Structural vs. Non-Structural Changes: What’s Worth Paying For?

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Okay. Today we’re going to chat about structural and non structural changes and why this is important and how to go about it through the process so you can get the best outcome. Now let’s start off with what are structural changes. So structural changes are anything to do with your walls, windows, doors, roof, The structure and the bones of your house. 

A lot of builders at the moment, the new norm in the process is no structural changes after you’ve signed your preliminary paperwork. Previously, this used to be around, um, at your building contract stage, but now, because the timelines and timeframes. Uh, builders are meeting, you know, certain timeframes through pre construction.

They’re starting the process earlier than what they were doing before. Now, the reason behind this is previously before when you signed your building contract, then your builder would order site surveys, engineering. Your energy and your certification and your reports now to keep the process moving and quicker and ticking through.

They’re ordering those reports after you’ve signed your preliminary agreement. And when you change windows, walls, roof doors, it changes. The certification. So they have to be reordered, which costs more money. So they pass on that variation and the fees for the new reports to cover that. That’s why it’s so important.

And when we go through the process, I always tell my clients split the process into two during the start, you want to think about the structure of your house. Don’t worry about where you want, you know, do I want the tap here? I want the bath 50 mil to the left. I want full height tiling here that can all be done and customized at pre start and as part of our process, we help you get prepared for pre start with a pre start prep meeting.

So Maddie, our interior designer. And PSA expert helps our clients go through that part of the process to make sure they have not missed anything and get the best outcome for their house with customizing all the non structural stuff. Now, when you think about everything at the. all at once, it becomes so overwhelming that you will forget things.

You know, you might be thinking about the bath or this here and you forget about the window or the wall. They’re the things that you can’t change later cost a lot to fix. And if you do change your mind, In the process or you’ve forgotten something, you will pay, you know, a variation fee of 750 and then about 1, 500 for the cost of all the new reports.

So, you know, you’re about two and a half grand out of pocket roughly because of that. So you want to think about at the start when you’re going through the process with your broker or your builder or your sales rep. Windows, walls, roof, doors. What sizes are my windows? What size is my front door? What height do I want my ceiling?

What height do I want my garage ceiling? Is my car going to fit in? Which way do I want, you know, sliding windows or awning windows? All of these are structural changes. What kind of layout do you want in your house? Those things are structural changes. Now, non structural changes are nib walls in the bathrooms, you know, your full height tiling, stone bench, laminate, materials, like you picking and choosing stuff, you know, making it a single shower to a double shower, Then your vanity, all those little things that don’t have anything to do with windows, walls, roof doors, they are your non structural things and you can customize and change them at pre start.

It’s very overwhelming and you have to make hundreds and tiny thousands of little decisions in your home at pre start. And this is, you know, why we help you with a pre start prep meeting as well is so you have someone there to go over all those decisions with and make sure you have. The right things for your home and for your budget that you want in there.

So to recap on that, it is so important, you know, before you sign your prelim agreement that you are happy with the structure of your house because you cannot change that later. You cannot change windows, walls, roof, doors, your ceiling heights. That needs to be done in the initial part of the process, and you can change the structure, the colors, the material, and you can change the non structural stuff.

You know, your taps, your inclusions, all of that can be changed and customized at pre start. You get written up a variation, it’ll show you all the costs, and then you can pick and choose what you want to go ahead with. And it’s so important to really understand that because this is where people start making mistakes and they go back on things and that’s where it costs money and time to reorder things and go through the process.

So you want to make sure you get it right. You’re making efficient and effective decisions, but don’t be rushed and make sure you. Asked for those changes early on before signing off on your final, on your prelim plans, because you cannot change them later, or it’s going to cost you quite a lot of money to do that.

A lot of builders are just saying no at the moment, because it’s essentially going back in the system, starting again, ordering reports, and it’s backlogging things if builders let clients do this. The job can’t go through the system, therefore if it’s not going through the system at a good standard pace, it’s going to slow down, therefore it’s going to take longer to go to site, and if it goes to site further and further away, the builder’s paying more for materials, labor, if prices have changed, which they are at the moment, that’s when a builder can come back to you and say, you know, We went through 12 variations and this, this, and this, and we didn’t get to site now with a four month delay.

It now costs more to build your house. So it’s about working with the builder to get your project through pre construction in an effective and efficient. manner so that you can get to site in the right time with the right price and you haven’t had any delays, any hiccups, no mistakes, that kind of stuff to make sure it goes through the process to get you the best outcome.

And that way, and you get into your home quicker, you know, these changing your mind and these things, they cause delays in the backend and the system. And that then. Obviously takes longer and it costs more money. Hope that gives you a little bit of an understanding on structural and non structural changes, why it’s important.

And when you can make them, if you have any questions, send us a DM on Instagram and we can answer them for you.  Thank you so much for tuning in to the home building like a boss podcast.  I hope you enjoyed today’s episode and learn something new. Remember you’ve got this and I’ve got your back until next time.

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