Roughly [CONFIRM: total] from first conversation to handover on a typical build, made up of design and documentation, then [CONFIRM: approval range] weeks of council approval, then [CONFIRM: construction range] weeks on site. The stage most people underestimate is not construction. It is the decisions.
Stage 1, the site visit and the concept
Someone walks your block and records what will drive the design. You get a concept plan and an estimate. Nothing is committed. If you do not love the concept we redesign it at no charge and take $1,000 off your contract, which is a promise we can only make because we do the design ourselves.
Stage 2, the preliminary agreement and working drawings
You engage us to document the design properly, which means floor plan, site plan, elevations and roof plan. This is where the house stops being an idea. Our fee for this stage and the estimate is capped at $10,000.
Stage 3, inclusions and selections
The stage that determines whether your contract holds. Every fitting, finish and appliance either gets chosen now and priced, or gets carried as an allowance and repriced later. This is where you have the most influence on the final number, and it is also where builds slow down, because it needs decisions from you.
Stage 4, the tender contract
We price the contract on the selections you actually made. You approve it, you pay the deposit, and the price you signed is the price built on. Then approvals go in.
Stage 5, construction and handover
Slab, frame, lock up, fit out, practical completion, handover. You hear from us at least once every week throughout, by phone, email and through our online building management portal. Behind it sit 47 systems and around 500 individual tasks, which is how a date committed to at contract stage survives contact with a building site.
Where the time actually goes
Not usually construction. The three places programmes slip are selections that take months instead of weeks, approvals on blocks with overlays that nobody flagged early, and variations that stop work while somebody prices them.
The first is yours to control and we will tell you when you are holding the job up. The second we identify at the site visit. The third we avoid by pricing selections instead of allowances.
What to ask
Ask any builder for the date range, then ask what the three most likely causes of delay are on your block specifically. A builder who cannot name them has not looked at your block.
We build in North Lakes, Narangba, Newport, Samford Valley and Banksia Beach. Call 0483 949 127.
