Welcome to Home Building Like a Boss, the podcast dedicated to helping first home buyers in Perth build their dream home with ease and excitement. I'm Jamie, your host and go to building broker. Are you ready to feel empowered, in control, and excited about your building journey? I'll help guide you with expert advice, insider tips and tricks, and real life stories to help you navigate the confusing world of home building.

Tune in as I take you on the journey to building your home like a boss.

Hello and welcome to the first episode of Home Building Like a Boss. I'm Jamie, your host, and I'm so excited to be sitting here recording this first episode for you. And also really, really nervous. This is very out of my comfort zone and feels super unnatural, but I'll get used to it and, and done is better than perfect, right?

So let's get into it. In today's episode, we're going to chat about me a little bit. I'll introduce myself so you can get to know me. what a building broker is and some general struggles that first home buyers face getting into the market. So let's start off with a little bit about me. I started in the industry three years ago now, um, previously worked in the fitness industry.

So it's definitely a different change. Um, I got into this when my wife and I, we built our first house, and we went through so many struggles looking for a builder, tossing up between new build and established, what's going to be better, the pros and cons of both, running around to every single display village, which was.

Honestly made everything more overwhelming than we felt beforehand. That can be a, that's going to be another episode for sure. And different sales consultants, different builders, different ideas. And honestly, we were so overwhelmed with the process. We almost pretty much packed it in and decided we weren't going to do anything.

Establish was too hard. Every house that we looked at, we had to do renovations. We didn't quite love it. Building we wanted to do so we could design our own home, make it ours, it was new, but just the process was so overwhelming and all the information out there was way too much to handle. Anyway, we ended up finding a building broker.

Um, we didn't know what a building broker was and ended up using a building broker who helped us through the process. And I was like, wow, this, that definitely changed our experience for us and got us into our first home. During the process, I ended up asking him if I could have a job. I was like, I really enjoy going through this process, us as first home buyers.

Can I have a job? He was like, yeah, sure. So I ended up working and training under his brand and business for a couple of years. Learned the ropes, did what I needed to do. And I knew there was something else. I just had this feeling I could do more to help first home buyers, but I was limited in working for somebody else.

I didn't have control over everything, that kind of thing. So that's what sparked me to start my own brand, which was Boss Building Brokers, which is just over a year ago now. I had different ideas and ways that I knew I could support first home buyers, learning from the struggles that we had, my wife and I, when we built our first house.

So going through that experience really drives how I help people. And that's kind of how I got to where I am today. It's very random to, I mean, go from the fitness industry to being a building broker or being a building broker in general. It's very random. It's not, it's not very well known. Most of my clients and people that come through the door are like, I had no idea you even existed.

I'm like, yeah, we've got. As a building broker, I work independently for the client rather than for the builder. So you might have heard of a mortgage broker, most people have. Very similar to a mortgage broker with banks, I do the same across builders. I'm there to Hold my client's hand, help them through the process, secure finance, find a block of land, check their hidden costs, find the right builder, and hold their hand and advocate for them step by step through the building process from pre construction all the way to construction from when they get their keys.

I basically do all the hard, stressful shit for you, so you can have a fun and enjoyable building experience. Some of my clients call me their personal building admin, project manager. I'm there to literally help my clients with everything, from start to finish, especially as a first home buyer. You don't know what to look for, what to ask, what the lingo means, what's...

A better investment. Well, it's not a better investment. Who do I ask these questions to? So I'm here as that support through the building process for my clients to make sure they get the best experience possible rather than just winging it. There's, you know, get taught at school how to build a house, how to get into the property market.

How do you secure finance? What, what to do in a build? What not to do in a build? So you're just kind of expected to wing it sometimes. Or listen to the builder. But, how do you really know if the builder has your best interest at heart? You don't, but you have to trust somebody. So, it's my job to help my clients keeping in mind their best interest at heart.

Helping them through the whole process to get them into their first home. I mean, I'm biased. I used to be a building broker, but I just think it's definitely... Why wouldn't you? And now, it's not just who's got the cheapest quote, who's got the cheapest price, who's got the best sales promotion on at the moment.

Because let me tell you, those sales promotions don't actually exist. We'll get into that another time. As a building broker, I help my clients get the best deal. Now the best deal is looking at price, quality, timeframes, constructions, transparency, communication, how to builders treat their clients. Because Let me tell you, the cheapest deal, the cheapest quote, is never the best deal, and it is always too good to be true.

If it's too cheap, you're gonna lose out on your timeframes or your quality. So it's my job to help guide my clients picking the right builder for their build and what they want, but also knowing who to avoid trades, quality, timeframes, constructions, all that kind of stuff comes into play when picking the right builder.

And as a client, how do you know that if you walk into a display village and you sit down with somebody in a sales consultant, how do you know? They're telling you, they can tell you anything. And this is definitely one of the main struggles that first home buyers experience getting into the market. How do you know what builder to pick?

Which builder to pick? How much research do you have to do? Who do you listen to? I had an info session this morning with a lovely lady, um, who's thinking about building and she was chatting about, at the end of it, she... She said she was so grateful for all the information she got and how helpful it was.

But it is so overwhelming out there listening to Aunty Karen who built and picked the wrong builder and had a disaster or friends and family who have been through the process and it's been a disaster. So many people will tell you their building experience but not so many of them have had a terrible building experience.

So that's what they pass on to people. What about the information from the people who have had a positive successful building experience with the right support and the right team? Because the right team and the right support, that is what makes a difference in your build. Do you have the right finance broker?

Do you have the right builder? Do you have the right team and support helping you? Do you need a building broker? Are you going direct to a builder? What support are they going to give you? Do you know how to manage the process? What questions to ask? Because it is so overwhelming, all the information out there.

And then it's like, well, where do you start first? And that is another common struggle. Where do you start first? All right, I want to build. I'm thinking about building. I want the first house. What the fuck next? You know? Now, the first three steps are your most important, and you want to break it down step by step.

Now, I always tell my clients, we break it down step by step, and we move through it. Don't look at it as a whole, because it will be overwhelming and stressful. Let's break it down. Now, your first three steps are your most important. So, one is understanding your budget. You need to know... Are you eligible? Do you need a savings plan in place?

Are you eligible in three months, six months, twelve months? So understanding your budget and do you qualify? There's no point looking around. And if you're looking at established for a 700, 000 house or house and land package, but then you can only have a package or borrow 500, 000, you're not going to squeeze down to 200, 000, or you're going to be really sad because you can't have the 700, 000 house and land package.

So always start. with your finance. Do you need to save 20 grand? Do you need to be in your employment a little bit longer? Do you need to earn a little bit more? So many people come to me first and we do need to set up a plan, a savings plan, a finance plan, and that's okay. You want to do your research early and put the plans in place.

It doesn't happen overnight. And then once you have a plan, what you need to do, You know your budget. Now you can start looking. Your next step from here is working out your location. So finding something that suits your lifestyle, somewhere that'll make you feel happy, connected, safe. Do you need to be around schools, public transport?

Are you North of the river. South of the river. Do you want to be beachside? Do you want to be east? All of that is important and you want to work out what suburbs and locations can I afford. With a 500, 000 budget you're probably not going to get a block in Cottesloe. So we need to re look at what's more important to you.

Location, suburb, house size. Am I looking in Hammond Park. I might not be able to afford Hammond Park, but I can afford Wellard, which is 10 minutes down the road, because the land is a little bit cheaper. So, working out your location to suit your lifestyle and your budget from step one. Then, once you've narrowed down some locations, And suburbs, you want to be able to choose your block, which is step number three.

So choosing your block based on your budget. And now when you're picking your block, there's a few things that you want to consider. You want to look at your shape, the frontage, the orientation of your block, and most importantly, your site works. Now your site works is one of the biggest hidden costs in building, which will also be another episode.

Now once you've got your block, you've checked your site works, you've had a look at the costs. It's about picking the right builder. Who can build on that block. Each block is different. Some builders won't build on certain blocks and knowing that some builders don't specialize in certain blocks and certain areas, you have a builder who doesn't build on a battle X block, but you go to them and they're like, Oh yeah, maybe we could do it.

They're not specialized in that to be able to build that house. You're most likely not going to get the best experience. You need to know what builders specialize in what builds. I could talk about this all day, but it's time to wrap it up. So these are your first three most important steps. It's a start.

That's where you need to start out. Break it down step by step. And throughout the episodes and the podcast, we'll break down each step and each process. I will give you tools and education. on how it all works to help you throughout your process. Now, in today's episode we covered what is a building broker, a little bit about me and how I got into it, struggles first home buyers make, how to pick the right builder, and your first three steps to help you start your journey.

Thank you so much for tuning in to the home building like a boss podcast. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and learn something new. Remember, you've got this and I've got your back until next time. Stay inspired, stay informed and stay confident on your building journey. I can't wait to chat with you on the next episode.

Don't forget to check out the show notes.

If you haven't already, hit that subscribe button so you never miss an episode of the Home Building Like a Boss podcast.