Dont build with Summit homes had nothing but trouble with them.

Some are just worse than others

I think your builder will depend on your budget.  The top ones will charge top dollar. 

Might be off topic here but I will step out on a limb ...........

Before you even settle on the plans or a builder, start selecting your fittings and have the info and availability ready, this takes longer then you think and when the builder starts to pressure you into selecting something you might be forced to make a choice that you are not happy with.  Go visit their offices to see the range that they use or find out who they use to supply the fittings and tiles.

Do not sign with the builder till you gave finished discussing all the changes you want.  EACH variation AFTER you sign cost money.

Wooden doors and timber doors are not the same thing.

Get a kitchen designer to help you design the kitchen, it's very small fee for a kitchen that you will be happy with plan the take off fittings for a water filter at this stage.

Get a solar designer to make suggestions and listen to them.

I have a house in Ocean Reef - went to see Solar Designs, Griff Morris, when it was in the planning stages, they made some simple changes, suggested the angle of the house on the plot, depth of the eves, window placements, planned airflow thru the house and told me which exterior walls to insulate.  The cost of all the consult, design changes and insulation material was less then $1,000.00. 

They also told me that I could get away with not having to install an aircon system.  Of course the builders and everyone else laughed and said they were crazy and we would regret it every summer.  In then end I put in a $17k reverse cycle ducted aircon system thru out the house.  Lived in the house for 5 years.  Never turned the damn thing on except to test the system once every year - what a waste of $17k.

If you have a garage make it half a meter wider and deeper then they suggest. 

im in the building industry

the best advice  i can give is get your contract right

ultimley this is the bit of paper that will give you all your rights and all of your choices

most builder will hurt your pocket for variations others simply wont allow any

dont be rushed into sighning get everything on paper in writing and fully priced then give it to some one unbiased to assess your selections do not accept provisional sums for any of the work

Now's the time to be getting the best deal you can out of your builder whoever you choose. The market is slow so push hard for inclusives or bargain hard on any changes or varies you want to make to a floor plan. I'm a builder but in commercial not domestic so no good for you but I do have a friend who would look after you if your NOR. PM me if interested.

Thanks guys some handy tips there for me.

Interesting tips Alfred, didnt even give the solar design a thought. Ive already decided on what i want in a house after a few years of saving for a deposit, the garage is deffinently going to be alot larger then standard. Im mostly just looking now for a builder to give all my hard earned (but 90% borrowed) money lol.

Thanks for the offer Joodles, i am NOR, is your mate a private home builder or with a large company?

Ive read a few good reviews on the web about blue print homes, but they are off the net so who knows who has written them. But they sound flexible and have a few nice home designs.

Budget for the house will be less then $200k so will be going through a cheaper builder.

congratulations paul on building a house

i had an interesting chat with a mid tier perth builder recently.  he said we are all the same as we all use the same useless trades.

i thought that was a nice admission of the failings brought about by the subcontract system.

the level of supervision onsite will be a significant factor in the success of your project.  how can you best influence this when using the bog standard HIA contract?

a way to find out if the builder will not only claim to be the best before you sign the contract but also perform to this statement during the contract.  tell all the builders you are talking to that you would like to write into your contract a special condition that a weekly site meeting involving site supervisor and yourself to discuss progress and review standard of workmanship onsite is to occur. 

the builder willing to write that conidtion up is the builder for you.

not all trades are useless, just need the right supervisor on the job who himself is not useless and you should have a reasonalbe experience.

all the best on your journey.

PG 

 Paul, I have been laying bricks for 24 years and have been subcontracting to Dale Alcock Homes for the last 10. My outlook is that providing the building company you choose use quality materials and use quality trades you shouldn't have a drama. You can build with the most expensive company in Perth but if they use crap trades that is how your house will turn out, but in saying that it can work vice versa. It's really pot luck to the average punter as to what tradesman work on their house but if you know anybody in the game you can nominate two or three different trades to complete the works on your house. Now is probably a good time to start a build as the housing game is fairly quiet and most of the bad trades have been weeded out and only the better ones are kept working.

 I know all about the lack of boating thing. I am actually pretty busy at the moment but, I have had to travel for the last 4 houses. Driving across the road to Burns Beach has become a bit of a distant memory. My last 4 have been Noranda, Averly, The Vines and now I'm doing their display in Corimbia, Landsdale. I am slowly edging closer back to home but travelling is normally unheard of for me, normally 10 minutes max in any direction. 

I do know that a lot of the builders are struggling at present and some have dropped their rates significantly, bad for trades but good for buyers as they are all offering freebies to get sales.

Thanks guys,
So then by the sounds of it theres a large element of luck to the quality of the finished product due to a few different factors. Ill go hard on the contract then and make sure i take my time so that im happy with what i get. I kind of have got the upper hand too with the industry being slow (im a plumber myself and a few guys are being asked to take holidays at the moment). Cheers for your input guys!

Like most guys have said it comes down to the trades they use my son and I are painters we have to make it look good in the end get good plasterers and ceiling fixers you get a good finish . When I built my last house I dropped of a carton to every tradie as they started it seem to go a long way. Not always the top end houses are the best have seen cheaper ones finished very well

I found that when building $$$ talks.  What I mean by this is that don't hesitate to hold back each stage payment until you are 110% happy with the finish product.

We built with HomeBuyers Centre ages ago and our biggest problem was that we were keen to move in so we ignored the minor mistakes the builder made.  Once we were in and had paid for everything it was near impossible to get them back to fix things.

Hence, try not to rush on moving in and inspect each stage of the build.

Totally agree with the carton - I gave my brickie a carton and he did the best job i've seen!

I'm a roof plumber by trade - worth paying the extra for insulation if your getting a colourbond roof put in.  Will help a heap with keeping the heat out and also the noise when it rains.

We built with Ventura down here, although it was the Southwest department of their company, they sure build a classy home. I'll be using them again if I have to build again, heaven forbid. I also gave my brickies a couple of cartons since my wife decided she wanted to go with a rough parge on the brickwork. That took them an extra ages.

Cheers

Dale

i took my brickies a couple of cartoons.  supervisor saw me take them out of my boot.  told me to stop as the guy was a recovering alcoholic.  saved them for the chippies a few months later.

i wonder what the walls would be like if i got there half an hour earlier.

Insulation to the roof space can be done 3 ways.  insulate uder the roof, insulate above the ceiling or insulate both under roof and above ceiling.  if your tight on $$ have the insulation put in under the roof, can always lay it in the ceilng yourself at a later stage.  much harder to retrofit under the roof than on the ceiling.

Am sure all new homes come with insulation by law in building code

yeah fellas - should have said "Anitcon Insulation" - a photo of it can be seen here.

http://www.ascentonline.com.au/html/products_gallery/insulation_products_gallery/csr_bradford_anticon_insulation.html

PerthGlory is right... you can add ceiling insulation anytime though you'll have to take the roof sheets off to add Anticon.  For the best results I would have Anticon between the roof sheets, ceiling insulation and a couple of whirlybirds;)

There is a relative new company in town,  called "First Home Buyers" on Scarborough Beach Road,  heard really good reports about them,  they are very hands on  guys

thanks guys, very helpfull. I will deffinently be paying a few visits to site during the building stages. A few mocha chills in the morning, a burger and coke at lunch or some ice cold beers in the arvo will definently be going to the guys onsite. Im a plumber myself so i know those small things go along way. Yep insulation is on the check list, amazing the difference good insulating can make. Startng to look like i may have the best built home in perth ;)

Good on you hope it All goes well keeps us all in work

When u write up yr contract, make sure they dont charge u 4 big bucks for site prep work when the site is pretty much flat, builders load this up sometimes if they are getting squeezed somewhere else

See exactly what is included in the preliminaries

build to bare condition and get it revalued once complete to bare condition and get the walls painted, source the finishing items yrself, youll save a bundle, builder mark up can be up to 30%

go 32 course on the ceilings

dont build a 35sqm dogbox garage they are a joke,,,u need to open yr doors,

dont buy ducted evaporative a/c, its seriously useless and  how many homes i go through and they then install a couple of split systems,,,,just install splits staright up and save the 5k,,,,,,,,,buy a 3.5hp daikin split a/c unit,,,,,,ducted reverse cycle a/c is not needed for most homes

spend a little more on benchtops and fittings and fixtures, u wont regret it

dale alcock builds ok homes...all builders build  to a a price and wat u pay for is wot u get so keep away from the really cheap builders.......no such thing as a freebie or my favourite "SALES REP DISCOUNT" beleive me i know what reps make on a sale and its a mighty fine figure (im not a rep but work in a related industry)

i see sheet boxes built for 1k a sqm and they are ORDIANARY...they can  devalue at a higher rate given their build quality

try not to build on the periphery of the metro areas in the mortgage belt,peeps out there are ussually more sensitive to interest rate rises/cost of living and this translates to more volatile price fluctuations

do look at buying something etsbalished perhaps, this may be another alternative

average size 4 by 2 home put anywhere from 40 to 80k to finish of internally and externally to an average/good standard.......costs are in the finsihings,,,,

alfred has got some very good points

Firstly good luck in your venture.  It can be quite an experience.  I cannot offer you any recommendations with respect to any particular builder but I can offer you the following advice from someone who has been involved in contracts and contract administration within the construction industry for 40+ years.

Understand how your house is constructed and make regular visits to site to inspect progress.  If you don’t understand construction engage someone who does to act on your behalf.

Understand the Contract and why the Contract reads as it does.  If you don’t understand seek advice from someone who does.  Understand what a Provisional Sum is and a Prime Cost is, understand your exposure to escalation and what liquidated damages are etc.

Alfred makes some very good points and in particular I would recommend you to have made all your selections prior to signing the Contract.

Once you have a signed Contract if you have anything of relevance to say to the Builder PUT IT IN WRITING.  If you are not happy with anything PUT IT IN WRITING.  If you want any variations PUT IT IN WRITING.

Communicate regularly with the Builder.  Most disputes wouldn’t become disputes if people had communicated in a civil manner.

Lastly PUT IT IN WRITING.

I thought I would add this, it’s a quote from John Ruskin (1819 – 1900).

The Lowest Quote

“It’s unwise to pay too much, but it is worse to pay too little.  When you pay too much, you loose a little money – that is all.  When you pay too little, you sometimes loose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do.  The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot – it can't be done.  If you deal with the lowest quote, it is well to add something for the risk you run.  And if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better.”