Don’t sign anything until you read this!

The first believes that the lowest price will win the most jobs. They feel this is the easiest way to overcome sales resistance and keep their contractors working. However, their short-sightedness eventually may lead to them to cut corners, or go out of business.

The second are focused on making as much money as they can, finding ways to increase their prices to extract every last dollar from their clients. Their drive to make money also may mean they compromise by choosing inferior materials to further increase their profit margin.

The third has a long history in the building industry with a proven track record of many satisfied clients. They may not be the cheapest, however their quality and workmanship more than pays for itself in the peace of mind and pride their clients experience living in their new family home. They go the extra mile to ensure their client is completely satisfied and honour their warranty without hesitation.

Unfortunately, many people don’t realise until it’s too late that they have engaged the services of a less-than-ideal builder. Before you sign anything, here is a list of disturbing practices that may be employed by some builders, either knowingly or unknowingly, as an attempt to win your business. If you become aware of any of these warning signs, or just want a second opinion on an existing quote, we would love to hear from you. Be especially careful of builders that:

• Don’t accurately account for the proper amount of time necessary to complete the job correctly. They may take shortcuts at your expense.
• Hire inexpensive, unskilled labour – people who have not had the proper training.
• Hire inexpensive trades people or subcontractors.
• Have inadequate safety precautions for workers on the jobsite.
• Don’t provide benefits for employees (i.e. health insurance, holidays, holiday pay)
• Don’t carry the proper insurance (or worse, carry no insurance).
• Use unfavourable contracts that allow them to charge more once the job has started (for example, by intentionally omitting necessary inclusions or finishing works).
• Have unrealistic allowances.
• Underestimate because they don’t take time to thoroughly “think through” the job.
• Paying workers with cash (under-the-table), avoiding taxes and insurance.
• Avoids paying payroll taxes or GST to the ATO.
• Is unwilling or unable to honour the warranty period.
• Has difficulty maintaining a schedule with the client and lacks communication.
• Disposes of debris illegally and/or leaves the site unclean.
• Has inadequate dust control and sediment barriers.
• Uses substandard materials or end-of-line products with no warranty. 

Unfortunately, many of these traits cannot be identified up front and the owner ultimately pays much more in time, money and stress by choosing the wrong builder. Don’t be a statistic and end up paying more for a job worth less. We are most definitely in the third category mentioned above.

Before signing anything, contact Doug at Boutique Style Homes to discuss your requirements.