The questions worth asking before you sign.

We score your builder quote or tender across five categories: price and value, inclusions and allowances, contract clarity and risk, timeline, and builder reputation. We flag every provisional sum, every allowance, and every contract term that could change what you actually pay after signing. We compare your inclusions list against the industry-standard inclusion categories (site costs, driveway, fencing, flooring, appliances, landscaping, colour selections), then deliver a full traffic-light scored PDF. You see what is included, what is excluded, what sits behind an allowance, and the contract terms worth raising with your conveyancer before you sign.

Rise and Fall is a contract term that allows the builder to adjust the contract price after signing if certain costs change — typically materials, labour, or government fees. It is different from a fully fixed-price contract. Provisional sums and allowances can have a similar effect on the final figure. BuildScore™ flags every Rise and Fall term, provisional sum, and allowance we find in your quote or tender under the Contract Clarity score, so you can raise them with your conveyancer or building solicitor before signing. We don't interpret your specific contract — we score what's in it.

A provisional sum is an estimated dollar amount in your builder quote or tender for work that hasn't been fully priced yet — most commonly site costs, but also things like landscaping, flooring or kitchen upgrades. The number you see in the quote is not the number you will pay. If the actual cost comes in higher, you wear the difference. Provisional sums are the single biggest cause of build budget blowouts in Australia. A quote heavy with provisional sums looks competitive on paper but can cost you $20,000–$60,000 more once construction starts. We score every provisional sum in your quote and tell you which ones are realistic and which are red flags.

Not always — and "fixed price" rarely means what you think it means. A house and land package is usually two separate contracts: one for the land (fixed) and one for the build (often not). The build contract may include provisional sums for site costs, allowances for finishes, Rise and Fall contract terms, and exclusions like driveway, fencing and landscaping. Many marketed "from $X" prices assume a flat block, no rock, no extra setbacks, and basic finishes. BuildScore™ checks what is actually fixed, what is an allowance, and what is excluded — so the headline price is broken down into what you will really pay.

Rise and Fall is a contract term that allows the builder to adjust the contract price after signing if certain costs change — typically materials, labour, or government fees. It's different from a fully fixed-price contract, and it's often present in cost-plus and some "fixed price" contract templates. We flag every Rise and Fall term we find in your quote or tender under the Contract Clarity score. What it means for your specific contract is a question for your conveyancer or building solicitor.

The most common hidden costs we see are: site costs priced as a provisional sum (real cost often $15k–$50k more), driveway and crossover (often excluded entirely), fencing (almost always excluded), flooring allowances set $5k–$15k below market, landscaping (excluded by default), Council headworks and connection fees, soil testing variations, and rock removal. These aren't hidden to be deceptive — they're simply how the industry quotes. But if you don't know to look for them, you can sign a "$420,000 fixed price" contract and end up paying $470,000 by handover. We score every inclusion and exclusion against the standard checklist so you see exactly what is and isn't in your quote or tender.

Most first home buyers compare on bottom-line price. That is the wrong number. The right comparison is: what is included, what is an allowance (and is the allowance realistic), what is excluded, what the contract type is, and what the build timeline is. A $410k quote or tender with everything included and a fixed contract is cheaper than a $385k one with $40k of allowances and a Rise and Fall contract term. Our 2-Quote Report ($222) and 3-Quote Report ($333) include a full Side-by-Side Comparison page that puts every line item next to each other and shows which builder scored highest in each category — and the notes behind every score.

No — and usually no. The cheapest quote or tender is almost always the one with the most exclusions, the lowest allowances, and the loosest contract terms. It looks competitive on the front page and gets expensive once construction starts. The most reliable predictor of total build cost is not the headline price but the inclusions list, allowance values, and contract type. BuildScore™ scores Price & Value against the industry-standard inclusion checklist, so a $25k headline-cheaper quote and a $40k blowout don't look the same on paper.

Five things: (1) Is the contract a fixed price, cost-plus, or hybrid? (2) Are site costs a fixed amount or a provisional sum? (3) Are flooring, driveway, fencing, landscaping and colour selections included, allowance, or excluded? (4) Is there a Rise and Fall contract term, and what triggers it? (5) Is the build timeline realistic and what happens if it overruns? If you don't know the answer to all five, those are five conversations worth having with your builder, conveyancer, and lender before signing. BuildScore™ scores all five for you in a full PDF report — within 48 hours of submission. From $222.

Within 48 hours of submission. You purchase your report ($222 for 2-Quote, $333 for 3-Quote), upload your builder quotes or tenders via your private submission link, and our analysts get to work. We score every category, write your Side-by-Side Comparison and Decision Framework, and email you the full PDF report. If you submit before 5pm AEST, you typically have your report by close of business the next day. Need it faster? Mention it in your submission notes — we prioritise time-sensitive contracts (e.g. grant deadlines).