So, you’ve decided on a new building project and are ready to choose your builder… It’s recommended that you use your builder’s expertise early on in the planning process to ensure your budget stays on track prior to obtaining your quote.
Many builders will charge a fee for this service and while it might sound strange at first, there is good reasoning behind this. A fixed price quote is a comprehensive proposal and putting it together is no easy task. As a matter of fact, if done correctly, it is a fairly intense undertaking as it requires the builder to fully understand your plans, scope of work, site conditions and time constraints.
Utilising expertise in the planning process
The quoting process can vary based on how much initial planning has been completed on your part and whether you have already involved a building designer or architect. If you’ve done your homework when it comes to choosing the right builder, you should be willing to trust them with your budget and specifications.
Your builder can provide expert advice regarding materials, layout and design options to tailor your project to fit your specified budget. They can also help to ensure that your plans align with your budget.
Developing a custom comprehensive quote
Discussion of your project should be thorough, so your builder is able to meet all your needs regarding the scope of services you require. When developing a fixed price proposal, your builder is essentially guaranteeing that the amount quoted will be the same or nearly that of what you will have paid by the end of the build.
A fixed price proposal takes more time than a 1-2 page quote as it is a detailed document of more than 30 pages including accurate costings and information about your specific project. Throughout the quotation process, your builder should continually communicate with you regarding any developments or issues occurring.
The quoting process requires your builder to contact relevant trades and suppliers to negotiate the best costs for labour and materials and provide an accurate representation for you to understand. As mentioned previously, this is a time and labour-intensive activity but the more time and effort that is put into the quote, the greater the feasibility and closer to reality your project becomes.
At Ozzbuild, we attend sites multiple times and spend many hours cross checking plans and documentation making sure we have allowed for everything contained within. Documentation to craft an accurate quote includes architectural plans, survey plans, engineer reports, interior design plans, bushfire reports, among others.
If we are willing to enter into an agreement with you to produce a quote, we are committed to providing you with a quality document with all of the scope assessed and unforeseeable items allowed for to the best of our knowledge. During our initial consultation, we will also estimate if the construction budget is workable.
But what about the free quotes?
In order for a quote to be meaningful, it has to be accurate and contain clear and detailed information for both parties. An accurate quote takes a significant amount of time and money to prepare as each project is different in scope and site conditions vary. Ozzbuild has spent in some cases anywhere from 40-300 hours working on a quote, depending on the size of the job. To allow this kind of time to put extreme care into a costing would not be feasible if we did not charge some sort of fee.
Free quotes are largely given by builders who utilise a square metre rate for estimating costs. Whilst some defer to this simple method for gauging the quality of a build, it has been deemed highly inaccurate when actually determining real cost. Quotes using a square metre rate are often only 1-2 pages and contain little detail on the true cost of the build
It is easy to get a free quote, but those builders will not want to spend the time or effort needed to produce a quality document. They can apply a square meterage rate or low ball the quote and make up their margin by lowering standards or adding extras during the build. While a square meterage rate can be useful at the outset when formulating a starting budget, more often the rate applied at the beginning of the design process will be different to the ultimate cost.
Too often the owner engages the lowest cost builder because it is hard to understand the quote. What sounds like a good deal in the beginning can end up being more costly, or the project could fail to achieve the desired outcome by being built to a lower standard of quality than expected.
Your quote should give you peace of mind as the details on specifications, fittings and finishes should be extensive and thorough. Free quotes will often include an excessive number of prime cost and provisional sum allowances, which will have you scrambling for money when it comes to purchasing the items as it is easy to underestimate a prime cost in order to make the overall quote look more competitive.
It is highly preferable to utilise a trusted builder who will provide you with the real cost of your build rather than a builder who provides a free, but inaccurate quote. A detailed fixed price proposal will save you money in the long run and keep you from experiencing not so happy surprises when the real cost comes to light.
If you’re interested in learning more about why builders charge for quotes or what your building quote should include, get in touch with Ryan and the team at Ozzbuild today.