FAQ

Your building journey is the name we give to the overall process and experience of building your new home. From the very moment you’re inspired, all the way through to when you’ve been handed the keys, your building journey is your deeply personal and potentially once-in-a-lifetime experience.

We’ve created a sophisticated ‘7-Step Element Building Method’ to help create a clear path for your Building Journey, ensuring you have the best possible experience building your new home.

Element is a Canberra-based, family-owned (and operated) residential building company led by husband and wife team Dennis and Aldona.  Established in 2011, we’ve grown to specialise in custom designing and building exceptional quality, energy-efficient and comfortable homes, with style and functionality at the forefront, to match the seasonal climate of Canberra and the surrounding regions.

We embrace our clients’ unique ideas and take the time to find out the finer details to create the dream home they envision. For every step of their journey, from finding land to choosing building materials, we offer our clients reliable communication, gentle guidance, and expert advice assuring them they are in safe hands.

Our Founder and CEO Dennis is a qualified, experienced and meticulous builder, with over 28 years in the building industry in Canberra, which all began with a carpentry apprenticeship many moons ago.  Growing up on building sites with his father who was a revered bricklayer, Dennis was always destined to grow his own residential building company and lead a high-performing team.

His wife Aldona is our Marketing, People & Culture Manager, and is the magic touch behind the scenes. She officially joined the team to explore a new creative challenge and achieve the ultimate work-life balance for their family, bringing her love for building and styling new homes, qualifications and years of experience in marketing, client service, recruitment and HR in the corporate world.

Gurus in their own areas of expertise and immensely passionate about company culture, producing quality finished products and leading clients on a journey of a lifetime, our Element team has grown in leaps and bounds and we’ve never looked back.

We certainly do. We’ve hand-selected our close-knit team of dedicated, passionate and talented professionals to also include an experienced Sales Manager, Site Supervisor, Contracts Administrator & Estimator.

Our Element team is an extension of our family and we are so proud of their valuable contribution, expertise and commitment.

Having a specialised in-house team dedicated to their role and cross-trained across various aspects of our business, ensures our team receives ongoing support, mentoring, learning and development opportunities. In turn, our clients enjoy the best building experience possible with the expert guidance, superior service and regular communication we insist on.

We subcontract over 40 local tradespeople, most of whom run their own business and dedicated teams. They have proven to be among the best in the industry. Many have been with us since we started back in 2011, consistently producing quality work, and demonstrating reliability and loyalty. Our tradespeople continue to meet our superior quality standards and are qualified and skilled to work on all of our projects.

Element has been building homes in Canberra since 2011, growing an increasingly impressive portfolio of beautiful homes and delighted homeowners.  Our long-standing experience in the building industry has seen us overcome various challenges and evolve, adapt and grow to continue the success we’re proud of today.

Dennis grew up in Canberra and has over 28 years of experience as a qualified master carpenter, turned sole trading builder, then construction manager, prior to starting Element.  Architectural plans to build his 6th family home are currently underway, so it’s safe to say he really knows what he’s talking about and is an expert in dealing with local planning and legal regulations.

As Canberra expands and new suburbs appear within and around the surrounding NSW regions, we’ve been quick to learn about and understand the differences between the various requirements of each state so we are in the best position possible to advise our clients and offer the smoothest building experience we can.

Consistently improving our client service, systems and building principles with a focus on quality, efficiency and our client’s experience at all times, we do things differently. We are collaborative, innovative and dynamic. Every day offers a new challenge and inspires us to be our best. We are selective about the projects we take on, we know all of our clients by name, and we are driven to inspire and offer a new home building journey like no other.

We have forged long-term mutually respectful relationships with our clients, trades and suppliers. Our close-knit team of industry experts are hand selected by us. They are highly skilled, experienced, dedicated and they genuinely care. We are all about having fun and we truly love what we do.

Jasmine is our most recent display home, residing at 4 Yeomans St, Strathnairn. She is a spacious 4 bedroom, 3 living and 3 bathroom beauty that feels like a home from the moment you step in the front door.  Designed as a functional and joyful family home with endless possibilities, it’s no wonder she was the Winner of the 2021 HIA ACT/Southern NSW People’s Choice Award – Display Home of the Year!

Drop by and meet our friendly, approachable and knowledgeable Sales Manager – Kim.  He’ll be available during open hours on Saturday and Sunday, between 10am and 4pm, or you can contact us to arrange a private viewing.

Coming soon to the boutique and semi-rural Elm Grove Estate in Bungendore, our new Ivy display home is under construction. Subscribe to receive news and more info.

Yes we are proud members of both the Housing Industry Association (HIA) and the Master Builders Association (MBA).

If you’re unfamiliar with these associations, in short, they represent and keep the building industry in check and informed. To become a member, a builder must prove they meet and exceed the high standards of quality, compliance and regulations, backed by reliable workplace health and safety practices, solid referrals from their suppliers, past clients, and associates.

We recommend that the builder you choose is a member of both of these associations, to ensure you have the utmost confidence in their commitment to industry best practice, compliance and accountability during the build of your new home.

We are very proud Award Winners of the 2021 HIA ACT/Southern NSW Display Home of the Year – People’s Choice Award, for our Jasmine Display Home.

We are also a proud Award Finalist, for the 2021 HIA ACT/Southern NSW Display Home of the Year Award.

We’re looking forward to entering some of our extra special current projects underway in upcoming HIA and MBA awards.

We are not a volume or franchised multinational builder. We choose to focus our attention on building architectural homes that are customised to suit our clients’ lifestyle, needs and budget across Canberra and the surrounding NSW region.

To maintain an exceptionally high-quality experience for our clients throughout their building journey, we ensure our site supervisor, construction team and tradespeople are never overloaded or stretched thin. We do this by balancing the number and types of building projects we take on at any given time. That balance may be around 20-25 projects per year, give or take.

This allows our team to take their time with each client to ensure their build receives the dedicated attention, time and care needed.

This also enables us to consistently engage our preferred tradespeople for all of our projects, maintaining quality, consistency, reliability and reasonable pricing.

The expertise of our team spans knockdown rebuilds, custom homes, home designs, and house & land packages.

You can learn more about our services here.

We will consider building a granny flat, additional dwelling or large extension depending on the scope of the project.

We do not take on small to medium sized extensions or renovations.

To discuss your project, get in touch.

Ever since Element was established back in 2011, designing and building energy-efficient homes to maximise your Energy Efficient Rating (EER), comfort and savings has been at the core of our building principles.

We are proud to be a Greensmart accredited builder and believe ensuring your new home is designed and built to be as energy efficient as possible is critical to the long-term liveability and enjoyment of your home.

We take energy-efficient design seriously and are always looking for new ways to improve our building methods, utilise sustainable materials and practices, minimise carbon footprint and achieve the minimum required airtightness and 7.0 EER Star Rating that will soon be mandated by the National Construction Code (NCC) from 1 October 2023.

It all starts with your block of land, defining optimal orientation for natural sunlight throughout the day, warmth in winter, cool summers, ventilation, insulation, clever design and choosing a few sustainable and energy-saving features within your budget.

To find out more, get in touch.

Yes, combining all of our building principles, knowledge and design experience, we can collaborate with you to customise a flexible design that meets your needs. Following a thorough understanding of your brief, we can allow for clever and open spaces that flow between one another, with wider entrances, hallways and doors.  We can explore custom joinery and recommend smart features for everyday comfort, safety and confidence.

To find out more, get in touch.

Yes, we will carefully consider building dual occupancy, or small-scale multi-unit boutique townhouse residences.

We have experience conceptualising projects, feasibility assessments, estimating, project managing and building these types of projects from the ground up.  We can also consider collaborating once plans are underway or approvals are required to proceed.

To find out more, get in touch.

Yes we do, check them out here.

You’re already asking the right questions and we’re happy to help. Land availability in Canberra and surrounding regions can be tightly held and competitive, often with thousands of people applying through a land ballot offering less than 100 available blocks in a release.

In addition, understanding the pitfalls of selecting land is critical to ensure you select a block that will suit the home you want to build, factoring in design requirements, site costs and ensuring you can complete your entire build within your budget.

We’re experts with years of experience behind us and the capability to guide you through the process, offer tips and tricks to find a block of land that will suit your needs, and help you identify and understand site costs so you can afford to build in the long run.

To find out more, get in touch.

Check out our designs to see what’s available.

Yes, whether you already have concept or final approved plans drawn by your chosen architect, or you wish to collaborate with your preferred builder from the beginning with your chosen architect or need help choosing an architect to suit your brief and budget, we can get involved at any stage of the planning, design and approval process.

Take the first step, get in touch.

The time to build a new home depends on several factors including the size and design of your home.  Pre-covid we were able to confidently build a quality moderate-sized family home within 180 days, which we’ve since extended to 220 days to be on the safe side. Even though supply chain delays and material and trade availability have levelled out, we prefer to exercise caution, be transparent and are mindful of managing your expectations.

We only take on projects we can commit to and will not lock you into a lengthy waitlist. We’ll work with you to ensure you understand what’s involved prior to construction, including choosing selections, attaining building approvals, and land readiness.

Once we understand more about your project, we can provide you with an estimated build time. During construction, we will always keep you up to date with regular check-ins throughout the build, so you are never left wondering and always know the progress of your new home.

To find out more, get in touch.

The 90-day maintenance period is the final stage of your building journey as described in our 7-Step Element Building Method. 

During the first 90 days from your official handover date, your house will settle around you as you settle into it.   You will be granted this maintenance period to record any minor maintenance issues that may appear as the house settles. If something urgent comes up we will act to resolve this immediately, otherwise at the end of the 90 days we’ll ensure anything that needs to be resolved is taken care of promptly.

You can be confident that we’ll still be available to respond to any queries once you move in.  Only after this last stage is complete will your project be considered completed on our end.

Congratulations, you’ve already done it! By visiting our website, researching builders, reading our FAQs and deciding to build a new home rather than buy something pre-existing, you’ve already taken the first step in your building journey.

Take the next step and request a consultation.