We have had lots of new enquiries recently, which is great!
The interesting thing about them is that they have come from other builders who have quoted far lower prices or they have given up waiting for multiple builders to give them a price, and were frustrated by the waiting.
Are you in that position? Waiting for a builder to return a price, or been given a super low price and now you’re worried how much in variations your job is really going to cost?
It’s not uncommon to work out a rough price of a home using a square meter rate.
Are you tempted to just work on a square metre rate?
We are often asked “What is your square meter rate”
For a volume builder, who are experts at building a certain house design, to a certain quality level and a certain scope of work, its an easy question to answer.
For a custom home builder, where every variable is considered and examined it’s a lot more complex.
So why the difference in approach? Why can’t you just apply a square meter rate to all builds?
A square meter rate is a guide, its history is from Quantity Surveying. It’s common use is to quickly assess roughly what the base house will cost.
It means that there are some big assumptions made such as;
- Minimum electrical work (one light socket and one power point per bedroom for instance)
- No landscaping
- No fencing
- No letter box
- Often, no flooring
- No or incomplete painting
- Basic laminate cabinetry
Basically none of the included extra you expect from a custom home.
Generally, the rates used for estimating are exclusive of anything beyond the base bones of the home and making it barely habitable.
So when you’re building a custom home for yourself, do you just put in the plumbing hardware you’re told to? No, you want to go and select your own!
Do you accept the plans provided by the builder/architect on the first set? No, you want to tweak some things!
Do you want options for cheaper or more expensive appliances or, the option to supply your own? I bet you would!
Above is three variables, out of thousands that make up the costing of a custom home, and what is great about building custom homes is every single home is different.
We aren’t a “one size fits all” builder. Which means we could only ever give you “after the fact” prices on what a new home cost, based on a long list of what was and wasn’t included.
On the plus side – we are free to work closely with you to discuss budget, inclusions and specification to ensure that you know you exactly what you’re getting, within your budget.
So if you’re thinking of building a custom home, you can download our free guide to making sure you get the builder that’s right for you.
