From Overwhelmed To Empowered: How We Found The Right Path To Building With Clients Jodie & Kevin

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.

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. 

Well, thank you so much for joining me today, Jody. That’s okay. Tell us a little bit about your building journey and how you got here. So you obviously your building with mim, one of our brokers. Yep. Let’s chat about like the real start of the process. How you’re feeling like overwhelmed and stressed and what you got you here initially.

Stressed. Yes, definitely. So  building was never in our, like our idea. Yep. Um, we were always just going to buy established. I’m a very like, want it now kind of person. Waiting is not. I want it yesterday. Yep. I’m the same. Waiting is not in my wheelhouse. So we were intending on buying established until we realized that the established market just was not for our budget.

Yeah. Whatsoever. Um, we were going to Home Opens and we ended up putting an offer on a house that was not what we wanted for a lot more money than we wanted to spend, that would need lots of renovations and we just decided, luckily we got rejected for that offer. Everything happens for a reason. Yeah, that’s it.

Um, and our mortgage broker was like, are you sure building’s not really what you want? And I was like, look. I think that I’m going to have to, you know, uh, make that decision. So we did. Yep. And we started as everybody does. And we went to Display Homes to see kind of what we were going to do. Um, and me, I’m a very easy mark, a very easy mark and walked out of there very close to just on the first day signing on the dotted line, because, you know, the fancy guy in the nice suit that smelled nice, it’s like, this is what you can have.

He’s the dream. Yep. And, uh, Kevin, my fiance, he’s a yes man, so he’s like, if this is what you want, sure.  And so we walked out of there and we’re like, I was like, I’m going to get myself into trouble here. I need to find more information. And that’s how I found you. I hopped onto Spotify and was like, podcasts about building in Perth.

Amazing. And, um, that’s how I found out about you, just popping up on Spotify and in the space of a day, listened to every single episode and was like, okay, I need to book a meeting here. Um, and I think you were in Europe at the time. I was. And yeah. And so we, um, scheduled one with Mim and. That’s how we got here really.

Um, and she just took all of that stress and worry away. Oh, really, really, really nice. Amazing. What was going through your head about building? Like, what was one of the reasons where you thought I really don’t want to build when you were looking at established houses? For me, I’m super indecisive and I just knew that It would be really difficult for me to process all of those decisions that, that you encounter when you’re building.

We’re very time poor people, uh, both me and my partner, we are shift workers, we have two kids, and there was, like, we just didn’t think that it was a possibility for us and just because there wasn’t really any land around where we were either, um, for block sizes and stuff that we thought were the size that we wanted. 

So yeah, building didn’t really seem right for us. And then obviously. You know, the media and everything tells you how awful building is. So I was like, absolutely not. It would definitely be me that would end up one of those horror stories.  It’s very easy. It happens so easily. Yep. And the media and the negative don’t  the building industry either, which.

Definitely not. Stay away from Facebook. Yeah. And, uh, like a current affair. If you could, the news, everything.  How did you feel going display shopping and like what? When you thought, okay, let’s give building a go, was that your initial thought? Okay, let’s try display shopping. Yeah, I think because, like, there’s not, there’s not like a one stop shop for you to go to, um, be like, oh, this is what building’s like, this is how.

Um, the process happens, um, there’s just display villages. You either go and walk around or you book appointments and they all happen in display villages. Um, and you are very distracted by all the shiny things, the beautiful tiling and the high ceilings and the, uh, you know, the, uh, the amazing entrances and things like that.

Um, so I felt very. Overwhelmed and very sold to in, um, those environments. So, yeah, I would  definitely, Disfey Villages for me. I feel like there’s a devil there. Yeah.  It was very lucky that land isn’t available at the moment because I could have very easily Yeah. And was that, did you just feel that because of like the process and the shiny things in the display village and how they kind of like sell to you and tell you what you want to hear?

Yeah. Yeah. He basically was like, what’s your budget? We told him what our budget was and he was like, well, look, this is what you can have. This is what you can have. And this and this and this, and didn’t really explain that, like, this is the bones of what you can have. And it doesn’t include that lovely tile over there.

And it doesn’t include that hobbler shower or, you know, all those sorts of things. So you’re like, Oh, I’m getting this. For that price, but it really isn’t like that. Um, and for me, I have trouble visualizing things. So  I’m like, okay, well, this is what you’re telling me that I’m having. So this is what it is.

Yeah, but it’s definitely not like that at all. Yeah. And when you left display shopping, did you feel more overwhelmed and stress and still have that fear of building? Yes, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 100%. And that’s when then you landed on the podcast.  Yeah. Yeah. And going through that process, I get, how did you.

feel listening to the episodes or like learning. Did that give you more support than what display shopping did? Oh, a hundred percent. Um, they, like in those display villages, you’re not the only one there. There’s other people walking around and there’s one salesman. So  your questions are very rushed. It’s very glazed over.

It’s very, all these are all the positives. That doesn’t really talk about the negatives or it’s not personalized to you in any way. Um,  or even what the process was, like he was ready to, for us to sign a deposit to be able to like, continue the process from there. And I was like, Oh no, I can’t do this.

What is the process?  I was like, there’s too much unknown here and, um, I don’t like confrontation and things like, like, not that he was confronting, but just. I didn’t feel like it was open for, like, honest conversation. Yeah. Something in your gut was telling you otherwise. Yeah. Yeah. Which is not usual for me.

Oh, but that’s good.  It was really good. Like, I walked out of there and was like, no, this is a lot of money and we’ve worked really hard. 100%. Yeah. Building, yeah, like you’re spending over half a million dollars,  way over that at the moment. And  you’re just expected to walk through a display village and gamble on, oh yeah, this is what you’re going to get in this process, and sign on a dotted line.

Yeah. And you’re good to go. Yeah. And they’re just, they’re so  clever at like how they hide. Not whether they actually are hiding, but like, he’s like, Oh, you know, it’s, I can guarantee 12 months, but it doesn’t tell you that that’s once your slabs down, not all the pre construction and you know, the queue of pre construction and all of those sorts of things.

So it. Yeah, it was a very overwhelming, like scary, like  experience for me, not like Kevin was a bit more confident, um, but he like built with his parents and things like that. So he was like, Oh, you know. Like, it’ll be okay, but luckily, yeah, yeah, yeah. And were there moments where you were like, I have no idea what I’m doing?

Yeah. Still moments. I have no idea. Yeah. Thank goodness that I have unlimited access. Well, not unlimited. Um, pretty close to, to Mim and Maddie because. It’s like, even today, Mani sends me a question and I reply in like seven different responses and I’m like, Oh, well, that was a lot, I’m sorry.  That’s the beauty of also having WhatsApp though, just having it so, so you can brain dump and you can do that versus like all the emails and the conference stuff and yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but that’s good.

That’s good that you’ve got like. You’ve got the people around there to be able to do that, which makes a huge difference. It really does. Like the emotional support that like we get from Mim and Maddie is massive, like for both me and Kevin, like Kevin will, you know, put his ideas in and then like Mim and Maddie will help us organize everything and, and stuff and be like, actually, this is what you’re saying that you want when we have this big cloud of, Oh, I’m not quite sure.

Yeah. That’s awesome. And how do you think, I guess that emotional support has Played on your overall journey. Oh, massive, massive. Like we, as I said, we’re really time poor. And so for us, like me being like, Oh, I’m not sure. Do I ask the question? Do I not, like, I don’t want to like be intrusive or what, or like it’s a silly question.

And I’ve never been made to feel like that. And then anytime there’s like a little mini milestone, you know, the celebration’s always so lovely. And yeah, so it’s, it’s really, really nice to have like, it’s almost got like a little cheer squad. Yeah. A little hype squad.  Do you think you would have gotten that anywhere else or gotten direct to a builder?

No. No, definitely not. Like, I obviously don’t have another experience to compare to, but like, you know, it’s very personalized here, which is. Like, it’s huge for me because, you know, I’m erratic and scattered and like, it’s nice to, to feel like, you know, none of that matters. It’s just like, yeah, the support is really, really great.

Good. Good. When you came across us, what was that first conversation like and what clicked for you? I booked the like, um, What’s it called? The discovery call. The discovery call. I booked the discovery call and I cancelled it and booked it and cancelled it and booked it and cancelled it. Was that nerve?

Yes. Three or four times because I was like, I’m going to answer this call and then be like, okay, so what are you after? I don’t know. I don’t know what I’m after. Yeah. Um, but I obviously went through with it and chatted. What ended up in the end making you like go through with it? Uh, what else am I going to do?

Like, where else am I going to get the information from? I can’t, I’ve got to start somewhere  and it was  also like on Instagram and seeing other people going through processes, especially like your clients, I’m like, okay, this is going to, going to be a good choice. And if it isn’t like at this point, I don’t really have anything to lose.

So, um, yeah, I booked in that call and, and Min was like, yeah, I think that, I think that we can help you. And then obviously me and Kev came in and met her and was like, okay, we’re good. We’re good. We’re good. And I think we paid the deposit in the car park and was like, okay, we’re happy to go. Yeah. How did you feel after that call?

Did you feel like that you needed, like, obviously you were saying you felt like you, you didn’t know what you wanted after the call. Did you feel like you needed to have those things?  Um, no. Yeah. No. Um, I think that Mim sort of helped us. Yeah. She asked the right questions, like what stage are you at, where are you at with finance and your savings goals for us to be able to think about, okay, what step are we at and what do we need to do next?

Yeah. Um, and that was really, really helpful. Yeah. Yeah. You didn’t need to like come into it. I think that’s like, sometimes we stress ourselves out so much with anything in life. Oh, do we, I don’t know this. Do I need this? Should I do this? But being able to like jump on a call and not need anything. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. We can like, yeah, support you through. Yeah, for sure. I mean, we’re so lovely and casual and just made it really like, there was no, nothing intimidating about that call. It all didn’t feel businesslike, professional, obviously, but it was very much like, I’m here to help you. Yeah. What, what can I do for you?

Yeah. It is what I can. Yeah. And what was your aha moment when you were like, yep, one, I want to build and two. These are my hype squad.  I would say after we came and met with Mim in the office, that would have been, it was like, okay, yeah, we can actually do this.  She made it look really realistic. She set it out like the timeline and what the steps are.

I think that was really important for us to actually, instead of being like, okay. How do we get to Z? Like these are, you know, all the steps along the way, making that really clear made it seem so much more achievable than like going to that display village and being like, okay, can I have your money please?

And this is what I’m offering you. And see you later. Yeah. Hope you make it out on the other end. Yeah. So that was like, definitely me and Kevin walked out of here, um, going like, okay, this is. Like, this is the right decision for us and we have a look back from there, so it’s been really good. Yeah. So it was a slight, like, understanding of the process, step by step, what’s going on.

Yeah. Yeah. Cause like, you can, you can Google until your heart’s content. You can be on those Facebook groups that are like, they’re informative, but terrifying, not personalized in any way.  Yeah, because you get an opinion or an experience of someone else who might have had a different broker, a different situation built in 2019, which has zero relevance to what your situation is.

Yeah. So the advice is. Completely different. Completely different. And when we were like on those groups looking at like, you know, who’s a good builder to go to, like the good builders that were coming up all the time were in reality wouldn’t have actually met our needs in like, in what we wanted in the location that we’re at and um, Things like that.

So like the information was either outdated or just not relevant to us at all. Yeah, yeah. And how did you kind of go through that process of working out, like with MIM, what builder would suit your needs? And how did you know those other builders might not have suited your needs? Um, so for us, uh, a few of the things that we looked at was like, Was the location and that was a non negotiable for us.

We wanted this particular suburb. The house size was important as well. Like when she was looking at a few different builders for us, um, the builder that we set on was really good at our particular like square meterage and, um, like the sort of custom design side of things.  Um, and like, we really wanted to make the house our own, like, I think we started off with a plan and then. 

Mim and Jake just went crazy with it, and it doesn’t look anything like what it started off as, whereas the particular builder that we almost signed up with, that would never have been an option. Yeah. Like it was very fixed. Were the plan, like the plan that you were looking at with that builder, that that was it to what you guys are building now, are they completely different?

Yeah. Nothing to say. Yeah.  And the plan, so it was kind of like when you went display shopping, it was just one option and that was it. Yeah. Well, like they gave you, gave me this binder with like, you know, at least a hundred different house plans and was like, how many bedrooms, how many bathrooms. Like master at the front of the back and that was basically it and we flicked through to, Oh yeah, that looks all right.

Like with no, like when I think about it now, I’m like, wow, like the naivety of us. And that would be so easily the same for every, like a lot of people. A hundred percent. It’s just that we don’t know any better. And if you don’t know, you don’t know, they don’t teach you at school. One how to do your taxes, two, how to build a house, like any important life skills.

And you’re just like, Oh wow, how do I go out and do this? So you just blindly trust, which.  We should be able to trust people, but sometimes that doesn’t, it’s not realistic, unfortunately, which kind of, which sucks a lot because  yeah, most people are out there to help and there’s all those things, but sometimes it just doesn’t really work out that way.

Yeah, exactly. And it’s just, it’s, this is, we will never have this amount of money ever again. Like that’s the reality of it. Um, and the fact that we could just hand away all of, you know, our life savings is. Crazy, just because the information isn’t as clear and, and open as what, like what we’ve had here. 

Talking about the design process with Jake and Mim, how did you go through that back then with like some of the changes and talk me through how? you felt through that experience and like, were there things that came up that we helped with? Was there crazy ideas that you guys had? How did you manage the budget as well?

Um, so I found the designing the house the hardest part. Um, Kevin was much, much better at that. So it was a lot of Kevin going back and forth with, um, with Mim and Jake. For that aspect, um, Min was good at, you know, tucking those things in that like, you know, my female brain like, um, but when we sat down with her here, she was like, okay, tell me a bit about your lifestyle, kids, animals, you know, shift workers, and we really designed the house to make it the most functional.

Um, as we possibly could. So making sure that our bedroom was really away from the children because night shift sleepers, um, wasn’t close to the living area as well so that the other, you know, the kids could still be home while one of us was sleeping and that not be an issue. Um, my kids have quite a big age difference.

So making sure that the house was going to grow with them, that would suit, you know, a young child as well as a teenager. Um, Um, like in the future kind of thing, um, and us knowing that like for most people, their first home is not their forever home for us. It may not be for our forever home, but it will be the family home.

Um, so we don’t plan on leaving it for, you know, until the kids are gone. Yeah. We really needed to make sure that it would grow with us. Um, and. Mim and Jake were really, really good at navigating that and helping us sort of fit that design around our life, which like, I couldn’t imagine getting that service anywhere else, which is really, really nice.

And it’s just like, just even hearing you talk about that and the questions and like your lifestyle and the kids and like being able to grow with it, you just don’t get that walking through a display village picking a brochure. No. Like, no, you’re just like, wow, this house is beautiful. Yeah. I’d love to have visitors in this house.

You don’t think about, um, like the actual functionality or probably don’t put the theater room there cause it backs onto the baby’s room and you know, that kind of. That kind of stuff that, you know, Mim really helped us with that. And she helped me be realistic with the budget because like when any, any of our family and friends that have built, it’s not been recent, so it’s  definitely, um.

like budget wise, I’m like, Oh, you know, well, they only have a mortgage of this, but they have this big, beautiful house with this high ceilings. And, you know, uh, this is not that market. It is very, it’s a very different mind. Let’s say how long is a piece of string. You could just keep adding things on and whether your budgets half a meal, a meal, two meal, you can always keep.

Going, because there’s always nice things that you want to add in. I want a bigger block. I want bigger rooms. I want fancy this. So it’s like  working out your non negotiables and what’s more important. Yeah, that’s so important. She was really good at being very honest and asking us those hard questions.

Like, uh, you know, is that bath in that area really important to you? Or like, you know, can we move this here and use the space there in order to make it, um, you know, more livable rather than. Look nice and make sure that like, cause Kevin’s a very handy guy. Make sure that he has space in the garage to have a workshop and those sorts of things where we’re like, Oh, you know, we can just add a third garage.

Well, actually that’s a lot of money to do that. So  instead, how about we just make the garage that we have bigger, um, so that he has that space there and that was like those sorts of questions. Yeah, those little things that you don’t think about if you don’t know, or like, yeah, asking you what’s more important and how do you do this, or this might be a way to save money.

Yeah, exactly. And also like being like, there were things like, Oh no, I could never afford that. She’s like, well, actually. You could, if we did this and maybe you don’t need that and, you know, we just need to do the priority list. So we really spent a lot of time making sure that like our structural design was really important because.

The fancy stuff can come later and again, Kevin’s really handy. So like knowing that there’s things that we could take out and just have, you know, more space or more functional that he can add in later. So yeah, definitely. And that’s so important because you can’t change the structure of the house later.

You can add the fancy things in later and upgrade them at pre start or do different things. Yeah. Which kind of leads us onto the next part. How was your experience and your pre start prep? And like, how did you feel  going into pre start and how did Maddy support you through that with pre start prep? Um, well, Maddy is like my favorite person on earth  for the side of like the, that side of the house type thing.

I’m a, like a very visual person. Um, and. But I have absolutely no design capabilities and decision making. Like, it’s just, just show me what it’s going to look like and then tell me if it’s possible. She’s got magical powers to somehow do that and help you vision it. She does. Um, so she sent us out this like pre start prep, like questionnaire thing to really sort of gauge an idea.

Of what we were looking at. Um, and then obviously we came in and sat with her and had coffee and snacks and really had, did that pre start prep process, which I think like should be. Like, everybody should have access to that kind of service because I’m, even people that I know that walk into PreStart and are like, don’t have a single decision made, like, Maddie had plans made for us before we even went that we could just hand to the PreStart consultant and be like, this is what we want.

Here it is. Can we make this happen? Yeah. Yeah. How do you think you would have gone not having that? Not good. Not good. Not good. Um, Kevin’s a very practical man and I’m a very, um, Oh, but this is so pretty. Look at this Instagram picture. I like  Pinterest again. Yeah. Um, me and Kevin. Um, really  would have gone to that pre start meeting and been,  it just would have been so overwhelming.

Yeah. I would have cried. Like it just. Yeah.  Emotions are high. You get hungry. You need coffee. It would have gone for six hours. How long was your pre start meeting? Our pre start meeting was actually still quite long. Yeah. Um, uh, about four hours. However, we made lots of changes, um, and we had our baby with us as well.

So there was a break, yeah, there was breaks and, you know, um, and like the builders were so beautiful in just allowing that process to happen. Um, but it was still. Yeah, about that time. And we went off halfway through to go and look at like the stone suppliers and stuff like that. Um, so it still was quite long.

However, if we had had that time slot without that four hour prep that we did with Maddie the week before, um, we would have missed so much stuff. Like it wouldn’t have been, I would be sitting here now, like, you know, freestyle was two months ago going, Oh my God, why didn’t I do that? Why didn’t I do this?

And  the variations are too expensive for me to now. Changed my mind and all of that kind of stuff. So it really was like, for me personally so far, the like most valuable  like thing for us from a stress reduction. Yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah. Even though when I really think about it, so superficial, like it’s, you know, cabinet color and whatever.

At the end of the day, these things don’t actually matter that much. Um, because the house is going to be livable. Yeah. But.  For like, for your heart and like, knowing that this is my home and this is what I’ve dreamt it to be and  like seeing it on paper and it just, yeah, such a lovely, beautiful process for us that I really was regretting a lot.

Yeah. Well, and it’s all those hundreds of tiny little details that you have to, you stress so much about, I’ve got to pick everything. I’ve got to choose everything all within a certain amount of hours. How am I going to do it all? Yeah. And then you stress and then. Yeah, the back and forth, then adds more admin time and back and forth.

And then those time delays then cost money and all those things like that. So exactly that having that pre start prep helps the back and forth and reduces the admin and the variations and everything like that. For sure, but it is so like,  even though it’s. It’s not important in quotation marks, it is so important because it brings your home together with the bones of it, which is also so important, but it just brings and makes it homey and your touch and what you want on it.

Yeah, exactly. And that’s why you build, right? You build not only for in this market affordability, but so that you are walking into your home going, yes. It’s, it’s, it’s what I want, this is what I want, not, Oh, I really wish that I could change that bathroom or that’s not in the right spot or, you know, um, like, you know, just the functionality of the house from a pre start point of view, like tap locations and cupboards versus drawers, like it really changes how you, like how you live in your home.

Yeah. Like.  Yeah. Yeah. It’s just, it’s, it is really important. And Maddie was great in like, you know, she did a little mood board thingy for us. And then we were able to take that along with the plans that she adjusted for us and go. And when those little like mindless decisions, like, you know, what color door handle or what, you know, trim for your carpet, I was able to go make it match this.

Like, this is what I want. This is what we have, like what color is going to fit with that. Yeah. So that was really, really helpful to have. Yeah. And the process, once you got your variation back, were you way over budget? Did you panic? How much did you have to cut down? We were very surprised. So our builder, again, amazing, had the variation back like within an hour.

Amazing. So I think we were very lucky because we had our, um, pre start like the week before Christmas break. Yeah. So I think we were probably the last. Person on the schedule. And so they were doing it actively while we were there making decisions. Um, and we’d set a budget at 15, 000 and the variation came back at 22, 000.

Um, and so we then were like, money,  help,  here we go. Here’s our, um, here’s our variation. What do you think we can cut back? And then again, that service is amazing because she was like, well, this is what you’re telling me is important to you. So do we really need that tile waste to be in the fancy color or are you going to notice it or can you change that later, like, you know, those sorts of things.

Let’s get the stuff that’s like harder to do later down pat and then. Um, you know, the aesthetic stuff we can look out after. And we’re very lucky in that, um, once we sent back all of those changes, it actually worked out that we didn’t really have to sacrifice on much at all. So amazing. Yeah. That’s so good.

And do you find that? Being able to have Maddy there to ask like those questions, did that help you through your decision making process with the variations? Massively. Cause like, I built like a pre start variation. It’s so complex. It’s so difficult to read as somebody who’s not in the industry. Um, you know, option one and three and on this line.

In lieu of this. Yeah. And like, what does any of that even mean?  So I’m like, Oh man, it says 22, 000. She’s like, well, actually it’s not because if we. We choose this option that takes away this much and da, da, da, so it was really, really helpful having her to, um, navigate that with us. Awesome. Yeah. That’s so good.

And now you’re towards the back end of pre construction. You guys are waiting for your final plans? Yes. Yes. Yeah. Awesome. And what do you think, so yeah, we’re back on towards the back end of pre construction, you’ll be heading into construction.  When are your titles due? Our titles are due any day now. So they’re due this month. 

And we, our mortgage broker sent off for, um, a request to see what the, yeah, yeah. What the estimation would be for that land is practically completed. Amazing. The signs all there, it’s just waiting for, you know, the behind the scenes stuff to happen. Yeah. And did you find when you were guys were looking for land and stuff and the, obviously pretty much most land is untitled.

How did you go with. The, um, like untitled land and the timeline and things like that. Um, so  it was really disheartening for us. Yep. Um, because we were so specific on where we wanted to live and like where south. So there’s not actually that many suburbs, um, available with new land being developed at the moment.

So.  It was really hard for us because there wasn’t any plan for what the next blocks would look like yet. It was a lot of MIM going back and forth with the sales agent of the developer and being like, let, let us see the blocks. Let us see their sizes. What do you think the estimated price was? And they just would not giving us anything.

Cause this was July last year. So The thick of no land in WA. The real thick of it. Yeah. The, and it was like, okay. So there was like one block available in a previous release, but it had building restrictions on it. You could only build like on like the first third of the block, which was the point. So, um, we were like, Oh.

We, we had no idea when an actual, now that we’d made the decision to build and then having no idea where the land was actually going to be was really hard for us. Um, but Mim was real good at, you know, getting blood out of stone from the land agents. Um, and there was one day where there was a release happening in the area that we wanted, the block size that we wanted, and we’re like, yep, we’re going to do this.

And then they. Released that that morning on a Saturday morning and me and me were on the phone back and forth and she’s like, just put it here. Put, you know, put that one. On hold and blah, blah, blah. And the block that we really wanted was already sold before the release is actually, it was sold to an investor.

So,  um, we were really disheartened cause it was the block that we wanted. Um, but we managed to secure the one next door. So we were after, you know, a bit of processing, like, okay, yep, note, this is our block, it’s going to have less site works, it’s, you know, still going to be able to fit everything that we need.

So the land, like for anyone that’s. Doing the, are we going to build? That was the hardest thing for us. It might be a little bit easier in Perth with more suburbs, with more availability. Um, but yeah, where we are, there’s like maybe two suburbs that are developing at the moment. Um.  So, yeah. And then, okay, the land isn’t titled and it’s not expected title to March for us, nine months seems like a crazy amount of time to be waiting.

But really like up until pre start was signed off in early January, there’s been something to do that whole time. Yeah. So, so it hasn’t really felt like you’ve been waiting around. No, not at all. And time goes. So much faster than we think it is. But when you’re like, I want my house yesterday. I have to wait nine months.

Yeah,  definitely. And in hindsight, it was actually good that we had that nine months because we’ve had an extra nine months of saving to be able to, you know, put away for the things that we’ve. Taken out of our build to make the mortgage more affordable. So, you know, we can have that extra money and pay off our pre start variation.

And then, you know, look at the after build sort of stuff. Yeah. And there’s pros and cons to it too. You know, like you  have also paid a block price now from nine months ago. And now that block price would be valued at so much more. So you’ve already got equity sitting in there, which is amazing. Yeah, for sure.

The latest release, the same block size, same shape, same everything. Was like 40, 000 more expensive.  Crazy. So crazy. So you’ve already got 40 grand up your sleeve, which then helps. And you’re like, Oh yeah, okay, cool. I can spend like an extra 10, 000 at pre start or do these things. Cause we’ve already got a bit of equity sitting in there, which is good. 

What do you think has been your biggest win so far through your building journey?  Our biggest win,  um, probably finding you guys that would be like for us.  And our brains and how we work having, having you guys as our like one stop shop for all of the questions has been a huge win. And then just  the other one would be being able to design a home for us exactly how we want it within a budget that is realistic in this market.

Like that’s massive.  Absolutely massive. Yeah, especially to have, yeah, to fit those two together  in a perfect puzzle is so good because you just sometimes it’s like here’s a plan and that’s it. Yeah. Which almost happened. It  was very close to happening. Very close. So now I feel when you’re entering towards the back end of construction.

What are you looking forward to now slab? Yeah, I’m looking forward. Yeah, like we’ve still got things to happen before there Yeah, our finance is waiting on titles so we can’t do anything more with finance until that’s approved  Well, until the titles come through and then obviously settlement and then slab.

But when that slab is down, I feel like it’ll be real. Yeah. Right now it still feels a bit like we’re like planning a dream. Yeah. Yeah. A bit surreal. Yeah, it is. Like, you know, we drive past the block and we’re like, that’s, that’s where we’re going to live. That’s how expensive dirt. Very expensive dirt. Um, So, yeah, like without that, like, tangible, that’s our, that’s our slogan.

That’s it. Yeah. Yeah. I’m very, very excited for that. Yeah. Amazing. And if you were to go back to the start of the process and give someone advice, what would your advice be? Get a building broker.  Would be definitely, um, the biggest one that’s been our, like, that’s how we got here. Like, who knows where we’d be?

Like maybe everything would have been fine if we’d, um, Winged it. . Yeah. The other way. Roll the dice. Yeah. Um, but we’re here in a very seamless. Uh, with a builder that is really good with communication and all the support around us. So like, that would be a huge part. And then just like, try not to get too disheartened when things aren’t exactly how you imagined that they would be.

Yeah. Because the industry is ever changing, like it’s already so different now than what it was nine months ago.  And there’s so many moving parts too, and it definitely doesn’t always go smoothly. Yeah. But it’s about having, yeah, the people around you. Yeah. To help you navigate the territorial waters.

Yeah, definitely. Because it’s like, it’s scary and it’s, um, very overwhelming. But like, if you just take it step by step and lean on the supports you have around you, then it’s like, it’s so exciting. Yeah. Like it’s, it’s huge. Good. What did you find like the most stressful or overwhelming thing? The land.

Land, yeah. It was the most stressful, overwhelming thing because we’d made this decision and then now we had nowhere. To, to do it and it was very much a first in first served sort of situation and I was coming off night shift and it was like very, very, um, stressful because there’s so much riding on it.

Like so much. Um, and you can’t build a house without land. You cannot. No. And we really wanted to build where we were and if we missed out on that, then we would have had to have reassessed. So, like, that was,  that felt like it was the most, like, the most was riding on us securing that block of land. And then from there, everything just sort of fell into place.

Yeah. Yeah. Do you think you would do anything differently if you got to go back and start again? I haven’t needed to, I don’t think. Yeah. Um, there’s not really been anything from here that has It’s required change. It’s all brought us to where we are now. It probably gives the display home village a miss. 

Uh, stay off the Facebook sites, um, and not listen to everybody’s feedback. Yeah. Um, really just like me and Kevin and the boys to just really, yeah. Uh, you know, discuss things together and, um, instead of everybody’s opinions, everyone wants to give you opinion about building, especially friends and family and like anyone who’s built or don’t build or, yeah, and it’s well intended and, you know, they want to help.

Um, but like, this is us and it’s, it’s our journey, it’s our home and our priorities are very different to, you know, Yeah. So it’s um, yeah, like just  trying not to compare and trying not to take on too much of the negativity. Yeah. Is definitely, definitely really important, I think. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I’m very excited to see SLAB go down and your vision come to life.

I’m sure we’ll be celebrating with you at SLAB Down soon. And thank you so much for coming on the podcast. Thank you for having me. Thank you.  Thank you so much for tuning in to the Homebuilding Like a Boss podcast.  I hope you enjoyed today’s episode and learnt 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