The Truth About the Building Industry—What No One Tells You

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.

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Hello. Welcome back to another episode. I’m your host, Jamie, as always. And this week we’re going to have a bit of a conversation about shit that happens in the industry. Now this has really got me infuriated over the weekend and I feel like I need to talk about it. So I’m here talking about it now while I am ranting because it’s not good enough and it’s shit that happens in the industry.

that people need to do better and I want to bring light to that and these situations that people end up in and things for you to watch out. So if you ever end up in a situation like this, you know that it’s a red flag. Now, I had someone reach out to me last week on Facebook, just, um, that they had saw a comment on Facebook and that I’ve helped a lot of, um, single mums and if I could help.

And I said, yeah, no worries. Let’s have a bit of a chat. So we got on the phone, had a bit of a chat. She was just telling me she’s looking at getting back into the market, going through a separation, husband’s taken the house, a whole bunch of other things. So she’s currently renting and wants to get her own place.

Has a very tight budget, all the things, few little hurdles. She was obviously very vulnerable on the phone and yeah, it’s obviously a hard thing going through a separation and then having to navigate building another house and doing it on your own and scary things and she’s had a lot of people tell her no or not really give her anything back or not reply, nothing because the budget is so low so no one’s really tried to help her.

Anyway, we kept talking a little bit more. She’s secured a block, she’s signed a loan contract. We were chatting a little bit more and then she began to tell me, Oh yeah, I’ve met with X, Y, and Z Builder. I’m not going to say the name. It shall stay unnamed. I’ve met X, Y, and Z Builder and I was told by the sales rep that this is the price.

I can choose yet four plans. This is the price. And if I sign up today, I get to reserve the price for 180 days. And I was like, okay, did you sign a preliminary agreement and have you paid any money? She said, yes. I said, okay, do you know that that means you’ve into an agreement to engage that builder and for them to start work on your project?

Oh no, I didn’t know that. I thought I was just reserving the price because the price was going up and I just want to highlight the amount of bullshit that is attached to that. And yes, I’m not denying sometimes prices do go up and prices do go up, but, and I went through and looked at all the paperwork, it was the 10th of September.

If anything, it was probably going to go up at the end of September. I had a few of my builders raise their prices from September to October. So it does happen, but what a load of shit. Sign this, pay a deposit to reserve the price. She had no idea what she signed into or agreed to. And it was just like, she was in shock that she then signed this and ended up in this situation.

But there are sales consultants, and reps, and builders out there who are taking advantage of vulnerable people who are in situations like going through a separation, need to build their own home. Going through shit things that are then taking in a single female as well, taking advantage and getting her into a contract like that.

She’d no idea what was going on. People need to do better. I don’t want to sound like I’m ranting and I’m slagging things off. But I want to bring light to these things because it happens and you need to watch out for this stuff. It’s a red flag. Do not sign anything unless you know what you’re getting yourself into.

Don’t sign it just to reserve the price. Do your research. Fine. Okay, cool. Yeah, I understand the price is going up. Can I have 48 hours to go over everything and think about it? You know, especially if it’s the middle of the month, the 10th of September, because traditionally it changes every month. So towards the end of the month.

Prices can’t go up. I’m not disregarding that. It’s the way that it’s done. Anyway, so, I said, send me everything. I’ll have a look. I’ll see where it’s at. And I’ll give you some advice. We’ll see if I can help you. She sent me everything. I had a look through it all. Unfortunately, the price of the quote was way too cheap for me to help her.

And I did tell her that it was a very, very cheap quote. She needs to be aware of that. And that I couldn’t do any better. I would probably be about 10 grand to 15 grand more than what she was quoted, which isn’t going to work within her budget. So I said, I unfortunately can’t help you price wise, price wise, you’ve picked the cheapest builder and that is what you need for your situation because of your budget.

And as long as you’re aware of that, that’s okay. So I ran her. Through a few things and then we had a few more chats and I was just making sure she was okay with everything understood everything and she was feeling a little bit better about everything because she was very stressed. And emotional when we first had a chat.

Now, I said, you do need to be aware that it is very cheap and there’s probably going to be a catch somewhere. She was like, I probably know the catch. I was like, what? She was like, well, when I signed up, he took me into the sales office, builder’s office, whatever you want to call it, and showed me the leaderboard.

And that, that sales rep, he’s sitting second sales rep and he wants to be first sales rep. So he’s trying to sign a lot of deals to get to the top. And I said, are you kidding me? She said, no, what the fuck, not good enough. Like this is people’s livelihoods, how much money they’re spending, whether it’s 400, 000.

It’s a big investment for a lot of people. And people can be going through shit things. Don’t take advantage of vulnerable people. And why do clients need to know if your second, first, top third, whatever fucking sales rep sitting on the chart, not good enough and. It’s just bringing to light those environments and big builders and big teams and big projects and volume builders all have sales reps.

They all have KPIs. Don’t become a number in the system. Build with people who give a shit about you and your build and your feelings and your investment because that’s nine times out of 10 where it does end up up shit creek. So that whole situation really infuriated me because I was like, it’s just not good enough, but it happens all the time, all the time.

It’s the same thing. Display homes, sales consultants, big builders, KPIs, inquire through marketing, get a hundred sales calls. They are there to hit their KPIs. Build with people who give a shit about you. Read what you’re about to sign. Ask questions. Understand what you’re about to sign. Say, can I have 24 hours to think about it?

Can I get back to you at the end of the day? There’s multiple things, and you should be able to have an honest and open conversation. With your sales consultant or with your builder, don’t feel pressured. If you’re feeling pressured, it’s another red flag. So hopefully this has brought a bit of light to things, to the situation, and I just really wanted to bring it forward some of the shit that happens in the industry.

And because it’s not good enough and people need to start talking about it and clients and people who are looking at building need to know that this is the stuff of things that can happen and what to look out for. I obviously, and with that person who inquired, I, we just had a bit more of a chat and I said, obviously she can mess with me if she has any questions, I can’t directly help her, but she did say at the end, like, It obviously made her feel a lot better talking to someone about it.

She felt a lot more empowered about building rather than feeling drained and stressed and being locked into this contract and, and all those types of things. So always, if you feeling nervous or you If you think there might be red flags or you’re unsure, please reach out and phone call away. I can help answer any questions or concerns you might have.

And even if I can’t help you, I will tell you that I can’t help you and you’re better off staying with this builder or your situation or blah, blah, blah, whatever is good for you. And then that gives you another perspective or different opinions or advice to help make the best decision for you. Now, the takeaways.

of this episode are don’t feel pressured into anything ask questions take your time to read things and know what you’re signing and don’t pay any money if you don’t want to go with that builder don’t pay any money to see a design don’t pay any money to Secure a custom design or to go into drafting or I’ve got a sketch, but now it’s, if you pay two and a half thousand dollars, I can give you the sketch.

They’re putting you into a preliminary agreement and that’s why they’re getting you to pay, which preliminary agreement essentially means I, the client, I’m happy to go ahead with that selected builder to engage them to start working on my project. And the next step would then be working drawings and building contracts without the star and the sketch and the prelim agreement, the builder can’t do the working drawings, contracts, site surveys, engineering, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

So what you’re essentially saying is I’m happy to engage this builder. I like my plan. I’m happy with the quote. I’m happy with the price. And now I would like to go ahead. Do not sign that if you are not happy with those things. And do not pay any money if you are not willing to engage that builder.

Don’t fall for the price is going to increase. Ask more questions. Be curious and be honest and be upfront. That’s it for today. I hope that’s bring some light to some situations and some things for you to keep an eye out. And yeah, if you have any questions, concerns, red flags. You can always message me or book in a call to have a free chat.

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.

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