Our Process — Framewright Builders, Christchurch

Five stages, no surprises at any of them

Building is stressful because of the unknowns. So we take the unknowns out, in order, and put everything that matters in writing.

First visit — free, and honest

We walk the site or the house, talk budget out loud (both directions — yours and what the job really costs), and tell you if the project doesn't stack up. About a third of first visits end with us advising people not to build yet. That's the job.

Fixed-price contract

A full NZ standard building contract with the price fixed and the exclusions listed in plain English on one page. PC sums only where genuinely unavoidable, and flagged as such. You take it away, and we recommend you have a lawyer look at it.

Consents, handled

We manage the building consent with the council, coordinate the engineers and drainlayers, and give you a start date that means something once the consent is granted.

The build — with a Friday update, every Friday

One LBP builder owns your site. Every Friday you get photos, what happened, what happens next week, and any decision we need from you. You'll never learn about your own build from a neighbour.

Handover, documents, and the guarantee

A walk-through together with a shared defects list, the Code Compliance Certificate, every product warranty in one folder, and our 10-year workmanship guarantee in writing. We come back at twelve months to fix any settling — scheduled at handover, not begged for later.

The questions people are embarrassed to ask

Ask them. Everyone has them.

"What if we can't afford what we want?" Then we design down to the budget together, or we tell you honestly to wait a year. Cheaper than finding out mid-build.

"What happens if you find something bad in the walls?" In an older house we price a contingency openly, and anything found is photographed, priced and signed off by you before work continues. No Friday-afternoon surprises on the invoice.

"How do variations work?" Any change — yours or ours — is written up, priced, and signed by both sides before it happens. A variation nobody signed is a variation nobody pays for.