What makes a ‘good’ builder?

Your closest friend walks up to you and asks if you know a good builder.

It’s likely one of the biggest investments of their life. Who do you trust?

It’s simple: trust is based on certainty.

Certainty that the builder will deliver the home they want, for a fixed price, in a fixed time-frame, to a good standard, and communicate along the way.

For us at The Good Builder, we consider a good residential builder to be a builder who is endeavouring to:

Give their clients a fixed-price contract that is genuinely fixed (save an accurate allowance for site-works), or provide a cost-plus contract that has full transparency over costs.

Give their clients a reasonable build timeframe and have the right people and systems in place to deliver within that time-frame. Shouldn’t be more than 16 – 24 weeks for a single story home, or 36 – 48 weeks for a double under 300sqm.

Provide consistent (ideally weekly) and transparent communication to clients throughout the entire build journey.

Build long-lasting loyal relationships with good trades, pay them on-time, with clear communication and accountability on both sides.

Take real pride in, and set a high standard for their build product.

Price their jobs with consistently healthy margins, know & understand their financials, and make good money.

Have an internal team that are incentivised and motivated to deliver the above.

But at The Good Builder is not about us – it’s about you – the hard working men and women of the building industry who are doing the hard yards day in, day out.

So we asked some of Queensland’s most respected voices in the industry to tell us what they think makes a good builder. 

Duayne Pearce, builder at D Pearce Constructions, Co-Founder of Live, Life, Build, and host of Australia’s No. 1 Construction Podcast – Level Up with Duayne Pearce. 

1. A good builder understands the importance of running a good business, Identifying their ideal clients and projects, and doesn’t lower their standards to win work.
2. A good builder doesn’t get involved in tenders or competing on price. They understand the importance of adding value and educating their clients on what they will deliver.

3. A good builder sees the building standards and codes as the bare minimum requirement and is always educating themselves on better building practices and products

Dan Urquhart, Home Builder, 4 x International G.J. Gardner Homes Builder of the Year,  Now Director  – 1000 Feet Deep

1. Supervision, Supervision, Supervision!  Unless the builder can be on site themselves, Supervisors with the correct QA processes, an ability to organise, an eye for detail and who are good with people are essential. They are also very hard to find!

2. Communication and set the expectation! If you don’t set the expectation your clients, tradesman and suppliers will. There is no substitute for regular, pre agreed communication and updates when things change.

3. Build capacity into your team, systems and processes! Henry Ford said “There is only one thing worse than training people and having them leave and that’s not training them and having them stay” Our real job as builders is to build the people that build our homes!

Peter Nastrom, Builder, Director – The Ultra Group

1. A good builder understands their market.

2. A good builder delivers what they promise.

3. A good builder cares about the second build with the customer just as much as the first.

What standard should we hold our home builders to? How much should we expect? 

What do you think makes a good builder – join the conversation below. 

Author: TGB Editorial