Are you looking to organise your first meeting with a builder? Being prepared for what is to come is your first critical step in ensuring you have a good flowing construction project. Your first meeting with a builder will set the foundations early for a successful, stress less project where you and your builder are on the same page from day one.
At Hemmens Building we strive to ensure our first meeting with a potential client is as productive as possible. We work with our clients to ensure every detail that is important to them isn’t missed. Working closely with clients at the first stages of their project is one of our favorite stages to ensure we are delivering everything and more to our clients when we are handing over their new homes. Book an appointment today.
Dylan – Hemmens Building
Let us show you below, in no particular order, the things to know before your first meeting with a builder. If you enjoy this post or have something to add, please write it in the comment section below…
1. Have An Idea First
By idea, we mean what are you planning to do and how? There are many ways to kick start your project, but you need to have an idea on who is doing what first. You definitely need to have this in order before contacting a builder. For example, are you looking for a design and construct service? Or, only construct only?
You will also need to decide on the consultants and who you want to take charge. Are you arranging the engineers, council and the like. Or, would you prefer the architect or builder to arrange this for you?
If you are looking for a design and construct service, it is still recommended you have some idea of what you want to achieve. So lets knuckle down on the basics:
- How many bedrooms, bathroms and living areas?
- Key characteristics you want to achieve with the new build. Open plan living, larger spaces for entertaining, indoor outdoor look and feel, practability for growing families just to name a few.
- Are you land locked and need to go up to achieve your goal design? Or, you have plenty of space to push out.
- General home design and finishes. Exterior finishes like brick or cladding? Interior finishes like timber flooring or tiles? The more of an idea you have on finishes at the start will save any surprises when revealed mid build. If a certain finish is out of your budget range but is discussed earlier on you will have more options to adapt the build to accomodate a similar finish instead.
The above are all general talking points you need to consider first before meeting with a builder. The more information you pass onto your builder at the start, the more accurate your building quote will be. The more accurate your building quote is, the less of a chance you have of recieving a variation to the price from your builder.
2. Project Budget
Set yourself a budget of your maximum amount you wish to spend and be very clear and upfront about it. A common misconeption of clients is to not disclose there budget to their builder from the start. Being honest and clear about your budget from day one will allow your builder to understand clearly the range he is working in. You can build houses for over $1M or for under $500k.
Being clear early on with your budget will also allow your builder time to develop a cost saving plan for your build. It also enables more time for your builder to propose similar alternate materials or methods of construction to save your money too.
If you are looking to fund your new construction project via a construction loan or redrawing down on an existing loan, it is recommended you do this first before meeting with a builder. This will help you setup your your budget and will set your maximum value for your budget.
3. Gather Design Inspiration
There are countless of platforms out there for you to gather and capture inspirations and ideas for you home design. Our favourites are Houzz Photo’s and Pinterest Mood Boards. Both platforms have millions of professionals who have uploaded photos of their designs and the spaces they have created.
You can use these platforms to give your builder, architects and design planners a visual representation of exactly what you want to achieve with your build.
4. What Are Your Must Have’s?
We briefly discussed this above, but lets dive into this a bit further. We highly recommend that you create a list of must have’s for you new build. Think about why you want to embark on a new construction project and what provoked the idea.
The most common must have’s we usually come across are listed below to get you started:
- Are you an entertainer? What about larger living spaces, outdoor areas and a larger kitchen to accomodate your needs.
- Do you have a large family? Maybe you require a certain amount of bedrooms and bathrooms?
- Do you have young children? You might require a seperate lounge room to serve as a kids retreat or play room? Maybe perhaps, a parents retreat instead!
- What rooms are the most important to focus on the square meterage? Do you need large bedrooms?
5. What To Bring To Your Meeting With A Builder?
For your first meeting with a builder you need to bring all relevant documents that could assist them. If you are able to tackle all the above points and bring in all of the relevant documents for your meeting, your builder will be THRILLED! An organised client are the best clients to work for, they know what they want and what they need to do to achieve their building goals. This greatly improves the success of the project for all parties.
Here are some documents you should consider bringing to the meeting:
- Your pre-approval/loan documents. This will bolster your builders confidence you are a serious potential client and not just fishing for prices without intending on acting on them. The builder will spend more time on your project knowing that you are a serious potential client.
- Example floor plan sketches or print outs.
- Any exisiting plans or land records you might have or have access to. Land size records etc.
- Photo’s of the extent of the finishes you want.
- Any building materials samples. For example, cladding or brick samples, colour samples, kitchen/joinery samples, tile and flooring samples. If you cannot get samples, photo’s or any documentation of them will help.
