Adam Hobill on what nobody tells you before you renovate
Posted on
We asked. You answered.
A little while ago, we teamed up with local building designer and author Adam Hobill to ask our community a simple question: what do you wish someone had told you before you started your renovation or build?
The responses were candid, amusing, and cathartic for some. Hidden costs. Variations. The difficult task of finding a builder you can trust. And, our personal favourite, whether the whole experience would leave you with a home you could live in and a marriage you could live with.
We shared the themes with Adam, who has spent more than 30 years helping Australian families navigate exactly this process. His response? “This is exactly why I’m updating the book.”
That book is Nail it!, a plain-English guide to the home design and building process that Adam first published in 2014. A second edition is in the works, and your responses are shaping it directly. Here is what Adam wants to share with us, based on what you told us.
The real cost conversations nobody has with you
Ask a builder for a ballpark figure, and you’ll likely get one. Getting the full picture is much more difficult.
The costs that most commonly catch people by surprise aren’t usually the big-ticket items. They’re the ones that accumulate quietly: energy efficiency upgrades now required by law, bringing old electrical work up to current codes, engineering reports, approval fees, landscaping items that somehow didn’t make it into the quote, the gap between the allowances your builder included and what things of decent quality actually cost when you go to buy them.
One of our readers flagged “hidden fees and the cost of essentials such as heating, cooling and energy efficiencies” as her biggest stress. From 2024, all new Canberra homes must meet a minimum seven-star energy efficiency rating, and extension and renovation projects also get caught up in this, “in a very messy Canberra distinct way” according to Adam. This results in significant changes that affect insulation, glazing, orientation and often the overall design solution. If your designer or builder hasn’t raised this with you early in the process, that’s a conversation worth having now, not later.
Adam’s advice: before you fall in love with a design, ask your designer to walk you through the full cost picture. Not just construction, but approvals, compliance, landscaping and a contingency buffer suitable for your project depending on complexity and scope.
‘Variations’: the term that should come with a warning label
If there’s one word that resonates with renovators far and wide, it’s this one: “Being stung on variations!” as one reader wrote.
A ‘variation’ is any change to the scope of work after the contract has been signed. Some are unavoidable: work begins on the roof and you find something unexpected. But many are entirely preventable (or at least predictable), and they’re almost always expensive.
The most common source of preventable variations is lack of insight and understanding of the existing building and incomplete documentation at the quoting stage. When a builder doesn’t have a clear understanding of the scope and your selections, right down to the flooring type, the robe fit-out and the door hardware, they’ll make an allowance based on their best guess. When your taste turns out to be different from their guess (and it usually does), the difference becomes a variation. And variations don’t come at cost price; they generally attract an additional 20 per cent margin under the contract.
Adam ensures the solution isn’t complicated, but it does require a thorough approach to the design and documentation process, and discipline when it comes to finalising your selections. Before your project is quoted, you need a schedule that makes allowance for every finish, fitting and fixture you intend to include. It can be time-consuming and overwhelming, but a good designer should be able to assist as part of their service, and it is significantly less costly and stressful than managing a string of variation claims mid-build. This document, which Adam refers to as an Inclusions Schedule, is the single most practical thing you can prepare before you ask anyone to quote your project. It protects you at the quoting stage by creating a level playing field and it protects you during the build by giving you a written record of what was agreed and included in the contract.
Finding a builder you can trust
“Finding the right tradesmen”, was another common thread of anxiety for our readers.
The building industry in Australia is not short of skilled, honest, hardworking people. But it’s also an industry that has seen significant stress in recent years, with a higher-than-usual number of firms in financial difficulty. Adam points out that’s not meant to alarm. It’s said because the way you choose a builder matters more now than it ever has.
References are not optional. Recommendations are valuable. Asking to inspect completed work in person is not too much to ask, nor is speaking to those clients. What you’re looking for isn’t just quality of finish; it’s whether the homeowner felt informed, respected, and fairly treated throughout the process.
Ask your builder directly about their current workload and pipeline. Confirm they carry building insurance and request confirmation in writing. Ask how they handle variations, specifically, whether they’ll notify you in writing before proceeding with any change that affects cost. A builder who answers these questions confidently is a builder worth talking to further.
Adam highlights another common trap which has earned its own chapter in his book:‘Beware the quote you were hoping to receive’. Simply put, a significantly lower quote when compared to two or more other quotes should be treated as high risk. A consistent grouping of quotes usually indicates a fair and reasonable cost to complete the project, and a dramatically lower quote will often have a different scope, hidden costs, and omissions, meaning you are not comparing apples with apples.
If something feels off? It usually is. Trust that instinct.
Adam Hobill is a building designer with more than 30 years of experience and the author of Nail it! — a guide to the home design and building process for Australian homeowners. The second edition is currently in development. To find out more, visit adamhobilldesign.com.au
