General Information

Our aim is to make each visit a joyful experience that stimulates great and carefully considered design concepts.

I want you to be excited about building our project with a special emphasis on client satisfaction.

The design process often involves several schematic designs which evoke different possibilities each time which you may not have thought of. Usually our clients are very satisfied with the 3rd design concepts before we define the detail.

We're excited to be building a project with a special emphasis on making you happy.

Our Client Courtesy System

Sole Agency agreement We offer a full design and management service where we pilot everything from concept to completion and beyond.

Our agreement is an exclusive agency agreement where all other consultants, sub contractors and the builder employed on your project are under our direction.

Suppliers

We will introduce you to kitchen manufacturers in house designers and together work with them to integrate cabinetry onto our design. We assist with interior colour and finishes selection and source tiling and lighting suppliers to suit your interior design theme.

All communication between ourselves, the builder, council and consultants will be posted onto Google Drive Internet service where all transmissions and attachments are saved in one place for common reference and electronic record.

We strive for a high level of client communication and satisfaction.

Communicating with builders When we engage a builder under contract to you, the contract states the builder takes directions in writing format under the terms of the contract. Our experience teaches, when under construction we ask clients to refrain from giving instructions or approval directly to contractors.

Please direct them to us so the contract may be administrated an orderly way.

Making the Most of Your Time

Time is very important to busy professionals so we communicate effectively by succinct emails which are direct and to the point. Each design concept will be emailed to you in PDF form before we meet so you have time to consider each concept.

We will guide you through the entire design and build process, prompting you at the appropriate time so you don't need to worry.

Problems Associated with Home Building Procurement

Major problems occur in the home building industry where home owners fail to take the necessary steps in good procurement practice.

Many home owners make fundamental mistakes in controlling risk and quality, in forming and managing building contracts including the following :-

1 Project Planning Not planning the project thoroughly commencing with a realistic budget, good design practice.

2 Not understanding planning requirements, building methodology and not scheduling the project from concept to completion.

3. Not determining a contingency sum for potential costs which cannot be quantified before the building contract is formed.

Documentation

4. Using development application drawings for obtaining builders quotes. These drawing are for council planning assessment purposes only and exclude necessary detail for costing and construction and compliance matters.

5. Many building disputes arise due to insufficient detail drawings and poorly defined contracts.

Builders & Contracts

6. Not seeking competitive quotes from at least three builders and using insufficient documentation.

7. Using a cost plus agreement where commercial risk is transferred from the builder to the owner, rather than a fixed price building contract.

8. Not ensuring the builder follows the approved plans exactly and constructs in accordance with building codes and standards or finding some of the work is illegal which can attracts complications with authorities or penalties.

9. Not monitoring the building progress against the building program in accordance with the contract and not keep records of inclement weather or other delays not caused by the builder.

10. Not choosing prime cost items early and placing on order well before installation date and have not monetary having allowances for fitting of these within the contract.

11. Overpaying builder`s progress claims. This may prompt a builder to delay completion of the work and find new profit elsewhere before yours is complete.

12. Setting a contract precedent by giving verbal instructions to tradesmen. These may be misunderstood or cause an unwanted additional cost, or have implications to the program or final design, not explained to you at the time .

13. Not withholding retentions sums for release at completion so there are no funds remaining in the contract for correcting defects.

How We Make Your Home Design and Building a Pleasant Experience.

Conceptual Design

Our design meetings with you may be supplemented with chocolate or your favorite confectionery (gluten free if desirable) complimentary to us.

When you become excited about a design concept we consider if the design meets the numerical requirements of the state Exempt & Complying Development Code.

This bypasses the need to gain Council Development consent. This allows us to build usually within several week after lodging plans. This has made past clients very happy.

Design development

If a development application is required to be lodged with Council we will explain to you how the design complies with councils development controls or state planning instruments.

A compliance table is bound into a statement of environmental effects for inclusion with a development application for easy assessment. It sometimes is possible to depart from some planning controls when argued well in the statement and when neighbours don't lodge objections.

Planning Assessment is a Development Application

We lodge plans with council with myself as the applicant so assessing officers contact me directly for planning negotiations.

Tendering

When your plans are approved by council or private certifier we prepare tender documents for issue to builders for quotations. Following this we review and negotiate their quotes. We will then prepare a contract with your preferred builder.

Contract Administration

During the building stage we conduct meetings with the owner and the builder commencing with very good coffee followed by a short discussion before getting down to business.

A central purpose of site meetings is to answer any questions builders have & to discuss next steps in order to anticipate any possibility for miss understanding or deal with potential delay.

We take minutes of decisions reached at meetings so directions to the builder are recorded. We refer the builder`s program and next trades on the critical path of construction to assist in avoiding errors which may causes delays.

Payments to Builders

When a builder requires payment after my assessment of the details of the claim I issue the owner and the builder a progress certificate which tables each payment, retention sums and GST, so you have a complete rolling summery and record of each claim in accordance with the building contract.

(Retentions are monetary amounts deducted from you payment to the builder

which is released to the builder at completion.) *