Are you thinking construction? Looking to build your next home?
Building a new home is an exciting opportunity to create a shiny new home that is exactly how you want it. Construction finance has extra steps and there are many different types of building contracts but don’t let that put you off.
That’s where we come in.
We’ll walk you through how the bank will treat each type of construction contract that you come across. Talk to us about:
- Fixed-price contracts
- Turn-key contracts
- Buying off-the-plans
- KiwiBuild properties
- Labour only contracts
- Factory-built houses
We’ll manage the finance process for you. We’ll ensure you get the best mortgage for your situation, no matter how much deposit you’ve got, what kind of building contract you have or what income you have.
A bit lost with construction?
We do not charge you for our services so give us a call or have a look at our helpful information below. It is always free for you to chat with us and get any help and advice you need!
Our mortgage brokers can…
- Calculate affordability
- Find the best bank for you
- Give you step-by-step guidance
- Help you get up to 95% LVR
- Get KiwiBuild pre-approval
We don’t charge you for our services.
So don’t miss out on your dream home, contact us today to begin making your dream a reality.
Can you get KiwiSaver help?
When you are buying your first home, one of the first things to confirm is whether you have access to KiwiSaver and/or a HomeStart Grant. We have a range of articles spelling out everything you need to know about these options. The use of your KiwiSaver increases your deposit, which can make borrowing significantly easier and cheaper.
Don’t forget: for all questions, you can always contact your local mortgage broker directly. It only takes 2 minutes to call the adviser and you will have an answer immediately.
FAQs
The banks typically try for 5 working days. The timer starts when we receive all the required documentation and submit your application. Sometimes turnaround can be as low as 2 days or sometimes it can be slightly longer. If your application is urgent (required in less than 10 working days), let us know as soon as possible and we will mark it as urgent.
It’s important to get us all the documents before we can submit the application. This includes proof of income (payslips or year-end financials) ana bank statements (click here to learn how to correctly export your bank statements).
Almost all Mortgage Lab services are at no direct cost to you as our brokers get paid a commission by the banks and other lenders when a mortgage is finalised or refixed.
The exceptions to this:
- If a mortgage is paid off or discharged within 27 months, a fee may be incurred. See our FAQ: What if I sell my home or refinance my mortgage shortly after using a mortgage broker?
- Finance companies may require a fee to be added to the loan rather than paying us a commission. You’ll always be made aware of these fees long before they are locked in.
- If, following the service provided by the adviser, you elect not to continue engaging Mortgage Lab to settle the mortgage or finalise the insurance product, the adviser may charge you an hourly rate of $250 for the work provided. The maximum charge we will typically invoice for is $2,500.
The commissions paid are below. These commissions are accurate at the time of writing – 15th March 2021
| Lender | Upfront | Trail | Refix |
| ANZ | 0.85% | N/a | $150 |
| BNZ | 0.55% | 0.15% | N/a |
| ASB | 0.85% | N/a | $150 |
| Westpac | 0.60% | 0.20% | N /a |
| Sovereign Home Loans | 0.60% | 0.20% | N/a |
| ASAP Finance Limited | Fee Charged | N/a | N/a |
| Avanti Finance | Up to 0.80% | N/a | N/a |
| Cressida | Fee Charged | N/a | N/a |
| DBR | Fee Charged | N/a | N/a |
| First Mortgage Trust | Fee Charged | N/a | N/a |
| Heartland Bank (Reverse Mortgage) | 1.50% | N/a | N/a |
| Liberty Financial | 0.60% | 0.15% | N/a |
| NZCU (Personal Loans) | 1.00% | N/a | N/a |
| RESIMAC | 0.60% | 0.15% | N/a |
| SBS Bank | 0.80% | N/a | $150 |
| Southern Cross | Fee Charged | N/a | N/a |
| The Co-operative Bank | 0.70% | N/A | $150 |
Not signficantly more complicated at all! It still comes down to the 2 key mortgage questions: can you afford the new home and do you have enough deposit / equity?
The only extra step is that the bank will need to check the build contract to make sure it is acceptable to them.
Using a mortgage broker generally means no direct costs to you but there will be a couple of unavoidable costs there. These may include:
- A Registered Valuation ($800 – $1,200)
- Solicitor Costs ($800 – $1,500)
- LIM report ($150 – $400)
- Builder’s Report ($100 – $500)
- Weather Tightness Report for Monoclad houses ($300 – $1,000)
- Finance fee for non-bank lending (~1%)
Prices can vary. Always request a quote before ordering a report. For a list of property professionals that you’ll likely work with, see our article here.
A progress-payment contract typically involves settling on (purchasing) a section and then paying invoices at key points during the construction phase. For example; once the foundations are laid, when the framework is up etc…
Progress-payment contracts are typically cheaper than turn-key contracts as you pay for the interest on the mortgage throughout the build process.
For more information on progress-payment contracts versus turn-key contracts, see our article here.
Turn-key contracts are a sale and purchase contract where purchasers settle on a new house when it is fully completed and ready to move in. Typically a deposit is paid (usually 10%) to confirm the contract. The remaining is paid upon settlement.
For more information on progress-payment contracts versus turn-key contracts, see our article here.
Why Choose Us?
Because when it comes to your first home, you deserve the very best…
Stress-free process
We act quickly to reduce the hassle and hold-ups of the financial approval process
Expert advisers
We’re highly experienced and trained to help you through the mortgage approval process
Friendly service
We’re here for you and we genuinely care about helping make your dream a reality
What Past Clients Say…
Brett was amazing, he really looked after us and made every effort to get us our home loan. I would recommend him any day.
Brett Davies
Johnny was exceptional throughout the process. I will definitely recommend his services.
Johnny Ang
Brett was wonderful and professional patient! Nothing to improve.
Brett Davies
Lynne was very easy to work with and got my mortgage sorted for me fast. I would highly recommend her.
Lynne Dent
Brett was fabulous to work with and hung in with me through lockdowns and doubting I would find anything. His advice was pragmatic and no nonsense just what I needed. Highly recommended.
Brett Davies
Johnny is an absolutely amazing adviser. He made our first home purchase a breeze, kept our stress at bay and was the one keeping us well & sane throughout the whirlwind of a process. We will always be true & loyal to Johnny, he is the greatest!
Johnny Ang
Lynne was fantastic to work with and we are so glad we went with her as our advisor. The whole process was easier than I expected thanks to Lynne’s help. We would definitely recommend her to our friends and family.
Lynne Dent
Lynne was excellent to deal with, very friendly and very knowledgeable. I would recommend her service.
Lynne Dent
Rachel was the best friend we didn’t know we needed. She is warm, understanding, knowledgeable and will fight for you. You NEED Rachel on your team.
Rachel Railey
Lynne did a brilliant job organising us into our first/down sizing home. We didn’t think we had things quite in place but non the less when a place popped up we were really interested in she was able to work her magic and we have now been in our own home for a couple of months.She was so knowledge…
Lynne Dent
Keith is absolutely incredible to work with and we could not be happier with the outcomes he’s provided for us. If you are looking for an Adviser who always gets back to you promptly, explains everything clearly and gets you the best deal possible, Keith is the who you are looking for.
Keith Munro
I loved working with Rachel! She made my whole journey to first home ownership easy and fun. She was so organised, an amazing communicator and made everything feel easy breezy when I always thought it was so complicated. Higly recommend Rachel to anyone.
Rachel Railey
Karen has been absolutely amazing, she took all the stress out of getting the mortgage for our first home.
Karen Latimer
Lynne was very helpful, positive, and worked hard to get the best deal for us. She made it possible for us to be able to buy a house much sooner than we expected. She respected our wishes, explained things well, and adapted to the changes necessary with lockdown very well. She always conducted herself p…
Lynne Dent
Rachel was a pleasure to deal with in navigating our way through purchasing our first home. She’s friendly, professional and applied a common sense approach to make sure we got the best mortgage which suited our needs! Thank you
Rachel Railey
Laura was so amazing and understanding. Really helpful especially as all the work was done during level 4 lock down. I can’t recommend the service and experience highly enough.
Laura Cates
Johnny Ang was very helpful and outstanding. He went above and beyond our expectations, and gave us excellent deal on a mortgage, also make the process easy assisting step by step, given the current climate. Highly recommend to anyone.
Johnny Ang
Very much enjoyed working with Lynne, made the process less daunting, without Lynne I don’t believe I would have had the confidence to complete the home purchase as she was able to explain what the bank wanted in everyday English! Very impressed and will definitely be recommending Lynne.
…
Lynne Dent
I can’t speak highly enough of Rachel – she was was incredible!! From the very first time we contacted her she gave us a sense of being 100% invested in our home-ownership journey with us. Rachel, from the bottom of our hearts thank you so much for your skills, knowledge, optimism and passion!
…
Rachel Railey
Lynne, was fantastic from start to finish. She took the stress out of buying a house and even helped us look for a house which we now proudly own. Thank you!
Lynne Dent
Brett was awesome! Very thorough with his explanations, always available and going the extra mile. Loved dealing with him and he made the process very easy for someone who had never had the experience of buying property in NZ.
Brett Davies
Brett was awesome in helping us navigate the mortgage process as first home buyers. He was patient and answered all of our questions and concerns.
Brett Davies
Rachel is very professional and friendly. I enjoy having Rachel to help me deal with the bank. I really appreciate her help and support during my journey on first house purchase. I finally got the loan from the bank and bought my house that i had dreamed of. Many thanks to Rachel.
Rachel Railey
Laura was absolutely amazing and I know how difficult me and my situation where to deal with! Without her I would not have bought my first home! You can’t ask for a better mortgage broker, or person, to be guiding you through it!
Thank you Laura!!!!!
Laura Cates
Very helpful! Couldn’t have done it without her 🙂
Huriana Tahere
I am a middle-aged single female buying a first property in Christchurch post-COVID lock-down; the most difficult market to not only get finance but actually get a property to put an offer on! My excitement quickly turned to agitation, anxiety and straight out confusion. Lynne was ready, willing and able to g…
Lynne Dent
Brett was a real pleasure to work with. Being first home buyers in New Zealand, Brett guided us through every step along the journey. Always available and very responsive, we couldn’t be happier.
Brett Davies
From our very first meeting, Karen was friendly, professional, helpful, informative and very, very knowledgeable. We asked many questions which I’d imagine are rather simple and repetitive to an advisor but Karen happily responded with helpful information, provided links to further information, helped…
Karen Hyland
Lynne is the best! She helped us a lot. Always answer our questions. Thank You Lynne
Lynne Dent
Two thumbs up for Johnny, his excellent service and hard work. I would 100% recommend Johnny to my friends and family without doubt.
Johnny Ang
Keith was excellent to work with, especially in helping me to navigate through what could have been quite a stressful process as a first home buyer. Not all of it was straightforward, and his additional work was much appreciated.
Keith Munro
We had the most awesome experience, we had been trying to buy a house for the entire 2020 and used a number of mortgage brokers but each asked more and more from us. They wanted us to cancel our KiwiSaver deposits and cancel this and that. We were about to give up when a friend told us about Lynne and w…
Lynne Dent
Lynne was recommended to me by a previous customer and for good reason, she was AMAZING and made the whole process of buying our first home so much easier! She went above and beyond! Would totally be recommending! Thanks Lynne!!
Lynne Dent
Lynne is great, she showed me how to manage my finances more effectively and how this affected my application with the bank and went above and beyond to get my loan through for me!
Lynne Dent
Cindy is very friendly and helpful to answer all of my questions so the whole process is very smooth and effective. She evaluated what the best of mortgage condition and the kind of property I should look for. I am so happy that I can buy the house so quick and hassle free. You can contact her and you w…
Cindy Huang
Johnny helped me with every step of my first home purchase. He’s very responsive and helpful. He patiently assisted me through the entire process. I found Johnny to be extremely knowledgeable and was very prompt on communication with the many queries I sent to him. Definitely saved me a lot of str…
Johnny Ang
Amazing every step of the way, no question was too hard and kept us up to date with how everything was going.
Rachel Railey
Want to DIY but need a little more help?
Purchase our book online to become the next successful first home buyer
Our paperback book “The Successful First Home Buyer” walks you through the entire process of preparing to buy your first home.
The goal? By the end of the book, you will present to the bank as the perfect buyer! Follow the To-dos at the end of each chapter and make the entire home-buying process easy.
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