Dream Home or Nightmare Build

Sarah and Daniel have always wanted to build their dream home. They’ve been talking about it for years, dreaming about it, imagining the final touches and the way they’d make it their forever home. They knew from the beginning that they didn’t want a cookie-cutter house like their next-door neighbours. They wanted something special. A home with personality – a place that says, “This is our home”.

The Smith’s down the road were building just that, a wonderful home to make their own. Every day, Sarah and Daniel would walk their dog down the street and marvel at the Smith’s construction site, saying to each other “soon this will be us, when the time is right”. Every week, the progress was evident. It was exciting to see what the builder accomplished with another few months under his belt.

Until something happened…

Sarah and Daniel went on their Monday morning walk last week and saw a ‘FOR SALE’ sign sitting by the scaffolding at Smith’s construction site. They were instantly shocked! After calling the Smith’s, they found out that the builder went bust and the family must sell their dream home to cover their costs, and it wasn’t even finished!

That night over dinner, Sarah and Daniel began to think… What if?

• What if a similar thing happened to them when they decided to build?
• What if the costs grow and grow and they find themselves in financial hardship?
• What if the build takes too long and isn’t finished on time?
• What if they don’t get the house they dreamt of?
• What if the builder goes M.I.A and they can’t get a hold of them?

Overwhelmed at the starting gate

Wanting to achieve something and feeling lost in the process can be overwhelming. Many people spend weeks and weeks wasting their valuable time trying to figure out where to start. Unsure and uncertain, Sarah and Daniel engage with reputable people, such as the architect recommended by Daniel’s colleague, Jason. But before they know it, they’ve spent a great deal of money for a plan that suits the architect’s portfolio and doesn’t reflect their dream home in the slightest!

After wasting precious time and money, chopping and changing firms and feeling defeated, Sarah and Daniel finally land on a firm that understands exactly what they want. FINALLY! Except when the plans are laid out on the table, they realise that their current budget won’t even come close to funding this project. They have no other choice at this point than to scale their dream home down. What started as a happy scenario has soon turned into disappointment.

Choosing the right builder in a sea of bad options

After the nightmarish design process, Daniel and Sarah’s building funds have now shrunk. They are shopping around to find a builder that can create something close to their dream home for the cheapest price possible. They find someone who says yes but then doesn’t respond to their emails or calls for weeks on end! The price was right, but communication is wrong. When the couple finally get a hold of the builder, he begins to add on costs for variations they were certain were part of the initial price. They feel frustrated and then scared as the worry begins to set in… what if this continues and they can’t afford the build?

BOOM! The budget blows up!

With the build taking longer than expected, it means more time ‘double-dipping’. Sarah and Daniel are now paying rent AND a mortgage and they’re not sure how much longer they can make ends meet. Payments to the builder begin to slow as they struggle to pay progress payments, which result in things slowing down even more! Their builder is unhappy, refuses to go to the site and doesn’t answer their calls. Desperate to make things work, the couple turns to the contract they signed with the builder 7 months ago to find out they have no leg to stand on. Their assets are now on the line and they can’t get another loan from the bank, so they’re forced to beg for financial rescue from their family and friends to save them from a similar fate as the Smith’s last year. This dream process has turned into a real-life nightmare!

The dreaded word… Bankruptcy

Let’s take a look into the life of the Smith’s. Things were going well from the beginning for this family as they set out to build their dream home. The price was right, the builder seemed professional, they even started to see weekly progress and began to envision their home, styled just the way they liked it! A few months into the project, they noticed the builder slacking off. He wasn’t going to the site every day and he began to ignore their calls. Alarm bells started ringing as the excuses started rolling in… “I can’t work with today’s weather forecast”, “My son is sick, and I can’t go to site”, “The plumber hurt his foot, so we have to postpone today’s work”. They sensed something wasn’t right and it wasn’t until they received an official letter in the mail stating that the builder was going into liquidation that things became clear.

Choosing the right builder in a sea of bad options

After the nightmarish design process, Daniel and Sarah’s building funds have now shrunk. They are shopping around to find a builder that can create something close to their dream home for the cheapest price possible. They find someone who says yes but then doesn’t respond to their emails or calls for weeks on end! The price was right, but communication is wrong. When the couple finally get a hold of the builder, he begins to add on costs for variations they were certain were part of the initial price. They feel frustrated and then scared as the worry begins to set in… what if this continues and they can’t afford the build?

Their dream house was far from completion and the builder was bankrupt. MR. Smith calmed his wife, saying “don’t worry, we have Home Warranty Insurance!” but when they called the builder’s broker, they found out that HWI covers 20% of the builder’s contract and a maximum of $300,000 for incomplete work. Even with the insurance payout AND their life savings, it was simply not enough to finish the build. The Smith’s were forced to sell the incomplete property below market value, just to make ends meet.

The process of building a dream home could quickly turn into a nightmare if the ‘what ifs’ become reality – and with some builders, it does. Frustration builds, complications arise, and uncertainty is a guarantee.

But it doesn’t have to be like that!

At Rockwall Projects, your fears are put to bed as we focus instead on making your dreams the reality. We’ve created a process that allows us to tailor-make a home that suits your lifestyle, from initial designs to building timelines, to budgets and completion dates. Our years of building experience and project management will alleviate all your worries, as we keep you in the loop every step of the way. Call us today on 1300 611 996 to learn about the Rockwall projects process and discuss your individual dream home plans or alternatively you can download your free Guide “7 things you must know before designing a new home” on our website rockwallprojects.com.au or on the link below.

The process of building a dream home could quickly turn into a nightmare if the ‘what ifs’ become reality – and with some builders, it does. Frustration builds, complications arise, and uncertainty is a guarantee.