The Clarity Process
The price you sign being wrong is the real risk.
Free quotes are a guess. On a renovation, the expensive surprises are in the ground and behind the walls, and a free quote hasn’t looked there. The Clarity Process has.
Why it’s paid
You’re paying us to find the problems before you’re committed
Waiting until the plans are finished, the engineering is done and council has signed off before you talk to a builder is how designs end up over budget and need redrawing.
So before any building contract we do two rounds of paid work: on the site, and on the drawings. You pay for the time it takes to do that properly. What we find becomes a fixed price, not a variation.
The fee is fixed. We tell you the number at the first conversation, before you decide anything. Everything we produce is yours to keep, whether or not you build with us.
Todd leads every Clarity Process meeting himself.
Seven stages
From first email to handover
01
Enquiry
You tell us about the house and what you want from it. We tell you plainly whether we’re the right fit, and send you this process in writing.
02
First conversation
You’ve read how we work, so we can spend the time on your home: the brief, the budget you have in mind, who’s designing it, what worries you.
If we go ahead, the Clarity Process fee is agreed here. It’s a fixed fee, paid once, up front.
03
Site and feasibility
Round one. We go through the existing house and the site properly: structure, ground, services, drainage, what the old drawings don’t show.
You get a site condition report. Everything in it is something that would otherwise have turned up as a variation halfway through the build.
04
Design development
Round two. We take off the documented scope and price it line by line, alongside your architect or designer, and refine it across three proposal rounds until the scope, the inclusions and the number line up.
This is also where selections and the healthy-materials decisions get made, while they’re still cheap to change.
05
Proposal
A fixed-price proposal built from real trade and supplier numbers gathered during the two rounds. Not an estimate, not an allowance.
06
Contract
We walk through the contract with you in full before anyone signs. Then the deposit is lodged and the start date is set.
07
Build, handover, defects
One point of contact. Weekly site meetings. On airtight builds, a blower-door test before the linings go on. The home we hand over is the one we priced, and we come back for the defects period.
Worried about budget?
The fixed price is signed before construction starts, built from numbers gathered during the two paid rounds. Not allowances that blow out later.
Worried about council and heritage?
Approvals, heritage overlays and conservation-area rules are worked through during design development, with local knowledge of the councils we build in.
Worried about living in during the build?
Often possible. We stage the works, keep clear site boundaries and run dust and noise protocols. Ground-floor work can leave the family living upstairs.
A straight answer
We’re not the right builder for everyone
Good projects come from good fit. Here is ours, stated plainly. It saves everyone time.
We’ll work well together if you…
- Want a forever home that’s healthy to live in and stays comfortable year-round, not a quick flip
- Are working with an architect or designer, or want help finding the right one
- Want real numbers before you commit, and accept that takes a paid feasibility stage
- Care what your family breathes: low-tox materials, filtered air, no damp
We’re probably not your builder if you…
- Want the cheapest quote. We don’t cut corners, so we don’t win those jobs
- Are running a tender for new work. We don’t tender, we partner
- Need it rushed. Quality takes the time it takes
- Want a builder who just follows orders. We’ll have the difficult conversation if the house needs it
Start an enquiry
Start with the house.
Tell us the suburb and what you want from the home. Todd replies within two working days with this process in writing and the fee.
Or email todd@haikubuilding.com.au.