Independent Building Advice

My wife and I are currently working closely with Behan and the team at IBA to build our dream family home. With no knowledge or experience in the building industry, we were complete novices and feeling out of our depth. We were referred to Behan and he has been a godsend!We are still in the early stages of our development project and there’s a long road ahead but having Behan’s wealth of knowledge and connection to industry has been invaluable. We are now far more relaxed with the process and confident we will get the end result we want. Behan has spent a great deal of time with us and it’s never been too much trouble for him to meet in person or have a quick chat on the phone to answer our questions when they arise. We have very quickly become excited about what’s to come! Based on our experience, we would highly recommend getting IBA onboard for your next real estate project.

Behan was highly recommended to us in 2020 by a former colleague of his to be our independent building advisor.He has been extremely invaluable during our extremely lengthy building process. I'm sure Behan took pity on us— that despite indicating at the beginning that the service was to last 14 months, he still answered our questions/concerns through the gruelling 2 and half year build. We are close to moving in, just flooring and window coverings to go, but definitely have a beautiful home thanks to our builder and Behan.Overall, he was very knowledgeable over all aspects of the build and stepped us through the multiple inspection reports and his advice saved us more than what we paid him over the course of the build. We'd definitely call on IBA if we had to build again.

Behan has been an invaluable asset to building our new home here in Perth, WA. IBA was the answer to our prayers after months of searching through display homes, project builders and sales calls.I would recommend him to anyone looking for a helping hand starting their own home building journey.

Behan assisted us in the lead up and during the build of our house. He is a wealth of knowledge and always lead us to various options, removed overwhelm and gave detailed explanations where required.Nothing was too much trouble, and Behan would provide solutions (in a timely manner at that) when we felt stuck or frustrated- which was the case many times during the process.We felt confident after every conversation due to Behan's years of industry experience and understanding of our needs. He was in our corner every step of the way.Thanks mate for helping us get into our beautiful new home, can't thank you enough. No hesitation in recommending Behan and Independent Building Advice!

Doing your first home build is a daunting prospect that you want to get right. Behan has made our first stage of this process so easy and enjoyable and I have full confidence going ahead. It's all about having someone who knows the industry to avoid making the mistakes. Great advice to ensure we get a home that suits us, for the price we want in a timely way.

Independent Building Advice gave us a perfect house design after having unsuccessfully engaged with 3 top building companies that failed to listen to our needs and produced a design that lacked practicality. The IBA design was then tendered to 4 medium to small builders with a proven track record and financially sound. The end result was that we not only got a better more functional house but at a cost between 21 and 27% cheaper than that of the ‘top’ builders.We also saved time in the process as Behan came to our home to work with us on the design rather than us having to book time with the ‘top’ builders who were time poor and did not offer up the same practical expertise. We are so happy with IBA and Behan and hope you make the right decision and call him too, just like we did.

It has been a year since we first started working with IBA... and we have just moved into our amazing new custom home! IBA’s mission is to make building a good experience, and after going through the whole journey start to end with IBA, we can confidently say this has been true for us.We knew we were not building experts, despite the significant amount of research we did ourselves. This is why we engaged IBA to guide us through our building journey as a third party advisor. Behan knows the industry inside out, and was an invaluable source to sense check any uncertainties with.Behan did our home design, and included many of our lifestyle preferences and factors. The design process was great, with a healthy amount of challenging to keep us honest and reasonable (got my 11m of kitchen benchtop haha :P), not to mention the design was done in a way to reduce building costs with clever tricks. We’re now living in this design for over a week, and very happy with the personalised result.IBA tendered and obtained 3 building quotes to us. These were presented like-for-like in terms of specification of the same design so that it would be comparable. However, based on working with us as clients and level of detail and service we desired, he recommended the builder he thought to be the best fit for us - one we had never heard of before. This builder was not the cheapest option, but ended up being a great fit for us.Although we didn’t have many hiccups during the build process, if there was anything we were uncertain about and wanted to check, Behan was just a phone call or SMS away. This sense of security and validation is invaluable if you have not built before! The builders (Progen Homes) also built the home in 10 months and were great to deal with every step of the way.IBA also had contacts for additional trades and services which were really convenient as we didn’t need to do our own research finding the right suppliers. Behan's contacts were already validated and had good pricing. We got a great deal on our fridge and dishwasher, as well as a custom wardrobe fit out and all our building inspections - and all the suppliers were fantastic to deal with.Overall we had a great building experience and I would build again... but only with IBA in our corner. Highly recommended - it’s worth it! We are very happy! Thank you Behan!From Liz and Angus

I was referred to Independent Building Advice by a friend who had previously used the service. I made my initial contact with Behan over a simple phone call, since then my experience has been wonderful! My husband and I were first home buyers that were naive to the industry, not knowing where to begin! We were very fortunate to have Behan’s expert advice to assist us in our decision making. He listened to our needs and understood the assignment, providing suggestions in our best interest. We have now purchased our first house & land package and we couldn’t be more grateful for his assistance in starting up the process. I would highly recommend the service to my friends and family.

I have always been hesitant to build as I’ve heard so many horror stories of dodgy builders and dodgy houses. I’ve spoken to builder sales reps and I always feel like I’m getting the hard sale.We were introduced to Independent Building Advice as an alternative to going directly through a builder.We met with Behan from IBA. IBA design a home for us, then get quotes from quality, reputable builders for us and then guided us in choosing the builder - then the stepped us through the whole process and contracts. There was no hard sale from a sales rep, we didn’t feel bamboozled by jargon and were clear exactly what we were getting.It started with design - Behan asked us what we wanted and he designed a home for us that met our requirements.He thought about things I wouldn’t even think about - direction of the sun, increasing the ceiling height and the door height, the thickness of the insulation padding, window heights to accomodate furniture and things that impact resale. He really know about building.Behan took us to look at land, walked us through different build types (framed, brick, hebel etc) and showed us what we were getting.Once we had an idea of what we wanted, Behan approached builders and asked them to quote on our dream home. We had a couple of options and Behan spent several hours going through each options, the price, inclusions, comparisons and the benefits of each company. Then we made an informed decision.He walked us through the costs, the contracts, the little extras, where to place lights and PowerPoints.Behan actually worked for us - he was honest and gave us options and help our hand through the process. We had choices in builders and our own design!Really recommend IBA and Behan is amazing.

So far, Behan has invested many hours into helping my family and I design our dream home. He is professional, extremely generous with his time, extremely patient (numerous meetings with our young grandchildren underfoot!) and absolutely committed to ensuring we end up with the house that is best going to suit our needs and budget. Ours is a complex build, with the end goal being a house that can accommodate two separate families under one roof. Behan has been extremely patient and understanding as we have worked through many iterations, struggled with some decisions and chopped and changed things umpteen times! Behan has been a fount of knowledge, always willing to share the benefit of his experience and expertise, but also genuinely listening to us, our story and our hopes and dreams for this build. I can't recommend Behan highly enough to anyone embarking on a building project. Especially given the current building climate, knowing we have Behan in our corner has given us a level of confidence and reassurance that we would not otherwise have had. We look forward, with optimism, to continuing our journey with Behan!