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. 

Mim, today let's chat about your building experience. So you obviously went through the building process before you started with BOSS. How long ago did you go through your building journey? It was just after COVID, so when the government were giving out the grants. Yep. Um, so, oh God, it feels like a lifetime ago.

What was that, three,  five? Five. Five years ago. Wow. Yeah, yep. Sheesh. Yep. Okay. And tell us about your building experience and like how overall, how was that for you going through the experience as a single female at the time? At the time. At the time. Um, and kind of what you know now and how that would change what your experience was back then.

Yeah. I had a fantastic experience. Yep. There's not. Any element of it that I was like, Oh my God, I can't believe that happened to me. Or  yeah, it was just, it was really good. Yeah. Happened. Like I think the total process was maybe 11 months. Yeah. Very good. Especially for COVID. Yeah. Yep. Um, the price of it, I've never got any price increases.

Yeah. I actually got money cause I got the grants. I just was super lucky. Yeah. And I think that I guess looking at it now and doing what I do.  The experience was really great, but I couldn't tell you. Yeah. I didn't learn anything about the experience other than it was good. I didn't necessarily learn anything from it. 

Were there things that you wish you had learnt from it? Yeah, I think just understanding the process a little bit better. They don't teach you this stuff in school, right? Yeah. It's like you grow up and then you have to do your tax and you're like, okay. You won't find your tax accountant before. I won't. I wish that I understood the process from start to finish.

What is pre start? What's involved with pre start? Structural? Non structural elements? Contracts? How do I decipher a building contract? What's a working drawing? Okay, well land contracts. to pay that deposit. What's next? Alright, home design. Okay. I wish that I knew that maybe I could have made more changes with the design rather than being very like base plan.

Yeah. But also I think like educational purposes, I never got any of that. It was just kind of like, this is what it is sign here. Then we move into the next step. Very like black and white. Yeah. And  I guess through that part of the process, what did you find was the most challenging? And like, it was like, If you didn't know what you didn't know, what now, looking back on it, did you find the most challenging?

Probably the lack of emotional support. I think I was,  I must have been 25 at the time, and you could sell me a pen, right? Like, I'm shocking. So having such a big milestone in my life,  being so uneducated about it.  But then also just like, okay, I'm putting trust in someone, which I was very fortunate that it came like, it was a positive experience.

Yeah.  You know, close to half a million dollars. A young single female, he and Mim signed this line, this is what happens next.  You know, so having that stress as well, being like, Oh my God, even for my mum probably having to see me go through it, she also has no idea.  So  just not having anyone there to be like, okay, this is what is happening. 

The next step is this, so on and so forth. So it's just like the lack of emotional support, I think, was probably like the biggest thing that I didn't get, which I wish that I had. Yep. Do you remember feeling overwhelmed and stressed? Oh, gorgeous. Yeah. Mm hmm. Yeah. And I think that's why now I relate to clients so much, is because I know that feeling, especially with finance.

And it is like, it's a lot of money, and it's not even a lot of money now, it's potentially the next 30 years of your life.  Also, what does that look like? I'm not always going to be in the same position in my life. So am I going to be swimming in debt? Am I locked into something that I can't get? Like, what are, what are all the elements of that?

Who can help me answer those questions?  But that feeling where you can feel that you're like a stomach sink and even talking about, Oh. So much deposit. Yeah. And then you get your pre start variation, you know, like there's just so many elements and moving parts that I wish I had someone to be a little bit more, um, like have a little bit more emotional support and offer me a little bit more education around what it all means.

Yeah. Did you just. Like going through the process, did you just blindly trust the process? Yeah, I think like I was lucky because, um, my sales rep was a friend of mine. Yeah. And I was always kind of, I always had money there for a deposit to buy, like to buy a house. Um, I was just going to go on a like adventure.

I was just going to leave and go like live abroad for a little while, just kind of, but then COVID happened. So it all kind of like went into fruition, but I put my faith. In other people. Yeah. In regards to,  and I'm like that as a person. Yeah. But like I said, I'm, I can be a little bit gullible in just, I just expect the best from people and for them to do the right thing.

Yeah. So, and I, like I, you know, on these Perth groups and you see the things that are happening to people. Yeah. And. It gobsmacked me that there are people out there so willing to do that to other people. Yeah. Yeah. And what, from what you know now in the building industry and like things working, what is, I guess, how, how can you see that as a huge red flag?

Like there would be so many, especially like single females and like everyone going through the process who feel I'm going to trust this person or feel like. I think it's hard because you, you know, you might go meet with like a sales rep and they're going to tell you everything that you want to hear.

But I really do think you need to trust your intuition, your gut, um, do your research, you know, look, don't feel like you have to go with one kind of like builder as such, you know, and I think that's why having a building broker potentially is such a great option because they can Offer you options.  Um, and I think it's about, you know, going with a team that you feel like you can trust and you do have a good vibe with because  the process, like I said, there's so many moving parts, right?

But you want to be able to. Work with someone that you know you can ask multiple questions. There's no judgment. You know, you can ask them at any time and you're probably going to get a response. It's not this kind of like fluffing around like you're chasing. You don't want to be chasing someone. You want this experience to be really good, right?

You're probably working full time. You have a family, all those kinds of things. Building a house is stressful. So have a team behind you that can take that stress away. Yeah. And just obviously, you know, building, it's not always going to be a smooth journey, yeah, but  have people that are in your corner. It can help. 

just alleviate some of that stress and even be an ear for you to rant to because something's happened. Yeah. There might not be a situation, like an outcome that we can do as such. But being able to just talk it out, we'll help. Yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent. How did you feel going through the process and like, did you ask questions when going through the process?

Well, I think maybe, I reckon there was a couple of emails and again  Emails could just get, take so long to reply and then they get missed into like miscommunication, all that kind of thing.  No. Yeah. Again, I think I just put so much trust into it. And back then I feel like building companies probably needed their clients more than clients needed them.

It's a very different time building now than it was, you know, five years ago. Yeah. But I could imagine it now, an email, the reply. Turnaround time of that would be huge. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Through the process, what do you think was one of the most valuable things that you had learnt  or like something now that you would have learnt that maybe would be valuable for back then?

Asking the questions. Yeah. Um, especially as you kind of go through,  I guess, any of the like pre construction kind of construction phase,  you are spending a lot of money. Yeah. Ask the questions.  And no question is silly, because at the end of the day, this is your home, this is a roof over your head, and you have a right to ask those questions.

Um, you know, feel free to, your supervisor, call your supervisor, and then if they're not answering.  Um, yeah. Yeah. You've got to do what you've got to do. It's important for you to be happy with the product that you're getting delivered. Yeah. And it's a lot of money. And people just. It's so much money.

Gamble it and put trust in it. And you can see how it happens and then how it goes. Yeah. Very well. And I couldn't, I was. It was only me that I had to worry about,  but if I had, you know, two kids and a partner and we've just invested our entire life savings into this and, you know, you're not just gambling for yourself, you're gambling for like a few other people that are within your family.

So it is a lot of stress, emotional stress too. Yeah. Takes its toll. Yeah. And having that support and emotional side of it too for people to help you through it is huge. Yeah. And not even just like the negative stuff, but the positive stuff too. Sometimes it's nice to have a bit of banter with clients and celebrate your milestones.

That was another thing is. I felt like the process was very, I never walked away from it being like, Oh my God, I have a house. Yeah. Not once. I think because you, you kind of always know that you're going to have your own home. Yeah. So it's such like society just kind of expects that's the next step. So for me, it wasn't, I don't know, it was a very maybe surreal feeling, but I was never like jumping for joy.

Yeah. Yeah.  Yeah, we just like went through the motions, sign this, do this, next this, rather than like I didn't have anyone being like, hell yeah, good job, move like, yeah. When it is such a huge thing, and I think the issue is that society is just like, oh yeah, this is the next biggest thing, but for everyone it's not, and it is a big milestone, and it's the biggest investment that you're going to make, and it should be celebrated because it's huge. 

Getting married or like doing all those things, that's celebrated so quickly. Building a house is a lot more money than getting married. Yes.  Why isn't that celebrated? Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, you're putting a roof over your head. Yeah. That's pretty, it's pretty cool. Yeah. What is one piece of advice you would give to old Imogen going through the building process? 

Grow old now? No.  No, no, no.  Um. I get so overwhelmed so easily. So I think advice I would give would just to be like, can you just, just stop  and you don't have to do what everyone else thinks that you need to be doing,  or just take your time,  understand, ask the questions and listen to your Like, intuition.

Yeah. I will say, like, my best decisions have been spontaneous. Yeah. And the way that the house venture kind of came about was very spontaneous. Yes. But at the same time, I think that, like,  adrenaline of, like, oh my God, it's a house.  Oh, shit. We're doing this. Oh, shit. Yeah. Just like pump the brakes a little bit.

Yeah. Ask the questions and just like take a breath. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You didn't feel like you pumped the brakes. Had time to Yeah. I think I had time to like process it. Yeah. Did you have other people around you that were giving you like opinions or? Oh, I mean like my family, of course. Um, more so I think concern.

Definitely. Like it was just really mum and I. Yeah. But not really, to be honest, like I did it entirely by myself. Yeah. Did you do much research? No, but no. Yeah. No. Honestly, it will cut a ways though this, it could have been built upside down and I'd have been like sick. 

Which is again, goes to show like nothing bad happened in your building experience. But God it could have. Yeah. And would you have known? No. Yeah. But I definitely  would have been the person to get caught in that bad experience had I built 12 months later. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.  And I mean, you also knew. Your sales rep, too.

Which also helps through the process. it for sure. Like I was very lucky in that regard. Definitely. Which is good. Yeah. So you can just kind of like trust and go with the process. But it's such a. You can see how that can end up so bad. Oh my goodness gracious me! And I see, I hear the stories and that makes me sick to my stomach that that happens to people.

Yeah. And you're not just like, you're not just.  You know, just buying a car. Yeah.  Like there's so many things that's important for you to know and I think as well it's important for the individual, the client, you have to do the research as well. Yeah. Because at the end of the day, you're signing the documents.

Yeah. You need to make sure that you're checking things. Yeah.  I would have been the person to probably not check those things back then. Science, science, science. But knowing what I know now, I'm like, oh my goodness, because  the builders  have it there to cover themselves. Yeah. So you need to make sure that you're doing the same thing for you.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I guess it's the same, yeah, with, if we could give a, it's. The client's house. At the end of the day, we can give advice or like, do this, do this. But if the client wants it, the client wants to have their bathroom like that. Yeah. Then that's great. Yeah. But yeah, you are the client's the one signing off at the end of the day.

So you have to do your research. Yeah, of course. And sign off because it is your house at end of the day. Yes, absolutely. But having people to teach you about it is huge. And that's, that's the difference right. Is, for me, I didn't understand anything, so I'm just, like, willy nilly kind of signing these dotted lines.

But it's then about having someone to support you and be like, well, this is what all this means. And then you still have that decision at the end of the day. Yep, yep, yep. And did you make any changes to your floor plan or custom design bits of it? No, it was very, like, base plan. I went, I moved a,  um, what's it called, tap?

Yep, what's it called? A tap. It was like 450 bucks. Yeah, okay.  Expensive tap. But I know what I'm like once I've got that assessed. Yep. So yeah, here's my 450. Yeah. Done. Yeah. No worries. Yep. What do you think now, like being a building broker, what do you use from your, what you learned from your building experience now in your job to help clients?

Emotional support. Yeah.  Um, sensitive Sally over here.  It's always one of us crying Just especially when I do have, you know, um, I've had a few like single females come through  and not having someone probably there, like to communicate with and explain and, you know, talk things over. Bounce ideas. Yeah, absolutely.

So being able to. Understand emotionally how they're feeling. Oh, to be honest, no, everyone. Yeah. Everyone, definitely. Um, when you, it's definitely the finance that we find like people are the most like, it's the most stressful part. Yeah. And sometimes it's not giving an answer or giving them an outcome.

Yeah. Sometimes you're just there to listen. Yeah. And just to be that person that's like, it's going to be okay.  We just need to get through this.  And then you see when they, they kind of like come out of that little rollercoaster and you're like, God. And you can see they're just like getting to the tip top and you know that they're like, Holy moly.

We, okay, we've done it. Yeah. And you can feel the relief. Yeah. Yeah. And like, what's the, no kind of like easy journeys made or?  What is it like? You,  nothing good is easy. Yeah. Yeah. You know, like how much more rewarding is it when you maybe had a few hurdles? ? Yeah. Yeah.  Silver lining. Yeah. Building does have its fair share of hurdles.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. It's, nothing's ever really like smooth  No, in a way. But it's about having the team. 'cause there's so, so many moving parts. Yeah. Being a little bit realistic, I like. In that is it's human error, right? Like there's a lot of moving parts, a lot of people working, you know, you know, when you like send an email to the wrong person or like if those little things can happen throughout this process for sure. 

Why did you choose to build over buy? And why do you think people should build a house? Um, back then there was no thought process of why I should build or actually to be honest because the government would give them 70 grand away.  Pretty good incentive.  Yeah. That'll do it. Um, um, so yeah, that was a definite win, but I think like I had the money there to buy.

Yeah. Right. Now knowing what I know. Yeah.  You can get what you want in a house more often than not when you build because you're choosing what that house is, from the plan to the inclusions. When you're buying a house, like me and my partner, we look at houses all the time. Yeah. And without a doubt.  It's not open living.

Next. And now knowing what you know. Next. Well, we're the Jets. Go, you gotta go. No. Just, there's so many elements of buying a house or an established house where you're kind of like, Oh.  And probably also knowing what I know now and like working with different plans and things like that. And seeing how like, like layouts of houses it's building is exciting because you're designing your home.

Yep. Yeah. Have fun. Yeah. You get to design it for your lifestyle, your kids, your extra toys,  garage, location, inclusion. Yep. And I think you can, you can make your money go a lot further. But by, you know, I mean, this is probably, this is another podcast topic, I guess, but  you know, you can really like pull your inclusions out to help get your structural elements over the line for your loan.

Yeah. And then when you go to pre start,  you can just add all those non structural elements, you know, like your flooring, your blinds, air con back in, and you pay cash to build a loader. Yeah. So you've allowed for, you know, high ceilings and more space in your house. Yep. And you know that you have to budget X amount for your inclusions,  which you then just pay to the builder at the start of construction.

Yeah. Or however their process works. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it's super important to make sure those structural things are in earlier because you can't add them in later. You can't do that. You can add everything else later. Yeah, that's when that tap will probably come into 450. 450 for a tap.  Oh, how long did your build take?

Oh,  I think I signed, um, I signed my PPA, what comes, in May, yeah, wait, May, June, July, no, must have been, I, oh God, July, and then I think I got my keys in May, yeah, the other way around, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, so, yeah, so it was like 10 months, yeah, um, right before the boom, yeah, there was only one thing, it was like the, Um, I had a like marble benchtop, it was like black  and then they, they called me and they were like, we're out of supply.

And I was like, oh,  then they said they had to get cream. I was like, oh, perfect. Goes way better with the toss. Way better. Everything happens for a reason. Oh, that's true.  How did you feel when you got your keys at key handover? A little bit.  I don't know. Maybe it's because I just didn't really have that,  I don't know, the hype squad.

That,  I think as well, maybe just, oh, it's weird, weird, weird, weird, like, very surreal. Yeah. But I just don't think back then I understood how big it is. To build a house. Yeah. Or to buy a house. Like, you're going to do it at some point in your life.  Maybe that's just a, maybe that's just me personally. I'd try and I maybe downplayed like a thing.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Me a little bit, but yeah, I just didn't really have that hot squad. Yeah. Yeah. I mean my best mate, Bree, she was Definitely, yeah, her and Jay like frothing it. Oh, that's good.  Jay did a little speech in my housewarming, as she does, generally pops up, gone  out of nowhere. Lesser, yeah. Not asked, but just goes for golf. 

Um, yeah, I don't know, like I think it was a very surreal feeling. Yeah. I reckon I say that a lot with clients though. Yeah. Like I understand. I'm like, even you got, Oh my God, congratulations on securing a block. Oh, cool. Okay. What next? You know? Yeah. It's like the, the, maybe the milestone is the keys, but I'm like, Oh, there's so many.

Up until that point.  That's like the outcome goal, but there's so many like, you know, little habits that are happening in between where it's like, now that's, if you don't get that, you don't have that. Yeah. Which is why celebrating those milestones is so big. Because if you don't get that, you don't do this, you don't get that, and you don't get that.

It's a domino effect. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But then getting the keys is so surreal because you've just done it all then. Yeah. I remember that it's, I frothed the like, they give you the big, I mean, not that I use any of the stuff, but they, you get the big bouquet like walking out. You got your little like set of key and it's like little compartment thing.

Um, Well, it's cause did you have hand over at your builder's office? Not at the house. Yeah. Which is a huge difference. Cause you just walk into an office. Just get a key and you leave and yeah, and a bow on your front door. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And someone to meet you there and give you the keys at the house.

Yeah. Yeah. It's just a very little thing. It makes a world of difference. Even just the, um, the like final inspection. Yeah. Oh yeah. This is this. Yeah. This is the, um, I don't know what any of this stuff is. I don't like, yeah, it all looks really great. I actually, that's cause I don't  know what it's meant to look like.

Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah, so maybe like having a bit more support around that as well. Of, you know, when I get my keys, having someone walk me through that, which is definitely an option. I just didn't think that,  I didn't think of that back then. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And most, I mean, it definitely depends on who your builder is.

Some of them do do key handover at the office, or some of them are site supervisor with client and you walk through, which makes a huge difference. Yeah. It's just more that client experience, right? Yeah. Which is like for me, I probably walked away being like, yeah, cool. really good. But imagine walking away being like, Oh my God, it was so good.

I'm so glad I built my house far out. Did you feel like just a number? Yeah. Yes. Yes. That's what it is. You're just a number in the system. It was like a penny drop moment then. Yeah. And even like the, the, um, Emails back and forth,  just very like grey, like colour wise just felt a bit like dim. Dull. Dull. 

Dull. No love in it. No brightness. On a rainbow. No fun. On a rainbow.  Yeah. It's, uh, you're just a number in the system and you just go through the motions, sign this, do this, nothing went wrong and it was good, but you're just a number. And that's a feeling. Yeah. And maybe it is now, like with the times of, you know. 

It's such, it's booming. So  you could go to any builder and sign up. Yeah. But what do you want? Yeah. Do you want to have a dull experience or do you want it to be exciting, full of joy and happiness and someone there to support you when you are, you know, when things do pop up, that might be a little bit of a hurdle.

And then do you want someone there at your slab party? That's going to be able to celebrate it with you. And you know. Beat your key hand over with your family and help pop the bottle of champagne, you know? Yeah. It just depends on what you want. Yeah. Yeah, going through that, do you want to be asking a random Facebook group, Hey, this is my issue, can I have some advice?

Yeah. Or do you want to ask someone that You're comfortable asking that can give you that advice or question or rent rent rant and things like that Yeah, like the Facebook groups have a lot of  Like pull on a lot of people and don't get me wrong. They have their their place for sure Yeah, but I think it's like the news right people are so worried about their builders going under I'm like, okay, out of all, like the one builder out of 10 that goes under, what about the nine that don't?

Yeah. You know, it's the same thing with those building with, sorry, the, um, Facebook groups and I'm in them. Yeah. Well, I love having a little, little scroll through, but  I see stuff and I'm like, Oh  yeah. That's because you probably didn't do your research and you don't know. Yeah. You don't know. And more so you don't know.

Um, and. Like me, put your faith in someone and unfortunately, because it is such a different time, it is like just, you know, see who's out there, what are you after in a build, do you want it to be a fun experience, are you happy to just kind of go through the motions, and then Line that up with who you want to work with.

Yeah. Yeah. Do you want to do it on your own or do you want to do it in like with a team or independently? Do you want to spend all weekend going through display villages and looking at quotes and trying to understand it or, or do you want people to help you? And be careful of who you're getting your advice from.

I see a lot of like plans get put through these. Through these like groups and people don't know your lifestyle, people don't know what you want in your home and then you're asking for advice on your plan. Yeah. When there's professionals out there that are willing to help, can understand you, build rapport with you. 

But understand your experience that you're after and then we can, you know, help design that custom home for what you want, not someone on a Facebook group. Well, yeah, cause you could design a house 708 different ways and which one do you want? Option five and seven and six are all going to be, all going to be very different. 

But what one actually works for you and your family and what you want and long term lifestyle. And like, without having any knowledge of the block, what are the  restricted competence? Yeah. What are the requirements on the block? Yeah. Like it can't just, sometimes it's not just as simple as being like, Oh, well, I just want to move this, this, this and add this in here.

And sometimes it's not always that easy. Yeah. But it's about having a team behind you that can help educate you and support you so you can understand that. So you can walk away being like. Oh yeah, I'm so glad I made that decision because I had all of the information in front of me. Yeah, and then you can make that decision and back yourself in.

And too much, too many opinions can be so overwhelming. Very, yeah. Yeah. And that, yeah, it comes down to having that like education and the support and the emotional side of it. All to help you through the whole process to get you to where you want to go. Yeah, absolutely. Yep. Thanks for joining me today.

Always a pleasure. Every time you ask me, I'm straight in there.  We'll be on another one soon.  Go away, easy. 

Thank you so much for tuning in to the Home Building Like a Boss podcast. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and learned something new. Remember, you've got this and I've got your back. Until next time. See ya. Stay inspired, stay informed, and stay confident on your building journey. I can't wait to chat with you on the next episode. 

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