t know, well, if we choose a $60 tile, what kind of impact is that going to make on the budget? Or if we choose taps from here, or taps from there, what kind of impact is that? You just don’t know what you don’t know. So at least having the tender document, we knew what we had to choose, and we had an idea of what we wanted, but we couldn’t actually finalise anything. And they were saying, “You can go to Harvey Norman.” But again, the range even at Harvey Norman commercial is huge. And they don’t give you prices.

Amelia Lee
Yeah, they put the quote together for the builder, don’t they? I think, too, that’s a interesting reflection on how I think the preconstruction involvement of this builder, because you’ll have some PAC Process builders who will do that, they’ll go, “Okay, well, based on our previous projects that are of a similar benchmark to yours, this is the price range of the finishes at that product level. And these are the general supplies that we go and work with.” 

So it’s a good lesson, I suppose, for Dwain and for Aaron to understand that you as a client would have really appreciated having just some guardrails, I suppose, to that decision making process to make those selections or not. Then, I suppose, they would have tended what you actually wanted rather than to price something that you then could use as your guardrails and go, “No, we want less or we want to save money here, or we want to spend more money here.” So it’s a good lesson for them as professionals, I think, to help shepherd their clients and any professionals listening to this to understand, again, this is helpful for your clients to have so that you’ve got some kind of guardrails around those selections.

Janet
Yeah, so that January after, and I would have asked them to do it in January rather than December, because now that I’ve been through that period with the builder, that’s like the worst time ever for a builder. Don’t talk to a builder in November and December. They don’t want to hear from you. They are so crazy busy just wrapping up the year, finalising all those last little details before they’re shut down. So anything else that just adds something to the stress levels… 

Cool guy though, he’s very accommodating. So he’s like, “Yep, I’ll get that to you.” He’s like, “It’ll be a month.” It was more than a month because it was November-December of course. Anyway, so we used that January to go around to all the suppliers. We went to his stone supplier, we went and made an appointment, spoke with Bradnams. And I guess they found it a little unusual, but man, it was helpful. Going into Bradnam’s for the windows and seeing in the flesh, “This is the window that he spec’d, these are your alternatives.” They don’t tell you prices, but they might tell you percentages more, if you’re lucky. Or they might tell you, “That one’s outside your budget. Or that was a lot more or that’s in our commercial range.” 

So my husband has a superpower, find the most expensive thing, he’s like, “I like that one.” So at least we know what not to choose. But yeah, certainly going to the windows, going to Bradnams was one of the most helpful things for us, seeing everything in the flesh. Because then, when it came time later on to change windows or whatever, we still had the picture of what they were, the dimensions, all of that, was mine, was very fresh. Yeah, so we did as much as possible, we did all the selections according to the tender. And we knew that tender document backwards and forwards. And so we sent through a spreadsheet of all of our changes, but also included the ones that he had spec’d as well. So “We like this”, or “You haven’t included accessories, here’s the accessories we like, you haven’t included this, we want this included.”

Amelia Lee
So you got that tender document back, you did the revisions, and then, I imagined, sort of arrived at that price and then moved forward into a contract. Signing the contract, did it feel like a big deal to you? What did you do in the process of confirming that, because obviously, it’s a big legal commitment with a lot of money. And it’s a long term relationship where everything gets very serious. So how did you go through that contract signing phase? And what was your focus in making sure that you got that right?

Janet
So we were pushing to get a bit sooner than he was happy for, because he wanted to make sure that it was 100%, set in stone, no changes. And what we didn’t know was if we wanted to make any changes to the contract after he presented it to us, he has to then go back to QBCC and then there’s extra fees involved. So that was really good for him to explain that to us. But I think he only explained that after we said, “Oh, what about this or that?” And he’s like, “I’m not getting it to yet because it looks like this might change or this might change so let’s just make sure that we’ve got everything in the spec 100% nailed down. And I’m just waiting on this detail and this detail to put into the spec or to finalise in the contract so that when we’ve got the contract, that’s it, this is our contract.”

Amelia Lee
He’s just wanting to avoid variations straight off the bat, because that’s often what happens is builders will get the contract signed, client will change their mind on something and immediately it’s the first variation off the bat that has to be navigated.

Janet
And even when it wasn’t our change of mind, I think there was a few, like there was earthwork site stuff going on in the background. So there was a lot of that that impacted the build. So we were in more of a hurry than he was. Very happy for that though, that he wasn’t in a hurry, because it meant that it got done properly.

Amelia Lee
It’s very common to be in a hurry at that point, you just want things to get started. You slow down, get all your T’s crossed, your I’s dotted.

Janet
Waiting is never a useless time. It’s a productive time where you keep doing the last thing that you’re supposed to be doing, or the last thing that whatever you heard, you just find out as much as you can about that thing. So we listened to all of the HOME Method stuff on the contract, and that was really helpful. We talked a lot, Paul and I. We read the contract front to back. So boring, but useful, because there was things in there like, “Oh, I didn’t know that. I didn’t know that.” So useful, you have to do it. It’s boring, very dry, but useful. It’s all in there. 

And just making sure that the spec, as a part of the contract, that we knew that backwards, that it was very familiar document, that everything in the plan set was really familiar, because that’s one part of the contract documents. We talked about getting a lawyer. But the confidence that we had in Dwain, the confidence that we had in the drawings, and having read and understood the documents, and also just everything that we listened to from Undercover Architect about contracts, and yes, a lot of it says go get a lawyer. So don’t do what I did, we decided not to because we could see, “I understand if this happens, this is what happens. If this happens, okay, this is what happens next.” It wasn’t a case of, “Oh crap, I didn’t get that. Oh, I didn’t see that.” We haven’t had anything to do with that with the contract. There’s been no surprises, I guess. But if you don’t read it, yeah, there’ll be huge surprises. And if you can’t be bothered reading it, okay, pay a lawyer.

Amelia Lee
And it’s great that you point out that, because it is that thing of understanding all of the other documents and components that contribute to making that legal arrangement. And the level of familiarity that you developed with all of those things, I imagine, has been a huge asset for you as you’ve then dived into construction. Because if anything had come up, it wouldn’t have blindsided you, you would have then known, “Okay, well, based on our legal arrangement, these are the required next steps.”  

So it’s that thing of being informed and feeling comfortable in that information is very valuable in you then knowing your rights and obligations under that legal arrangement.

RESOURCES:

Janet’s Project Instagram >>> ‘buildscarlettshomewithahole’ https://www.instagram.com/buildscarlettshomewithahole?igsh=MXRmYXU4M2x3Nnd0NQ==

Listen to the Pre-Design and Design phases of Janet’s project in her earlier episodes:

• Episode 319 ‘Designing a new home with a difference, with Janet’ >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/podcast-designing-a-new-home-janet/
• Episode 320 ‘Building a new home on a challenging site, with Janet’ >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/podcast-building-a-new-home-challenging-site-janet/

Access the support and guidance you need (like Janet is) to be confident and empowered when renovating and building your family home inside my flagship online program, HOME METHOD >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/courses/the-home-method/

Learn more about how to interview and select the right builder with the Choose Your Builder mini-course >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/courses/choose-your-builder 

Access my free online workshop “Your Project Plan” >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/projectplan