How we build
The Prominent Build Process
Six stages, from the first questionnaire to the day we hand over the keys. It exists so you always know which step you are on, what happens next, and what it costs before it happens.
Ninety seconds on how we work, and why building a home is a relationship before it is a transaction.
01
Application
A short questionnaire, so both sides can work out whether this is a good fit.
- Questionnaire
It covers the essentials: when you want to build, what you are hoping to create, and the budget you have in mind. It tells us whether your project lines up with the way we work.
If we think your project would be better handled by another builder, we will say so and point you in the right direction. That is a cheaper conversation to have now than six months from now.
02
Consultation
A first meeting about fit, not floor plans.
- Engagement
Typical partnership
12 to 24 months
Building a home is a partnership that runs 12 to 24 months and hundreds of hours side by side. This meeting is your chance to work out whether you actually want to spend that time with us.
We walk through your questionnaire answers together, go deeper on the specifics, and set out what happens next so there are no surprises about the road ahead.
03
Design
Either we help you find a designer, or we work to drawings you already have.
- Design
- Consultation
Design phase
6 to 12 months, depending on scope
If you are starting from scratch, we help you choose a designer whose strengths match your brief, then coordinate every external consultant on your behalf. If you already have working drawings, we consult on those instead.
You will see sketches, mood boards and virtual walkthroughs, and your feedback is the point of the exercise rather than a courtesy.
04
Pricing
Two estimates, in order. The first tells you whether it is affordable. The second is the blueprint the contract is built on.
- Qualifying Build Estimate
- Letter of Engagement
- Final Build Estimate
QBE turnaround
Seven days from payment
The Qualifying Build Estimate (QBE) comes first. It is a paid proposal that puts an allowance or a dollar-per-square-metre value against each area of the project, and gives you an expected build spend range. We deliver it within seven days of the invoice being paid, then sit down with you for an hour to go through it.
The QBE exists to answer one question early: is the house you want achievable on the budget you have? Finding that out now, rather than after months of design, is the whole point.
The Letter of Engagement follows. It sets out each party’s roles, responsibilities and obligations, and is signed electronically.
The Final Build Estimate (FBE) comes once construction documents exist. It is our 100-point estimate, covering major component labour, contractor costs, materials and ancillary allowances. Where something is unclear we raise a Request for Information rather than guess. When the first draft is ready we walk you through every line item and keep refining until it matches your vision and your budget.
05
Contract
You get taught the contract before you are asked to sign it.
- Success Agreement
- Contract Education
- Contract Signing
- Deposit Invoice
Deposit
5% of contract value
The Success Agreement comes first: a two-way document setting out what each of us commits to. We walk through it together before either party signs.
Then the Contract Education Session. We take you through a draft building contract and break down the parts that catch people out - variations, extensions of time, prime cost items and provisional sum allowances - so you understand them before signing rather than afterwards. Most disputes we have seen start with someone not understanding one of those four things.
Contract signing follows, then a deposit invoice of 5% of the contract value. That secures your place in the construction schedule and lets us start procuring materials and booking labour.
06
Build
The build itself, with the costs still visible the whole way through.
- Schedule Works
- Start Works
- Delivery
Works are scheduled, the site starts, and the job runs to that programme. Every variation is priced and approved in writing before the work happens, which is the same promise the estimate was built on.
At handover you get more than keys. Our handover pack lists every trade and supplier who worked on your home with their contact details, records every paint colour and finish for future touch-ups, and sets out the defect liability process and maintenance guides for everything in the house.
It starts with a questionnaire
No obligation on either side. If we are not the right builder for your project, we will tell you that early.