FAQs

Bringing a builder on board as early in the project as possible is the best time. At Amity Builders, we encourage clients to bring us on at the same time as their designer or architect so we can collaborate from the beginning.

By working alongside you as a homeowner and your architect/designer, we are able to give continuous pricing feedback to help you get a design that's suited to your budget. Oftentimes homeowners get an incredible design drawn up and approved by council, only to find out from a builder that their dream home is financially out of reach.

This can lead homeowners to pay more for a redesign, or find a builder who says they'll "do it cheaper" when in reality those costs will come up sooner or later.

All of those head and heartaches can be avoided by bringing us on as a consultant during the pre-construction stage so we can assess feasibility and buildability.

For us at Amity Builders, choosing to only build high performing homes isn't about building "the best homes" out there. It's about building with integrity and care — for the building itself, for our clients, and for the planet.

Here's why:

• If we’re not doing thermal modelling in the pre-construction/design stage, we're simply guessing what the actual performance of your home will be.

• Airtightness is vital for durability. It gives you the opportunity to control the air (which contains moisture) that is coming through your walls, roof and floors. If moisture in the air is entering your home unregulated and accumulating in areas where it can't dry, your building can become mouldy and structural membranes may rot. 

• Mechanical ventilation is the only way to control the quality of air coming into your home and the only consistent way of ensuring that poor quality, polluted, and humid air is removed from your home.

• Poor quality air and ventilation can be detrimental to your health and the building's health. Studies show that up to 40% of new homes in Australia have mould issues. Without air tightness and consistent ventilation, there is no guarantee your house won’t have mould.

  • Which is also why we stay away from gas. It's bad for the environment, bad for your pocket, and even worse for your indoor air quality.

We understand there is still a big education gap when it comes to understanding the value of choosing a high performing home over a standard Australian build. And because of this gap, we're cutting ourselves off from a large portion of homeowners looking for a builder. To us, Amity Builders isn't just a business. It's a vehicle for creating a better and healthier world the best way we know how.

If you're not convinced a high performing home is best for you, then no stress. We can always recommend you to other builders we know and trust. But if you're open to exploring whether it can work for you and your family, then let's chat.

One of the beauties of bringing us on during the pre-construction stage as a consultant is we get to tailor your design (alongside your designer, of course) to meet your budget. By knowing your budget, we understand your goalpost and can give you advice on cost-saving opportunities, if scope may need to scale back, or if there's room to add more from your wish list.

If we don't know your budget, then we can't collaborate with you and your designer or architect to develop a design that meets your vision. And if you're not getting accurate pricing feedback throughout the design process, you'll have no idea what it's going to cost to build.

The cost of a build can vary significantly from builder to builder based on the quality of that builder's trades, labour, materials and their associated overheads.

More details in the next FAQ!

The short(er) answer?

We offer our Pre-Construction Process as a service to help homeowners get a design that's aligned to their construction budget. We charge a nominal fee for this service to signify both of our commitments to collaboration across the 6+ month period of back and forth as we give continuous pricing feedback and assess feasibility and buildability.

The long answer?

To better understand our reason, it's important to understand the dynamics involved in providing free quotes.

To give a single comprehensive and accurate quote, we spend 50+ hours gaining a holistic understanding the project and site constraints, speaking with trades, researching products and more. If a builder is actively competing for various jobs against other builders (as most do), it's not realistic for them to spend 50+ hours per quote doing unpaid work.

With “cost effective” being one of the key factors homeowners look for when selecting a builder, you’d probably do what you needed to be competitive. By design, this tendering process incentivises builders to cut corners, exclude items from their quotes, and/or lower the quality of their materials and trades in order for their quote to “win”. As well as quote as quickly as possible so they can get back to making money.

Homeowners end up paying for hidden costs along the way, or end up with a poor quality house (leading to more costs for repairs later on).

The truth is, it’s the entire industry that has enabled and promoted this standard as the “norm”. Although comparing cost is part of any buying process, there are many ways you can evaluate which builder to choose without going down the traditional tendering process.

If you haven't already, please read the previous two FAQs first before reading our answer below.

Given all of that... if you're still keen to get a second opinion on the cost of the build, we recommend getting in touch with a professional Construction Estimator who serves as an objective third party to ease your mind!

But thanks to our Pre Construction process, you'll be able to weigh up all your options and decide where your money is best spent, so you're guaranteed to get the best value for money.

The answer depends on what you value. We often hear homeowners say they just want a builder who is honest, fair and cost-effective.

Others seem to judge the quality of a builder based on epic drone shots and a well-designed interior.

So why choose Amity Builders?

We think our website can give you a pretty good idea of the type of builders (and people) we are. But if you value science over speculation, a collaborative environment with great communication, your health and comfort at home, making conscious and considered choices, being mindful of your impact (on others and the planet), kindness, respect, and all that other good stuff you'd never think to see on a building site... then we think we'll get on just fine :)

Short answer: yes-ish.

Long answer: it depends how you define "sustainable".

Cambridge dictionary defines the it as, "causing, or made in a way that causes, little or no damage to the environment and therefore able to continue for a long time." The truth is, the building industry is inherently unsustainable because of the resources, materials and processes used to build.

However, if building a mud hut and living off grid isn't what you're after, then there are ways of building a home that's more sustainable than traditional homes.

Putting aside the vast nuances to consider, generally speaking, the most sustainable thing we can do is use existing housing stock instead of building from the ground up.

The next most sustainable thing we can do is build (a just-big-enough home) to a Passive House standard using as many renewable, recycled and sustainably sourced products as possible.

Hi, Todd here! I've been on the tools as a chippie since 2011, been a licensed builder and project manager since 2019, and founded Amity Builders in late 2021. For well over a decade, I've been getting my kicks out of sharpening my chisels, organising my tool shed, and building to the highest quality and standard I've known.

As a second generation builder, I grew up admiring my dad's passion for building and didn't think twice about a career in residential building.

No, but we can build it! Although we help shape your design by providing pricing feedback and assessing buildability, we leave the design bit to the design experts.

We have an amazing network of designers and architects to suit different design styles and needs. Let us know what you’re after and we'll happily connect you.

We do! From Helensburgh and Stanwell Tops, down Coledale and Thirroul way, straight through Wollongong and Port Kembla, and well into Shellharbour and Kiama — we're proud to build better and healthier homes all along beautiful Dharawal Country.

We are! Like other certified builders, Todd (our Director) took the Passive House Tradesperson course and received a certification after passing the final exam.

Because "educate to empower" is one of our company values, we're always taking advantage of opportunities to learn more about the high performance, Passive House and the building space. We're proud to be active members of the Australian Passivhaus Association, attend regular trainings and conferences, and be part of a great community of builders in the Illawarra and beyond.

Absolutely! We're always happy to provide references from past happy clients and architects. You can also check out our Google reviews if that's easier. We have nothing to hide ;)

Building a custom home is a bespoke experience with a lot of moving parts. Just like no two homeowners are alike, neither are two custom home projects. Factors that can extend the timeline include finalising a design, council approvals, material and trade availability, weather conditions, and more. Typically the pre-construction stage can last around 12 months, and the construction stage between 6-18 months.

At Amity Builders, we only take on a couple projects at a time to ensure we're maximising efficiencies and getting our clients into their homes as quickly as possible, without compromising quality. We're proud to have great processes and systems that enable us to do this.