How Long Does It Take For Your Project To Get To Site?

Written by

Ramsay Builders Pty Ltd

10 July 2022

•

5 min read

In the age of construction reality TV shows, it can look like building a new home takes just a couple of weeks. However, the reality is much different with a custom home build, which can take anywhere from 10 to 12 months from start to completion, with the pre-construction phase alone taking anywhere from 11 to 21 weeks, depending on the project.

Of course, these aren’t hard and fast numbers, and the actual length of your build will depend on a number of factors – some within your control and some out of your control. At Ramsay Builders, we have key processes that we can work through in order to get your project ready for construction to streamline this process.

Keep reading to discover the key points in our pre-construction timeline and roughly how long each stage takes to complete…

First discovery appointment

The first stage of our build process is to discuss the brief and requirements for your new home. This is an opportunity for both us and our client to assess if they can work with each other. During this appointment, we’ll discuss the services we can offer – from design & construction to simplifying construction.

This part of the process is generally quite fast and depending on availability, can be organised within the first week of contact.

The preliminary agreement signed/design and specification brief

Once you’ve met with us and discussed your initial vision, it’s time to go into detail about the design and specifications of your new home. If you’ve got house plans ready to go, we will organise a preliminary agreement to be signed and you’ll move on to step 7 of our building timeline.

For clients who choose to design & construct their homes, this stage will also include the creation of a design brief. We generally obtain the information needed by asking a series of questions including:

How many living spaces and bedrooms are required?
Do you have any hobbies that need to be considered in the design?
Number of car spaces
Style of home you may have considered
Specification brief is discussed such as floor coverings, kitchen and bathrooms styles, heating and cooling, and wall tile areas

Once we’ve completed the design and specification brief, and you’ve decided that we are the builder for you, we’ll organise the signing of a preliminary agreement. The process will take between 1-2 weeks, again depending on the availability of you and your builder. The signing of the agreement can be done at the same time

Site investigation

For design & construction projects, the next stage in the home building process is about surveying the site, testing the soil and gaining as much information about the property as possible. A site survey will show where adjoining neighbours’ existing dwellings, garages, outbuildings, neighbouring properties, trees and vegetation are located on the property.

Soil tests will be undertaken to ensure the site is suitable for the design of the home and property information will be obtained to ensure the design complies with council regulations. All of this information is then taken into consideration to correctly design your home. We recommend allowing up to 4 weeks for this process to be completed.

Concept plans and 1:1 walk through

After your concept plans are prepared and presented, we’ll organise a time for you to review your house plans in real size at an Interactive Design Studio. This is when your plans are projected onto a factory floor at a 1:1 scale, and you will be able to ‘walk through your home. Amendments to the house plans can be made at this stage to ensure we get the design to your brief. Again, this stage is only applicable for design & construction clients and can generally be done within a week, depending on the number of changes that need to be made (if any).

Plans final including structural

The final design step is to have your house plans turned into working drawings that our team can build from. This will include elevations, internal details and structural and engineering plans to suit the design. As this stage is highly collaborative and will have many moving parts, you should allow up to 7 weeks for your plans to be finalised.

Quoting the specifications and tender

At this stage, our construction clients are back together again. We’ll provide you with a detailed estimate for your build by sending price requests to suppliers and contractors specific to your project. This ensures we can provide you with an accurate fixed price quote to review. We fully detail all materials and labour required for your build.

Amendments can be made to the specifications at this stage to ensure we remain within your budget. Depending on your project and the type of service you’ve engaged the Ramsay Builders team for, this stage will take between 2 – 3 weeks.

Fixed price contract signed

Next, we’ll determine a final quote and prepare the building contract and all other relevant documentation for you to sign off on. Given the time that has been put into providing a detailed specification and quote in stage 6, this stage is generally quite fast and takes around a week in total.

Building permit application

With the contract signed, we’ll submit a building permit application on your behalf to a relevant building surveyor. This generally takes around 2 weeks to come back, but timelines can be extended or delayed depending on the availability of your structural and engineering plans (for construction-only clients).

Commence on site

Once the building permit has been issued, works can commence on site. Generally, the actual construction process will take between 10 to 12 months to complete, depending on the size and complexity of your project. Throughout this time, we aim to keep you up to date with all the progress on-site via our client login program portal.