Pre-Start Without the Panic: How Maddie Stopped Kelsey & Liam From Making Costly Design Mistakes

 Welcome to Home Building Like a Boss, the podcast dedicated to helping first home buyers in Perth build their dream home with ease and excitement. I’m Jaimi, your host and go to building broker. Are you ready to feel empowered, in control and excited about your building journey? I’ll help guide you with expert advice, insider tips and tricks and real life stories to help you navigate the confusing world of home building.

Tune in as I take you on the journey to building your home like a boss.

Today, I have Maddie here with me. Welcome back to the episode, Maddie. Thank you. And today we’re going to dive into about a client and how you kind of helped them through the pre start process and how like emotional that can be and how we kind of support them. I guess our clients are Kelsey and Liam. I don’t think they’re going to mind us talking about them, but here it is anyway.

Yeah. So we’re going to chat about Kelsey and Liam. When they first came to you, what were their initial hopes and concerns about pre start, I guess? And how did you help them through that process? I know they were quite stressed and panicked before pre start prep, pre start prep for everyone listening who doesn’t know is, well, actually, nobody, you can explain what it is.

Well, pre start prep is essentially, it could be anywhere from three to four, five hour meeting with me, getting you pre start ready and prepped. before you’re going to your builder. So we’re discussing things like furniture placements, lighting, electrical, PowerPoints, cabinetry changes, things that you can do after handover, budgets to consider, your wishlist, your non negotiables, things that will essentially impact you going into pre start and making sure that process for you is going to be as smooth as possible, giving you all the foundations to make good decisions and.

To be pre start prepped, essentially. Yeah, because the pre start process is very, very overwhelming. So, we want to give that extra support to clients and it’s such a huge part of the process. And it’s a part of the process that really gets missed. So, when Kelsey and Liam first came to you, what were some of the concerns that they originally had?

Bless their consoles, they are the cutest people ever, I love them. I think Kelsey, she first was initially messaging the WhatsApp chat going, Oh my God, I need some advice. Help me, help me, help me. And I went, okay, give me a call. Let’s chat it out. And it essentially was just the unknown, not knowing, okay.

Not knowing where to start. What colors do I choose? What colors do I like? What are the foundations that I need to watch out for? Um, is there anything I specifically need to add? Things like that. So, and that’s the thing going into this. Part of the process, you’re essentially going in blind unless you’ve built before, you’ve done lots of research, you’re in the industry, or you just happen to know.

It can be very, very convoluted and very overwhelming. So I’m here to sort of give all that information to you, which is easy to digest. And I just helped Kelsey really. Calm herself down. I think it was a couple of days before pre start prep, actually. And yeah, she was just essentially really, really overwhelmed with the poor thing.

So I helped calm her down. And it always is. I mean, we don’t get taught at school how to do any of this stuff. So if you don’t know, you don’t know, and you’re putting a lot of money on the line. So it makes the whole thing so emotional. And all of our clients go through the same thing. Yeah. There is a huge sentiment or attachment to first times, even if it’s an investment, you don’t think you’re going to live in it for a little while or, you know, Oh, you’re building it for to sell it off in five years.

You know, there’s always still that first initial attachment because it is your first time and there’s a lot riding on this. So yeah, it’s a huge, huge part. And how do you help guide? Clients through that preparation process. Obviously, there’s so many decisions and things to think about. How do you guide them through that so they feel confident going into pre start?

I try and make it as tailor made as I possibly can. At the end of the day, there’s not one solution for everyone, and it’s really up to the individual, the couple and the advice like. What they need. And that’s the advice I will tailor to them. So if couples have a little bit of a budget that they can work with, I’ll work within that.

I think the trick is you don’t want to set yourself up, you know, the whole champagne taste, be a budget sort of thing. You need to set in some reality checks for yourself. And I will happily do that during pre sub hope in a way that’s nice. I’m not going to go and have you come crashing back down to earth, but I think that’s what Mim and I were just talking about in the last episode and how like.

It’s that understanding of, you just don’t know what things cost, you know, like, Oh, that’s going to cost me 200, but in reality it actually costs 1, 000 and does that fit into the budget? Definitely. Giving clients like the honest and transparent response versus the, yeah, yeah, yeah, all good. Just add that in.

And then all of a sudden you’ve got an A grand bill. And that’s the thing. I don’t want to set yourself up to reach for the stars and then have you come plummeting back down to earth. And you see that variation costs and you’re here going. Well, how can I possibly make these decisions now that I’ve got this humongous thing?

You’re excited. You’ve been speaking about this. You’ve been speaking about your recess ceilings and yeah, you know, your 34 course high windows and all this stuff. And I’m here going, Whoa, hold on. Um, this is out of budget. So it’s a lot of my advice and how I help people is really tailor made to them, their lifestyles, what they can afford and what they plan on doing after hand over.

And that’s a huge one. People are so easy and quick to add on to, Oh, I’ll just do it after handover, I’ll just do it after handover, babe, that won’t happen. Life happens, you know, you don’t, you can’t anticipate what happens in life. I’m a prime example. I’ve been in my house for two years and half the stuff that I said I’ll do after handover, I still have.

So, um, it does happen even to the best of us and most organized of people. So setting yourself realistic expectations for pre start as well as after is imperative. Yeah. And it’s that balancing act of, okay. Well, yeah. Where are you at in the market? What can you afford? And obviously we help out that with that in initial stage.

And where are you at some, sometimes some people don’t have an option and it has to be stripped out and you’ve got to add it in, but it’s that fine idea of you need to draw the line somewhere. It’s just going to be a never ending list of things that you have to do. Of course. Yeah. What kind of vision did Kelsey and Liam have for their home and how did you help bring that vision into something realistic and actionable?

I think this was a little bit harder, not necessarily for me, but Kelsey and Liam didn’t really have a vision. They were confused. They were lost. Which is a lot of clients. Oh lot actually don’t have that. Yeah, and that’s the thing, when you are, I was even just explaining this a little bit today. When you start something really, really important in your life, that’s all you tend to notice.

So you really want that brand new red car. Guess what? All you’re gonna see red is that red car. So when people enter through the building process, a lot of it is to do with design and aesthetics. So people start looking out for this stuff and people are posting about it. This build that page that I’m following has just gotten this and that and that and that.

And then all of a sudden you’ve got an influx of ideas and it gets confusing. And then you don’t know what you want because you’re seeing too much. So I really help in the preset preps to narrow it down. And when I say narrow, I’m giving you like. Maybe max four options for chemistry, this and that, and that’s all to do with me picking these ideas out of your head.

So I will ask certain questions that are tailor made again to you. Do you have pets? Do you have children? Are you really athletic? What are your hobbies? Do you paint? Are you creative? Like all these things will help Bring me these ideas to go, right, okay, this will be better suited for them and their lifestyle.

Or do you have 10 children and need it to be child friendly? So these are all things that will help to make these decisions. And I had to really coach that out of Liam and Kelsey and make sure that it was actually what I was giving to them was going to suit them and their house in the future as well.

And how did they feel after that pre start prep session with you? So good. Just, you could physically see them relaxing and enjoying it. And that is the best part about my job is seeing the tenseness and everything, the stress, cause your body holds it and you don’t realize that it does. And then all of a sudden you start to, you’re slouching a little bit, you’re rolling back in the chair, you’re, you’re eating, you’re chatting more, you’re laughing.

And I’m here going, all right, great. I’ve made that breakthrough. It’s, we’re going, we’re going good. So they ended up leaving. Just super fulfilled and feeling, feeling good. Like that’s, that’s the confident. Yeah, we want you to leave and go, okay, I’ve got all these tools and all this that I’ve just discussed.

I’ve got that all ready to tackle my actual pre start with the builder and it’s going to be a smooth and easy ride and I don’t have to worry about it. That’s the goal. That’s the end game, isn’t it? Yeah, definitely. And so they had their pre start last week. Yeah. And how, what was the feedback on after they’ve had their pre start with their builder?

Well, I was actually in the middle of cleaning at my garage and I went, who’s calling me? And it was Kelsey. And I went, hello. She goes, Oh my God. Are you okay? Like, are you free to like chat? And I was like, yeah, yeah. What’s up? Expecting there to be an issue. Cause I knew that pre start was happening today.

I just didn’t know. I was, had my phone on me expecting, okay, maybe I, I might need to be on the phone today. And she, the first thing was. I just wanted to say thank you so much for what you did and for how much you helped us and giving us all these tools and the foundations, it honestly made the world’s biggest difference.

And I sat on the couch and I was like, you know, it takes you away. Not often do you get, you know, it’s very, it’s can sometimes be a really hard thing to. Go through this sort of job and to try and, because you’re trying to build this relationship and I’ve, all of my clients here have been absolutely amazing.

And, but to hear it is one thing to say it’s another, but to hear it from your clients is just amazing. And I sat down and catch up a little bit teary. Um, and I, you know, it was just really, really good. It cemented all that I wanted to cement for them and to have that great experience. You know, there’s always going to be a little bit of a teething issue here and there.

With pre start and, you know, budgets and all that sort of stuff, but having the opportunity to work around that with your clients and build that rapport and build that relationship, I can happily say that we are great friends now. Yeah. And I just absolutely love that part. And she, hearing how grateful and thankful she was, was just honestly the best thing I’ve ever had yet.

So nice. And what are you like, what are the next steps now that you will help Kelsey and Liam with? Well, I haven’t got the pre start variation yet, but that’s going to come through probably any day now. So a lot of what I do after pre start prep is just essentially making sure you’re okay. So how are you feeling?

Is everything going well? Are you feeling good about your selections? And look, it’s very easy to do the doubt game and feel, you know, the imposter syndrome, keep on looking at other people’s stuff and going, Oh, maybe I should have done that. I’m here to essentially reaffirm what you’ve done already because that’s the thing, trust your gut, your gut knows what’s going on.

Sometimes your head can be a mess. There’s other parts and areas for your body that are telling you to do the right thing. And I’m going to be one of those people that will help to steer you on that direction. I’ll help to break down their pre start costs and go, yep, you can do that later. No, you can’t do that.

Let’s do that now and explore that with the builder or. Oh, I think maybe you can afford this a little bit later on and just suss it out with them. It’s all about teething these ideas out. So I’ll help go through their variation, make sure it’s all good. Nothing was missed and give them those little bits of extra advice and support to help cement those items that they want to actually go ahead with.

Yeah. Amazing. And finish it up for today. If you had to share one piece of advice for other clients preparing for pre start, what would it be based off Kelsey and Liam’s journey? Oh, that’s a really good one. That is a really, really good one. I would say don’t overload yourself with research. Do the research.

That’s imperative. You don’t want to go into this blind because that can open you up to a lot of mistakes and a lot of things going wrong. Narrow your field of view. If you open yourself up to every single idea, you’re getting your advice from your parents, your friends, your brothers, your sisters, your cousin’s sister’s dog.

The next thing you know, you’re just going to be sitting there at two o’clock in the morning, like me, going, Oh my God, if I made these right decisions, have I done that right? Have I included that? Oh, did I get a price for that? Oh, I don’t know. And then that’s when stuff starts to go wrong. So, narrow your mindset and be really true to what you want.

So if something’s speaking to you, bring it up, ask the question, make sure you’ve got that covered. So, don’t go too overboard, do enough research, but don’t go overboard. Yeah. Amazing. Well, thank you so much for joining me today, Maddy. We’ll have you on the podcast again soon. Anytime.

Thank you so much for tuning in to the home building like a boss podcast. I hope you enjoyed today’s episode and learned something new. Remember, you’ve got this and I’ve got your back until next time. Stay inspired, stay informed and stay confident on your building journey. I can’t wait to chat with you on the next episode.

Don’t forget to check out the show notes for more information and free resources. If you haven’t already, hit that subscribe button so you never miss an episode of the Home Building Like a Boss podcast.