Slab to keys: a week-by-week new-build timeline

Before the slab: the invisible months

Design, consent and prelim works happen before any concrete arrives: working drawings, geotech, engineering and the council's building consent. Allow a few months depending on council workload and how quickly decisions get made, and remember the useful truth of this phase: decisions made now are free, the same decisions made during the build are variations.

Months one and two: out of the ground

Earthworks, foundations and the slab, then framing. The week the frames stand is the week the house stops being a drawing; the week the roof goes on, the site becomes weatherproof and every following trade speeds up. Expect surveyor visits, council inspections and a site that changes shape daily.

Months three and four: closed in

Cladding, joinery, wrap and the roof complete the shell. Inside, electrical and plumbing rough-in thread the walls before insulation and linings close them. This is the show-up fortnight: walk the house at rough-in with us, because moving a power point today is a conversation, and in month five it is a variation.

Months five and six: the finish

Stopping, painting, kitchen and bathrooms, flooring, fit-off, and the final council inspection for the Code Compliance Certificate process. The last fortnight looks slow from the fence, it is actually a hundred small completions. Then the handover walkthrough, the keys, and the Master Build 10-Year Guarantee doing exactly what it says.

Most of our homes run slab to keys inside six months. You get the real schedule, with dates, at contract signing, and updates as it climbs out of the ground.