Where to Start
Choosing the builder matters more than choosing the plan
Most people start by looking at house designs. In practice, the person building the home has more influence over how the next twelve months feel than any floor plan does. A good builder will tell you what your block can and cannot do, price the work honestly, and keep you informed when something changes. A low initial price can look appealing, but if inclusions are unclear or allowances are unrealistic, the difference can emerge later through variations.
This guide sets out what to look for when you are comparing custom home builders on the Gold Coast, in Brisbane, in Toowoomba or anywhere across South East Queensland. None of it is complicated. It is simply the set of questions we would ask if we were the ones handing over our money.
01
How to assess a builder's experience
Start with the licence. In Queensland every residential builder must hold a current QBCC licence, and you can check the licence number, its class and any history of directions or insurance claims online in a couple of minutes. Do it before the first meeting, not after.
Then ask about depth rather than years alone. How many homes have they actually completed, and how many of those were on sites like yours? A builder who has built hundreds of homes on flat estate land may not be the right person for a steep block at Currumbin or reactive clay on the Range. Experience is only useful when it maps onto your project.
It is also worth asking who holds that experience. In a larger company the licensed builder may never set foot on your site. Ask whether the person you are speaking to is the one who will run the job.
02
Reviewing previous projects
Photography is styled and lit to sell. Look past it. Ask to see a completed home in person if one is available, and a home currently under construction. A tidy, well organised site tells you more about how a builder works than a finished kitchen does.
When you walk a completed home, look at the parts nobody photographs: the junction where tiling meets the wall, the alignment of cabinetry doors, the fall in wet areas, the eaves, the external corners. Ask how old the home is and whether anything has needed attention since handover.
You can see the homes we have built, and the sites we are on now, on our projects page.
03
Custom builder or project builder
A project builder offers a fixed range of designs with a limited set of changes. That model works well on a flat, regular block where one of the standard plans suits how you want to live, and it is often the cheaper path.
A custom builder designs around your land, your budget and your brief. That matters most when the site has slope, an awkward orientation, an unusual shape, views worth capturing, acreage, or a house on it already. It also matters when the way you want to live does not fit neatly into a catalogue plan.
Neither is better in the abstract. The question is which one suits your block and your brief. You can read about the kinds of homes we take on in what we build, and the regions we cover in Gold Coast, Brisbane and Toowoomba.
04
Understanding quotes and inclusions
Two quotes for the same home can differ by a hundred thousand dollars and both be honest, because they cover different things. Before you compare prices, line up the inclusions and check each of these appears in writing.
See Our Standard Inclusions- Site costs, including excavation, retaining, piering and soil classification
- Driveways, paths, fencing, landscaping, letterboxes and clotheslines
- Floor coverings, window furnishings, and tiling heights in wet areas
- Appliance brands and models, tapware, and benchtop thickness and material
- Air conditioning, insulation levels, ceiling heights and door heights
- Council, certifier, energy compliance and connection fees
05
Questions to ask before you sign
Take this list to every builder you meet. How comfortably they answer is as informative as the answers themselves.
- How many years have you been building, and how many homes have you completed?
- Is your QBCC licence current, and what class is it?
- Can I see homes you have built that are similar to mine?
- What is included in this price, and what is NOT included in the price?
- How are site costs handled if the soil test or survey comes back worse than expected?
- Who will be on site running my job, and who do I call when I have a question?
- How are variations priced and approved, and will I see the cost before the work happens?
- What is your current program, and how many other jobs will you have running at the same time?
- What warranty and maintenance period comes with the home?
06
Communication and project management
At a minimum, you should expect a clear, stage-by-stage construction program and a reliable point of contact throughout the build. Regular progress updates and photos give you a much better understanding of what is happening on site, particularly when you can’t be there yourself.
At Amali Homes, we provide our clients with weekly updates, including progress shots so you always have a clear view of how your home is progressing.
Ask how many homes the builder is managing at any one time. There’s no magic number, but it’s worth understanding how many projects your builder is responsible for and how involved they will be in yours. We deliberately limit the number of homes we build per year so our clients are dealing only with their builder. That approach is set out in the Amali approach.
07
Variations and unexpected costs
Variations are normal. Every build has a moment where you change your mind, or the ground tells you something the soil test did not. What matters is the process. A variation should be quoted in writing, with a price and any effect on the program, and approved by you before the work happens. If a builder is relaxed about doing it the other way around, expect surprises at claim time.
Watch provisional sums and prime cost items closely. These are allowances, not prices. If the allowance for site works, tiling or appliances looks low against comparable quotes, that gap will appear in your final account. Ask the builder to justify each allowance.
08
Who you will actually deal with
In many companies the person who sells you the home is not the person who builds it. You meet a sales consultant, sign with a company, then deal with a client liaison, then a site supervisor who may change partway through. Every handover between those people is a chance for something to be lost.
Ask plainly: who runs my job, and will that person still be running it in nine months? At Amali Homes you deal with Ivan from the first conversation to handover. That is the main reason we build fewer homes each year.
09
Checking reputation and previous client experience
Read reviews, but read them for patterns rather than scores. A single unhappy review says little. Three reviews describing the same problem, such as slow responses or disputed variations, tell you how the business runs under pressure.
Better still, ask to speak with two past clients, including one whose build had a problem. Every builder has had one. What you want to know is how it was handled, how quickly, and whether the client felt informed while it was being sorted out. Check the QBCC register as well, and confirm membership of an industry body such as the Housing Industry Association.
10
Why the cheapest quote is rarely the best value
A price well below the others is usually explained by one of three things: the inclusions are lighter, the allowances are optimistic, or the margin is too thin to absorb anything going wrong. The first two you will pay for in variations. The third is the dangerous one, because a builder under financial pressure cuts corners, slows down, or in the worst cases does not finish.
Compare like for like. Once the inclusions are aligned, the honest quotes usually land within a reasonable range of each other, and the outlier becomes easy to explain.
11
Knowing whether a builder is the right fit
After the licence checks, the quotes and the site visits, there is a judgement call left. You are about to spend a year in regular contact with this person about something expensive and personal. Did they listen to your brief, or talk over it? Did they tell you something you did not want to hear? Were the answers specific?
A builder who is willing to say a design will not work on your block, or that your budget does not match your brief, is far more valuable than one who agrees with everything in the first meeting. More questions are answered on our Ask Ivan page, and you are welcome to bring your own to a consultation.
