Open-Book Pricing &amp; Project Management

Financing a New Build in NZ: Construction Loans and Progress Payments, Explained

How construction loans, drawdowns and progress payments work in NZ, what banks want from you and your builder, and the contingency rule that saves builds.

10 min read

How a Builder Prices Your Architectural Plans

What actually goes into pricing a set of architectural plans: quantity take-offs, supplier and subtrade pricing, buildability, value management, and why two quotes on the same plans can differ so much.

Tendering Your Plans vs Partnering With One Builder

Sending finished plans out to several builders for competitive quotes, or engaging one builder early and open book. What each really gets you, and which suits a one-off home.

Why Build Costs Blow Out, and How to Prevent It

The real reasons builds go over budget, lowball quotes, incomplete plans, the ground, variations, and no contingency, and the handful of moves that keep a build on its number.

Cost-Plus vs Fixed-Price vs Open-Book: Builder Contracts Explained

The three ways a builder can charge you, what each really means for risk and transparency, and why a fixed price is only ever as fixed as the drawings behind it.

Builder Rates in NZ: What Builders Actually Cost

What sits inside a builder’s charge-out rate, why the lowest rate is rarely the cheapest build, and why labour is only one part of what you are really paying for.

Insurance for a New Build: Contract Works, Cover Gaps and Underinsurance

Who insures the house while it is being built, what happens at handover, and the sum-insured trap that leaves New Zealand homeowners short when they need it most.

How Open-Book Pricing Actually Works

What you see, when you see it, and how the margin is handled. The mechanics of building with the books open, and the questions that test whether a builder really does it.

Master Builder, Certified Builder and Halo Guarantees, Explained

What New Zealand’s main building guarantees are, the kinds of cover they provide, how they differ from your statutory rights, and why you must read the wording.

Construction Loans and Progress Payments Explained

How a construction loan works in New Zealand: progressive drawdown against completed work, the typical stages from foundations to completion, interest paid only on the drawn balance, and how open-book progress claims line up cleanly with your bank.

Deposits, Retentions and GST on a New Build

How deposits, retentions and GST work on a New Zealand new build: what a deposit is and how it is protected, why retentions are held under the Construction Contracts Act, how GST applies to the whole build, and what to confirm in your contract.

8 min read