Twelve questions to ask any builder
Including us. If a builder cannot answer these plainly and in writing, that is the answer.
Before you talk about price
- 1. What is your licence number, and what class is it? You can check it yourself on the NSW Fair Trading register in about a minute. Do it for every builder you speak to, including the one your friend recommended.
- 2. Who holds the Home Building Compensation Fund cover, and when is the certificate issued? It should be in place before you pay a deposit or work begins, and you should be given a copy.
- 3. What is your public liability cover, and can I see the certificate of currency? Ask for the document, not the number.
- 4. Can I visit a site you have finished and one you are working on now? A finished house is a showroom. A live site tells you how they work.
About the price
- 5. Is this a lump sum or cost plus? If it is cost plus, ask what the margin is and what the estimate is based on.
- 6. Show me the provisional sums and the prime cost items. Then ask what each allowance would actually buy. This is where two quotes for the same house diverge.
- 7. What site costs are included, and what is excluded? Excavation, rock, retaining, piering, service connections, driveway, fencing, landscaping.
- 8. How are variations priced and approved? The answer should involve a written price you approve before the work happens.
About the build
- 9. Who will be on my site, and who do I call? One name is a good answer. Three is a warning.
- 10. How many jobs will you be running at the same time as mine? There is no correct number, but there is a revealing one.
- 11. What does the payment schedule look like? Payments should follow completed stages, not the calendar, and the deposit should be modest.
- 12. What happens after handover? Ask about the defects period, how you report something, and what the response time looks like. Ask a past client the same question — their answer is the one that counts.
The pattern to watch for
None of these questions are hostile and none of them should be difficult. A builder who has done this properly for years will have all twelve answers to hand and will not mind being asked.
The signal is not a wrong answer. It is vagueness, irritation, or a promise to send something through that never arrives.