Build Process

The building contract is completed after your colour selection and desired changes are finalised and will be signed with your Sales Agent.  The Building Contract consists of the HIA building contract, plans, all specifications and costs.

The balance of 5% deposit payment is required upon signing of the building contract to allow for the applications and approval process to commence. This invoice will be included as part of your building contract documentation.

Once your Building Tender has been finalised with your Sales Consultant and submitted to our office, you will be contacted by your appointed Customer Support Co-ordinator who will be your point of contact throughout the journey of building your new home.

It is preferred that no further changes are made to your plans and selections once the building contract is signed. This will help to avoid any delay in the approval process to reach building permit and construction commencement.

In the case of requested changes from this point, a variation/administration fee will be applied at the discretion of the builder and extension of time applied to achieve building permit.

It is possible for further requirements to be included to your home design to meet relevant authority approvals i.e. building permit, developer approval, energy rating requirements, title covenants or restrictions and siteworks upgrades after land testing is complete.

Please refer further below and to the Beachwood Terms & Condition’s for items that are not included as standard, unless already included as an additional upgrade item priced in your Building Tender.

Siteworks are simply levelling and preparing the land in preparation to pour the slab to commence construction. This involves, site cut of the land, underground drainage and electrical works, preparing the ground and steel re-enforcement structure for the concrete slab to be poured.

A re-establishment survey is for the placement of boundary pegs identifying the true and correct boundaries of your land. The site contour survey will determine if any pegs are missing and re-establishment survey is required at additional cost.

An Energy Rating is the thermal performance assessment of the house design on the specified land to determine if 6 star energy efficiency can be achieved. 6 star rating of energy efficiency is the minimum rating required for all new homes across Victoria.

The thermal performance assessment is a comprehensive evaluation of building performance which includes:

• Construction materials
• Window glazing, specification, sizing and orientation
• Ceiling, floor & wall Insulation details
• Orientation of the building
• Services (i.e. heating, cooling, artificial lighting, pools, spas etc.)

If your home does not meet 6 star requirements, upgrades such as double glazing to windows and ceiling & wall insulation are generally required. Should any upgrades be required, this will be presented and discussed with you by a Beachwood representative.

The Developer Approval is the application for approval to the relevant estate your block of land is located in. The estate guidelines specified in your land contract will determine if this approval is required and items required to be complied with, i.e. external finishes and siting of your home.

Beachwood apply and pay for the asset protection permit prior to construction. Should you receive any communication from your local council regarding the asset protection permit, this can be disregarded as we will take care of this on your behalf. 

Beachwood apply for the building permit approval through our appointed Building Surveyor to evaluate and assess plans ensuring your home design meets all building regulations and legal requirements.

Items involved in achieving a building permit, includes though not limited to, finalised plans and siting, soil test, contour survey, engineering, property information from council and south east water, registered land title, settlement on land, community infrastructure levy, developer approval, energy rating.

We require proof of the full amount to cover your building contract plus any applicable variations prior to building permit being issued.

This can be provide by the following:

Unconditional finance approval from the bank showing amount of loan available to cover construction.

Bank statement in your name(s) reflecting any or all portions of funds covered by yourselves

The bank requires the approved building permit, stamped plans, home owner’s warranty insurance and public indemnity insurance before they can release any funds from your loan.

This is a standard process for majority of banks and these documents will be provided to you once they are issued to forward to your bank prior to commencement and progress claims being issued for payment.

Once the building permit is issued we will continue to book in for siteworks to commence and be completed in preparation for the slab to be poured.

The construction guarantee for your house completion is stated in your building contract.

Single storey dwellings: 28 weeks from slab poured to Occupancy Permit.

Double storey dwellings: 36 weeks from slab poured to Occupancy permit.

Handover will occur approx. 2-3 weeks from Occupancy permit issued.

There will be a dedicated Site Manager taking care of the construction of your home and you will have an appointed Customer Support Co-ordinator throughout the construction of your home that can be reached via email or phone.

While most other builders will provide direct contact to the relevant site manager, we have found that an office based contact person to liaise between the site supervisor and yourselves enables the site supervisor to focus on building your home to the highest quality, and on time.

While we understand the construction of your home is an exciting time we also understand you will want to see the progress of what is happening out on site.

Occupational Health & Safety laws do not allow for unpermitted access to the site so please make sure you contact us first and we can arrange a site meeting with a Beachwood representative.

Contact your Customer Support Co-ordinator for the potential of organising a walkthrough or inspection and we will look through to accommodate this for you.

Minimum of 3 business days’ notice for your requested time.

Contact your Customer Support Co-ordinator for the potential of organising an external party to access your home for quote / measuring. There may be times where it is not possible and you may need to wait until you get your keys, however we will work with you to accommodate where possible.

Progress claims will be invoiced at the completion of the following construction stages as specified in your HIA building contract. Base Stage, Frame, Stage, Lock-up Stage, Fixing Stage and Completion Stage.

On completion of each of these stages the progress invoice will be emailed to you with 7 days for payment to be made. Should your bank take longer than 7 days to make payment please contact yourCustomer Support Co-ordinator to advise as soon as possible.

The practical completion inspection is a thorough walkthrough of your home with your Beachwood Site Manager prior to finalising settlement & handover.

This will allow to you identify any areas of concern or outstanding items to be completed to achieve handover of your keys.

The final progress invoice will be issued to you along with the Occupancy Permit to forward to your bank for their final valuation and to arrange their final payment.  Please ensure you forward these documents to your bank as soon as you receive as to not delay handover of your keys.

Our preferred method of payment is electronic funds transfer. If the final payment is being made via electronic transfer, this can take up to 72 hours for payment to be reflected in our account. If you are paying via bank cheque, this must be sited by our office no later than 2pm,two business days prior to the scheduled handover.

If we have not sited the bank cheque or received electronic transfer of funds by 2pm on the day prior to handover, the handover will not be able to take place as scheduled.

Handover will take place once we have completed the construction of your home, your final payment is cleared and are ready to handover your keys to you.

This will be completed on site at your new home with your Beachwood Site Manager.

We apply for the connection of water, sewer, gas and electricity (where applicable) from the main service lines to the house prior to construction commencement. The run in of these services lines to connect to the house will be completed as part of our scope of works in construction however ongoing services fees are payable by yourselves as the owner(s).

We will cover costs of power usage during construction as the account will initially be in our name.

Water usage fees should be minimal and will be required to be paid by yourselves as the owner(s).

You will need to contact your preferred retailer to set up the Gas & Electricity accounts into your name. 

We will arrange with Energy Australia for our final meter read to occur the day of handover.  If you wish to remain with Energy Australia, their contact number is: 133 466 and you can organise a transfer of the account into your name(s).

Your home and contents insurance should be put in place to commence from the date of the handover of your keys.