COMPARING BUILDERS WITH BUILDERS

You would have heard the term comparing apples with apples before, when it comes to many of the items you purchase such as Appliances, Whitegoods, Vehicles etc it’s quite easy to compare pricing between different sellers given the items are identical. With new homes however getting an “apples with apples” comparison is almost impossible. There are so many variables from builder to builder, such as:

• No two-house designs being exactly the same
• All Inclusions from builder to builder vary in type and quality
• The mix of suppliers and trades they use will be vastly different
• Different building methods and techniques
• The colour and electrical selection process; and most importantly
• The level of service provided both pre-site and once the job is on-site

Given the above variables it makes it virtually impossible to compare one builder to another.

So what do builders do to get you looking at their designs? In recent times it has been about promoting massive discounts making their product look incredibly affordable. However, the majority of these discounts aren’t provided by the builder, instead they are using the government grants you are eligible for to come up with their advertised price (maximum currently $45,000). To understand what grants you may be eligible for, please read the previous blog here.

On top of this, they remove every item they can to make their price as low as possible and expect you “upgrade” all items. To further make themselves like they’re giving greater discounts, if you spend $100k on their “Luxury” upgrade package they’ll “throw” in another $20k-$30k worth of extras which given their mark-up is still working very much in their favor.

Another method builders use to reduce the cost is to leverage their relationships with land developers by creating house and land packages on certain lots in specific estates. The developers will put land on hold and give the builder a rebate for selling that parcel land and they may pass part or all of that on. As with any deal these may work for you but please make sure you check the inclusions and Terms & Conditions thoroughly.

At Kingsbridge Homes we’re a little different. As an All Inclusions Builder we’d rather price in all the items you’d expect in a house rather than treat these as upgrades. Inclusions such as raised ceilings, Quality Carpet to Bedrooms, Rear Hallway & Living areas, tiled showerbases, a dishwasher, flycreens, Kitchen Overhead Cabinets, Kitchen Drawers and your choice of Timber Laminate or Tiles all as standard.

But we don’t stop there, boutique items such as Evaporative Cooling, 40mm Stone benchtops, slimline tapware, Double Undermount Sink, LED Lights, 900mm appliances and so much more included as standard by Kingsbridge Homes sets us apart from almost every other builder who treat these as upgrades. As you can see it’s really important to consider all these items when comparing quotes between builders. Other builders use this low base price/minimal inclusion method as a method so you think you are getting a great price however once you’ve added everything to make your house liveable you end up paying a lot more as everything added is treated as an upgrade.

To view our full list of Luxury Inclusions and a price list for all our standard designs, please follow this link.

Essentially given the purchase of a home is one of the biggest ones you’ll make in your life, it’s important you understand what you’re buying. You regularly hear from home buyers being disappointed when they see the finished product as many items they saw in the display and believed they were getting weren’t part of the contract. Customer service is essential as well. To do some research on this, visit review sites such as www.productreview.com.au to read reviews and get tips from people that have built with them previously.

Please note the thoughts expressed in this blog are the thoughts of the author and don’t necessarily reflect the thoughts of the company. Before making any decision, we advise seeking the help of a licenced professional. None of the examples represent any particular building company but a general market observation. Any similarity is by co-incidence only.