The time it takes to build a house in Perth can be anywhere between 12 and 24 months. For single-storey homes, the typical build time is 12 months, and for double-storey homes, it’s 18 months.

A question future homeowners can’t stop asking and home builders dread to hear, it should be noted that each house construction project has its own set of challenges and difficulties that can delay its completion.

That’s why I’m eager to discuss not only the length of time each stage takes to finish but also the possible challenges you might encounter along the way.

And as a bonus, I’ll also share some tips on how you can reduce the effect of these problems on your dream home!

Pre-Construction

Your long journey to a new home starts with the pre-construction stage. A process that lasts anywhere between four and five months, this step is crucial for ensuring a smooth building process and a successful project.

Let’s discuss the different tasks you’ll need to do during this stage:

Step 1: Design and Planning 

A step that will take you one to two months to complete, the design and planning stage is where you’ll work with architects and designers to create a detailed house plan that best suits your requirements, lifestyle, and budget.

This step takes a few weeks to finish as it covers floor plans, elevations, structural details, and material specifications. Furthermore, your architect might take multiple iterations before they can finalise the design, which can take time.

Step 2: Permit Acquisition

Before construction begins, you’ll need to secure various permits from the city government. These include building permits, environmental approvals, and utility connections. 

Expect a month or two to accomplish this step.

Step 3: Choosing a House Builder

Of course, your dream home can only turn into reality with the assistance of a skilled housebuilder. 

That’s why it’s important to put at least a month into doing this step, as you’ll need time to research, interview, and compare quotes from various candidates.

Once you’ve made your choice, you should then put at least a week into negotiating the contract terms, like cost, timeline, and responsibilities, to ensure you’ll get the better part of the deal.

To help you out with this one, we made a quick review of the best home builders in Perth.

Step 4: Site Preparation

Another crucial step that must be done during this stage is to clear the building site and prepare it for construction work. A couple of things that are done here are clearing existing obstructions, levelling the site, and preparing the foundation.

Furthermore, your builder might also do soil testing, geotechnical assessments, and site surveys to determine whether the land is suitable for your desired house design. This entire step will take you a month or two to complete.

Step 5: Utilities and Services

Before you start building your house, it would be wise to immediately get in touch with utility companies to ensure a quick connection to power and water before you move in.

For this part, you’ll need at least two weeks to coordinate with utility providers and comply with any requirements or paperwork that needs to be done.

Step 6: Financial Arrangements

Depending on the current state of your budget, you might need to secure financing from financial institutions like banks so you’ll have enough money to go through with your house construction project.

This stage will require at least a month to complete, as you’ll need to finalise loan agreements and arrange payments. Furthermore, the bank will also take some time to assess and process your documents.

Step 7: Customisation and Material Selection

The final step before construction can begin is where you’ll need to choose the materials, fixtures, finishes, and colours that will be applied to your future home. 

I highly suggest you take your time during this step, as you want to make sure that your home will look exactly the way you want it. Spend anywhere between two weeks and a month for the best results.

Construction

Now that you’ve done the necessary prep work, it’s time to finally begin building your home! This phase can span anywhere between 6 and 18 months, as it encapsulates most of the stages involved in house construction.

Let’s go into a bit more detail about each stage.

Step 8: Foundation and Framing

To begin, your builder will need to install the foundation and framing, which will serve as the “skeleton” of your house. These parts are essential, as they’ll support the other parts and ensure that the weight is distributed evenly around the house.

A process that takes anywhere from two to four months, it involves excavating the site, pouring concrete footings, and constructing the foundation walls.

Once the foundation’s cement hardens, your builder will then move on to erecting the structural framework using wood or steel. This includes the house’s walls, floors, and the roof.

Step 9: Bricklaying and Roofing

Now that the structural frame has been installed, it’s time to cover them up with the bricklaying and roofing stage. A process that takes a month or two to complete, its completion time is dependent on the materials used.

When it comes to bricklaying, your builder can use either bricks or cinder blocks to cover up the frame. Bricks are easier to handle and faster to lay down; however, you’ll need more of them to fully cover up a wall.

As for cinder blocks, they are larger and are much easier to work with for less experienced workers. However, their heavier weight might make this process slower to finish.

The same rule applies to the roof as well. Metal roofing is light and very easy to install, making it an excellent choice if you’re in a rush to complete this stage. However, it’s prone to rusting if not painted regularly.

As for tiled roofing, it’s more pleasant to look at and works better if you’re going for a house with a more traditional style. The downside, however, is that it takes longer to install, as your roofer will have to install the tiles one by one.

Step 10: Plumbing and Electrical Work

Once the walls and ceilings of your house are in place, the process of laying the utility lines can begin. In this stage, your contracted plumber will install water supply lines, drainage pipes, and fixtures throughout the house.

This is also the time when an electrician will wire the house for lighting, outlets, and switches. Depending on the size and complexity of your house design, you can expect to have this stage completed within two weeks to two months.

Step 11: Interior Finishings

With the exterior of your house complete, your builder can now start the process of constructing the inside of the house. This is the longest stage in the construction phase and can take up to four months to finish without any complications or delays.

This stage is where the installation of drywall is done to create non-load-bearing walls that will separate your house into specific rooms. This is also where insulation is added to walls, ceilings, and floors for energy efficiency.

After that comes the installation of flooring materials such as hardwood, tile, carpet, or laminate to improve the inside look of your home. Kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities, and baseboards will also be fitted.

Once everything is done, the remaining week will be used to apply paint to the house’s internal walls and ceilings.

Step 12: Final Touches

After the construction work is complete, it’s time to do the finishing touches that will transform your house into a home. Depending on your preferences, this step can take anywhere from a month to two months to accomplish.

Part of this step is the installation of interior fixtures like appliances, ceiling fans, doorknobs, and cabinet handles. It’s also the step where your bathroom and kitchen fixtures, like sinks and showers, are connected to your piping.

If landscaping is part of your vision, this is also the stage where your contracted landscapers will plant trees, lay sod, create garden beds, and install pathways around your house.

Lastly, the house will undergo a thorough cleaning to remove any dust, debris, and construction residue that has gathered inside it throughout the months. A final inspection is also performed to ensure the house is up to your standards.

What factors can affect the time it takes to build a house in Perth?

There are a lot of factors that can lengthen the time it takes to build a house in Perth. Some of those are things like the weather, labour shortages, financial shortages, and permit acquisition. 

If that sounds a lot, you might want to consider whether it’s better to buy a house rather than build one.

But before you make your decision, let’s have a quick look into each factor I mentioned earlier.

Acquiring the Necessary Permits

Projects like houses will need some time to get approved by the local government before construction can begin. That’s because the authorities need to make sure that the house won’t become a safety risk to its occupants and neighbours.

Sadly, we both know that the government isn’t exactly in a rush to grant permits to applicants. 

In fact, the minimum time it takes to process a building permit is 10 business days for certified building permit applications and 25 business days for uncertified building permit applications.

It’s also unfortunate that the city government is inundated with so many permit applications, which leads to a large number of backlogs that still remain unprocessed to this day.

That’s why the Western Australian government announced in January 2024 that it would be dropping the requirement for planning approval to build a granny flat up to 70 square metres (WA Today).

It’s hoped that this reform will lead to a decline in permit applications submitted to the state’s local governments.

Weather and Environmental Factors

Another critical factor that can cause delays in the construction of your house is the weather. Due to its unpredictability, it’s often hard for most house builders to prepare in advance to mitigate the weather’s effects.

This is especially true during the winter season when the chances of rainfall in Perth are at their highest. 

Rain, storms, and floods can make it impossible for any meaningful work to be done, as the low visibility and strong winds can be dangerous for workers and may prevent certain tasks, such as roofing or framing.

Likewise, the heat waves that occur during the summer season can pose a serious threat to your builders due to the risk of heat stroke. 

Make sure to coordinate with your site manager when it comes to these situations and understand why they’ll have to postpone construction for the day or the week.

Builder and Contractor Shortages

Sadly, the lack of skilled tradesmen and builders in Perth is also a huge factor in the delay of many house construction projects across the city. Construction companies are struggling to find enough qualified personnel to work on projects.

According to ABC News, Western Australia alone will need at least 90,000 more construction workers for it to be able to reasonably meet its target of building 1.2 million more homes in the state.

This problem is also prevalent in other states in the country. 

That’s why there are talks to implement reforms to address this issue, such as removing the biases in career choices, increasing gender diversity, and improving recognition for international qualifications (Business News Australia).

Hopefully, these reforms will be enacted immediately to address the labour shortages. Until then, we’ll have to suffer from construction delays and postponements in the meantime. 

The Overall Size of Your Planned House

It’s no secret that the time it takes to build a house is highly dependent on its overall size. According to CoConstruct, there’s a strong correlation between square footage and construction time. 

When it comes to custom houses that have sizes between 1,500 and 4,000 square feet, every additional 500 square feet included increases the build time by 8%. That roughly translates to three more weeks of work. 

Meanwhile, custom houses over 4,000 square feet have increased build times by about 1% (1 to 2 days) for every 500 more square feet added.

Material Shortages

Aside from labour shortages, the lack of building materials in Perth can also drastically hamper your house’s construction. Sadly, it has been revealed that there’s a severe shortage of most materials in Australia, like timber, steel, and cement.

According to G.J. Gardner Homes, the main causes of this phenomenon are the nationwide bushfires, a booming American construction sector, and the rapid increase in demand for construction work brought on by stimulus packages.

Furthermore, the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine has also further worsened the global supply chain for building materials (ABC News). 

These factors, combined, have made it significantly longer for builders to source their building materials. 

For example, before the COVID-19 pandemic, it only took up to two weeks at most to source bricks. But after the pandemic, the average time is now four weeks.

Tips on How You Can Keep Your House Construction on Track

• Set clear objectives

Before starting construction, create a comprehensive plan that includes blueprints, a work schedule, and all necessary materials. Ensure that you define your goals and objectives for the project clearly with your builder.

Having a clear plan from the beginning will lessen the chances of costly and sudden adjustments happening later on.

• Draft a realistic timeline

While it’s okay to be optimistic when it comes to setting deadlines, it’s still wise to set aside some allowance in your schedule to factor in unexpected delays caused by things such as weather, material availability, and labour constraints.

Make sure to give your builder some leeway, especially during the winter and summer seasons.

• Regularly review performance

Always keep detailed records of daily activities, changes, and progress. This ensures you can monitor whether your objectives are met and record any delays that may occur at any point of the construction.

This also allows you to properly gauge your builder’s performance and see whether they are worth their asking price.

• Budget wisely

It’s important to set specific budgets for every stage of your house’s construction. This ensures that the risk of budget overruns is kept to a minimum, and it also allows you to determine immediately whether you’ll need to source more funds.

Furthermore, allocating specific budgets in advance lets you plan out how to do each construction stage more effectively.

• Revisit and refine plans

It’s also wise to be reactive to any sudden challenges or delays that you might encounter during your house construction. Always maintain an open mind, and don’t be dismissive of any suggestions your builder might give you.

For example, if a specific material is currently hard to get due to supply shortages, don’t wait for the situation to improve and immediately find a suitable replacement so the construction work can resume in earnest.

• Keep communication channels open

Don’t forget to regularly communicate with your builder, subcontractors, and other professionals about the current status of your house. If they have a concern, address it immediately to avoid any delays.