Let’s talk about Time - Three tips on why it’s wise to be prepared now.
Fuel costs, shipping challenges and delays, floods, a heated market and more - these factors have all contributed to a confronting start to 2022. We have spoken to many who are unsure whether it’s wise to begin a project in today’s environment. Others are holding off, hoping that the expected interest rate rises will lead to a settling down of the construction market.
So, is it a good decision to wait? What advantages are there to starting on the building journey today?
Update late May 2022 -
We’ve moved this article up as many have expressed concerns about embarking on their building journey in this current environment. As bad news fill the airwaves (interest rates, building companies going kaput, high labour costs, difficulty in sourcing materials etc), the truth is that we intend to continue with our own, personal renovation projects in the near future. This is for the simple reason that while market sentiment wavers, life doesn’t really stop moving on.
We would encourage you to do your research and tread carefully, and invest in good design resolution and clear documentation. With material prices trending high and extended lead times, it pays off to test, refine and talk through the design and documentation process with your preferred Builder - to make sure that we minimise risk of costly mistakes and delays on site.
Being Prepared and Ready to Pounce
Here at EVER we have always advocated for being prepared for any project. As we try and focus on caring for the people that we work for, we believe that a rigorous design process and a well-developed drawing set helps to safeguard our clients. Unsurprisingly, this takes time.
While some say that, in an ideal world, you could go from Design to Ready to Build within 3-4 months, we find that we generally attract clients who are deeply involved, and take time to consider their projects. As such, it’s not uncommon for our projects to stretch to six months or more in its Design and Documentation stages. In this heated market, we’re also finding that the process of finding a builder, obtaining a preliminary and/or final quote, and waiting for a build slot can easily stretch out the timing of any given project. It’s not uncommon for another half a year to pass by before the project begins construction.
Where waiting for a build slot used to be an inconvenience, in today’s market it can mean added building costs on top of the time factor.
The best way to safeguard your future is to be prepared - to be proactive, not reactive. Starting the project journey when (or if) the market cools will undoubtedly leave you “lagging” a few months behind others, and that may push back your timing further and further. It pays to start now.
Develop a Vision, and make every intervention count
The question then becomes “how do we manage this process well, and future proof our project?”
Our recommendation is always to develop the overarching Design Vision for the project as a first step. This provides a level of drawing sufficient for obtaining any Town Planning approvals, as well as a preliminary opinion of Cost from a Quantity Surveyor or trusted Builder, and begin discussions with relevant project consultants. This gives a solid “base” from which to assess where to go from here - whether the full project proceeds as-is, or we make early “value management” changes, think of staging, etc.
From here, you may choose to obtain Building Approval for the entire build, then Detail the parts of the project to be immediately constructed.
Getting to this first checkpoint would be our minimum recommendation, if you would like to be prepared for the future.
Working with an Evolving Regulatory Environment
Another factor to keep in mind is that building regulations keep evolving year-on-year, and it’s almost certain that the rules are becoming stricter over time. While the intention of most rules are good, it generally also tends to make building an increasingly costly and demanding process as new rules for energy efficiency, equal access, aging-in-place and other factors come into play.
Some have decided to begin on their Certification journey early to make sure that the building can be assessed against the regulations of its time. This may be to your advantage, even if you decide not to embark on the build straight away.
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In summary, we believe that it would be in most clients’ interest to get the ball rolling earlier, rather than later. At a bare minimum, having the Design Vision developed means having clarity for decision-making, and for those thinking of renovating in stages, ensuring that every intervention contributes to the eventual outcome. To our understanding, obtaining Building Approval, or at the very least beginning on the Certification process, also brings advantages in terms of assessing a build against the regulations of its time. On the latter part, it may be a good decision to talk to a Building Certifier to make sure that they agree with our point of view.
Regardless, if you have any questions, comments or thoughts, or would just like to find out more about the process and what it’s like - get in touch today. We would love to chat with you to see how we can assist with your plans and dreams for your property.
Remember, the entire journey starts with a free chat with our Director Billy!
This article was originally published in April 2022.