We are not the cheapest. We do not aim to be.

That sounds like something every builder says, so here is what it actually means. When three builders quote the same job and one is well below the others, the low number is almost never because that builder found efficiencies. It is because they have priced less work, made more assumptions, or intend to recover the difference through variations later.

The cheapest quote and the cheapest project are rarely the same thing. The quote is a number on a page. The project is what you actually pay by the end.

Ask any builder who comes in low what they have assumed. Then ask what happens when those assumptions turn out to be wrong.

When a quote comes back higher than expected, the instinct is to start removing things. Take out the ensuite. Downgrade the windows. Skip the deck.

Sometimes that is the right call. Often it is not, because the things people cut first are the structural and fabric items that are cheap to do now and expensive to do later. Insulation, glazing, waterproofing, the framing to allow a future opening. Nobody sees them and they decide the next twenty years.

The better sequence is to look at the scope before the finishes. A layout change that removes structural work saves more than three rooms' worth of downgraded fittings, and you do not live with the compromise.

An existing home hides things. Old footings, previous work done without approval, drainage that does not go where the plans say, termite damage, asbestos in a wet area, a wall that turns out to be structural.

If a builder prices your renovation without investigating properly, they are guessing, and you carry the cost of every wrong guess as a variation.

This is why the concept and feasibility stage matters and why it is not free. [CONFIRM: whether Swanson charges for the concept and feasibility stage, what it covers and what it costs].

Investigating properly costs money up front and saves multiples of it later.

Most people read the price and the completion date and skim the rest. The parts that matter most are the parts nobody reads.

The allowance schedule, and how much of the total it represents. What triggers an extension of time, and whether the list is so broad that no date is really committed. What happens to the price if the soil classification comes back worse than assumed. The progress payment schedule, and whether the amounts match the work actually completed at each stage. The defects liability period, and what happens after it ends.

If your builder will not walk you through those line by line before you sign, that is the answer to a different question you were also asking.

You can usually tell in the first fortnight, well before any money changes hands, and the tell is almost always communication.

Watch what happens when you ask a question with an uncomfortable answer. Do you get a straight response quickly, or a reassuring non answer slowly. Watch whether you have to chase for things you were promised. Watch whether the person selling to you is the person who will run your job.

Then ask the question that sorts most of it. What happens on my build when the person running it is on holiday for a fortnight. If the honest answer is that things stop, you have found your risk, because that business runs on one person's memory rather than on a system.