Industry Pricing

When building a new home and weighing up the price offered by various building companies, there is a common misperception that you will receive the same value from the cheapest price as you will from the most expensive (or close to it); and that the difference in price is the difference in the builders profit margin.

The reality is that the builders profit margins represents a fraction of the overall construction cost, and the difference in price will more accurately reflect the builders choice of materials, building labour, subcontractors, and the speed at which the home will be completed.

The demand for the cheapest possible house has also had a negative impact on house design, and the specification of products and materials. This leads us to the second major trend impacting the new home market, and that is to do with size.

The major priority of the designer's brief is often for the house to be as big as possible for the lowest possible price. The designer knows that in order to achieve this aim, the cheapest building materials, products, and systems need to be specified, and construction can only conform to minimum required building standards and regulations set out by the NZ Building Code.