Building Your New Home with No Regrets
“ I don’t regret the things I’ve done. I regret the things I didn’t do when I had the chance. – Harlan Coben Author”.
When you’ve finished your build and have settled into your new home, we want you to look back on your journey and be able to say that you have no regrets. In order to have no regrets, there’s a few things that you need to be aware of before you start the process. We look at a list of common regrets and how they can be avoided.
Choosing a builder based on the cheapest price and not on actual value. As the old saying goes, you get what you pay for. What they forget to tell you is that “you don’t get what you don’t pay for”! There can be many reasons for differences in quotes between builders. At times, it can be simply a difference in what each builder is including or excluding from the build price. Comparing specifications can give you an idea of where these differences are. However, a lot of it comes down to the quality of the materials as well as the quality of the service. A quality builder values both the homes that they build and the service they provide. In order to give you the best value, they need to work hard in building and maintaining the best team both on-site and in the office. The best team is going to give you the best experience.
Thinking you’re going to save money by doing your own works or supplying your own materials. If you are looking just at the cost of the product, say an oven that you can buy online, you may think you are saving money. However, you need to factor in your time to research and source the product, costs for storage and delivery to site as well as insurance. There is also still the cost for installation and if anything should go wrong with the product, it’s your cost to repair or replace it. Time is your most important asset and many people underestimate the time cost for them to organize their own works. There may be some bespoke items that you would like to source personally but, when the time comes, do you really want to be using your time to do a job that your builder is set up to do in the first place?
Not asking questions. Especially if you are building for the first time, there are a lot of things that you may not know about the building process. In fact, you may not even know what questions you should be asking! By speaking to family and friends who have built before, you will be able to get an idea of some of the questions that you should be asking. There are also a number of online forums that you can use as a resource. Be mindful that there are a lot of ‘armchair experts’ that like to comment without any real context or experience; however, these forums can give you an idea if there are any information gaps that need filling. A builder that provides the best in customer service will always be willing to answer any questions that you may have.
Waiting for the right time. You may be worried about the escalating costs of building or the time that it is going to take. But, if you’re waiting for the ‘right time’ to build, you can possibly be waiting forever. History shows that the building industry and property market generally moves in cycles. More accurately, they tend to move in waves. As one wave comes crashing in, another is receding out. If you are waiting for the cost of building to recede, you may possibly be hit with an incoming wave of value reductions in the value of your current home and on the completion value of your new home. If you’re waiting for the boom to quieten down, your also likely to be hit with further interest rate rises. These waves tend to cancel out any advantages you may have thought waiting would bring. The right time to build, is when you are ready and prepared, regardless of ‘the market’.
