Like many first-time homebuyers, my building journey began in mid-2019 with the constant back-and-forth between building and buying. Build or buy? Build or buy? I desperately wanted to stay around Coogee, Spearwood, or Hammy Hill, but my budget simply wouldn’t allow it. So, I compromised and looked into building in Hammond Park.
I went to countless home opens, but nothing felt right—either the homes needed expensive renovations or were completely overpriced. And that was in 2019! With today’s market even more competitive, I completely understand the frustration many buyers are experiencing.
When I finally decided to look into building, I did what everyone does: visited display homes, searched Google, and inquired about house and land packages. The process was exhausting. Sales consultants bombarded me with constant calls, promotions, and pressure, and I struggled to find any real information about how the building process actually worked.
By late 2019, I was completely disheartened and ready to give up on the idea—until I found a building broker. At the time, I had no idea what a building broker was, but meeting with one completely changed my experience. Instead of dealing with pushy salespeople, I had an expert to guide me through the process.
With my broker’s help, I was able to:
I finally had someone on my side, advocating for me—not just trying to sell me something. The process became smooth, stress-free, and enjoyable.
Just as everything was coming together, COVID-19 hit. I lost my job in the fitness industry, putting my finance approval on hold. Since I was on JobKeeper and not earning enough, my plans had to pause.
Luckily, because I had started the process early, I had everything in place when I was financially ready again. By mid-2020—right as the government grants were introduced—I was back on track. Since I had my design, builder, and broker already lined up, I was able to move forward quickly and beat the major delays that hit later in the year.
By mid-to-late 2021, I had entered construction. While the process still had its challenges, I felt confident and supported every step of the way.
During my building journey, I realized just how much I loved the process. I also realized how confusing and overwhelming it is for first-time builders—and how little unbiased guidance is available.
By June 2020, I knew I wanted to help others navigate the process. I reached out to my building broker, asked for a job, and spent the next 18 months learning everything I could. Once I had the knowledge and experience, I knew I could take it further and do it even better—and that’s how BOSS Building Brokers was born.
Now, I get to help clients every day by:
I’ve been through the frustration of trying to figure out the process alone. I know how overwhelming it is to walk into display homes, Google every question under the sun, and try to determine who’s giving you real information and who’s just trying to make a sale.
The reality is: this stuff isn’t taught in school. You don’t get a crash course on how to build a home or what to look for in a builder. Most people walk in completely blind, which is exactly why a building broker can be a game-changer.
Instead of dealing with sales reps who work for a builder, you get someone working for you. Someone to guide you, educate you, and make sure you get the best outcome—without all the BS.
I completely understand how frustrating the pre-construction phase is. I know how long things feel like they take, how annoying delays can be, and how exhausting it is to deal with all the decisions. But I also know how rewarding it is when it all comes together, and you walk into a home that was designed just for you.
That’s why I’m so passionate about what I do—because I’ve been there. I’ve been the overwhelmed first-time builder trying to navigate a process no one teaches you about. And now, I get to help others through it, making it easier, less stressful, and way more exciting.
If you’re feeling lost, frustrated, or unsure about where to start, I’m here to help. Book in a free call, ask me your questions, and let’s get you on the right track to building your home—without the stress.
Thank you for tuning into Home Building Like a Boss! I hope this episode gave you some insight into my journey and how I ended up in this industry. Remember, you’ve got this—and I’ve got your back.
Until next time, stay inspired, stay informed, and stay confident in your building journey. If you haven’t already, hit that subscribe button so you never miss an episode. And don’t forget to check out the show notes for more information and free resources!
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 Jamie, 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.
Hello, and welcome back to another episode. I’m your host, Jamie, as always, and thank you so much for being here today. I’m going to do a bit of a personal episode and. Talk to you about how I went through the building process and then how that led me to becoming a building broker and doing what I am doing today.
Side note, I’ve just set up a tv in our new little studio which is amazing. I want to use it to show house plans and bits and pieces. It’s for client presentation. So I’ve just been setting that up today in the office and now I’m going to record a quick little episode. And then I think I’m going to head out in the sun because it’s long weekend and it’s nice weather outside.
So my building journey started around, uh, middle of 2019 and same as everyone. I started build, buy, build, buy, build, buy, build, buy wanted to. buy to stay around like Coogee, Spearwood, Hammy Hill area, but my budget did not allow that, so I had to compromise there, which is okay. I compromised on going to Hammond Park eventually when I bought the block of land.
Now, did the home opens for so long and was just not getting anywhere, so I completely understand where You’re at in your journey. There’s either a huge amount of renovation costs that need to be done. All the homes are, they’re asking for too much and it’s overpriced. And that was in 2019. So the market today is even worse than it was back then with.
How hot it is and how quick things are going off the market. So it was not having any luck with buying established. So decided to look into building. Now, when I decided to look into building, it was the whole display homes, Google searches. Inquiring for house and land packages. What’s the price of these?
And I just had the worst time and it was just so frustrating and it was, it was becoming hard and disheartening that I was then not going to build because it became too hard, I could smell sales consultants bullshit from a mile away. They were throwing promos all the time, texting all the time, calling all the time, and I was like, this is the worst.
Some of them were great, had got some helpful information which was good. Other than that, I just struggled to get any general information on the building process, how it all worked, what was involved, without either putting my mobile name, address down, and then getting 7 million sales calls. So, it was towards the end of 2019, so it must have done the build buy, build buy, build buy for six, seven, eight months or so.
And then towards the back of 2019, found and searched a building broker, which had no idea what a building broker was. And this was… Yeah, last shot. I was so disheartened and ready to give up on the whole idea that this was like the last final straw and so lucky that it worked out. Met with a building broker and it just totally changed the game on how I looked at building and what kind of help they could provide and how the process would work, how they would help and not having to deal with Sales consultants and navigate the process on my own and having that help and support was just so different to having a sales consultant and going direct to a builder and navigating the process on my own.
So essentially engage that building broker and we got the ball rolling, did the design, custom design back and forth for a bit. I had my Pinterest boards. And yeah, so just working out where I wanted to live, looking for blocks, checking the site works, helping with all of that. And. They negotiated the price on the block of land, and a whole bunch of other bits and pieces that they helped out with, and it just made the process so smooth, easy, stress free, I wasn’t having to worry about all the other shit that I was worrying about before, and yeah, so then that’s how kind of the process started, and I just kept doing my research, my planning, I had a folder with everything in it, Pinterest boards ready, And obviously then we’re going into 2020, which COVID hit, I lost my job, which was previously in the fitness industry.
So finance got put on hold until basically I picked up my job again, cause I was on JobKeeper and then I wasn’t earning enough. So it all kind of went on hold for a little bit, which was okay. And then towards the middle of 2020, which is just before, or just at the same time. As all the grants came, I already had the design, the builder and the building broker and everything ready to go.
Once I had got my job, we could have just kind of picked up off where we left. And then from there entered into construction towards the end, middle of maybe, or when slug go down, maybe August, 2021, September. So right at the start, so kind of beat that 2020 rush, which was just because I’d started it in 2019.
And. From there, it was probably, it was yeah, June 2020 when I was like, I kind of like this and I think I could be pretty good at it. So I asked that building broker for a job and learnt, trained, did what I needed to do for another 18 months after that. Just learning the ropes. And navigating everything on what I needed to do to become a building broker.
And then from there, once I’d found my feet and I’d learned everything that I needed to learn, I knew that I could do it better. I knew I could give clients what they needed and coming from me previously building. I knew that I could help clients in a way that Is really going to help them essentially and do it better.
So from there, that’s where boss started. And yeah, since then it’s really just been continuously growing and learning and helping more clients and more clients and the business is growing. And it’s so amazing. So it happened very naturally, but it all stems from my building journey and the struggles I had.
So. I completely get where you are, how you’re feeling, where you’re at, I understand how annoying pre construction is, I understand how long, like it feels like everything takes so long. You’ve got to learn patience and in construction too, when shit goes wrong or stuff’s ordered wrong or builder needs to fix things and things picked up on site, I get the frustrations because I’ve been there and I’ve been through the process and that’s what sparked.
My passion for wanting to help more first time builders Through the building process because there is just not enough help. You’re going in blind. You’re walking through display homes You’re trying to navigate in Google. What is this? How does it work? Are they giving me the right information? What do I need?
How do I do this? Do I get finance first land build? What the hell do I do? And you’ve got to kind of navigate that on your own. So, and you don’t get taught in school should be information that we get taught at school, how to put a roof over our heads, but you don’t get taught that. So, and having. A building broker there gave me that support and education that I needed.
And now that’s what I love doing for my clients. And that comes from my own building journey.
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. Stay inspired, stay informed, and stay confident on your building journey. 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.
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