Choosing The Right House Building Company
Choosing The Right House Building Company
Not everyone is fortunate enough to have their own home built. However, if you do get the opportunity, it is important to make it a fun and exciting journey. There are tons of horror stories on the Internet, shared by strangers, who had a horrid time with their house building company. They did everything right and yet they were unable to get their dream house completed in time and within their budget. If you follow these tips you should reduce that stress and avoid over-spending on the house building project.
Whether you are remodelling your house or building your house from scratch, it is important to select the right house building company. There are hundreds of house builders in each suburb of Auckland. However, not every building company is the same and therefore, you need to take certain precautions in choosing the right contractor for building your new home.
Most of the house builders cover the whole gamut of services that are needed in a house construction project from start to finish. They include everything in their contract which means obtaining the Council permits, hiring of various subcontractors, working with designers and architects, and getting the building ready for inspections among various other things. Here are a few checks to select the right house building company in Auckland for your project.
Check Paperwork
You should ask them for a sample of the office paperwork as well as previous work samples. Every professional company pays close attention to the required paperwork and will be excited to share their work samples with you. You need to check this carefully and ensure that all the contracts, bids and bills are written in a detailed and clear manner. Also if they run a tidy and well-managed office, there is more chance that they will have similar traits on the building site.
Check Their Communication
A house building project is going to take a few months and you will need to get in touch with your contractor more often than you think. Therefore, it is very important that your contractor will be available.
To check their communication skills, you can give them a call, at different times, on the numbers listed on their website as well as on the quote provided to you. Check whether they pick up the calls on time and whether they return any missed calls.
Check Past and Current Work
Ask the company if they are currently working on any project. If they are, ask for permission to pay a visit to the project and get a first-hand look at the work being done by the company. If you get a chance to talk to the homeowner, you can get to know a lot more about the company and their working practices.
Check Insurance
It is very important for the house building company to maintain public liability insurance for a substantial amount. Things do go wrong at construction sites and you should not be left in a hot soup, in case of any unfortunate event. If you take the sensible route and only look at building firms who are members of the Master Builders Association, they are required to carry a minimum level of insurance proscribed by the MBA.
It is also important to check that all of the employees of the contractor are fully covered too. Ask them to show you their insurance papers.
Check Overbooking
It is generally a good thing that a company is overbooked. However, an overbooked house building company is more likely to delay your project as they usually serve customers on a first come and first serve basis. Therefore, make it clear to the contractor that you will sign the contract only if they have the capacity to start working on your project. Also, ask them to include penalties in the contract in case of delays on their part.
Also be aware that often a builder will be working on a number of projects at the same time so it can be very frustrating when the workers disappear from your project to go and work on another job.
Check Payments
It is recommended to keep paying the builder in instalments. The general rule is to pay up to 10% of the project cost as a down payment and the rest of the money in stages.
Check the Contract
It is important to thoroughly read the contract and understand everything that is written there. If you do not understand any of the legal jargon mentioned in the contract, you need to take help of your lawyer who can explain to you, in simple terms, various things mentioned in the contract. Given the significant price of the whole building project, a couple of hundred dollars spent with our lawyer is both small and a wise expenditure.
Ask them questions if you are unclear on anything and only sign the contract when you are fully satisfied that everything mentioned there.
These are some of the tips that should help you in choosing the perfect house building company for your project. It is important to keep in mind that professional work is going to cost you some money but the end result would be worth the money spent. Therefore, do not choose a house building company based on solely the cost.
For details on a top-rated Auckland house building company, Repair & Restore Ltd visit their website http://www.repairandrestore.co.nz.
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