When it comes to building a dream home, we all wish that we had an unlimited budget to play with. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case! However, with some honest conversations, smart decisions and clear vision you can still get the home you’ve always wanted for a price that works for you. We sat down with Eric Briggs, General Manager of Sentinel Homes Christchurch North, to have a chat about how he helps homeowners make their budgets go further while still delivering quality, comfort, and style.
Value engineering may seem like a technical term, but as Eric explains, it’s really about making sure that clients are getting the home they want at the price tag they know they need to stick to. “It’s really just understanding the client's budget, and supporting and directing them to meet that budget,” he says. “For me that means sitting down with the client and discussing what they want from their home, and then figuring out how we can do it better without the price tag attached to it.”
There are many ways in which Eric and his team achieve this, the majority of which don’t involve significant sacrifices to the client’s vision and desires. “There's simple things that you can do in a house that makes sure it looks fantastic without getting carried away,” he explains. “That could include engineering steel out of the plans, making smarter decisions around the sizes of windows and openings, or understanding the site fully to ensure money isn’t wasted on unnecessary features that don’t make an impact.”
At the same time, Eric is clear that value engineering is never about cutting corners. His focus is always on delivering homes of an exceptional standard. “We're solution providers and we're dream makers. People have their dream home in mind and it's our role to provide a solution to get them as close as possible to that without going over budget. There's always a solution - where there's a will there's a way! Often, with a few smart compromises, you can still get the wow factor you’re after while making every dollar work harder.”
One of the key points Eric raised in our conversation was the value of having an open, honest discussion about what you want in your home and the budget you’re working with. These early conversations set the foundation for working together to find solutions that make sense for both the vision and the cost. “I get clients to tell me what they want, what’s on their dream list, what their priorities are,” he explains. “I want people to come with as many ideas as they can. Then we can take different parts, re-engineer them, re-design them, and see how they might apply to this house and this budget. Sometimes an idea won’t fit exactly, but we can often take an element of it and redesign it in a new way that keeps what’s important to them without letting the cost get carried away. That's a skill that I particularly have after 15-20 years of experience in this industry, being able to understand the options available, and then during that conversation figure out what would work best and the details we need to move forward.”
Eric also highlighted the importance of being there to give his clients the information they need to make smarter, more budget-friendly decisions. “People don't know what they don't know, so we really focus on the education process and exploring the client's wants and needs properly so we can then advise on how they can get the result they want without the huge expense. There's no hidden surprises and we're very proud of that.”
When it comes to value engineering, Eric says that being confident in your builder and being able to have an open dialogue are some of the most important aspects to ensure you’re setting yourself up for success. “Trust is everything. I mean you shouldn't build with a builder if you can't trust them,” he says. “Some people are hesitant to have that honest conversation and say, ‘hey look this is our budget this is what we want to spend’, but for us knowing from the beginning what you’re looking to spend means we can make the biggest difference. You know there's any number of things that we can explore, but if people don't have that conversation, we just don't know.”
Eric says his approach to these initial conversations align with Sentinel Homes’ commitment to doing things the right way right from the get-go. “Sometimes you have to tell people the hard truth, and sometimes it's not what they want to hear, but I would rather do that than win a sale and then charge somebody extra for something that they didn't know about,” Eric explains. “I think the wider Sentinel group just has that integrity and honesty where we all have this desire to build the clients dream home, rather than just give them a cookie cutter solution. We want to provide the best solution and value engineering is just part and parcel of that.”
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Thinking of building your dream home? Get in touch with your local Sentinel Homes team for a chat today and try us out.
Let’s get together for a free, no-pressure meeting with one of our team, at your place or ours.
We can't wait to hear your ideas!
