The question on the top of many new homeowners mind is – How long will it take to build my new home?
When you’re building a home from scratch, there are many variables to consider. Part of the fun of building a new home is that you can customise your home, right? These customisations can take more time as your plans must be altered, and materials must be ordered accordingly.
Other variables that can influence the time that your home takes to get built include permits and approvals, weather, project curing time and number of workers of site.
Permits and approvals
One hold up that can be out of our hands it seeking permits and council approvals. These can take time to be process by the local council and construction cannot commence until council approval is received.
Weather
Weather can be the biggest factor that can delay construction especially during the beginning of the job before the roof is complete. Roof tiles need a few hours to dry so they cannot be installed if there is a chance of rain. Once the walls and roof are finished, weather isn’t much of a concern.
Project curing or drying time
Your home will need time to properly cure prior to work progressing. One example of this is the concrete slab. It is an acceptable practice to let poured concrete cure for a few weeks to increase the strength of the concrete. If it isn’t given proper time to cure, it can develop cracks.
Number of workers on site
The number of workers present on site can also influence the construction timeline.
When building a new home, it’s a good idea to know what to expect during each stage of construction. Knowing these steps and how long they typically take can help you ask the right questions and determine if the build is running as expected.
So what does the construction timeline look like on a typical home?
Of course every home build is different, however there are some steps in the process that are standard when it comes to building a new home.
Here is what a generic construction timeline looks like:
- Pre-construction period. Before you commence construction on your site, your permits, council approval, plans and financing must all be approved.
- Preparing the site and laying the slab. This includes clearing your block of land, levelling out the lot where the house will go and pouring the slab.
- Brickwork. Your bricks will be delivered to site and the brick laying team will start to map out the walls and windows frames according to plan.
- Roofing. Roof timbers will be installed followed by gutters and downpipes. Once completed, Colorbond or tiles will be added.
- Internal workings. This is when the inside of your house starts to look like a house! Contractors will then install the floors, complete the painting and finish any plumbing and electrical work.
- Lock up. This is when your brand new dream home really starts to become a reality!
- Final inspection. This is a critical step where you do a final walk through and you and your Site Supervisor create essentially a to-do list of little things that need finishing up such as paint touch ups.
- Handover. The time has finally come for you to move into your brand new home! Congratulations!
How can you tell if your Site Supervisor is giving you a reasonable time estimate?
The key here is having a good relationship with your Site Supervisor. Each task in the home building process is interrelated and your Site Supervisor has to organise that team and all of their timeframes since each step happens in a sequence. For example, a delay in brickwork can push back the roof.
If you feel like something is taking too long, simply ask your Site Supervisor and they can investigate further.