You’ve dreamt up your perfect renovation and are ready to get started. But, what’s next? You may need plans or permits, we can support you through this and put you in touch with the right people to help. But one of the most important stages of a renovation is budget and quoting.
You may have a budget in mind, but is it realistic? Receiving a quote from a builder should not be scary, but it could certainly be overwhelming! Let us step out the process you’ll go through when approaching Hammertime for a renovation quote.
First point of contact – ballpark estimates
When Hammertime is first approached for quoting, we will provide a ballpark estimate. This can be based on a rough or basic set of plans, or even just a sketched up floor plan with photos of the existing space so we can make a rough budget allowance. There is little scope and specifications at this stage, so sometimes the ballpark estimates can be a wide-ranging figure such as $300,000 to $400,000.
If the ballpark estimate is within a client’s budget, then it is now in their hands to go and get a full construction design and documentation completed before the next stage of quoting. Don’t worry, if you need help with here, we have plenty of contacts that we work with and can recommend.
At the initial quoting stage some clients already have the design and documentation completed, which allows us to be a lot more accurate with our ballpark estimate, sometimes within five to ten percent of the actual cost. For example, $330,000 to $360,000.
If the project ballpark estimate is within budget we can move on to quoting
Once we have reached the quoting stage, we find some clients have either engaged a local architect and even an interior designer to fully specify all the finishes and fixtures for the renovation. We really encourage this for accuracy of quoting, and can put you in contact with designers or architects to help with your planning and design. This means most builders can't hide behind just making low allowances and must quote to the designed specifications.
From here, we try as best as possible to make sure we leave no stone unturned and quote for exactly what our client wants. Naturally, there are still undecided items which need to have general allowances made. These allowances are clearly stated on the quote, which allows our clients to go out and review these products and their costs so they can feel comfortable with the allowances made by the builder.
Something that sets us apart from some other builders is the content of our quote. We are thorough!
Unfortunately, a lot of clients just pay for the basic design package and work with the builder to specify all the finishes and fixtures. This is where we find a lot of items are missed or under quoted by other builders, which then makes their overall quote total seem a lot less than what it turns out to be once work begins.
Something clients may not be aware of is if they exceed those allocated budgets, they will have to cover those extra costs along the way. This could be something as significant as the tile choice for your home, or the quality of things like taps that you choose.
Depending on the client, their working background and construction and contract knowledge it can be very difficult for them to determine the difference between builders quotes, and what is included within them, and can only see the difference on the bottom line!
Why do we quote this way?
We prefer to quote this way because we want to be transparent and honest with our process, right from the initial quoting stage, to make sure we build a strong relationship with our clients from day one to project completion!
Sometimes renovators can fall into a trap where midway through a renovation, budgets have been blown because of unexpected additional costs and the client is having to cover them, causing unnecessary stress for everyone.
We have found that being upfront from the get go is a better outcome for both our client, and for us. We understand quoting this way may work to our disadvantage at first, but we encourage all prospective clients to push other builders to quote them this way too for a totally transparent look at the potential cost of the completed project to the standard they want it.
If you’ve reached the stage of your renovation planning where you want to get some quotes, we encourage you to consider how builders quote and what is included. If you’d like a quote from Hammertime, please get in touch today!