Frequently Asked Questions

It always pays to get your builder involved early. Simple advice from a Master Builder when making critical decisions like choosing a section, architectural style, plans and building materials can save a lot of hassle and money later on.

Only a Master Builder can provide you comfort in the knowledge that your builder is trade qualified and offers the protection of consumer friendly building contracts.

• If you are carrying out building work you may need to apply for building consent.
• Here are some examples of work that requires consent:
• Any structural building including new buildings, additions, alterations, accessory buildings (sheds), and re-piling
• Plumbing and drainage
• Heating (fireplaces), ventilation and air conditioning systems
• Siteworks for a building
• Retaining walls higher than 1.5 metres, or retaining walls with a building or driveway near the top
• Fences higher than 2.5 metres and any swimming pool fence
• Swimming pools
• Decks more than 1.5 metres from ground level

If in doubt we recommend you ring your local Council and discuss your project with them.

Yes you do!

Your new build or renovation needs the protection of a Master Build 10-Year Guarantee.

Give yourself the peace of mind you deserve and make sure you ask your builder for a Master Build 10-Year Guarantee.
Your home build or renovation is most likely the biggest investment of your lifetime. Make sure you protect it.

There have also been a lot of changes in the building warranty market. Many of pour competitors are no longer offering the same level of coverage as the Master Build Services Guarantee. Our Guarantee ensures your customers are protected for 10 years, regardless of whether you are still in business. This is a real concern for customers, and we are one of the only organisations that provides this product with this level of cover.

The Master Build 10-Year Guarantee has protected more than 140,000 homes over the past 25 years. Whether your new build or renovation is big or small, our guarantee can be tailored to suit your needs.

We recommend entering into a full building contract which will enable you to know exactly what the cost will be and what you will get.

You pay on a progress payment system as detailed in your building agreement. One advantage of full contract is you only need to make payments to one company and payments are made at specific stages of the project. When you receive a written contract quote, we will provide you with a payment schedule and also a construction schedule so you know what to expect and when to expect it.

We welcome you to make any changes you would like to enhance your home. Any requests by yourselves incurring extra labour and/or material costs will be treated as a variation to the contract. All variations will be costed and presented to you for approval authorising the builder to carry out these changes before any such works can be started.

Quite simply, no. Like anything in life, there is the good, the bad and the in-between. An average builder will have a qualification and be a licensed building practitioner, but a good builder should be able to provide you with the following:

• Comprehensive guarantees
• Testimonials from satisfied customers
• Image gallery of previous work
• Provide you with a quality assurance

They should be able to provide you with solid reasons to build with them.

From the beginning we try to get a better understanding of what’s important to you by sending you our comprehensive questionnaire. Once you have filled this out and returned it to us, we can tailor the design and budget to your needs and wants.

PC Sums are a plus cost figure that builders use to estimate unknown aspects of the build.
For example in a quote, there may be wording along the lines of:

Kitchen PC SUM $12,000 – this means if your kitchen was to cost you $18,000 your end cost would increase by $6,000. If this trend continues through the build you could find you have significant cost overruns.

You want to try to avoid these as much as possible and while they may occasionally be required, at Scottbuilt Construction we like to put the time in to find out exactly what it is you want so we can minimise these and provide you with an accurate quote. The more time we spend with you working out your likes/dislikes and needs and wants the greater our ability to provide you with the plans, and ultimately the home your seeking with no hidden surprises.

When building a home, progress payments are generally required on completion of certain milestones, such as foundations laid, framing erected, roof on to just name a few. At Scottbuilt Construction we have broken down our builds into specific milestones. However, all payments and amounts are clearly outlined in our building contract. Payments can easily be structured to fit in with your bank’s requirements. You will receive an invoice when each payment is due. Payment is usually required within 7 days.

Most definitely. Although a large portion of our work includes this design process, we are more than happy to build from already sourced plans. We are more than happy to provide a fixed price quote.

There are a number of hazards associated with building your new home which, if not carefully managed, could cause serious injury or worse, to those that encounter them. Scottbuilt has a legal obligation to ensure that those hazards are identified and controlled.

During the construction of your new home, a fence will be erected and secured around your site to ensure that only suitably qualified and authorised persons can access the site, and subsequently to ensure any hazards are contained within it.
Although we understand that it is your property, legally we are required to control the building site while your home is under construction.

We still want you to be able to access the site and view the progress and we have some processes that will make it easier for you to do this. We will have regular site visits where you will be able to meet your builders on-site and discuss the progress of your build.