Frequently Asked Questions

Start by giving us a call, with over 30 years experience in the building industry, you can trust us to give you the best advice and to guide you through the entire building process. We are happy to give guidance and recommendations to get you in the right direction with your individual build project.  Our experience and guidance can help you navigate the build process. 

It always pays to get your builder involved as early in the build process as you can. Simple advice from an Experienced and Qualified Builder, like Sarich Design and Build,  during the concept or preliminary design stage can be critical when making decisions.  By identifying considerations that can arise due to the landscape of your property or existing structures on your section, architectural styles, design plans and building material options, can help you stick to your budget, achieve your dreams and save a lot of hassle later on.

Chosing a Certified Builder can provide you comfort in the knowledge that your builder is trade qualified and offer the protection of consumer friendly building contracts. With a Certified Builder, you will also be provided with the Halo 10 Year Guarantee. A Registered Master Builder is backed by a trusted Organisation and can offer a 10 Year Builders covered. We are both so we have got you covered the best way that suits your build needs.

If you undertake structural work or work that affects the weathertightness of a building, and the building is residential, then that work may be classified as Restricted Building Work. Restricted Building Work can only be done and/or supervised by a Licensed Building Practitioner (LBP).  We can guide you with what you need to know regarding your build project. 

If you are carrying out building work you may need to apply for a 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 can help guide you, or your local council will have specific guidelines to assist with you project specifics.

Yes! We can offer either The Halo 10 year Builders Guarantee or the Registered Master Build 10 year Guarantee for the Best Peace of mind.

Yes your guarantee can generally be transferred to the new home owner. Application for the transfer must be made within 30 days of settlement. Having the guarantee gives the buyer peace of mind and will help to sell your home.

Planning well at the start of your build is essential and the best way to manage costs of a build as it helps reduce the possibility of costly variations throughout the build. We can also offer preliminary pricing at the start of the job to assist in this process with sound estimates on both new builds and complex alterations.

We offer and can recommend a Full Build Contract for many projects. This enables you to know from the start exactly what the cost will be for the project and what is included in that cost.
However, if this isn’t practical for your build, we can work with a Cost Plus Mark-up contract which means you are charged according to what work is completed with up front contracted rates.

Throughout the build we track the project budget with a Building specific software, Builda Price, a project management software to monitor build costs at anytime.

Payment is made on a progress payment system which will be detailed in your building agreement. For a Full Contract, payments are made at specific stages of completion during the project. When you receive a written contract, these specific stages and amounts will be outlined. For a Cost plus mark-up contract you will make payments with a frequency determined in the build contract.  Theses payments are for the work that has been completed for that specified timeframe/period using the agreed rates in the build contract. 

It is your build project so you are able to make any changes you would like to enhance your home. Any requests/changes made by yourselves during the project that incur extra labour and/or material costs will be treated as a variation to the contract. These variations are costed and presented to you for approval before any related work is commenced.

At Sarich Design and Build we make it a priority to keep our sites safe and clean. We are members of SiteSafe that gives expert support for Health and Safety.