Arei Designs Blog

When you join our subscription service, you have access to a whole range of perks designed to help you focus on what you do best: building top-notch custom homes. Along with access to a comprehensive, constantly evolving database of concept home plans, we’ve expanded our service offerings with you in mind. 

Once you subscribe, we become your design partner. We help you to grow your business through increased brand exposure, social media marketing, design advice and drafting support.

Basically, we want to be your one-stop-shop for design. 

Designed with the builder in mind 

Having worked in the industry for many years, we know what it’s like to receive a plan only to realise it’s not designed with you in mind. Each design we upload to our constantly evolving database is strategised to be buildable and bankable. Each set of plans come with suggestions regarding block size, frontage and even block type to make your planning process simple. 

Free Additional Design Service 

See a design but need adjustments made to get your client over the line? No worries! Our team of draftspeople are on hand to amend and tweak to suit. 

Further to this, we offer all current subscribers the opportunity to request a brand new design at no additional cost. 

Recently, we designed a suite of Granny Flats on request. It was such a well-received design, we decided to expand on the series and offer it to all subscribers. 

Drafting and Construction Service 

Our service doesn’t end with high-quality home designs. Because we have already completed the concept designs, the design documentation process for construction drawings is simpler and quicker. We offer this service for all current subscribers at a fraction of the cost you’d find anywhere else. 

All we need is a two-week lead and we’ll have your working drafting and construction drawings complete. 

We like to think we’re a one-stop-shop Our services begin at concept and continue until completion.  

Marketing & Design Support 

It’s one thing to give you what you need to build a winning home. It’s another to help you grow your business. We are committed to working with you on both elements of your business. 

When you subscribe with us, we will promote you via social media and online through our ‘Find A Builder’ service. We announce you as an Arei Designs partner and work to grow your business online. 

Additionally, we have an established network of vetted graphic designers, copywriters and social media managers ready to work with you. 

We don’t want to be the biggest online plans provider in Australia; just the best. 

Our subscription service isn’t for everyone, we work with bespoke custom home builders who build 5 or more homes a year. 

We only open our subscription to a small number of builders in each area so you don’t need to worry about having loads of competition in your zone. 

Quality is what we’re all about. Working with custom home builders with similar target markets (in different areas!) means we can hone in and refine our craft. It also means we’re truly the specialists in our field. 

Looking to up your building efforts in 2020? Contact us for a free consultation. 

Continue reading...

It’s safe to say 2018 was a tumultuous time in the Australian property market. We witnessed our property superstars, Sydney & Melbourne experience a devastating blow with Sydney dropping a staggering 5.9 per cent and Melbourne dropping 1.5 per cent. Darwin and Perth both experienced a decline of 3.6 per cent. 

Some states bucked the trend and lifted. Brisbane had a minor growth of 0.01% with Adelaide and Canberra increasing by 1.1 per cent and 1.4 per cent respectively. Hobart bucked the trend with a 8.4 per cent property increase. 

Everyone was nervous. New builds declined, the Big 4 banks imposed tighter lending conditions and the property market flatlined. As a result, sellers held firm, buyers with decent financial backing went awol and new builds declined dramatically. 

The whole nation was waiting for unemployment to rise and the property market to tumble. The doomsday reporting had an element of truth that was hard to ignore. 

2019 Market Conditions 

Enter The Royal Commission and the Federal Election. A petri dish of uncertainty and a nail in the coffin that was positive buyer sentiment. 

The main change came post-royal commission when a new ruling stated the banks could no longer pay mortgage brokers a home-loan finders fee. Additionally, lending conditions remained competitive. Interest-only loans, smaller deposits and equity-driven loans were harder if not impossible to obtain. 

Quarters 1 & 2 were shaky, to say the least. 

Australian Property Forecast 

Fast forward to quarter 4 and it seems the reported property apocalypse is all smoke and mirrors. In fact, we’re now seeing increases across the board. Some slight but none the less, the market is rising. 

Just today, the Reserve Bank announced a rate cut (the third for the year) to 0.75 per cent. Lower interest rates coupled with looser lending conditions will result in a more positive market.

So far, house prices have increased by 1.7 per cent nationally. Sydney recorded a slight rise of 0.2 per cent with Melbourne increasing by 0.1 per cent. 

Overall, the market is still a hesitant one but certainly, it’s heading in the right direction. Predictions are for a strong 2020 with rates set to remain low. 

Custom Home Builder Forecast 

Of course, this is all relevant but what does it actually mean for custom home builders? In short, your clients will have more access to finance with more relaxed lending conditions meaning you’ll see more of them in the market. 

Additionally, the hesitation experienced in 2018 and the first half of 2019 will lessen. With the change in sentiment in the market, you should expect to see larger projects coming your way. 

Our advice is to prepare for a busy 2020 with all of your ducks lined up neatly. 

• Plan a strong marketing campaign to land more clients. 
• Turn your leads into business with a suite of custom home plans ready to wow potential clients  
• Stay current and ahead of your competition 

How have the current conditions affected your custom home building business?

Further Reading: 

• Source: https://www.realestate.com.au/australian-property-market/property-report-january-2019/
• Source: https://www.realestate.com.au/news/how-will-the-royal-commission-affect-the-housing-market/
• Source: https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/australian-economy/sydney-and-melbourne-house-prices-increase-for-first-time-since-2017/news-story/2edae336adce91341753eb4272d16b9a 
• Source: https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/interest-rates/rba-interest-rates-reserve-bank-cuts-rate-to-075/news-story/

Continue reading...

It seems everywhere you turn these days there’s yet another article predicting the impending property apocalypse. This isn’t one of those articles. No, we’ve penned this piece today to chat through how the current market conditions affect custom home builders. You’ll notice many of these property updates only really focus on sale prices, auction clearance rates and discounting. Custom builds are a whole new kettle of fish.

Here we want to outline the facts along with a few key strategies you can employ to remain profitable while the real estate market does it’s thing. Here at AREI, we don’t see the point in reporting anything unless there’s a solution ready and waiting.

What is the current market telling us?

The ABS Building Report released in November 2018 showed a dramatic decline in construction approvals across all states. When averaged across all building types (houses, apartments, commercial) the decline totalled 32.8% in the last 12 months. When narrowing down the data to show private dwellings, houses dropped 6.4% and all other private dwellings (apartments & co) dropped a staggering 53.9%.

This can be the result of many things. For us, there are 2 key elements that are really steering the boat on these figures. The first one being the tighter lending conditions all Australians (and overseas investors!) are experiencing. Interest only loans, smaller deposits and equity driven loans are harder if not impossible to get right now. For that reason, there just isn’t as much cash floating around.

Secondly, people are nervous. As we mentioned, every media outlet in Australia is hypothesising about the future of our property growth and even the economic wealth in this country. When there’s fear in the market, it’s harder to sell. The results of the Royal Banking Commission is still playing out in Australia so it’s a case of waiting to analyse the full impact the adjustments have made.

We believe your potential clients are still waiting in the wings. In the meantime, we’ve got a few ideas to keep your custom home building business flush.

Stay Current

The construction industry is always changing as you’d know. To attract and retain clients, you need to match or stay ahead of your competition. The key trends coming forth in 2019 and beyond in home building are:

• Technology: many builders are investing in online project management tools which of course, benefit the project at hand but also, the client. Many of these tools allow for frequent build updates which the client can access online. It may seem like a small thing but key client value adds such as this can be the difference between winning and losing a job.
• Sustainability: with the focus on eco-friendly sustainable homes gaining more traction, ensuring you have viable options for this type of request will drastically improve your chances of acquiring new clients. Everything from building materials, solar options and house plans will need your consideration here. We now offer eco-friendly, sustainable custom house plans which are drawn and ready to be downloaded.

Find Your Niche

If you’ve been in this business for a while, you’ll know that finding new clients takes time, money and resources. Instead of trying to attract everyone and everything, spend some time figuring which projects have been the most profitable in the past. Identify who it was that booked those builds. Really niche this down to include their age, profession, location, family status and more.

This is called creating a customer avatar. One you have a clear idea of who to target and for what, develop a marketing plan to attract them. Put it this way, you can acquire many smaller clients or you can get strategic and book a smaller quantity of larger jobs.

You may also like ‘5 Essential Strategies to Land More Clients’.

Run a Lean Business

Even if you’re booked solid until Christmas, it’s always a good idea to plan for the future. It’s even more imperative in a market lull. You’d be surprised at how much you can save just by adjusting your operating expenses. For example:

• Labour: Watch your sub-contractor labour costs. Are there elements you can take back yourself rather than outsourcing? Can you minimise weekend work to reduce your expenses for a period of time? This is undoubtedly your highest cost so addressing this and making adjustments where you can should be a priority.
• Marketing: Of course if work is drying up, you’ll want to increase your marketing budget but it’s worth addressing what types of marketing you’re spending on. Traditional print mediums have a low return on investment where digital marketing can be tracked and adjusted for conversion almost instantaneously. Audit your efforts and market with intention. If the billboard is costing $5k per month and you’re not sure if it’s even working, it might be time to take it down.
• Plans: Another very hefty investment for builders are house plans. If you’re building 5 homes or more per year, you are likely already spending upwards of $12,500 per year on house plans alone. Most architects charge $2,500 or more for a custom house plan. Here at AREI Designs, our Construction Package gives you 5 construction drawing sets PLUS access to over 200 buildable, bankable designs for less than what you’re paying for 5 house plans standalone.

Spending only where required and making minor tweaks to your outgoing expenses will help you build a bit of beef in your budget to get you through the leaner times.

How have the current conditions affected your custom home building business?

Source: https://www.mintequity.com.au/news/severe-slowing-in-housing-construction-forecast-as-building-approvals-drop-by-328

Continue reading...