How to choose a home builder in Sydney

Choosing a builder is the biggest decision in the whole project, and most of it is decided before a slab is poured. These are the checks worth making on any Sydney builder you are considering, including us.

1. Check the licence, and check it yourself

In NSW, residential building work generally requires the contractor to hold a licence. Ask for the licence number and the exact name it is held under, then look it up on the NSW Fair Trading licence check rather than taking it on trust. A builder who is reluctant to give you the number is telling you something.

Ours is held by PNP Constructions (NSW) Pty Ltd, Contractor Licence 249399C, trading as Elegant Homes NSW.

2. Confirm home owners warranty insurance

For residential work in NSW, the builder takes out home owners warranty insurance in your name before work starts. Ask to see the certificate for your job, not a general statement that they are covered.

3. Understand whether you have a price or an estimate

An estimate moves. A fixed-price contract does not. Ask which one you are being given, and ask what triggers a variation once the contract is signed. Site costs, rock, fill and service connections are the usual places an estimate grows after you have committed.

4. Ask what the inclusions actually are

Two quotes can look similar and deliver very different homes. Ask for the inclusions in writing, item by item, and compare like for like: benchtops, tiling, insulation, frames, roofing, fascia and gutter, electrical and data points. If a builder cannot hand you that list, there is nothing to compare.

Ours is published in full on the inclusions page, so you can read it before you talk to anyone.

5. Find out who handles council

Approvals are where timelines slip. Ask whether the builder prepares the plan set, the Statement of Environmental Effects, BASIX and NatHERS, engages the engineer and lodges the DA, or whether that is left to you to organise and coordinate.

6. Go and look at a finished home

Renders are artist impressions. A display home, or a completed build you can walk through, tells you about the finish quality that a brochure cannot. Ask where you can see their work in person.

Red flags

• A licence number that is not given freely, or is held in a different name to the company on your contract
• A deposit requested before a contract is signed
• An inclusions list that uses words like “standard” without specifying what that means
• No written answer on who lodges the DA
• Pressure to sign at the first meeting

• Licensed: PNP Constructions (NSW) Pty Ltd, Contractor Licence 249399C
• Home owners warranty insurance on every build
• Fixed-price contracts, priced in-house with our own trade and material rates rather than left to subcontractors
• A published inclusions list you can read before you contact us
• Council approvals handled for you, from the plan set and BASIX through to lodging the DA
• A display centre at Glendenning you can walk through, open Monday to Friday 10am to 7pm and weekends by appointment

Building across Sydney, the Hills District and Western Sydney since 2014.