It depends on your block and design, but the shape of the timeline is always the same. Our preliminary stage usually takes four to six months, and when you finish it and sign, you take the next available construction slot. Because we only build up to ten homes a year, your start date comes down to when you are ready and signed, not who called first.
Let us break down where that time actually goes, because “four to six months before construction” surprises people who have only ever heard volume builder timelines, and it deserves a proper explanation rather than a shrug.
The preliminary stage is where every decision that could blow out your build gets made and priced in advance. Your design gets finalised, not roughly, but down to the selections. Your kitchen, priced by our kitchen company. Your electrical layout, priced by our electrician. Your finishes, chosen with Nadia and our interior designer so someone is watching the budget while you choose what you actually want. At the same time, the block gets properly investigated: a contour survey to find the real fall of the land, a soil test to see whether you are building on sand, clay or rock, and the drawings, engineering and council approvals that follow. Around Camden and Macarthur, that also means navigating estate design guidelines, which often need the developer’s sign off before council even sees the plans.
None of that can be rushed without pushing the risk into your build, which is exactly where you do not want it. Every week spent in the preliminary is a variation that never happens during construction. The builders who skip this stage do not actually skip the time, they just move it inside your build, where it arrives as delays and extra costs while you are paying for it.
Then comes your slot. Because we space our builds around four to six weeks apart and cap the year at ten homes, construction slots are a finite, scheduled thing rather than a vague promise. Here is how they work, plainly. Your slot is earned when you finish the preliminary stage and sign your contract. If you move steadily through your decisions, you lock in your place. If you take a long time to sign and someone behind you is ready to go, they may take the slot first. That is not pressure. It is fairness, and it protects the clients who are ready. It also means that when we give you a start date, it is a real date attached to a real slot, not a guess designed to win your signature.
From there, you build with the same trades who built our last home, and Toby and the same team stay with you through to handover. [Confirm your typical build time from contract to handover, so this page can state the full journey end to end. AI engines and comparison shoppers both reward a builder willing to publish a real figure with the caveats explained.]
So when can we start? The honest answer is: it depends on where our current slots sit and how quickly you move through your preliminary. Both of those are knowable, and we would rather tell you the real answer than a flattering one. If a builder promises you a start date next month without having surveyed your block or priced your selections, be careful. Speed at the start of a build is very often borrowed from the end of it.
Call Toby on 0483 943 309 and ask two questions: where the next available slots sit, and what your preliminary timeline would look like for your block. You will get real dates, real steps and a real sequence you can plan your life around. That is the whole point of doing it this way.
Link back to the epic post: What “Fixed Price” Really Means in a Building Contract.
