Undercover Architect

Helping homeowners get it right when designing, building or renovating their family home.

How to Manage Project Costs Without the PAC Process

What if you’re not using the PAC Process?

How can you manage project costs, avoid budget blowouts and get builder input – even if you’re competitively tendering and not using the PAC Process?

Listen to the episode now.

Hello! This is Episode 362, and in it, I’m sharing what to do if you’re not using the PAC Process – or Paid As Consultant Process – but still want to ensure you don’t get massively disappointed when your project gets priced before you start construction.

Perhaps you still want to competitively tender your project? Or you’ve found out about the PAC Process too far into your project? Or your architect or designer isn’t interested in doing it at all, or has another method they’re suggesting to you?

This is something I get asked about a lot. So, in this episode, I want to give you clear guidance on what you can do instead.

Because if you can’t, or don’t want to, use the PAC Process, there are still really practical ways to reduce your risk, get accurate cost feedback, and avoid the heartbreak of working for months, and spending a lot of money, on designing a home you ultimately can’t afford to build.

We’ll talk about using Quantity Surveyors and Building Estimators, what to look for in a designer or architect’s process, how to get more meaningful builder input even without a formal collaboration, and what to understand about ECI (or Early Contractor Involvement) and Negotiated Tender if they’re options you’re considering. 

More importantly, I’ll address some of the common fears around this, such as whether early builder involvement locks you in, or removes your ability to compare prices. 

So whether you’re at the start of your project, midway through your design, or about to go to tender, my goal is to help you feel more informed and empowered to navigate this next stage with clarity.

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE NOW.

The traditional model of delivering a custom new build or renovation project is this:

  • Work with a design professional
  • Get your design done, documentation completed, and even approvals submitted and signed off
  • Prepare a package and send it out to a group of builders you’ve researched and selected as potential builders to work with
  • Wait to get the quotes back
  • Choose your preferred builder and continue through to a contract and construction

Known colloquially as the design-bid-build model, we all know that it rarely goes as smoothly as those steps outline. 

And if we just look at the bid part, more often than not, quotes come back at significantly more than the budget allows, or builders aren’t ready to start their projects just because the client is ready for construction. And so, there can be a huge amount of wasted time, money, disappointment, frustration and regret wrapped up in navigating your project this way.

On the podcast, I’ve previously shared information about my preferred model where a builder is involved as a paid consultant during pre-construction to advise on cost and buildability. 

I refer to this as the PAC Process, or Paid As Consultant Process, where the builder is commissioned under a preliminary agreement separate to the build contract, and attends design meetings, helps with due diligence on site, and also assists with consultant coordination. 

I talk about the what and why of the PAC Process in Episodes 201 and 202, and then interview a builder, a building designer and a HOME Method member – all who worked together using the PAC Process, in Episodes 203, 204 and 205. I’ll pop the link to those below in the resources for this episode if you want to have a listen.

And inside HOME Method, I share more detailed information about the PAC Process, including what the preliminary agreement and scope of works should look like on the part of the builder. 

And of course, in my other business, Live Life Build, we teach builders how to use the PAC Process in their projects and business, and we have an online course called The PAC Challenge that builders can complete, sit a test and then be listed as PAC Process TRAINED builders on the website. 

If you’re not aware, the main outcomes of the PAC Process for you, as the client, are as follows:

  • You get to have the builder’s input on cost and buildability during the design phase, so any efficiencies, cost savings and time-saving measures can be adopted as the design develops.
  • You get to understand the cost of your decisions and choices, also whilst the design develops, so you can manage your budget and expectations.
  • It’s a great way to get to know the builder whilst you’re not under the pressure of a time-limited, significantly legal and costly arrangement as a construction contract.
  • The builder gets to understand you, your priorities, what you value, and how you communicate before you’re inside a contract with them.
  • The builder also gets to understand the design intimately so the build phase can go more smoothly.
  • And you get to access the builder’s expertise for due diligence on your site and / or your existing home so you’re not finding out during construction what might be challenging on your site or in your existing home, and deal with challenges and surprises then.
  • You avoid that well-known drama of having a full set of drawings and approvals and going out to quote, to find you’ve fallen in love with a home you can’t afford to build because the quotes are two or three times what you can afford. Instead, the design can be shifted and changed along the way, helping you maximise the potential of your budget and site.

However, I’m often contacted by homeowners who say things like:

  • We don’t feel comfortable using the PAC Process, we still want to do a competitive tender
  • We’re already part way through our project and it’s too late to make the PAC Process work.
  • My designer or architect thinks getting a builder involved during pre-construction is a bad idea, and wants to wait until we’ve finalised the drawings
  • There’s no PAC Process builders in our area. We think it’s a good idea to get a builder involved, but how do we make this work for everyone involved?

And ultimately… how can you take proactive steps in your project to understand and control costs, and avoid nasty surprises, or wasted time and money.

Let’s talk through some other ways you can access cost information, builder input and helpful direction in your project so that you can ultimately avoid reaching that exciting point in your progress where you’re ready to hit ‘go’ on construction, only to discover you’ve wasted time and money and can’t afford to build what you’ve been working on all this time.

With this run-through, I’ll also speak to the different stages you might be in your project, so wherever you’re at, you can start actioning this to ensure you avoid disappointment at the point of going to tender.

And if you want help navigating all of this – including how to structure early builder involvement, understand quotes, or feel confident comparing pricing – that’s exactly what I guide you through inside HOME Method. 

RESOURCES

PAC Process Episodes:

PAC Process TRAINED Listings >>> https://www.livelifebuild.com/ppt-builder/ 

Line Item Costing (Comparing Builder Quotes) >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/comparing-building-quotes/ 

Episode 283: Lifting the Lid on Builders’ Margins >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/podcast-builders-margin/ 

How to Choose a Design-Construct Company or Builder >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/podcast-how-to-choose-design-construct/

Kitchen Design Challenge Mini-Course >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/courses/kitchen-design-challenge/

Access the support and guidance you need to be confident and empowered when renovating and building your family home inside my signature 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 

Want to create a sustainable home when building or renovating? Grab the 44 Ways to Create a Sustainable free e-guide here >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/44-ways 

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