Planning
August 2026
4 min read
Everyone hears the horror stories about builds that drag on for years. Here is what a realistic timeline looks like, what actually causes delays, and how a well-run program absorbs them.
A custom home in Queensland typically runs eight to ten months from site start to handover; a major extension three to six; a whole-home renovation around four. Those ranges are honest ones — and anyone promising dramatically less is either building a very simple product or banking on a program you will be living with when it slips.
Delays almost never come from the trades being slow. They come from decisions waiting on the client, approvals taking longer than expected, weather that will not cooperate, and variations discovered mid-build. A good program does not pretend these will not happen — it absorbs them.
This is why our contracts carry realistic buffers and our schedules are issued as living documents. You will know which stage your build is in, what happens next and what decisions are needed from you and when — because the single biggest delay factor on any site is a decision that has not been made.
If a builder cannot show you a stage-by-stage program with the decision points marked, ask why. Knowing what happens on your site next week is not a luxury; it is the difference between a build that feels controlled and one that feels endless.
A stage-by-stage reality check for a typical custom home: site works and slab run two to three weeks; frame and wrap, three to four; roof and external cladding to lockup, four to five; internals — plaster, joinery, tiles, fittings — eight to ten; then inspections, certifications and handover. Stack those honestly, add weather, and you arrive at the eight-to-ten-month range we contract. Builders promising five months for the same scope are either building something much simpler or planning to run trades so tightly that any hiccup breaks the program.
The quiet superpower of a well-run build is decision discipline. Every stage carries selection deadlines — tiles by lockup, joinery by plaster, fittings by fixing — and clients who meet them keep the program intact. This is why our weekly updates name the upcoming decisions, not just the completed work: a schedule rarely slips because trades were slow; it slips because a choice was not made in time.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Honest ranges: 8–10 months for a custom home, 3–6 for extensions, ~4 for renovations
- Most delays are decisions and approvals, not slow trades
- A program without weather buffers is a promise, not a schedule
- Weekly schedule updates should be part of the service, not a favour
