Currently our design is still with council but a lot has happened in the background during the last month or so. The outfit who designed our house plans were also to build it. After the complications with our first design dealing with architect, builder, and engineer we were keen for a ‘one stop shop’. However, the outfit have essentially ceased new business and their build arm decided around Christmas time that they would not be available for our build.

This leaves us in the position of having a design with no one to build it – precisely what we were trying to avoid by going with a design/build company. We had shown our design to a builder who a friend suggested as a backup option or price comparison. Their pricing estimate came in at 50% over budget. Part of this is due to relatively new and unique product being used in the design specifications which many builders will not have experience with. They need to err on the side of caution so they will typically build in cost for this.

So at this point we are considering 2 options. I have another friend who works as a QS for a building company he is pretty confident they can build it for around 25% over budget (this is currently the line in the sand mark ). It will take 4-6 weeks for a proper price estimate and we can go from there. The risk is it if it goes over our limit we then  have to ‘value engineer’ . Again issues we thought we could avoid by the design/build route we took.

The second option is going to one of the other design/build outfits I’ve spoken to and adapt our current plans to their system/products. I’ve contacted a company and waiting for their Christchurch representative to get back from leave.

The information contained in this article is of a general nature and should not be taken as advice. It reflects the opinions of the writer only and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of New Zealand Home Loans.