What a Residential Build Actually Runs Through
A house is not bought the way most things are bought. You are paying, in stages, for a process that produces one — and almost everything that goes wrong traces back to that distinction being fuzzy at the start.
Documentation first. Three documents carry the whole job: the drawings say what is being built, the specification says to what standard and in what materials, and the contract says who does what, when payment happens, and what occurs when something changes. Where any of the three is vague, the gaps get filled in later by whoever is holding the pen.
Then approval. Municipal plan approval — George, Mossel Bay, Knysna or Bitou depending on the erf — plus estate architectural committee sign-off where one applies. It is the least predictable item on any residential programme and nothing else should be scheduled against an assumed date.
Then the build. Site establishment and the health and safety file, excavation and foundations, floor slab, superstructure, roof, weathertight, first fix, plaster and screeds, second fix, ceilings and joinery, tiling and painting, fittings and external works.
Then close-out. Snagging, practical completion, handover of the occupancy certificate, electrical CoC, plumbing certificate, roof truss A19 and NHBRC documentation, then the defects liability period with retention released at the end of it.
Getting weathertight before the wet part of the year is the single most valuable scheduling decision on a Garden Route build, and it is worth reorganising a start date for.
