Comparing a Boutique Builder vs an Architect for your home design

Boutique Home Designs

Hi my name is Rob Maughan, the director of Maughan Building Company.  What I would like to chat to you about today, is the difference between an architect and a true boutique home builder. And when I say a true boutique home builder, what that means to me is a builder that takes on limited projects at once, he’s involved directly with the build, the projects generally are of above average foot print (larger floor plan) and the complexity of the detail is higher.

We are in the design and construct relm, our clients generally come via a referral from a past client or if they don’t know one of our past clients they soon will. It’s almost like we have our own institution, we invite you to call, in fact we mostly insist you call our past clients. The reason, it’s quite simple really, after speaking with our past clients we find this eliminates stress and with the absence of stress is peace – a lot better space to have an enjoyable experience. Firstly what I’d like to do, is explain what an architect can offer you and then explain what I can offer you and what the difference is.

What an architect can offer you: if you go off to an architects office to engage them to design your home, sure they will do a design for you and lets say you were building a project for $1,500,000 – a fairly sizeable project. The fees can vary between 5% and 14% and for the purposes of this exercise lets make it 5%. I can’t be any fairer than that right? and lets say you are getting the Architect to administer the contract as well, then their fees would be an additional 3%, plus an hourly rate for any unexpected additional design requirements… My experience is that the level of detail can change dramatically between architects, my argument is if its a detail that is commonly used then why isn’t it included in the first instance?  So let’s runs some numbers, what I like about numbers is they never lie. OK so you are building a $1,500,000 home and for design concepts at 5% that would be $75,000, then to administer the contract at 3% would be an additional $45,000. Wow I hear you say, couldn’t that $120,000 be more practically included into your next build? but don’t worry it gets worse, my biggest complaint from potential clients when they have come to me with plans prepared via an Architect is that they haven’t met build budgets. An example I had recently was a woman building in Swanbourne with a budget of $1,400,000; the price that came back from the builder was over $2,000,000; she was so upset with the whole process she decided to sell the block.  And this is not an isolated incident, in my opinion the building industry has failed her. “A plan you can’t afford is a useless piece of paper” if this was not insult to injury enough, the architects fees would have been based on the $2,000,000 build – if she had proceeded!!

Boutique Home Designers

What a boutique home designer/builder can offer you: we are a true boutique home designer/builder. My claim is that I can match any design department in the design and construct realm across Western Australia. That’s a massive claim, no one can deny that!! If you look through our website, the designs that Maughan Building has produced are quite unique (not some images someone has ripped off the net) all the products you can see in my space are originals. We take on limited projects because the level of detail is complex, the experience we want our clients to have is enjoyable, so they become the next advocates of MBC and we are a builder that creates stylish, functional Boutique Home Designs. One part of our service to our clients is to meet build targets, and if we can’t then we won’t proceed until the build budget and the client’s wish list align. This would have been a massive benefit for the poor lady trying to build her dream home in Swanbourne.

OK Rob I hear you say, what have you got to offer us. What sets you apart in creating a Boutique Home Design from an Architect? I think we should up the ante, I’m going to work out my figures on a $2,000,000 budget, it could be $3,000,000 as it won’t change. So I’m including a Boutique Home design concept, floor plans, elevations, site plan PLUS a 3D render so you can visualise how your home will look finished. On top of that, once your boutique design concepts are complete I will give you a finished price with a detailed specification for $10,000 plus GST.

Now I hear you say, Rob that’s too cheap, this is going to be my family home where my children are going to grow up or I’m going to see out my retirement… This is what we offer our clients at Maughan Building Company and why our clients sing our praises so often. Our fixed price includes working drawings, engineers, building licence – everything necessary to complete your boutique home through to handover.

Why not call for a coffee, it costs nothing to chat. Or better still why not talk to our past clients, your welcome to – in fact we insist! Contact us 

Thank you for reading, I’m Rob Maughan director of Maughan Building Company