The builder who is on your site

Builders, in this country, do not have the best reputation. I know that, and I am not going to pretend otherwise. The question I care about is how to be the exception, because the reputation is not me.

My name is Mahdi. I run Aspire Construction in Canberra, and I am on every one of my sites, from the first meeting to the final coat. This is why I built it to work that way, and what I will not change about it.

I take three to five homes a year. That is a choice, not a limit I am stuck with, and people are sometimes surprised I say it out loud.

Keeping it small is the whole point. It means the person who prices your home is the person on your site and the person who answers for it afterwards. I do not want to grow into an office that hands you to a project manager you have never met. I want to be the one you call.

My pure hate in what I do is the transactional relationship. I cannot do it. You are about to spend a large sum, most of it borrowed, over the better part of a year, and I do not think anyone should do that feeling like a job number.

So I make it personal. I guide you through the questions when I ask them, I stay with you through the parts that are hard, and I keep supporting you after handover until you are settled. That is not a service line. It is just how I work.

If any builder tells you they can achieve one hundred per cent, they are not being straight with you. I aim for ninety five to ninety eight, and I am honest about that, because I would rather set the frame truthfully than promise you something no one can deliver.

Same with the trade every project makes. Quality, price and time. You cannot have all three. Tell me which two matter most to you and I will be straight with you about the third. That honesty up front is the thing I would want from a builder, so it is the thing I give.

When I say safety is my first priority, I am not talking about a slogan. I mean the safety of my workers on the site. That is my number one, ahead of everything else.

A site that looks after the people on it is a site where the work gets done properly. The two are not separate. The care I expect for my trades is the same care that ends up in your home.

Your drawings represent the ideal. Reality, very often, is different. When the site does not agree with the plan, you will not hear from me with a problem and nothing else.

I come to you with the problem, yes, but with at least two or three ways through it. That is the difference I try to be, and it is what keeps bringing work to me: not the talk, the work itself.

I am not going to tell you I am the best. I would rather you came and looked. You just walk in, have a look, and tell me what you think.

If you want to understand how I work with a design team, our For Architects page sets it out. Otherwise, come and see a home I have built, and we will take it from there.