Imagine you’re planning a $750,000+ renovation or new build.

You’ve been given a price, it looks workable, and you make decisions based on that number. Then, a few months later, the price starts climbing.

Not because you’ve changed your mind. Not because you’ve added a stack of extras. But because the original price was based on assumptions rather than confirmed costs.

That’s a difficult position to be in, especially when you’re already committed to the project.

The problem isn’t necessarily that someone has priced the job badly. Pricing a custom home or major renovation accurately is difficult. There are a lot of moving parts, and early estimates often have to be based on drawings, allowances and assumptions.

The problem is what happens when nobody goes back and checks those assumptions against the people who will actually build the project.

That’s the part Locspec wanted to change.

So, what does checking twice actually mean?

During our Consultancy Service, we don’t just work from a general estimate of what the project might cost.

We engage the actual trades who are expected to work on your project and have them price their own scope.

That means your electrician prices the electrical work. Your plumber prices the plumbing. Your joiner prices the cabinetry.

We’re not asking someone to take a quick look at a set of drawings and make an educated guess about what the work might cost. We’re getting the people responsible for doing the work to tell us what it will cost them.

We also build the construction program around their availability, rather than assuming every trade will simply be available when we need them.

And we don’t stop there.

Before you sign a building contract, we go back to those trades and ask them to confirm their pricing and availability again.

Why check the price again?

Because prices change.

A trade might initially price their work at $78,000. By the time we’re ready to move forward, material costs may have changed, their suppliers may have updated pricing, or their availability may have shifted.

That $78,000 might now be $81,200.

Those figures are simply an example, but the principle is important.

The change doesn’t necessarily mean somebody made a mistake. It means we’re checking the price again before you’re committed, rather than discovering the difference after construction has already started.

We’d much rather have an uncomfortable conversation about a price change before you sign than surprise you with it halfway through the build.

But what about allowances?

Allowances have their place.

Sometimes you simply haven’t made a decision yet. You might know you want a new kitchen, for example, but you haven’t chosen the cabinetry, benchtops, handles or finishes.

In that situation, an allowance gives us somewhere to start.

But we don’t want that allowance sitting there until construction begins.

As part of the process, we can get you into the actual joinery showroom, work through your selections and replace that allowance with a real price.

The same principle applies across the project.

The more decisions we can make and the more real costs we can establish before the contract is signed, the fewer surprises there are later.

This is where variations can start

Here’s a simple example.

A quote might include a general allowance for electrical work. Once you’re on site, you walk through the house and realized you want more downlights, extra power points, feature lighting and a few other changes.

Those decisions then become variations.

The issue isn’t that you’ve changed your mind. That’s part of building a home.

The issue is that the original price wasn’t based on the finished outcome you actually wanted.

The lower upfront number can look attractive, but if important decisions haven’t been properly priced, some of that cost may simply be waiting to appear later.

By getting further into the details before the contract, we can deal with more of those decisions while there’s still time to make informed choices.

What are we actually protecting you from?

There are two sides to this.

If the original number is too low, you can find yourself dealing with significant cost increases once the build is underway. At that point, you’re already committed, and changing direction can be expensive.

But the opposite can happen too.

If the original estimate is too high because it was based on broad assumptions, you might decide the project isn’t affordable when it actually could have been.

Neither situation is ideal.

For a $750,000+ project, you shouldn’t have to make a major financial decision based on a number that hasn’t been properly tested.

That’s why we put so much work into establishing the real cost before you commit.

Why doesn’t everyone do this?

Because it takes time.

It means coordinating with multiple trades, reviewing scopes, checking availability, following up on pricing and then doing it all again before the contract is signed.

It’s not the quickest way to produce a number.

But we’re not trying to produce the quickest number. We’re trying to produce a number you can make a sensible decision with.

That’s also why we use this process to test whether a project is genuinely feasible before construction begins.

Sometimes the answer is that the project works.

Sometimes the budget needs to change.

Sometimes the scope needs to change.

And sometimes the project needs to wait.

Finding that out early is far better than discovering it after you’ve committed to construction.

Where does this fit into your project?

If you’re considering a knockdown rebuild, major renovation, custom home or extension in the Illawarra or South Coast, there’s a simple question worth asking before you commit to a builder:

Who actually priced the work, and has that price been checked since?

At Locspec, this process starts with what we call a Preliminary Concept Estimate (PCE).

For a fraction of the cost of committing to multiple design and professional fees, a PCE gives you a clearer picture of what’s involved, what the project is likely to cost, and whether it’s actually feasible before you spend more money taking it further.

If you’re still working out whether your project is realistic, you can book a free 15-minute feasibility call with Ryan.

No cost. No obligation. Just a conversation about where your project is at and what needs to happen next.