We interviewed the newly weds who have just moved into their brand new home! They tell us their experience in building for the first time.

Q: What made you decide to buy/build a new home?

A: We just got married and was looking for our first home. We crunched the numbers and found that to purchase an established home was so expensive and the rebates that were offered for first home buyers really helped us to be able to get our foot in the door to be able to own our first home.

Q. If you could do it again, what would you do differently?

A: I definitely would have researched a bit more. In particular, I would have chosen a different interior paint colour, different flooring and different kitchen colours. What I soon realised was the upkeep on keeping the house clean with the colours we picked was almost impossible. 

Q. What were the best things about building a new home?

A:  It is so special to be able to have been through the process of creating my first family home and creating the memory to share with kids in the future.

Q. What did you find hard about building a new home?

A: The most difficult thing was being patient. Waiting to move in and knowing whether I was making the right decisions on colours and designs was difficult. The design was perfect. I would give the colour a second go.

Q. How did you decide on your builder?

A: Our main factor in choosing our builder was the price. We researched and found that our builder offered the best value for money without losing on quality and design. The size of the home was perfect for a future family and the house was in a beautiful estate. The first house we looked had all the bells and whistles we wanted but was out of our price range. We remained focused and kept to our budget so we weren't stretched with the mortgage repayments. 

Q. What would you recommend to other people building for the first time?

A: Research, research and research. When we went through the building process, I printed off everything about everything. Don't rush on your choice of builder and make sure you look at the floor plans, inclusions and more importantly, the exclusions and know what further costs will be incurred for the necessities. Definitely ask questions.

Q. What did you think was included in your build but was not?

A: I was a bit surprised that the dishwasher was not included when the other appliances were. I was more disappointed that there was a charge to connect the electricity to the house. I was told that this was an additional cost that I could either get the builder to do or an electrician.  To date, I am still not sure whether this was correctly charged.

Q. How long did your build process take?

A: When we purchased the home, the land was already registered so there was no mucking around. The foundation was laid within a week from settlement and the house took exactly 6 months from start to finish. I thought that was pretty good for a double storey home. Our contract had 36 weeks as the contract build period so was surprised how quickly the house was finished.