Waiting to Build? Know What Waiting Could Cost

But what if waiting has a cost too?

Whilst you wait, your project doesn’t stand still. The broader market continues to move whether you decide to build or not.

And what then may be the challenge once you decide it’s time to start the process?

Construction costs change. Labour costs change. Material pricing changes. Builder capacity changes. Eventually, confidence changes too and demand returns with it.

What may have cost $700,000 to build back in 2020 – 2023, would now cost $1,200,000.

That matters because property prices and construction costs don’t necessarily move together.

A softer property market doesn’t automatically mean it becomes cheaper to build a new home. You could wait for one part of the market to improve while the cost of the project itself continues to move in another direction.
Waiting doesn’t mean freezing today’s price for later.

The bigger cost may be what your budget can buy.

The home you want can be designed within your budget today.

The cost of that home increases while you wait and the impact isn’t just a larger number at the bottom of the quote.

It can change the home itself.

Maybe the pool moves to a later stage. The landscaping gets reduced. A room gets smaller. Materials change. Or some of the architectural details that made the design special become harder to justify.

There’s also the risk of building code changes while you wait, which can add new requirements and extra cost, to a project that didn’t need them before.

You can end up spending the same budget but getting less of the home you originally wanted.

That’s the real risk: not simply paying more but compromising more.

Waiting has a timeline too.

This is easy to overlook.

A custom home, from design and approvals through to construction and handover, can take approximately 24 months.

Delay the project by another year or two, and suddenly move in day could be three or four years away.

Are you happy to stay in your current living situation for that long?

A forever home deserved a longer view.

You can find yourself making a decision about a home you might live in for the next 20 years based almost entirely on what might happen over the next 12 months.

For a short-term investment, it may make some sense. For a forever home, the lens should be different.

Over time, what may matter more is whether you built the home properly for the way you live. Those things will affect how you experience the home every day for years.

A rate decision or short-term movement in the property market may eventually become a much smaller part of the story.

There will always be something happening in the market.

People are still building.

We see this firsthand at IMSU.

We’ve completed homes for families across Sydney, including Cove in Allambie Heights, Nimbus in Austral, Haven in Gledswood Hills, Gemini in East Ryde and Grove in Glenbrook.

We also have dozens of homes progressing through design and construction.

So, what are you actually waiting for?

Whether you’re waiting for interest rates to change, construction prices to fall, your property value to move, or for confidence in the economy to improve, there will probably never be a moment when every variable lines up perfectly.

Are you waiting for the future, so you can look back at what you missed out on whilst waiting?

You don’t need perfect certainty to make a good decision. You need enough information to understand what your options actually are.

If building is on your mind, talk to IMSU. Find out what your block and budget can achieve today and what another 12 – 24 months could change.