Banging on About Cost.
You might see me post or speak about cost and think, “There she goes again, bloody bangin’ on about cost…”
But let me set something straight. I don’t actually care about costs.
I care about people.
I care about the homeowners building for their next chapter. I care about the builders juggling budgets and expectations. I care about the designers trying to bring a vision to life—without blowing it all up in the process.
And because I care about people, I have to talk about costs. Not to obsess. Not to scare. But to prepare.
Here’s the thing: we don’t control construction costs. But we do control how we respond to them.
We can understand them. We can design for them. We can plan to meet them—instead of hoping they’ll magically align.
Costs today aren’t what they were five or ten years ago. But they’ve settled. They’re more predictable. Which means we can work with them—if we’re willing to face them early.
That means:
• Homeowners can direct a project they can afford.
• Designers can educate clients during design—not after.
• Builders can share what they know sooner, rather than later.
When each of us steps into our role, we create a build story that makes sense—where no one is blindsided or broken by budget realities.
So yes, I’ll keep banging on about cost. But only because it’s how I care for the people designing and building homes.
PS: If your project dreams are tangled up in cost worries, let’s sort them out over a cuppa. Book a ‘Cuppa with Katie’—because talking numbers shouldn’t feel like pulling teeth. Let’s make it feel like progress.