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Articles by Anthony Painter
Home Warranty Insurance in Queensland: What It Covers
Most people building a new home in Queensland pay for home warranty insurance without ever noticing. The premium is built into the contract price, and the builder pays it to the QBCC. Then it sits quietly in the background until something goes wrong. That's when people find out what it covers, and more importantly, the deadlines they've already missed. Here's how home warranty insurance in Queensland works, what it pays for, what it doesn't, and the simple habits that keep your cover intact.
Post 54: The Basement Slab Is Down, and the Walls Begin
I missed the pour. Well, I was here, but I spent the whole day talking with the architect, a rep from the admixture company, the pump operators and a few other people, so there was no time to film. I'll show you photos instead, and then walk you around the day after. Pour day The basement raft we checked in Post 52 and Post 53 went down in one pour. A 50 metre boom pump and 15 concreters. They did a great job. Finished by 3 pm. 228 cubic metres. We'd allowed for 250, so 228 was the magic number.
Building on a Sloping Block: Costs, Designs and What to Check
A sloping block is often cheaper to buy than a flat one, and it can give you views, breezes and a house with real character. It can also swallow tens of thousands of dollars in earthworks, retaining walls and footings before a single wall goes up. The difference between those two outcomes is usually decided before you sign. In 26 years of residential construction, the sloping block jobs that went badly were almost always the ones where nobody priced the ground properly at the start.
Post 52: Pre-Pour Inspection Part 1, the Paperwork and the Site
It's been a little while. Not a confession, just a few small delays that added up, and I didn't want to put out a video for every one of them. This one is the pre-pour slab inspection. The basement slab is getting poured on Monday, so I got organised and wrote myself a script. I'm going to walk through the checks you'd normally do before the slab is poured on your house, and use this job as the example.
Post 53: Pre-Pour Inspection Part 2, Checking the Slab Itself
In Post 52 we did the paperwork and everything around the slab. Now you've got out of the car, done the outside checks, and you're walking up to the slab. This part is about the slab itself. I'll go through the list as if this were your house slab, then finish with a walk around ours, so you can see the real thing. Is it in the right place? The first thing I check is where the slab is on the block: The side boundary clearance, on both sides.
C24 Build Cost Plan: Know the Whole Cost Before You Sign
Most families who run out of money building a new home don't run out because the builder's price was wrong. They run out because the builder's price was never the whole cost. In 26 years of building I've watched good people reach handover with nothing left for a driveway, blinds or a fence, and it was almost always avoidable. C24 Build Cost Plan is the checklist I use to stop that happening. It goes with the money chapters of The Home Owner's Guide to Building Without Regret.
C25 Build Money Ledger: Keep the Books From Signing to the Keys
The day you sign a building contract, the money starts moving. A deposit, a base claim, a variation for extra power points, a PC item that cost more than the allowance. Your builder keeps books. Your lender keeps books. Usually nobody keeps them for you. C25 Build Money Ledger is your own set of books for the build. It goes with the money chapters of The Home Owner's Guide to Building Without Regret.
Construction Loan Progress Payments: How Bank Drawdowns Work
Building a house isn't like buying one. You don't settle once and get the keys. Your builder is paid in stages as the house goes up, and if you're borrowing, each payment comes out of your construction loan after a set of checks. Most people don't think about how that works until the first progress claim lands in their inbox. By then it's easy to get caught between a builder who wants paying and a bank that isn't ready.
Benchtops After the Engineered Stone Ban: Options for Your Kitchen
For years, engineered stone was the default benchtop in almost every new Australian kitchen. Then it was banned. The national engineered stone ban took effect on 1 July 2024, and Queensland enforces it through its work health and safety laws. If you're building now, that changes your choices. Some display homes and older brochures still show the look, and plenty of people still call any benchtop "stone".
Display Home Inclusions: What's Included and What Isn't
Walking through a display home is one of the best parts of building. You can see the floor plan in real life, picture where the couch goes, and get a feel for the finish. It's also the builder's best sales tool, built and dressed to make you want it. The problem is that much of what you see isn't in the base price. Homeowners regularly sign for a design they loved in the display village, then find at selections that the stone benchtops, high ceilings and alfresco were all upgrades.
Fixed Price vs Cost Plus: Which Contract Suits Your New Home?
When you sign to build a new home, the contract decides who carries the risk if costs go up. That's the real question behind fixed price vs cost plus. One puts most of the cost risk on the builder. The other puts almost all of it on you. Most Queensland project homes are built on a fixed-price contract. Cost-plus contracts turn up more on custom homes, difficult sites and renovations. Here's how each one works, what Queensland law says about them, and what I'd check before signing either.
Stages of Building a House in Australia: What Happens and What to Check
The short answer Building a new house in Australia goes through seven stages: land and planning, design and contract, site and slab, frame and lock-up, fixing and finishes, handover, and living in it. Your builder is usually paid at five of them (base, frame, enclosed, fixing and practical completion), and your building certifier or surveyor inspects at set points, usually the footings or slab, the frame and the final (some now add an earthworks inspection too).
Post 51: Last of the Fill Out, Tanks Backfilled and the Blinding Finished
This stage was all about clearing the way. The last of the fill had to come out so we could finish the blinding slab at the front of the site. The sewer and stormwater tanks needed backfilling. And the unfinished blinding was holding up the steel fixers, who need it down before they can lay the bottom layers of slab steel. This one's a short video, and there's no mic this morning, so bear with the sound.
House and Land Package: What to Check Before You Sign
A house and land package is sold as one neat price: a block, a design that suits it, and a builder ready to go. It saves you a long land search, and for a lot of first-home buyers it's the easiest way into a new home. But the neat price hides a few things. Most packages are two separate contracts, the land often isn't titled yet, and the advertised number rarely includes everything you'll pay. Here's what I'd check before signing.
Builder Deposit in Queensland: How Much Can a Builder Ask For?
You've picked your builder, the contract's on the table, and the first invoice is for the deposit. How much should it be? In Queensland, that isn't up to the builder. The law sets a maximum, and on a new home it's lower than many people expect. Here's what the builder deposit rules in Queensland say, the one exception, how the deposit connects to your home warranty insurance and cooling-off period, and what I'd check before paying anything.
The Build Planner: a free step-by-step plan for building your new home
Most people building a new home only do it once or twice. The builder has done it hundreds of times, and knows what comes next. The Build Planner closes that gap. It's a free list of every step of building a house, in order, from setting your budget to the end of your first year in the home, so you can see what's coming and know when to stop and look. It's adapted from the task list we use on our own builds, cut down to what a home owner needs to know.
Post 50: A Flying Excavator, Waterproofed Tanks and Backfilling by Kibble
Good morning. Today's a crane day: our little flying excavator is coming down into the basement. The tanks are also fully waterproofed now, so I'll show you what went on them, and then how we got the sand back in around them. There are two videos this time. The flying excavator A 3 tonne excavator being lowered into the basement by the 70 tonne crane It's a 70-tonne crane. If you look at the very top of the boom, there's a little wind vane, because wind limits what a crane can lift.
Post 49: Pouring the Tank Walls
This is a short one: the tank walls getting poured. I finally got my gear together to film it. It got windy, so excuse the noise. Getting the pump in The boom pump placing concrete into the tank walls, with the crew working along the top This is as far forward as we could get the concrete pump on this job. It's a 43 m boom pump. With everything on this site, the limiting factor is the outriggers: the legs that fold out to keep the pump stable.
Post 48: A Look Inside the Site Office and the Tanks Braced for the Pour
This one starts in the site office, because I hit record a bit early. So you get a quick look at how we run the job behind the scenes, and then we head down into the basement to look at the tanks. They're braced, sealed and ready to pour tomorrow. The systems behind the job Most of the paperwork lives in a set of small apps we built for the project. I'll do a proper screencast later, because filming a monitor on a phone doesn't do it justice. Here's the short version: Call-ups.
How to Compare Builder Quotes Line by Line (and Find the Gaps)
You've got three quotes for your new home. One is $40,000 cheaper than the others. It's tempting to circle it and move on. Don't, at least not yet. When you compare builder quotes, the bottom line is the least useful number on the page. Quotes differ because of scope, allowances, exclusions, site assumptions and contract terms, and most of those differences don't show up until you go line by line. Here's the method I use to turn three different prices into a fair comparison.
Post 47: Steel in the Tank Walls and Getting Ready to Pour
Welcome back. This one's a day-by-day progress update rather than the usual weekly round-up. The big push today was the tanks, because they're the sticking point for everything else: until they're poured, waterproofed and backfilled, the main slab steel can't run through. The acoustic enclosure, up close The dewatering pump sits inside the acoustic enclosure. A noise meter reads about 72 to 79 dB right at the pump, and noise control is part of the dewatering management plan.
How Long Does It Take to Build a House in Queensland?
"How long will it take?" is one of the first questions every homeowner asks, and one of the hardest to answer honestly. The brochure talks about weeks on site. Your rent and loan interest care about the whole journey, from first meeting to keys. The figures below come from Constructor's own build programs, for a single-storey project home in South East Queensland on a reasonably flat block. They're typical guides, not promises.
Quality Forms Starter Pack: 17 Forms for Checking Your Own Build
On a well-run building site, quality runs on paperwork. Builders and their trades use inspection plans, non-conformance reports, site instructions and registers to track what has been checked, what is wrong and who is fixing it. As a homeowner you're usually on the outside of that system. You see the work, you get the progress claims, and you're left trying to remember what was said on site three weeks ago.
C23: The Concrete Driveways and Paths Checklist
A concrete driveway looks simple. A few trucks of concrete, a day of work, and a flat grey surface across the front of your new home. Yet driveways and paths are one of the most common sources of complaints after handover, and in 26 years in building I've seen why. Once the concrete is poured, everything that decides whether it lasts (the base, the mesh, the joints, the falls) is hidden for good. C23 is the Concrete Driveways and Paths Checklist.
The Constructor Field Manual: Know What to Ask, Before You Need to Ask It
A while back we wrote that our checklists are chonky. They go deep on purpose. We also promised to break them down, call out the checks that matter, and add the context, so you don't just tick boxes. The Constructor Field Manual is that promise.
The Constructor Site Diary: Your Own Record of the Build
Builders keep a site diary. Most owners don't, and that's the gap that hurts when a question about a delay, a variation or a defect comes up months later. Memory drifts; a dated note with a photo number doesn't. This post walks through our new Constructor Site Diary: what it is, what it does, when to use it, and what you get out of it.
Post 46: Steel Fixing, Tanks Formed and Waterproofing Details
Good afternoon. Here's the end-of-week update. Since the blinding slab went down, the steel has started arriving and the tanks are formed. ⚠️ Video coming soon: it's still uploading. Craning in the steel So far we've had three crane lifts. Before the first one, I measured from where the crane can set up, which depends on where its outriggers can go, out to the middle of the platform. It's about 23 m, so we need a 40-tonne slew crane, the next size up from a Franna.
Post 45: Blinding Down, Set-Out Done and Planning the Tanks
Good morning. It's been just over a week since the last update. The big change: the blinding slab is mostly down. Keeping the road clean First, a new broom. Regardless of how much plastic and geofabric goes down for the concrete trucks, they still get the road dirty. We've pressure washed it after each pour, and I'm picking up a chemical that helps break concrete residue down. There's going to be a lot more concrete, so we have to stay on top of it.
C22: The Colour Selections Checklist (every choice, made once and in writing)
The selection appointment is where your specification stops saying "TBC" and starts saying exactly what goes into your home. It's also where many budgets blow out, and where a lot of later variations begin. This post walks through our new C22 Colour Selections Checklist: what it is, what it does, when to use it, and what you get out of it.
Post 44: Hand-Shaping Thickenings and Starting the Drainage
Good morning. Here's the progress from last week. It doesn't look like much, but it took a fair bit of time. Pit lids and deliveries We've ordered the Gatic lids for the sewer and stormwater tanks. In total they weigh about 200 kg. They get inverted and cast into the tank roof to form the access opening. There isn't much storage room on site, so we've cleaned up and set aside one area as the delivery zone. The hardstand has to stay clear, and a 2 to 3 m skip will go in for waste.
Post 43: Bulk Dig Done, Acoustic Screen Up and Setting Out the Slab
Good morning. A few things have changed since the last update. The bulk earthworks are done, and it's finally starting to look like a building site. The acoustic enclosure We've built the acoustic enclosure around the dewatering pump. (Fair warning: it smells fantastic around here, thanks to the acid sulfate soils.) Proper acoustic panels were quoted at about $380 to $400 each, so we went with the DIY option. It ended up different from the plan in Post 40. Frame.
Post 42: Detailed Excavation, Profiles and Watching the Sheets Move
A quickie from the front line. The bulk excavation got going on Thursday and Friday, and the dewatering has started to crank up. Bulk and detailed excavation together The 14-tonne excavator is pulling the sand out in bulk. At the same time, the 3-tonne is starting the detailed excavation: digging the shapes the basement slab needs underneath it. The edge thickening runs right around the outside of the slab. It's a deeper, wider strip of concrete that carries the walls and stiffens the slab edge.
Post 41: Digging While We Wait on the Water
A quick update. We're still waiting on the water test results before the dewatering company can turn the system up. For now it's only trickling, which is painful, because we need that water gone before we can really dig. Paying for dewatering before it dewaters Here's a fun fact. You pay a small fortune to install the plant, and the hire charge starts the moment the equipment lands on site, even though it isn't dewatering yet while the water is being tested and the chemicals balanced.
Post 39: Dewatering Installed and Waiting on the Water Test
Good morning. The last update covered the spears going in. Now the rest of the system is connected, which makes it a lot easier to see how dewatering works. Shuffling the site again The site gets rearranged a lot, and it will keep happening. The barbecue is going, since we're not using it. In its place goes the blue external hazardous chemicals cabinet. It'll sit up on some timber off the ground and be pinned back to the structure so it can't fall over.
Post 40: Inside the Dewatering Treatment Plant
Good morning. We're still working through the dewatering installation and commissioning. The whole system is set up, and now it's water testing. This update is a walk through the treatment plant, because there's a lot more to it than a pump and a hose. Testing before anything goes in the canal The system is now treating water and pumping it into a test pit. Samples come out of the outlet and go to a lab.
Post 38: Spears In, Sheet Piles Pinned and a Lot of Mud
Day four of the dewatering install, and every spear is in. This is a walk around the site to show where it's at, what we've done to protect the new boundary fence, and why the site looks like a mud bath. The spears are in All the spears are installed, one in every second pan of the sheet piling. (The process for a single spear is in Post 37.) Next, they all get connected to the header pipe, the pipe gets primed, and water is run through to clear it before testing. The connections have to be tight.
Post 37: Jetting in the Dewatering Spears
In the last post, the dewatering crew mobilised and pre-drilled the spear holes along the sheet piling. This short clip shows the next step: jetting the spears into the ground. There's no voiceover, so here's what you're watching. What's happening in the clip The casing goes in with water. The excavator holds a long steel casing upright over the spear hole. Water is pumped down through it under pressure, and the jet at the bottom loosens the wet sand so the casing can be lowered down through it.
Post 36: Dewatering Mobilises: Spears, Monitoring and Keeping the Water Out
Good afternoon. It's been a little while again. No dramas, just progress, and one milestone: the dewatering has mobilised. There are two videos this time. The short one shows a spear hole being pre-drilled, and the long one walks through everything else. The trees go back next door Getting the neighbour's trees back over the fence took a full day. A 14-tonne excavator slung each tree, we dug them back out, clipped and cleaned the roots, and lifted the soil back over.
Home Maintenance Calendar: A Month-by-Month Plan for Your New Home
Most problems in a new home start small: a weeping flexi hose, a blocked gutter, a split bead of silicone. Left alone, they turn into water damage, cracked walls and arguments with the builder about what's a defect and what's maintenance. The Constructor Home Maintenance Calendar is a simple plan to stop that happening. It tells you what to check each month, why it matters, and when to call a licensed trade, all in about an hour a month.
Post 35: Fence Complete, Cutting Back Sheet Piles and Rebuilding Next Door's Path
Good morning. Some time has passed since the last update. Nothing major has gone wrong, but a lot of the work right now is behind the scenes: project and construction management, contract administration, chasing quotes and sorting out contractor issues. It can look like not much is happening when there's a lot of paperwork going on. I'll start posting about that side of the job soon, because it's a big part of any build.
Post 34: Last Fence Panel, Backfilling and a Crack That Wasn't Ours
Good morning. This update was filmed after the crews had gone for the day. A lot of people don't like being on camera, so I film once they've left to respect their privacy. Since the last update, we've demolished the rest of the old boundary fence, extended the footing and poured it, with the same reinforcement as the rest of the run. The tilt panels are up, and the garden on the neighbour's side is backfilled.
Post 33: Site Housekeeping, Wall Drainage and Panels Lifted Too Green
Welcome back. There are a few of these updates at the moment, because this is a big job and a lot is happening at once. This one is a walk around the whole site. We've been getting it ready for the dewatering and the bulk excavation. I'll cover how we store chemicals, the temporary power, the walkway down the side, the drainage that goes behind the new boundary wall, and a problem with the precast fence panels. Storing chemicals properly The first thing you see is a blue corrosive substances cabinet.
March Home Maintenance: Termites and the Quarterly Clean
March home maintenance is about termites, which are still active in the warm months, plus the quarterly clean of filters, vents and the rainwater tank. These six checks follow the March page of your printed calendar and take about an hour.
April Home Maintenance: Gutters and Ground
April home maintenance is about getting water off the roof and away from the house, so it can't sit against the slab. These seven checks follow the April page of your printed calendar and take about an hour.
June Home Maintenance: Electrical Safety and the Quarterly Clean
June home maintenance is a look-and-listen check of your electrics, a test for hidden water leaks, and the quarterly clean. It takes about an hour and follows the June page of your printed calendar, in the same order.
Post 32: Pouring the Boundary Fence Footing Straight Off the Chute
Pour day. In the last post I showed you the boundary fence footing we designed with our engineer instead of using the fence company's standard detail. This one is the pour itself, from the last check of the steel through to a finished, floated footing. There are four videos this time. I only talk in the first one. We forgot to record sound on the rest, so I've written up what's happening in each, and added a few sketches to explain what the steel and the concrete are actually doing.
February Home Maintenance: Water and Plumbing
February home maintenance is about water: catching small plumbing leaks before they become floor, cabinet or ceiling damage. These six checks follow the February page of your printed calendar and take about an hour.
November Home Maintenance: Summer Ready
November home maintenance gets the house summer ready. Heat, storms and heavy air-con use all test the seals, the drains and the soil under the slab, so this month you check them before summer peaks. The checks follow the printed calendar and take about an hour.
January Home Maintenance: Summer Storms and Heat
January home maintenance is about finding storm damage and heat stress early, while it's still cheap to fix. These six checks follow the January page of your printed calendar and take about an hour, plus a quick look after each big storm.
August Home Maintenance: Water and Plumbing Again
August home maintenance is the second plumbing round of the year, six months after February's. It takes about an hour, follows the August page of your printed calendar, and keeps the service records your warranties may ask for.
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