Frequently Asked Questions

What is HBAS?

HBAS is predominately and foremost a building broker.  Just as a finance broker can arrange the best finance deal for your loan, HBAS can arrange the best possible deal for the construction of your home.  However HBAS do a whole lot more than just that.

HBAS (“Home Builders Advisory Service”) are not builders.  Instead we have a group of highly professional builder members that undertake our construction requirements on behalf of our clients.

HBAS are also building designers.  We therefore help you to design a home that is exactly as your family requires.  Our professional building designers work closely with you to ensure your dream home becomes a reality whilst ensuring important aspects of the home design are addressed such as orientation, privacy, ventilation, practicality etc, just to mention a few. 

HBAS also coordinate everything necessary to enable our pre-qualified builders to prepare comparative quotes.  HBAS prepares full tender ready documents so that the prices we receive for the construction of your home actually compares apples against apples.

HBAS prepare and coordinate things such as engineering and building computations, soil tests and geotechnical reports, building specifications, inclusions schedules, colour and interior finishes schedule etc.  There is so much that goes into the preliminaries of building a new home.

HBAS can also undertake what ever additional preliminaries are required such as siting variation applications, town planning applications, application for change of material use etc etc etc.

HBAS have strategic alliance partnerships with other professionals to assist you with things such as finance, insurance, conveyancing, investment advice and wealth creation.

How can HBAS benefit me?

HBAS have a wealth of building and construction industry experience.  We fully understand the virtual minefield of building a home.  How do I know if my builder is reputable? I don’t know how to compare the quotes as they have all got different inclusions! Am I getting value for money? Is my building contract fair and correct? How much will the house cost all up?  When will my house be ready to live in?

HBAS have addressed all of these issues and have developed systems that remove stress from the home owner.  HBAS act on your behalf to ensure that you get exactly what you are paying for.

We offer you professional unbiased advice from start to finish.  We undertake your pre-handover inspection to ensure your home is of the standard we expect from all of our pre-qualified builders.

Can HBAS save me money?

Absolutely…  HBAS saves you money in several ways.

HBAS deal directly with you to coordinate your design, plan drafting, engineering, soil testing etc and these items are then charged to you at our exact cost.  This means these items are supplied by us without the standard builder's margins included.  This represents a huge saving for you already.

Do HBAS offer guarantees?

Absolutely…HBAS offer as standard

     - Guaranteed fixed price contracts

     - Guaranteed start and completion dates

     - Guaranteed quality

     - Guaranteed best possible deals

     - Guaranteed stress free.

How can HBAS builders compete with the big boys?

HBAS builders are competitive with the bigger players in the market as they have considerably reduced overheads.  Because their work comes to them in “ready to start” format, they don’t have advertising costs, they don’t have to pay for the cost of display homes, they don’t have to make allowance for costs associated with the non-productive downtime of converting enquiries into jobs and they don’t have the huge overheads and staff of the big guys. Our builders are smaller more personal independent contractors who specialise in building a smaller number of selected homes each year.

HBAS builders also benefit from the bulk buying power our builders collectively have as a group and this allows them to pass these savings onto their clients.

How much does it cost to use HBAS?

Essentially HBAS costs you nothing for our services.  In fact HBAS guarantee to save you thousands of dollars when compared to a regular builder undertaking these same services for you. Whilst we do charge you an initial appointment fee, this small fee becomes part of your contract deposit and not an extra to it.  

Once appointed, HBAS will undertake the design of your new home, arrange and coordinate the drafting of your plans and working drawings, we undertake a site evaluation, arrange your engineering, soil tests and energy designs.  We work with you to prepare your comprehensive inclusions schedules, contract specifications and colours schedules.  We prepare everything needed for our builders to finalise your construction quotation.

HBAS get paid a sales commission by your chosen builder on each job.  The amount varies depending on the job.  There are no secrets and no under the counter deals…everything is absolutely transparent. 

HBAS claim our commission for the services we perform by providing substantial savings to our builders from our bulk buying power we have been able to generate for our builders collectively as a group.  This means our commission comes from savings generated and not out of our builder's pockets and more importantly, it is not added to the price you pay for your home. A perfect win-win for everyone.

For larger jobs, multi dwelling developments, town houses or duplex developments, HBAS will quote you on a comprehensive project management package to arrange preliminaries such as town planning, relaxations permits, building contracts and building approvals etc.

What if I want to get my own quotes to build the house?

No problem whatsoever.  You are more than welcome to compare prices with any builder you wish.  In fact we challenge you to try and get a better price.  Simply provide HBAS with their details and we will forward the necessary tender documents to them to quote.

How are HBAS builders pre-qualified?

HBAS undertake an extensive audit before registering a builder with our system.  Our audit process includes checking them for financial stability and their credit rating, checking their BSA licence currency, checking on their site management procedures, confirming they comply with Occupational Workplace Health and Safety, confirming the currency of all necessary insurances etc.  Builder registration forms are available on this website. Click here to download.

We also obtain references from some of the builders past clients and we put together a portfolio of their past work to demonstrate general client satisfaction, quality of finish, project performance and completion times etc.

We regularly run checks on our builders to ensure these minimum bench marks are constantly maintained.  Whilst there can be no absolute certainties in life, this system at least ensures the risks are minimised.

Do HBAS help us deal with our chosen builder?

Absolutely… HBAS have no corporate or financial connection with our builders whatsoever.  They are completely independent to us and we therefore act for you from a completely unbiased position.  We are there to represent you in your dealings with your chosen builder from start to finish.

HBAS will prepare your building contract on your behalf.  This is then signed by both yourself and your builder.  We make sure the terms in the contract are fair and reasonable and that you fully understand yours and your builder’s obligations under the contract.  We encourage open lines of communication between all parties.  This ensures there are no disputes down the track.

HBAS clearly explain exactly what your builder has allowed for in his quote so you know exactly what to expect.  If for any reason whatsoever you are unhappy with anything throughout the building process and you are unable to resolve the matter with your builder, HBAS will oversee the problem as an unbiased third party to help find an amicable resolution.

Do HBAS offer turnkey solutions?

Yes.  HBAS specialise in turn key packages for investors and owner occupiers.  HBAS can coordinate any extras you may require such as fencing and landscapes, driveways and paths, swimming pools, etc.

HBAS can arrange for your home to be built to any stage of completion.  For example, some people only want their home finished to “lock-up stage” so they can finish the non-structural part themselves.  Others want their home fully finished, ready to live in.  What ever you need, we can accommodate.

Do HBAS builders offer fixed price contracts?

Definitely and absolutely.  HBAS uses only HIA (Housing Industry Association) “plain English” contracts.  These are easy to read and understand and are fair to both the builder and the home owner.

Unless there is a physical change to your home during construction, your contract price will not alter.

Do HBAS builders offer guaranteed completion dates?

Most definitely.  All HBAS projects must be started by the appointed builder within 7 working days of receiving the building approval.  HBAS builders guarantee that your home will be completed with a specified time.  Generally our builders allow 14 weeks for a low set and 16 weeks for a high set home.  (This time can vary depending on the complexity of the home).

HBAS specifies that the builder provide a default allowance in the contract with the home owner if the project is delayed for any reason by fault of the builder.  (Naturally weather and occurrences outside of the builders control are excluded however our contacts make provision for the possible likelihood of these incidences).

Do HBAS do speculative homes?

Yes, HBAS quite often construct spec homes as house and land packages.  Click here for our current properties available.

So how does the HBAS system work?

The Initial Meetings and Agreements Phase:

The HBAS system is simple.  After your initial contact is made, a representative will contact you and make an appointment to meet with you at your convenience.  In many cases, this initial meeting can be held over the telephone for home builders or investors who are a distance from HBAS offices or your HBAS representative may make an appointment to come and see you at your home or workplace.

At that first meeting you will be asked to enter a “Service Supply Agreement” and make your initial appointment payment.  After this, HBAS will then commence work with you to put together a comprehensive design brief to gain a full understanding of your exact design requirements.

The Design Phase:

HBAS then undertake a site evaluation and begin the process of designing your home's floor plan based off your initial design brief and this includes your budget restraints.  Your HBAS representative will forward a copy of the initial draft design to you for your comments. 

It is important to remember at this stage that this is YOUR home.  You can make whatever changes you want as many times as you feel you need to until you get the plan exactly how you want it.  Your designer will work closely with you to ensure your final floor plan is practical, efficient and cost effective.  Your designer will help you to identify things with your home such as rooms affected by morning and afternoon sun, ventilation, wind and storms, noise from neighbours, privacy, security, vehicle access, street appeal etc.

Our policy is that we will not move beyond this step until you can assure us that you absolutely love the final layout of your proposed home.  Remember, changes at this stage are free whereas changes during construction can sometimes be very expensive.

Having finalised the floor plan of your home, your designer will then prepare the elevations so you can get a feel for how the house will look from the street.  Your designer will generally provide you with several façade options to choose from.

Once you and your building designer have finalised the concept plans for your home, we then send them to our drafting crew to prepare final plans and working drawings.

The Preliminaries Phase:

While the designers are working on your home design, HBAS will have coordinated your soil tests to be taken and geotechnical reports to be prepared.  Our consulting engineers will need the results of these reports to enable them to design an appropriate foundation system for your new home.  Our consulting engineers also prepare the necessary structural computations needed for your home.

The Selection Phase:

During this phase, you will be asked to choose your desired inclusions and colours.  Our interior and colour consultants will assist you to choose every item that is to be included in your home.  This will cover items such as roof and gutter profile, garage and front door selection, type of stove etc.  The list of these is comprehensive and you should allow several hours for this process.  Our professional colour consultant will be on hand to guide you through this process.

The Quotation Phase:

Once all the necessary paperwork as been put together, HBAS will then submit your tender ready house plans to several of our selected builders for pricing.  Our builders have 10 working days to respond with their price.  Once HBAS have received your quotes, we will study them to ensure that have included everything as required and will then forward the quotes to you with our recommendation on which builder we suggest for the job.

Once you have decided on your builder, we arrange a time for you to meet with your chosen builder to sign the building contracts.  (HBAS will have walked you though the contract in full detail and you will have had ample time to read the contract yourself and obtain independent advice from your solicitor if so required). Again, no pressure…

The Building Phase:

By the time your contract has been signed with your builder, HBAS will have all necessary documents lodged with our independent professional private building certifier.  Basically, once your contract is signed, your builder simply obtains his BSA insurance certificate and lodges it with the certifier and the permit should be ready to be issued.  Your builder then has 7 working days to commence work on your project.

Your HBAS builder will schedule appointments with you at certain stages during the construction of your new home.  Your builder will generally want to meet you at the progress payment stages, these being Floor (Base stage), Frame, Lock-up, Fix-out and Practical completion stage.

HBAS will undertake your pre-handover inspection prior to your practical completion inspection.  By the time you inspect the property for handover, any items that HBAS found that needed attention, should have been fixed by your builder.  HBAS will provide you with a copy of our inspection report so you can confirm the items on our report have all been attended to.

The Completion Phase:

At the end of the construction phase, HBAS will forward a survey form for you to complete and return.  This provides us with feedback on our services and those of our referred builders.  This is an important tool we use to monitor the professionalism of our builders and to identify ways where we can better serve our clients.

Do HBAS have builders for any project?

Yes we do.  We have builders that specialise in large luxury homes, builders that just do highset homes, builders that specialise in pole homes and homes on sloping blocks, builders that specialise in conventional brick veneer slab on ground. We have builders that only want renovations and extensions work.

We also have specialised builders for multi unit developments and for commercial works, even multi story high rise buildings.

Do HBAS build anywhere?

HBAS can build anywhere you want. We are continually expanding our operating boundaries as the demand necessitates.  At this time, we are mainly focused on South East Queensland and we have currently have Sunshine Coast Builders, Gold Coast Builders, Brisbane Builders, Toowoomba Builders, Gympie Builders and Hervey Bay Builders. 

Can HBAS assist property developers?

Absolutely.  Our professional team can transpire your proposal into reality by assisting you with services such as preparation of feasibility studies, preliminary design concepts, town planning applications, drafting, engineering, construction finance, quantity surveying and pre-sales marketing and construction of your project.

Can HBAS find land for me?

Definitely.  HBAS can source land through our contacts with most of the major land developers in South East Queensland such as Stocklands, Australand and Investa.  Your HBAS team can do the leg work to locate suitable land for you.

HBAS - YOUR DREAM, YOUR CHOICE, YOU'RE HOME.

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