Buying Guide

You've chosen your home design and you're keen to see it take shape as soon as possible. It won't be too much longer, but there are a few things we need to have in place to make sure your build gets off to the right start and everything runs to plan. Plans need to be drawn, approvals need to be gained and you'll need to choose your finishes. Visit our process page or, if you want more details, download our pre-construction flowchart. 

A "bank pack" isn't a bundle that arrives all in one, but is the multiple pieces of info your lender needs to approve your home loan. We'll make sure two copies of each piece of info are sent to you – one for you and one for your lender. You'll then need to make sure your lender gets their copy to assess.

Your Building Agreement and associated documents will be posted out to you around 10 working days after you've signed your contract documents. This gives time for your Statesman Building Consultant to submit your file to the office, review your quote and then countersign your documents.

This will depend on the home we're building for you, and the unique land conditions. But the base price of our homes allows for around 5 months of pre-construction preparations, starting from when the company counter signs your Building Agreement. We'll keep an eye on the progress of your building approvals so that we can start constructing your home as soon as possible.

Usually the master plans are completed, received, checked by the office and sent to you for approval within 3 weeks from the time the order is sent through to the architect. This timeframe may be longer if the architect raises any important queries.

Usually you'll receive your construction footing report within 3 weeks of the master plans arriving. It is ordered at the same time as the master plans, so that while the master plans are being put together, the engineer can spend time collecting more information about your site – soil samples, contours of the land and so on.

When the master plans arrive, the engineer will use these, along with all the data they've gathered about your site, to put together a list of engineers recommendations.

The construction footing report is then completed and returned to our office within around 3 weeks, and we can start costing your siteworks and footings. You'll receive a copy of your report and the associated costings within 5 working days.

We'll submit your application to council and a private certifier (for approval to go ahead with construction) within 2 days of receiving the master plans and the construction footing report.

This will depend on your council's processes, but usually you can expect the approval to take up to around 10 weeks.

There are three stages to a full council approval: Planning Rules consent, Building Rules consent and Development Approval.

The council's assessment of the application for Planning Rules consent can take up to 4–6 weeks and may involve septic approval and a developer approval.

While the council is assessing this first stage, the private certifier assesses the application for Building Rules consent. They will normally take 1–2 weeks to issue their consent once they've sighted the conditions of approval on the Planning Rules consent. Building consent can't be issued unless Planning consent has already been granted.

Once the first two stages are approved, the council does a final review to issue a Development Approval. This takes around 1-2 weeks and is the formal council approval that gives us the go-ahead to construct your new home.

Once you have your master plans in hand, contact us for an appointment to choose your colours and finishes for your new home.

If you're stuck for ideas, find inspiration here!

Before you step into your appointment, review the Selections Guide and make a list of your favourite finishes. You can also take a look through our Design Studio before your appointment so you come prepared with an idea of what you want your new home to look like and feel like.

You should consult with your lender as early as possible so you can be issued with a pre-approval. This will give you an approximate budget to work within for your home and finishes.

But wait until you have ALL of the costings for your new home before your lender finalises your application for finance. These will include any costings for siteworks, footings, and the finishes you choose at your colour/finishes selection appointment. Book your selections appointment soon after receiving your master plans to speed up the process – this gives you time to finalise finance approval before council approvals are granted.

As soon as you have formal approval from your lender, you'll need to forward it to us so that we have an official record of the amount approved for construction of your new home.

Yes. After your conveyancer organises settlement of the land into your name, they'll provide you with a letter to let you know that settlement has been finalised. You'll need to send us a copy of this letter or a copy of the land title showing the property address with you as the owner of that land. Once we have this, we can provide you with an 'OK to Start' date.

As soon as all conditions of the Building Agreement are satisfied, we can give you the 'OK to Start' date and start construction. Generally, the Building Agreement conditions will include formal finance approval, proof of ownership of the land, your selections completed, all required documents signed and returned to our office, and a Development Approval issued by the council.