

Make sure you choose a builder who understands and has worked with sustainable design features. Also, ensure they have sufficient skill and experience to build it, and are committed to sustainable outcomes. Your designer can help you with recommendations, based on their own experience or industry knowledge.īefore signing a contract, make sure you are comfortable that you can work with the builder and that they have sufficient finances to carry out the project. To find a builder, find out who is recommended in your area, or who has built other homes that you like. This role includes supervising and coordinating each trade sourcing, quantifying, and coordinating delivery of materials and, most importantly, quality-assuring the entire process. Your builder will coordinate the building works as project manager. Your choice of builder is as critical as your choice of designer. Once you have completed your home design, it is time to choose a builder. Preconstructionīefore you start construction, you need to carefully choose a builder, and get a quote and contract in place. Unless you are experienced in housing construction, the ‘do it yourself’ option can add risk. If you are an ‘owner builder’, you can complete a lot of the work yourself, but will still need licensed tradespeople for some of the work (for example, electrical, plumbing). The builder will subcontract a variety of specialised tradespeople to complete the work. When building a home, you contract a builder to take your home design and construct it on your site. When your home is complete, make sure you receive an owner’s manual that provides operation and maintenance details for the home’s systems.Certification will be needed at various stages of construction, and your builder should organise this. It is a good idea to nominate a construction supervisor, or to do this yourself, to provide quick answers when decisions need to be made (for example, on potential substitutions).The builder will subcontract all the tradespeople needed to complete the work.The construction process has 6 phases: the site is prepared the foundation is laid the frame and roof are built the walls, windows, and doors are added for lock-up stage the interior is fitted out and the practical completion stage allows a check by the owners and any final changes to be made.Construction can begin when a contract is in place. Make sure the contract includes a full description of sustainability measures to be included and specifies the particular products to be used.You can get quotes from your preferred builder, or from several builders to compare.Look for one with a good reputation and experience, and commitment to sustainability principles. You will first need to choose a builder.Once you have a home design that suits your lifestyle and is as energy and water efficient as possible, you need to make that design into a reality.
