The golden question!

“How long will it take to build my house?”.

It’s a contentious topic, especially during renovation shows such as The Block, House Rules, Buying Blind… etc etc. On these shows, the measurement of time is in days, our measurement of time is months. It should take months to build a home, and there’s good reason for this, and it’s got a lot to do with quality.

Naturally, the answer to this question is completely dependent on what we’re building, as well as other factors such as; site conditions, home design, specifications, weather, materials, trade availability, changes to specification, as well as other unforeseen circumstances (you think of it, we’ve probably come up against it!).

Site conditions

Where are we building? What are we building on? What’s the soil condition? Is the house pad level? What’s the access like to the house pad? Can trucks get up the driveway? Are there trees that need to be removed? Is it a narrow block and the pool needs to go in first?

All of these aspects add time to the build. Obviously a flat site which doesn’t need any major leveling provides quicker time frame from site setup to slab stage, but not all sites were created equal!

Home Design

Naturally, more complex home designs will take longer to build. Standard single story, slab construction will take anywhere from 4-6 months, and double story, high end custom homes will generally have an estimated construction time of 6-8 months.

We always try to work with our clients to make sure we’re upfront about the required construction time. We’ve had clients move in within a 6 month period, and for some others it’s a full 12 months between contract signing to moving in. If you’re working to a tight timeline, it’s best to keep the design simple.

The beauty of a custom home is that it is something that is 100% bespoke. It has never been built before! Therefore the scheduled construction times are more fluid than a project home that has already been built 20 times.

Specifications & changes 

Changes to the scope of works can add a significant amount of time to the project schedule. It’s a great idea to have a clear idea of your specification prior to the constructions starting so that we avoid any changes throughout the build. One small change can have an extremely large impact on the rest of the build timeline.

That being said, there are always changes that will have a benefit to the build. Sometimes its a case of first standing in the space, before something is noticed that might be missing. In this case, we encourage you to speak up! It’s your custom home after all. Just keep in mind that changes will nearly always add time to the schedule. Worth it? We think so!

Unforeseen Circumstances

Try as we might to schedule out the construction time frame, there is one thing that is 100% out of our control – weather!

We allow a certain amount of inclement weather days when building your home (it’s not just rain, but high wind that can stop work). It’s not that our trades don’t like to play in the rain, site safety is paramount and often times it’s just too dangerous onsite to work safely.

Ready to build your dream home? Contact us here.