It’s been a while since I’ve last added to this but we have spent the last few months in a holding pattern. Just prior to Xmas we did a round of pricing prior to getting working drawings done. Unfortunately the pricing came in 50% over budget. I asked a QS to look at cost saving options but realistically did not feel we would be able to get that design where we wanted the price to be. At this time I had also been working with a couple of clients who had gone through design & build companies with pretty attractive pricing.
We meet up with 3 of these design build companies to get a feel for them with the goal of going through a concept design with one of them and have 2 options – the original design we have been involved in over the last year plus a new design and make a decision at that point. One of the attractions of dealing with a design build is they would be involved with everything from start to finish, so less people to deal with (at this point we have utilized a designer, engineer, QS and 3 builders). Also the start to finish involvement should also enable greater certainty with the costs and mean we can get a fixed price contract.
We had good meetings with all 3 D/B outfits but ended up going with a team who live in the seaside hills, so have a good feel for our site. We also got taken through one of their just finished designs and I’ve also spoken with a previous client to get feedback on them. As with our other designer we also got a good sense of excitement from them plus numerous shared principals (compact, efficient & minimalist type design)
We left the design brief very vague, really just covering off likely size and number of rooms (we wanted the design to be uninfluenced as possible to the previous one) and they showed us an initial concept design that ticked a lot of boxes. The fleshed out concept design came in about 95% of the final design which was great, we just restructured a couple of the rooms and we had a design we liked.
Pricing has just come in and it’s on budget while the QS had come back with the initial design around 25% over (after we had dropped the garage). There is probably a greater margin with error with the initial design and the unlikelihood of having a fixed price contract meant we have chosen to go with the recent design.
On comparing the 2 designs it was certainly evident where the price differences are and we appreciate the worth of both. I’ll hopefully have comparison plans shortly but for us the biggest differences where in the kitchen and lounge areas. The older design having a more featured kitchen while the new design certainly focuses more on the lounge area.
Mike Columbus is a founder of sortmymortgage.co.nz and director of New Zealand Home Loans Christchurch Central. Mike can be contacted on 03 335 3527 or 021 369908. This advice is of a general nature only and before acting on it please read my disclaimer which can be obtained by emailing me at mike.columbus@nzhomeloans.co.nz