Choosing a Builder

This is a critical stage of the whole process – finding a builder you can trust and you feel comfortable with is very important. You will be having a very close relationship with this person, especially if you’re living on site during any of the process and you end up sharing the bathroom!

• Choose more than one to tender for the job – this way you can see if the costs being presented are fair and realistic.
• Give a good brief – make sure they understand all aspects of the job and what your expectations are.
• Price is, of course, important, but don’t take the cheapest simply because it is the lowest. Get the higher bidders to justify their prices and find out what may have been missed by the first builder.
• Check the builders’ work by visiting other jobs they have done or are doing.
• While every builder will have to be registered by November 2011, check to see if they are part of the Certified Builders of NZ or Master Builders organisations. Please note that if they are not, it does not necessarily mean they are poor builders. There are excellent builders who are not members of either organisation.
• What guarantees, if any, are offered with the job and are they prepared to make time to come back to do any work that is unsatisfactory.
• Builders, especially good ones, may be booked well in advance, so ensure you start looking early in the planning process.
• Word of mouth is often a good place to start looking for a builder
• Group House companies are a reliable and convenient option for many people. All provide standard designs and some will do custom designed homes as well. They will take care of the whole project for you from start to finish, including the project management.
• You may choose to have your architect or designer stay on as full project manager or you may have an arrangement where your builder is the project manager and the designer takes on an overview role. Make sure the arrangement is fully spelt out in the building contract.
• There are specialist project management companies and, while this may be a bit more expensive, this can take many of the hassles out of the whole building process. BRANZ (the Building Research Association of New Zealand) has a list of Accredited Advisors who can also manage a building project, or even specific elements within the overall job. See www.branz.org.nz
• You may wish to be the project manager yourself. Ensure you have the time – it requires a lot – and, ideally, the expertise. The Building Code is a complex and exacting rule book and the technical aspects of many components of the building process are important to get right.

Asking if the builder is actually trade qualified