Anyone had any experience building with Framohs homes

Hi Sophia, I was hoping someone else might try answering this one, because from the wording I assume you have not built in NZ before, and probably do not have much experience of building and building contracts generally. To answer it properly would require a book (Mark, who runs this blog, can suggest some), and even then you might still get into trouble. But please make sure you do your ‘due diligence’ on this, because wrong choices can literally ruin your life. You can bring up a ‘search box’ on the blog using Ctrl F. Nothing I could see on Framoh. Versatile a few comments, some good, some not so good, but will depend on which branch of the franchise. ‘Big builder’ vs ‘Plans/smaller builder’ entirely depends on which big builder, which plans/smaller builder. Some might say former can handle everything for you, but many (of course not all) can be rip-off merchants who couldn’t organise the proverbial p..s up in a brewery. Latter can be better, assuming your plans are realistic, but again only if you choose the right one. I suggest you use the search box above, and put in words like franchise, contract, PC, Prime Cost, fixed price. Also ‘MJ’ (he has written a lot of sensible stuff), and my name, previously just ‘Chris’, and later ‘Chris C’, as I’ve also written on some of these topics before. Regarding going over a quote, please believe that most stuff you might be told about fixed price contracts will turn out to be untrue. Firstly because most contracts have ‘weasel’ clauses that allow builders to increase the price, secondly because construction is by its nature an uncertain game, and things just go wrong, but often because you will be tempted to make changes (variations) that will increase the cost. I’ve said before, that if you start a job with less than 10% of the original quote as ‘contingency’ money in the bank, then you are taking a risk you will run out of money before the job is finished. That’s just the reality of building. On that basis your friend, who ended up $70K over the quote, may not have done too badly if they got the house they wanted actually finished to a good standard. You only need to read this blog to find out many people would envy that outcome.

Hi Sophia, Perhaps I should have added to my reply yesterday (for you and anyone else planning to build), do you really think it’s a good idea at the moment? Surely with finished house prices coming down, but build costs still it seems going up, it might be better to consider trying to get a bargain on a finished house. My guess is there will soon be spec builders who will be eager to sell, and get money in the bank. At least you know exactly what you’re getting, and with a lot less risk (of course it’s never zero risk with buying property), and hassle than I mentioned in my previous reply.

Hi Sophia, Everything Chris C has said is correct. I would add that if spending an extra $70 k concerns you then you very simply should not attempt to build a house now or at any other time. In terms of cost over-runs its depends on what you consider a direct cost. If we add up costs to finish our house, extra engineers fees, extra council inspection fees, fees for lodging complaints with MBIE, and lawyers fees then we will have spent at least 30 percent more than what was on the bottom line of our supposedly fixed price contract. I’ve been lurking on this blog for a while now. I’m planning to write a cautionary note about using a registered architect once our complaint is finalised.

Hi Jane, Thanks for confirmation, as I think there are a lot of people in NZ (including some who write into this blog) who ‘dream walk’ into massive problems with builds, because they believe some of the builders’ blurb about how simple it will all be. Especially regarding cost. Of course I suppose there must be some people for whom it goes smoothly, and comes out on or not much above the price they expected. Based on this blog it would seem not many. But I suppose that kind of person just gets on with living in their lovely house, and generally doesn’t write in with complaints. Unfortunately it seems no one produces stats or reports on that kind of thing. Regarding your point about your build ending up at 30%+ over the original ‘fixed price’ quote, I should clarify that my 10% was just for the build itself, not for the fees you’ve mentioned, and definitely not legal fees. Also, I just meant 10% as a minimum contingency amount, before you even consider starting a build. Not that it would always be enough.