Your builder, or potential builders, will rely on the supplied documentation and specifications to prepare accurate pricing for your project. This is the moment when shit gets real.
Massaging your project involves the same concept. We find the most significant cost areas and look at potential deductions or alternatives that can alleviate pressure. Common considerations include alternative material specifications or simplified construction methods. When preparing your brief, there were likely some 'nice to have' inclusions that weren’t ultimately essential that may now need to be reconsidered or modified.
These revisions needn't be felt like a devastating blow but rather a way forward to a successful project outcome.
If project pricing comes in sensationally over budget, no amount of massaging will bring that pricing back into acceptable realms. It would be like trying to repair a horribly broken leg with massage; it wouldn't help.
It simply may be that the intended budget was never enough for the desired scope of work. Rather than trying to massage the proposal, more drastic reduction measures will be needed. In addition to material specification review, the project may require scaling back of size and complexity, more akin to amputation than massage.
When such drastic revision is required, it has the knock-on effect of adding both time and money by requiring some or all of;
The best way to avoid project pricing shock is to have a strategy for your project from the outset. Had you known that a house of your desired size and style would cost far more than your proposed budget at the outset, you could have adjusted your pathway accordingly.
And that is precisely the exercise we undertake in the 'Preparation Intensive' of your Home Build Mentoring. Together we establish your approximate budget relative to your project brief. There will be no amputations required for your project when you have a strategy for success right from the start.