Money moves during a build, and it's meant to. How variations and progress claims work, and who does the assessing.
Your rights around building contract variations in QLD are simpler than the paperwork makes them look, and they come down to one habit — the writing comes before the work. A variation agreed in writing before it's built is a normal, unremarkable part of every build.
So the builder rings about money. It might be a variation, it might be an allowance that's landed higher than expected, it might be a progress claim for a stage you're not certain is finished. Those are three different things with three different sets of rules. Separating them is my job.
Variations are normal. Old houses hold surprises, products get discontinued, and you will change your mind about something — that's not a failure, it's building. What keeps a budget honest is pricing each one properly and keeping a running tally. I keep that tally and I send it to you.
Variations are a sign that a real house is being built in a real place.
This step produces an independently assessed set of numbers — variations priced and agreed before the work happens, progress claims checked against work that's genuinely complete, and a running budget you can see whenever you want it.
You stop bracing every time the builder's name comes up on your phone. Money on site is manageable when it's assessed by someone who does it for a living and reported back in a form you can read.
On your own you're assessing claims and variations in a field you don't work in, while something is waiting on site. Plenty of people manage it. What's harder is knowing whether a price is fair with nothing to compare it against.
I assess the builder's progress claims and certify them, determine variations, adjust prime cost and provisional sums, and assess claims for extra time. That's independent assessment, and it's the answer to 'can't the builder just handle it' — not because anyone needs watching, but because nobody should have to assess their own claim. It's an uncomfortable position to put a builder in and an unfair one to put you in. I also keep the running budget, so the final number is never a surprise.
For domestic building work, a variation should be in writing before the varied work starts, describing the change and what it does to the price and the dates. That's how good builders prefer to work anyway, because it protects them as much as you. If something gets agreed on site, it simply needs writing down before it's built.
It depends what the claim actually is, which is the first thing to establish. A variation follows the process above. An adjustment to an allowance needs substantiating with what the work really cost. A claim for extra time has to fit the grounds in the contract. Send it to me — most resolve in a single conversation.
On a new house the traditional stages are deposit, base, frame, enclosed, fixing and practical completion. Renovations vary far more, and many run on claims against work actually completed. The principle holds either way — a payment reflects work that's genuinely done, not work that's planned. I check each claim against the site before I certify it.
A provisional sum is an allowance for work nobody could price exactly at signing — stump replacement, rewiring, drainage. When the real cost lands higher, the difference is generally yours, substantiated with actual invoices rather than a round number. Two things reduce the surprise, and I do both: get the uncertain items properly priced before you sign, then close out the rest early.
You don't have to — I do it. I check the work on site against the stage described in the contract, and the claim against the contract sum plus approved variations. What's useful from you is not paying ahead of the work, and telling me before you agree to anything on site.
If you would rather start small, the First Sketch Session is two hours at your place. You keep the sketches, and there is no obligation afterwards.
