The three are not three price points, they are three different relationships. A volume builder sells you a product. A project builder sells you a product with options. A custom builder sells you a process. Which suits you depends less on your budget than on your block and on how much control you want over decisions.
Volume builders
The largest operators, building hundreds or thousands of homes a year, usually in new estates on flat serviced land. Their strength is genuine, they are efficient and their pricing is competitive because of scale. Their weakness is that you are managed by a system rather than by a person, and anything unusual about your block or your brief becomes friction.
Project builders
Smaller, still working from a design library, but with more willingness to vary. A reasonable middle ground. The thing to test is how variations are priced, because a project builder who says yes to everything and prices it later is the most expensive option on this list.
Custom builders
Design starts with your block. Fewer homes, more involvement, and the design and the price are usually produced by the same people. The thing to test here is capacity. A custom builder running too many jobs cannot give you the attention that is the entire reason you chose custom.
The four questions that sort them
How much of the contract price is fixed, and how much is an allowance. A contract that is mostly allowances is not a price, it is an estimate you have signed.
How many homes are you running right now, and how many will you finish this year. This tells you whether anyone will notice a problem on your job.
Who designs, and do they get paid whether or not I build with you. A builder who designs has different incentives to one who prices someone else’s drawings.
Can I speak to a client whose home you finished more than five years ago. Recent clients are still in the honeymoon.
Budget control and communication are the same problem
Budget blows out when the price was never firm. Communication fails when nobody owns your job. Both are symptoms of a builder carrying more work than their systems can hold.
Ask what happens on your build when the person running it is away for a fortnight. The answer tells you whether the business runs on systems or on memory.
For a first build
If it is your first build and your block is straightforward, a volume or project builder is a perfectly sensible choice and you should not feel talked out of it. If your block is unusual, or you already know exactly how you want to live in the house, the control is worth more than the premium.
We build in North Lakes, Narangba, Newport, Samford Valley and Banksia Beach, and we take on a limited number of homes each year so I am across every one. Call 0483 949 127.
