Hi
I was wondering if anyone has had experience with large building firms (eg the ones with the fancy ads in the papers) and smaller boutique building firms that do a few projects at a time.
My previous 2 houses I have built with the large building companies seem to take along time (partly due to labour and materials shortages) and once they have signed you up they don’t seem to worry too much when the project is finished.
My partner has just started with a smaller building company who say that they could build a house within 6 months and would be a lot cheaper then the bigger companies (less middle people I guess).
Do you think this would be the case.
Ideally the best thing would be to get educated and owner build too.
thanks
Hi,
I’m currently going ahead with Devine. They have a 16 week building guarentee based on a single storey home from site start to completion. If they run over the 16 weeks they will give you $300 / week until they do finish.I suppose the trick is the “site start” bit. But having said that a friend of mine had his house completed in 7 weeks from excavation to key hand over.
6 months to build a house sounds like bollocks to me. That’s a lot of holding costs involved. If we’re talking 6months because they can’t start for 3, well that’s not so bad. Keep looking until you find a building that will start sooner?
Also if you go with a big brand building remember to use competition to your advantage. Wave the 16 week gaurentee around (to builders other than Devine of course) and see what they’ll do.
Everyone I know who has use a small builder to do reno or build a house / whatever has been seriously bruised and ripped off by the experience. So if you go with a small operator read the contracts carefully, put in escape clauses and penalty clauses. Also, keep the trade practices act close at hand for when they try to push the prices up or when they start missing things you asked for (and still charge) or install things you didn’t ask for (and charge for removal).
I wouldn’t believe a small building co that said they could do it cheaper than a large one. There are economies of scale and experience. A company that builds 2000 houses a year using set designs is going to have so much more buying power and economy than a builder who builds maybe 10 – 20 houses a year.
Having inspected Devines workmanship, I would say that they are anything but devine, however as long as the finish looks good to the average person, the mistakes along the way dont really matter. I would invest in a spirit level and get a copy of the building commisions guide to standards and tolerences, you may be able to withhold some money as I would bet a fair sum of money that the tolerences will be exceeded. I agree that the price of there homes are very cheap.
Hi,
I’m not by any means promoting Devine as a superior craft-house[biggrin]But as an investment I think the large builders can produce reasonable value for money. For a house I would live in I would fork out the extra cash and get a custom job done.
there are pros and cons to both,
the bigger builders generally have soooo much happening they come across as being to busy to care and also rush through to get the job done as well as use anyone and everyone to build. However they do get it done quick (most of them). The smaller builders can take longer but due to them having to fight the big guys to get the job you generally get a better finish to the job (which is what we all want). They also would use much of the same trades therefore you know the finsh you will get and can see what you pay for. Also you will generally be able to deal with the owner of the company, unlike DEvine or Henley which is sometimes a good thing as it becomes more personal.I deal with many different builders if you want some names of good honest builders i am more than happy to help
Good Luck
[biggrin]LLLOCCO
I’d say big vs small isn’t the issue so much as good vs dodgy.
My partner has been working in construction for 10 years in the bigger end of construction (units, shopping centres, office blocks etc) as well as doing small residential for us privately as investment.
The key is to see what the company has done previously, and talk to past clients. This will quickly tell you whether they are doing good work or dodgy. Check not only the most recent jobs, but ones done 5-10 years ago, so you can see how the work holds up. What might look like a great new bathroom could be leaking in five years.
Small builders can be known to take on multiple jobs and skip from one to the other as well as larger companies, but you will probably gain more focused attention from a ’boutique’ builder. (Just make sure they are in fact a licensed and insured builder, and have been doing good work).
Penalty clauses are definitly a good idea. Labour and materials shortages will be the same for both small and large companies – though a larger company may be able to have more pulling power with sub-contractors (plumbers etc) because they have more work for them (so their jobs may be prioritised over the smaller company).
I don’t imagine that the smaller company would have “less middle people”, as they are likely to keep their permanent employee count low. A larger company is more likely to have enough employees on the payrole to include some specialists that a smaller company would have to contract on an as need basis.
Just remember, if you want a job done well and done quickly, you can’t really expect it to be done at a cut price rate as well. If someone offers something quick and cheap, it is unlikely to be the best workmanship – and we are talking structural issues as well as superficial.
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