Haven’t seen it done for a while. May be attractive to the builder in the current times as all the risk of rising materials is shifted to you. Do you have financing for the build organised? If you need a loan you need to talk to your lender, they won’t like the risk being moved to you.
Agree with bigreader. Also, you need to decide who is doing the ordering of materials and confirming all the quantities etc. Do you have the experience to run the project or is the builder going to do this?
Ideally you need to have absolute faith in the builder to run a project on this basis. I have seen it done really well and not so well. You could get the total cost cheaper than a lump sum contract as the builder would normally have some 'fat' in a lump sum contract. If the builder is running the project and ordering everything using their trade accounts, you need to decide on their margin up front so you know what your overall costs are going to be. Do you need the builder to give you an estimate for your budgeting and financier and how will you deal with variations?
If this is your first build, seek some advise from a local professional to assist you. This can be done well if there are no surprises for you!!!
Looks like you are pretty well prepared and know what is involved.
Do ask for an estimated program so you know when it is likely to be finished. That way you can have that to check actual progress against.
I presume you have all the plans and it is ready to go? To ease progress, if you want to make any changes, try to make it 'small stuff', i.e, it wont cause delays for additional approval or ordering time for alternate materials etc.
Have regular site meetings set up with the builder (weekly should be enough) so you know that he has it all under control in terms of what is happening next and how his supply chain is going. Site visit regularity may change over the period of the building but don't get under your builders feet by being there every day. That is just annoying to them. Let them request extra visits if they need it. Covid has caused a whole lot of issues with supply of materials giving builders major headaches, though this seems to be easing now. Some of these issues are completely unpredictable. We had a small delay on locally produced joinery because one of the components of the paint came from Portugal!!!! Make sure the builder or yourself is in regular contact with the subcontractors to avoid delays for these and other issues. If they know when they are supposed to be there or supply their components, this will give them little reason for delays.
bigreader
CHRISTINE HALL ARCHITECTS LTD
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Steph OOriginal Author
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bigreader
Steph OOriginal Author
CHRISTINE HALL ARCHITECTS LTD