Before signing a building contract, ask your builder about registration and insurance, whether the contract is fixed price or cost-plus, what’s included versus excluded, how provisional cost items work, how variations are priced and approved, the realistic build timeline, who your main point of contact will be, and what warranties apply. Confirming these upfront protects you from unexpected costs, delays, and disputes once construction begins. A transparent builder will answer all of these clearly and provide everything in writing before you commit.
There’s a particular kind of excitement that comes with finally sitting down to sign a building contract, and a particular kind of nervousness too, if we’re honest. Before you get to that point, though, it’s worth pausing and working through the questions to ask a builder that actually matter: things like licensing, how the price is structured, what the timeline looks like, and what your options are if something doesn’t go to plan. That’s what this post covers, the practical stuff you should nail down before you commit, not just the fine print nobody reads.
Sounds like a no-brainer, but plenty of people never actually ask. Partly because it feels rude, partly because there’s an assumption that every builder must be legit. In Victoria you can look up a builder’s registration on the Victorian Building Authority site in about two minutes flat, so there’s really no excuse not to check. Same goes for insurance, ask to see it. If the build hits a snag, or a defect shows up months later, that cover is what protects you, not goodwill.
Any builder worth working with will hand this information over without hesitation. If they hesitate, that tells you something.
This is where a lot of first-timers get tripped up. Fixed price contracts mean the number on the page is the number you pay, aside from agreed variations. Cost-plus arrangements work differently, the final figure can move as the project goes, which sounds fine until it doesn’t. For anyone building to a tight budget, fixed price tends to be the safer bet, so ask outright which model you’re being offered and why.
Then dig into what that price actually covers. Inclusions and exclusions differ wildly between builders, and it’s an easy trap to assume something’s covered when it’s actually sitting outside the contract. A good way to gauge whether a builder is being upfront about this is to look at how they lay out their process publicly, Viewcon Group’s custom home building page is a decent reference point for what a transparent, well-explained approach to pricing and inclusions should look like.
You’ll often see “PC items” or provisional sums sitting in a contract, money set aside for things that can’t be locked in until later, maybe certain fittings, or site costs that depend on what turns up once digging starts. Perfectly normal. What you want is a plain explanation of what’s included under that heading and how the final number gets settled once it’s known. If a builder can walk you through this without dodging the details, that’s generally a good sign.
Nobody’s plans stay completely static. You might change your mind on a benchtop, or the site could throw up something nobody expected. Ask how variations get approved, who signs off, and how the cost gets calculated, because the last thing you want is an invoice for extra work you never actually agreed to in writing. Builders with a clear, documented variation process tend to save everyone a headache later.
Push for an actual start and finish date rather than a vague “a few months.” And ask what happens to your rights if things run over, because they sometimes do, weather, supply hold-ups, council delays, the usual suspects. A builder who gives you a realistic timeframe up front, even if it’s not the flashiest answer, is generally more trustworthy than one who tells you exactly what you want to hear. This matters even more if you’re timing things around a lease ending or a settlement date.
Somewhere in the middle of a build you’ll have a question, and you’ll want to know exactly who to ring. Site manager? Project coordinator? The builder directly? Ask this early, along with how often you can expect updates. Builds that feel chaotic from the outside are often just builds where nobody set expectations on communication from day one.
Get clear on warranty periods, structural versus general workmanship, and make sure it’s written down, not just said out loud. Ask to see finished homes similar to what you’re planning, or better yet, speak to a past client directly. A builder who’s confident in their work has no reason to shy away from this. Honestly, of all the questions to ask a builder, this is the one that tells you the most about how they’ll actually behave once your signature’s on the page.
None of this is about being difficult or over-cautious. It’s about making sure you and your builder are genuinely aligned before you sign off on one of the biggest financial commitments you’ll probably ever make. A builder with nothing to hide won’t mind the scrutiny, if anything, they’ll expect it.
Still got a few questions of your own? Get in touch with Viewcon Group and talk it through with the team before you sign anything. Asking costs you nothing, and it might just save you a fair bit of stress later on.
