Start here
The one to read first.
If you only read one of these, read the piece on fixed price. Almost every unhappy building story starts with a number that was never as fixed as it looked, and the two lists that explain why are the same two lists on every contract in the industry.
Articles
Five things worth knowing early.
What a fixed price actually fixes
Lump sum against cost plus, and the two lists — provisional sums and prime cost items — that sit outside every fixed price ever written.
Reading a block before you buy it
Fall, aspect, soil, easements, setbacks, trees, access and overlays. The checks that tell you in an afternoon whether a block is worth the asking price.
DA or CDC: which path suits your build
The two approval routes in NSW, what each one costs you in time, and why the choice has to be made before the drawings are finished rather than after.
The forty-year specification
Where the money goes when a house is specified to last, and which of those decisions cannot be revisited once the house is closed up.
Twelve questions to ask any builder
Including the four that are uncomfortable to ask and the most useful. Ask them of Birch as well.
Questions
Shorter answers, on a page of their own.
Thirty-four questions in seven groups — getting started, what we build, design and approvals, price and contracts, during the build, where we build, and credentials. The awkward ones are answered too: what we do not have awards for, and why there are no client reviews on this site yet.
If the question you have is not there, it is worth asking directly. The answer will be the same either way.
No obligation
Send an address and a rough brief.
We will tell you honestly what the block can carry.
You will get a view with reasons attached, including the case for not building.