The Building Process – Admin Phase

After meeting with Nik and deciding on a floor plan and block of land to build on, you might ask, what happens now?

Let’s take a look.

After you have signed your sketch and quote the builders administration team will work on applying for your building permits, finalise your working drawings (floorplans) and ensure all the drafting and estimating checks have been completed.

This stage does take somewhere between 6-8 weeks, depending on how many changes we made to your original floorplan, however it can be a little longer if you’re waiting on titles to be available on your block or if you’re doing a savings plan.

The admin process looks a little like this, however, keep in mind that things might not run in this exact chronological order;

1. All paperwork submitted to builder

2. Working drawings done

These are your technical plans that everyone involved in the build will use to order materials and build your new home. Everything is measured and noted in great detail (down to the last brick). The final plans won’t be done until after pre-start (explained more below) however, just in case you wanted to move a window or add a double shower.

3. Pre-start

When you get to the pre-start process, you’ll see it can be a highlight of your home ownership journey. During pre-start you will be able to visualise how your home will look. Everything from floorplans to tile, paint colours, handle selections and more is covered throughout this pre-construction phase. This is where you work out things like where all your power points will go, where the lights switches will be and what colour the carpets should be.

We suggest creating a mood board on Pinterest before pre-start of the look and feel you want your new home to have. That will help you with the pre-start process.

Once your pre-start is finished your final plans will be done with all the changes you made in pre-start. This will be your final house plan that you will sign off on before it gets sent off for finance approval.

4. Finance approval

‘Unconditional approval’ or ‘formal approval’ means your bank has fully assessed your documents, income, financial history and credit check and has decided to approve you for a home loan.

At this stage we recommend having a little celebration because your finance has officially been approved, so you’re now one step closer to moving into your very own home. Everyone behind the scenes is now working hard at this point making sure every i is being dotted and every t is being crossed to make sure settlement runs as smoothly as possible.

This is also when you’ll hear from your settlement agent to talk you through the settlement process in greater detail.

5. Contract preparation

This document includes your selections and inclusions, and it sits alongside the Housing Industry Associate (HIA) contract.

6. Approvals

After your official contract is read and signed by you and the builder, it gets sent off to your broker and everyone who needs to add their seal of approval, including your developer, engineer, energy assessor, building surveyor, local shire, and The Water Corp.      

7. Settlement

At this point you can now call this stunning piece of dirt your very own because your land settlement is complete & it’s official: you are now a landowner! Property settlement refers to the process of transferring a property from a seller to a buyer when the conditions of the standard contract for the sale are fulfilled. In most instances before a property settlement can occur, both the buyer and the seller must have signed a contract of sale.

After settlement the builder’s administration team will be in contact with you letting you know that all the admin paperwork is done. From there your home is sent to the scheduling team to order all the building materials, everything from bricks and wood even your toilets. You’re only a few weeks away from starting construction, so get excited!

The Next Stage is construction – next blog will be a breakdown of this exciting process! From Earthworks through to handover and all the cool bits in between. So keep an eye out for that.