After the home is water-tight, work can continue inside with the finishing touches. This is the interior fitout stage.

This stage is so exciting, as you see the finishes, products and fixtures you’ve been agonising over start to get put into your home.

This is STEP 6 in building your new home or renovation project: The Fixit / Interior Fitout Stage. Many homeowners love this stage, because they can see the spaces they’re going to live in get fitted out with all of their selections.

Site is a busy place to be, as many trades work to fit out the interior of your home.

Your internal lining will go into the home. This is generally plasterboard, or drywall / sheetrock. It can be a messy trade, and there’s key things to understand about how it installed and finished, so painting can happen easily, and conceal all joins and fixings in the plasterboard underneath.

Your bathrooms will be lined with water-resistant wall lining, waterproofed, and tiling will be laid. If you haven’t worked out where you want tiling to be, what size of tiles you want to use, and how you want them laid out, you’ll need to decide quickly before it’s too late. Once the internal walls of your bathroom are lined, you may not be able to change the tiling extent.

Floor finishes will be installed, kitchen joinery will start being installed, and all your bathroom fixtures (or sanitryware) as well.

Tapware, your wardrobes, skirtings and architraves. Painting, stone benchtops, light switches and appliances. These are among the items being completed and installed at this time.

There are specific drawings that can significantly help this stage of works. Many homeowners don’t get them included in their set of drawings. The problem with this is that they’re either required to make the decision on site (under time pressure so as to not delay work) … or the builder makes the decision for them (which they may or may not appreciate!)

This stage can also be a source of big budget blowouts as you discover that the allowances for kitchen joinery, electrical and plumbing work, may not be sufficient for the plans you had for your home.

This stage tests all the work carried out on your structure, slab and framing. If there are any errors in this sub-work, it will be highlighted in your Fixit / Interior Fitout Stage.

DID YOU KNOW?

Many builders will install your kitchen first, and then run your floor finish up to your kitchen kickplates. This will mean you won’t have a floor finish under your kitchen cupboards, and will limit changes you can make in the future (because it’s difficult to find matching flooring down the track). Check with your builder what order they do this work in, to avoid this on your project.

For more information check out Season 7  in the “Get it Right” podcast and learn more about the construction of your new home or renovation.

---

Worried about building your new home or reno?

HOME Method is my flagship online program which uses a structured approach to simplify the process of designing, building, or renovating your home, so that it aligns with your ideal lifestyle in every way.

It’s an online program, community and coaching, built around a simple yet powerful step-by-step process to navigate your project with confidence and clarity. Even if you’ve never renovated or built before.

Head to HOME Method to see more about what’s inside the program, and how it can save you stress and money as you navigate the construction of your reno or new home.