Managing client selections: the process that quietly eats your margin
Selections are not paperwork that follows the build. They are the schedule that determines whether the build can proceed and whether the price you signed still holds. A controlled selections process is a margin control, not an administrative nicety.
11 min read
The PointCPD blog
Building industry news and articles
What is changing in Australian building, and what it means on site: construction technology, materials, energy, regulation, safety, contracts and the housing market.
Managing client selections: the process that quietly eats your margin
Selections are not paperwork that follows the build. They are the schedule that determines whether the build can proceed and whether the price you signed still holds. A controlled selections process is a margin control, not an administrative nicety.
11 min read
Galvanic corrosion between dissimilar metals: isolation detailing that survives the warranty period
Galvanic corrosion is a detailing problem, not a materials problem. It starts wherever two dissimilar metals touch and an electrolyte bridges them, and it is almost always created by a fixing or a flashing decision nobody recorded.
11 min read
Emergency and evacuation planning for house sites: the site plan and the crew briefing
An emergency plan that lives in a folder is not a plan. For a house site, it is a marked-up site plan and a briefing that every subbie on the job has actually heard.
14 min read
How to measure and reduce embodied carbon on a residential job
Embodied carbon is the emissions baked into the materials you order and the waste you tip. You can measure it with a bill of quantities and reduce it with substitution, ordering discipline and site waste control — without changing the way the house performs.
12 min read
Developer obligations on NSW residential projects: what builders need to know
On a NSW residential project the developer carries statutory duties that flow straight into your contract, your programme and your handover. Read the developer’s side of the framework before you price the job.
11 min read
Client selection: red flags to check before you sign a building contract
Vetting a client before you sign is cheaper than managing a dispute after practical completion. These are the red flags that should make you pause, price differently or walk away.
11 min read
Structural anchor selection: verifying the substrate before you drill
Most structural fixing failures are not anchor failures. They are wrong-substrate failures — the anchor was rated for a material the base was never made of, or the material behind the face was not what the drawings assumed.
10 min read
First aid kits, trained officers and emergency plans for NSW house sites
First aid on a house site is not just a kit in the shed. It is a kit, a trained person, a route out and a route in for an ambulance, all decided before the first trade starts.
12 min read
Climate resilient home upgrades: bundling hazards into one buildable scope
Most resilience advice arrives one hazard at a time, which is not how a house fails and not how a client budgets. This is a framework for combining the hazards that actually apply to a site into a single, priced, documented scope.
12 min read
Principal contractor duties on NSW residential sites: WHS and coordination
On a residential site the principal contractor is not a title on a contract, it is a set of WHS duties that attach to whoever holds the role. Here is what those duties require in practice, and where the coordination usually breaks down.
12 min read
Paying subcontractors correctly: the invoicing and TPAR workflow
Most subcontractor disputes are not caused by the contract, they are caused by what happened between the invoice arriving and the money leaving. Here is the payment and reporting workflow that keeps the tax file, the contract file and the site file saying the same thing.
12 min read
Substrate flatness and moisture checks before floor coverings
Floor coverings fail from underneath. This is how to verify flatness and moisture before you hand over a slab or sheet substrate to the flooring trade.
14 min read
Safe demolition and strip-out before a rebuild
Demolition is the phase where the site is least like the job you priced, and where the safety controls are hardest to retrofit. The work is short, the hazards are concentrated, and the trades on site are often the ones you have least control over.
11 min read
Free site templates for builders
SWMS, JSA, Take 5, inspection checklists, site diary, variations and payment claims. Word and PDF, free for commercial use.