More and more Melbourne custom house builders are requesting payment for a quote. Some clients see this as outrageous and think that the custom house builders want to rip them off. Clients should understand that the custom house builder is not less important or knowledgeable than an architect or engineer, and nobody expects an architect or engineer to do anything for free.

We all take as a given that we can walk into a car dealership and within a short time we can walk out with the exact price of our desired car; however, it’s not that straight forward with custom buildings. It’s quite understandable that volume builders would be able to provide fixed quotes for their standard range off-the-shelf house where all quantities are calculated once and then just need to be copied for each client. It’s quite different for anything custom designed. House extensions could be very tricky to quote accurately. It takes a lot of time and previous experience to get all the expenses right without underquoting and sending the company belly up or over quoting and not getting the job due to excessive price.

Most good Melbourne custom home builders will advise on first meeting with the clients that they expect to be paid for quotation, and they’ll outline all design and quotation costs for the client’s consideration. It’s not that those custom home builders want to make money out of quotations (if that were the case, they would be professional estimators and not custom home builders), it’s just so they know that the client is committed. The majority of clients who pay for a quote will also go ahead with the job. If everything has already been explained to them, the final dollar figure in the quotation is probably within the range they already expected, and the quotation is done with great care and clearly defines what is included and what not.

We at Toto Properties occasionally engage the services of an external estimator payable by the client who produce extremely accurate and detailed cost estimates up to seventy pages long. We find it extremely useful for new custom homes where a full breakdown eliminates the possibility for misunderstandings and disputes. With home extensions/home renovations, however, we prefer to make the cost estimate ourselves; there are always too many hidden surprises which no estimator can predict.