What to ask a builder before you sign: 12 questions

Short answer: Before you sign a building contract in NSW, check four things in this order. First, the licence and the insurance, because those are legal requirements and they take ten minutes to verify. Second, the contract itself: what type it is, what's actually included, and what happens when you change your mind. Third, how the build will be run day to day, which is where most delays are won or lost. Fourth, what happens when something goes wrong, because on every build something does. The questions below are the ones I'd ask if I were hiring a builder. Some of them I answer for my own clients every week. A builder who can answer all twelve without getting defensive is a builder worth talking to further.

Why the usual questions don't tell you much

Most people ask a builder two things. What will it cost, and how long will it take.

Both answers are guesses at that stage. Any builder can give you a low number and a short timeline to win the job. Neither number means anything until you know how the business behind it runs.

The questions that actually separate builders are duller than price. They're about paperwork, sequence and what happens on a bad day. Here they are.

First: licence and insurance

1. What's your builder licence number, and can I check it?

In NSW you can look up any licence on the NSW Fair Trading website in about a minute. It tells you what the licence covers, whether it's current, and whether there's anything against it. A builder who hesitates here has told you something.

Mine is 454663C. Ask for the number, then go and check it yourself rather than taking a screenshot on trust.

2. Will you have Home Building Compensation Fund cover for my job?

For residential building work over $20,000 in NSW, this cover is required by law, and it has to be in place before the builder takes your deposit. It protects you if the builder dies, disappears, becomes insolvent or has their licence suspended.

Ask to see the certificate for your job specifically, not a general statement that the company has cover.

3. Is the licence in the name of the company I'll be contracting with?

This one catches people. Sometimes the licence sits with one entity and the contract comes from another. They should match. If they don't, ask why before you go further.

Second: the contract

4. What type of contract is this, and why that one?

Fixed price locks in one number. Cost-plus charges the real cost of the build plus an agreed margin. Neither is a trick, and they suit different builds. I've written about how to choose between them in more detail.

What matters is that your builder can explain why they've put that contract in front of you, in terms of your build, not theirs.

5. What's the deposit, and is it within the legal cap?

NSW caps the deposit on residential building work at 10% of the contract price. If someone asks for more than that up front, stop.

6. What's excluded?

This is the question that saves the most money. Ask for the exclusions list, in writing, and read it properly.

Site costs, excavation, retaining walls, driveways, landscaping, fencing, connection fees to services. Any of these sitting outside the contract price is fine if you know about it. It's only a problem when you find out at the invoice.

Third: how the build will actually run

I wrote a whole post on how we keep a build on schedule. These three questions come out of it.

7. How is the schedule tracked, and can I see it?

There should be a live schedule somewhere you can look at, not a date in someone's head. We run ours in project-management software where every trade is sequenced against the trades before and after it.

8. Is there a site diary, and how often is it written?

A site diary is a dated record of who attended, what they did, and photos. On our jobs it gets written any day a trade is on site. It's the difference between finding out about a problem on the day and finding out three weeks later.

9. How often will I get a progress report without asking for it?

Note the last four words. Plenty of builders will tell you they're contactable. That's not the same as a report arriving every week whether you chase or not.

Fourth: when something goes wrong

10. What happens when a problem is found mid-build? Who decides?

The answer you want: the affected work stops, the right expert inspects and advises, the fix gets priced, and you approve it in writing before that work restarts.

The answer you don't want is a builder who'll "sort it out on site." That's how you end up with an invoice you never agreed to.

11. Do I approve variations in writing before the work happens?

Yes is the only acceptable answer. If the work happens first and the paperwork catches up later, you never approved anything. You just received an invoice.

12. What warranty and aftercare do I get, and for how long?

In NSW these warranties are set by law, not by your builder. They run for six years on major defects and two years on everything else, both counted from when the work is completed.

Knowing which is which matters, because it decides whether you have six years to raise something or two.

A major defect has to be in a major element of the building, and it has to be serious. Serious means the place can't be lived in or used for its purpose, or it's at risk of collapse or destruction. Major elements are the structural ones, so footings, floors, walls, roof, columns and beams. Fire safety systems count too.

So does waterproofing, and that's the one people don't expect. A shower leaking into the wall behind it isn't a two-year problem. It's a six-year one.

Everything else sits in the two-year bucket. Sticking doors, paint defects, minor cracking.

That's the legal floor, not a favour. Ask what your builder adds on top, and ask who you actually call in year two. On our jobs that's a four-year workmanship warranty and twelve months of aftercare, with one point of contact.

What a good answer sounds like

Most builders know the rules. What you're really testing is whether they've built a business that can answer these questions without going away to look.

When a builder can tell you straight away how their diary works, what's excluded, and who signs off a variation, it's because those systems already exist. When the answers are vague, the systems usually are too.

And watch how they react to being asked. I'd rather a client asked me all twelve on the first call than found out in month seven that we think about the job differently.

If you want to see how we'd answer these for your build, start with a feasibility check. It costs nothing and you'll get real detail before you commit to anything. You can also read how our process runs stage by stage.

This post is general information about building in NSW, not legal advice. Requirements and figures change. Check the current position with NSW Fair Trading, and get your own advice on your contract before you sign it.

Common questions

How do I check if a builder is licensed in NSW?
Search the licence number on the NSW Fair Trading website. It's free and takes about a minute. You'll see what the licence covers, whether it's current, and any conditions on it. Ask the builder for the number rather than accepting a screenshot, and check that it matches the company named on your contract.

What insurance should my builder have before starting work?
For residential building work over $20,000 in NSW, Home Building Compensation Fund cover is required by law and must be in place before the builder takes a deposit. Ask to see the certificate issued for your job, not a general statement that the company holds cover.

How much deposit can a builder ask for in NSW?
The deposit on residential building work is capped at 10% of the contract price. If a builder asks for more than that before work starts, treat it as a warning sign and get advice before paying anything.

What's the most important question to ask a builder?
What's excluded. Price comparisons between builders are meaningless until you know what each quote leaves out. Site costs, excavation, retaining walls, driveways and service connections are the usual ones, and any of them can move a number by tens of thousands.