Your journey through the home building process and home renovation process…

Here are the key stages you’ll experience as part of your custom home building process:

The house renovation process steps are very similar to the custom home building process. building process is very similar for both new builds and house extensions.

1. Initial Consultation Call

This is a free 30-minute call, and can be via phone, Skype or Zoom to have an initial discussion about your bespoke building or renovation project.

2. Briefing meeting

Your briefing meeting usually takes place at your home, so we can look at the spaces you’d like to discuss. We’ll ask you about your objectives and preferences, and what you want to achieve from your unique building project.

If you already have plans drawn up, please bring them to your briefing meeting – and you can then go straight to Step 4 in the building process: Pricing. (And if you don’t have plans, we can draw them up for you – that’s covered by Step 3 in the building process.)

Hint: to get the most out of your briefing meeting, it’s helpful if you have a digital copy of your property file from the council. (This is not the same as the LIM; the property file includes all the plans the council has of our property.)

Survey information, if appropriate, for example if there are ground levels or boundaries to consider.

The briefing meeting takes 1 to 2 hours, so we can really get to know you and your preferences.

3. Concept design development

If you don’t already have concept designs, LC Designer Homes’s in-house Architectural Design team, led by Michelle Leonard, will create customised designs for you, which includes a virtual 3D walkthrough experience.

The concept design development building design process steps consists of 3 key stages:

• Design work: The first step of the house design process is for us to dDeveloping the concept plans based on the initial briefing meeting and your budget. We’ll consider council restrictions and requirements when drawing up the designs.
• Concept workshop: You’ll get your first glimpse of your bespoke building project. You’ll see the plans and illustrations, and will also experience an interactive virtual 3D walkthrough. This meeting is very collaborative, and together we can make changes using our state-of-the-art 3D building information modelling software. This means you will get a true feeling of what your new home or renovation will feel like to live in. Read more about the virtual 3D walkthrough.
• Final concept design meeting: You’ll meet with us again to discuss any changes you may have to the designs we presented. And once the concept is finalised, we can give you preliminary costings for your building project.

4. Final plans

If you already have building plans, please let us know, and we can look at the building costs.

Otherwise our in-house Architectural Design team can create the detailed drawings and specifications needed for your project.

As well as being the working document for the build, this also includes all the information you’ll need to lodge your building consent (and resource consent, if needed) with the council. (Or if you’d prefer us to lodge your consents with the council, we can do it for you.)

The final plans include full specifications, including manufacturers’ literature, as well as a schedule of materials, so you’ll know exactly what you’re investing in.

5. Pricing

Prior to commencing the pricing stage of the home building process, you will have the opportunity to meet with specialists, such as the electrician, to work through electrical layouts and browse through our suppliers’ showrooms to select bathroom ware, and so on. This is important, as the luxury homes we build are unique, and the choice of fittings have an impact on the overall building cost.

Once you have a full set of plans, we’ll provide you a comprehensive price for your project. This will include all sub-contractors’ costs – e.g. plumbers, electricians, and so on.

You’ll also receive a preliminary building programme that’ll show you how long the build is likely to take; what happens when; plus a full list of inclusions and exclusions.

6. Your sign-off means that the building work can start

Once you’ve approved the final plans, you’ll be asked to sign a contract and pay a 5 to 10% deposit on your building cost. This allows us to start buying the materials and booking in sub-contractors.

7. The building work is underway – and we’ll keep in regular contact with you

Adam Leonard supervises and project manages the construction programme process and the sub-contractors, to ensure everything is completed to your satisfaction. We use an online collaborative project management system that centralises all the project information and communication, to ensure everyone is on the same page.

You’ll be kept fully informed and updated throughout the custom home building process. If you’re the kind of person who likes to understand all the details, we’ll have a weekly project management meeting with you. Or if you’re too busy to get too involved, let us know: we’ll create a weekly site video for you that you can access via the online client portal.

We believe in full transparency from start to finish, from where the deposit is, to what the budgets are looking like. We’ll communicate that with you through our project management system, and the weekly/fortnightly site meetings.

8. The building work is completed, and guaranteed, and now you can move in!

When the building work is complete, you’ll need to apply to the council for the Code Compliance Certificate (CCC) – LC Designer Homes will give you all the necessary documentation to help you.

The balance of the payment is now due, and you’ll receive the keys to your new, guaranteed home… enjoy!

As you’d expect from luxury home builders, our work is guaranteed.