This process would appear to be the easiest, most enjoyable part of the journey. Visit a few display homes, get a view estimates, sign a contract and relax. Pfft, yeah right!
![MP900385401[1]](http://lh6.ggpht.com/-uXczc4FcRnc/UN6ZIJjzL9I/AAAAAAAAAC4/GBrmULqHNhM/MP900385401%25255B1%25255D_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800 "MP900385401[1]")
Boy, is that the wrong expectation! At least for us it was anyway, it was the hardest, most frustrating 5 months of back and forth wasting of time and money imaginable. If you are in this phase, our sympathy is with you. There is light at the end of the tunnel though, persevere!
We started with the http://www.productreview.com.au/ website and came up with two short lists of builders. A list of builders to stay away from, and a list to contact.
After a few display centre visits and discussions with builders we decided to go with the builder that was number one on our list (the naughty list!!)
I justified this decision by thinking that the majority of online reviews are done by people that are dissatisfied. Satisfied or semi-satisfied customers tend not to post reviews. That was a mistake.
July-November was spent trying to get a technically feasible building proposal from the builder. Lesson learnt: The bigger the volume builder, the bigger the trouble when you are not doing a cookie cutter build. If you are not building in an estate, stay away from massive corporates where you will be lost in the system for months on end.
We wasted our deposit ($1,500) and more importantly a lot of time, which directly translates to extra rental cost.
In November 2012 we formally engaged a second builder while waiting for the first builder to present a technically sound proposal. This builder was on the good list. Not at the top, but on the good list. Builder two is much smaller than builder one.
The second builder was a pleasure to deal with. Real people that was very responsive, and invested in the process. They wanted our business. The estimate and formal building proposal came back in good time, was on the money, and technically sound, and we liked the house. Time to sign the contract.
…and then my lovely wife knocked on a door to get a reference for the builder. “They’re great, we didn’t have any issues during the build at all” was the response…followed by “however, we were just contacted by the BSA stating that the franchise was declared insolvent and our maintenance and warranty may be compromised”.
We would probably be okay going with the new franchise owner building our house (as it is backed by the national brand), but as there were actually a few Queensland based franchises of this builder that recently declared insolvency, we decided to investigate other options.
In the meanwhile, the lovely wife stayed in contact with the builder that was number one on our good list. We had previously met them on site, but they did not have any display homes, so it was difficult for us to visualise their houses.
The builder and sales consultant came out to see us on a weekend and ended up spending a good few hours with the family. We agreed to an estimate being drawn up.
The estimate was extremely well put together, in no time at all, it considered all our needs and wants. The builder and all his staff are really pleasant to work with as well. Nothing is a problem for these guys at all! Seriously, you want to chop and change the house design, no problem. With the other builders we did not even think about customising the plans!
We had found a gem of a builder. We then signed up for the formal proposal. It came back even better than the estimate and in good time again. The next step was the formal contract signing, which was a no stress event. No surprises with these guys. They are real people that enjoy what they are doing.
They literally appear to be more excited about building our house than what we are!!
We cannot wait for the build to start in the new year.
Lessons:
- Trust the online reviews
- Stay away from cookie cutter builders when building in established (i.e. non estate) areas
- Fancy display homes is a tiny part of the criteria for finding a builder (they all use the same building products anyway)
- Large builder does not mean that bulk buying economies will be passed on to the home owner (our 3 formal proposals actually came back very similar – for a similar quality product)
- Free upgrades mean nothing…the bottom line will be similar
- The base price for a house is only about 60% of the final cost for a fairly good quality house
- Do not fall for sales people telling you to signup quickly (as prices will increase or free upgrade periods will expire tomorrow/this week/soon) Specials are just replaced by new slightly different specials (the bottom line is similar anyway)
- Knock on doors to get references
- Get everything in writing!
(Unless you are going with our builder #3, in which case it does not matter. They always do the right thing. 
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![MP900385401[1]](http://lh3.ggpht.com/-KG8QeRsL-M4/UN6ZHGkIbsI/AAAAAAAAACw/TUxWSBt54ZI/s1600-h/MP900385401%25255B1%25255D%25255B3%25255D.jpg "MP900385401[1]")
![MP900384832[1]](http://lh4.ggpht.com/-o_ogoCCrPHs/UN6C5GKRg4I/AAAAAAAAACU/vjjCGSdN3IY/s1600-h/MP900384832%25255B1%25255D%25255B3%25255D.jpg "MP900384832[1]")