Understanding Variations During a Home Renovation in Brisbane

What is a variation?

This is a change to the original scope of work, specifications or list of finishes. You can have a client initiated variation or a builder initited variation. A client initiated variation means you, as the client, want to change something within the original scope of work, specifications or list of finishes (i.e, change the tiles or move a window). A builder initiated variation is due to unforeseen circumstances on site (i.e. rotting timber behind walls).

Both variations will incur a percentage based variation rate, depending on the builder. When reading your contract, prior to signing, it is vital to know what the variation rate will be. The variation rate covers additional material/labour, the builder’s overheads and margin. Excessive builder-initiated variations can be costly and blow out your budget. This makes for a negative building experience. The way to mitigate builder initiated variations is to have a thorough and detailed plan for the project. This includes a thorough review of the design, clarifying any grey areas. As the Director and builder within Poyntz Construction, my job is to provide a thorough and detailed plan for how to complete your project.

Identifying problems before they arise and planning accordingly can look expensive at the onset. This is why you may receive two quotes for the same job but have variability with the price. Always review the detail within the quotes to ensure both builder’s have identified any potential issues and planned for them accordingly – ultimately mitigating the risk of builder-initiated variations. This also ensures you are comparing apples with apples when it comes to comparing the quotes. The cheaper quote may end up being more expensive in the long run if there are issues that have not been seen and therefore planned for and will arise as a builder-initiated variation during the build inclusive of a variation rate.

The builder should have a site visit to identify some potential problems with site conditions that could arise, for example:

• Slope of the block impacting labour time required to move materials
• Site access for subcontractors/material deliveries
• Location of services (water/gas) that may need relocation
• Overhead power lines impacting use of cranes

At Poyntz construction, we mitigate variations in the following ways:

• Ensuring you have identified all fixtures and finishes prior to providing the fixed price quote – this is instead of leaving fixtures and finishes as a prime cost item.
• Site visit early to identify any potential site access issues.
• Staying up to date with Building regulations and changes to the code.
• A thorough scope of work, clearly outlining exactly how your project will be built and come to life. This level of detail highlights that the construction process has been pictured from start to finish and therefore potential problems/grey areas have been identified and costed for accordingly.