What are the most important steps to take when renovating or building?

• It is a good idea to obtain more than one quote. However do not select your builder or contractor purely based on price. If the price of one is substantially lower than others it may be too good to be true. Make a list of issues that are important to you and discuss these issues with the builders before making your final choice.
• Investigate the builder’s previous work. Ask for the name, address and phone number of their last three projects. Be prepared to go and knock on doors or telephone to ask:
  • whether former customers were happy with the work;
  • the nature of any defects or other issues; and
  • whether the project was delivered on time and budget.
• Check the builder’s licence. Almost all work from fencing up must be performed by a licenced contractor or builder.
  • Licences can be checked online at your state or territory Office of Fair Trading or Consumer & Business Affairs.
  • These sites also provide a link to decisions of the relevant tribunal where you can search on a builder’s or contractor’s name to see if they have been involved in legal disputes in the past.
• Always use a contract even for small jobs.
  • Your contract should spell out what is covered and what is not covered.
  • Make sure it specifies an alternative way of resolving disputes such as mediation as this will save you the time and expense of taking your dispute to court.
  • There are simple and effective ‘short-form’ contracts available that can save all parties a lot of potential problems and expense.
• Be mindful that an ‘estimate’ is not a quote.
  • If a builder or contractor can only provide an estimate ask for it to be a range with an upper and lower limit so you know the best and worst case scenarios.
• Put any variations to the contract in writing when they are agreed and have all parties sign them to limit the possibility of arguments later.
• On large projects have regular inspections of work performed by an expert to ensure that work is being performed to standard and that progress payments are being claimed appropriately.
• If you have any concerns you can use our free and anonymous Ask a Lawyer service to get information specific to your situation.