Different homes have different building and designing processes and they differ greatly in the designer’s creative outlook. It’s this difference in processes that gives each home a sense of uniqueness.
It completely depends on the complexity and scope of the construction project. No matter what, every home builder and designer aims to create something that’s sustainable, long-lasting, and appealing to the eye.
But the business of home building and designing is fraught with risks. There may occur instances where the designer may commit an omission, breach of professional duty, or a mistake, something that causes financial loss or injury to the client.
Such a mishap can push the client to initiate legal action against the designer to get compensation for the loss or damage. When that happens, the designer has to bear hefty legal expenses, which may require them to draw into their personal finances.
This is when they need a designer’s professional indemnity insurance policy, especially in a country like Australia where legal cases can be extremely expensive to fight.
To know more about the designer’s professional indemnity insurance, you can visit BizCover.
When it comes to building a new home, there’s a step-by-step process that you need to follow.
Let’s take you through these steps here:
1. Conducting an initial research
The first step in building a new home is conducting preliminary research. In this stage, you need to analyze your present lifestyle and come up with a baseline budget.
You also need to develop a design brief, which is a rough idea of how you expect your new home to look like.
2. Choosing the site
Some of you may decide to build your new home on land that you already own. But there are many others who look for a completely new neighborhood. If you are constructing an existing site, make sure your design is compatible with the land.
If you are buying a new piece of land, make sure your budget allows you to do so. It’s always a good idea to get in touch with a site expert to know if a particular piece of land you intend to buy will be feasible for you or not.
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3. Getting in touch with a home builder
Once you have a design brief and land in place, you need to choose a home builder. Generally, you can choose a builder based on references and request them to prepare a tender.
Alternatively, you can call selective tenders from a host of home builders and choose based on the price they quote. Housing Industry Association and Master Builders Association are ideal sources of licensed home builders.
The contract they offer should cover all details and the construction timeline. Make sure you have home indemnity insurance, plans agreement, contract variations agreement, and building contract in place.
4. Developing concept designs
The designer you choose to work with will prepare a couple of concept designs that convey their thinking. You need to match these designs with your initial design brief. It’s crucial to analyze the concept designs based on the information pertaining to your climate zone.
This is an important step in the home building process because it allows you to make initial sustainability decisions, material choices, and system installations.
After discussing with your home builder, you need to finalize the design, which includes its floor plan, installations, construction systems, landscaping, and interior finishing.
5. Getting necessary approvals and certifications
After finalizing the design of your new home, you need to approach the council to get approved. Some regions of the country may have strict planning controls, which you need to become familiar with.
One set of construction plans can look into the details of construction. If your design is complex, then you might have to make separate applications to the council.
The authorities will definitely want an environmentally friendly construction plan and design so that the local ecology is not impacted adversely.
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6. Starting the construction
After you get the green signal from the concerned authorities, you can start building your new home. While your builder goes about the process, you should be constantly present to supervise everything.
Various tradespeople, like carpenters, plumbers, electricians, and cabinet makers, will be required to execute each design element of your new home. Make sure you keep in mind certain pitfalls that may cause budget overruns.
These include unforeseen site challenges, weather conditions, unavailability of materials, and tradespeople shortages.
The above points give a brief overview of the various steps involved in designing and building a new home in Australia.
Make sure you keep them in mind while going about the process so that the final execution aligns with your wishes and budget.
