A display home is a showroom shaped like a house. Everything in it has been chosen to photograph well and to sell the upgrade. A supervisor walks through and sees the standard version underneath: where the ceiling is higher than you will get, where the tiles stop, which doors are wider, and where the furniture has been shrunk so the rooms read bigger. Here is that walk.
The supervisor asks for the inclusions list before going in, then walks the house comparing what is in front of them to what is on the page. The gap between the two is the real price of the house they are standing in.
Ask the consultant for two things at the door: the standard inclusions list for this plan, and a list of the upgrades in the display. Most builders have both and most people never ask. The upgrade list on a display home is usually long. If they cannot produce one, ask them to point out the standard items as you walk, and notice how often the answer is "that is an upgrade".
Take the floor plan too. You are going to check it against the house.
Can I have the standard inclusions for this plan and the list of upgrades fitted to this display?
The single biggest trick in a display home is the ceiling. Most displays are built at 2700 or higher with 2340 doors, and the standard house is 2590 or 2440 with 2040 doors. That difference is why the display feels expensive and open, and it is why your house will feel smaller when it is finished at standard height. Look at the door tops. If there is a lot of wall above them, the ceiling is high. Look for square-set ceilings with no cornice, raked or coffered ceilings, and bulkheads with recessed lighting. All upgrades.
What ceiling height and door height is standard on this plan, and can I stand in a room at that height somewhere?
Stone benchtops with a thick edge, a waterfall end and an oversized island are display standards and rarely contract standards. Run a hand under the edge to see the thickness, then ask what the standard is. Look at the splashback: a full height tiled or glass splashback is an upgrade over a single row. Look at the cabinets: overhead cupboards to the ceiling, soft close, drawer banks instead of doors, a bin drawer, and a butler's pantry with its own sink are the usual list. Then look at the appliances and the tap and ask which are in the base price.
Then measure the island. Display islands are often longer and deeper than the plan allows because it sells. Check the walkway between island and bench against the plan dimension.
Look at where the wall tiles stop. Floor to ceiling tiling is a display favourite and a contract upgrade; standard is often tiles to a set height in the shower and a skirting tile elsewhere. A recessed shower niche, a frameless screen, a freestanding bath, a wall hung vanity, a rain shower head on a ceiling arm, a floor waste that is a long strip rather than a square grate. Each one is a line on the upgrade list. Check the toilet: a back-to-wall or wall-hung pan is usually an upgrade over a standard close-coupled suite.
Which of the bathroom finishes in this display are standard on the plan I am looking at?
Timber-look floors through living areas and carpet in bedrooms is a common standard, but the display often has wide plank engineered timber, large format tiles or a hybrid at the top of the range. Look at the internal doors: a flush panel hollow core door is standard, anything with profiles, glass or a solid feel is an upgrade. Look at the handles, the hinges, the skirting height, the architrave profile. Look at the window furnishings and remember that almost no builder includes blinds or curtains.
Open a wardrobe. A standard robe is a shelf and a rail. The display will have a fitted system.
Display homes are furnished by stylists who know a 3.0 x 3.0 bedroom reads as generous with a double bed and no bedside tables. Look at the bed size. Look for the absence of a wardrobe door swing, a desk, a chest of drawers. Look at the dining table: often a narrow six-seater in a space you will put an eight-seater. Sit on the couch and see if your own would fit where it is.
Take a tape. Measure the main bedroom and the second bedroom and compare with the plan. Then go home and measure your own bed and couch. The plan is the truth, not the room.
Is the furniture in this display standard sizes, and can you show me the bedroom dimensions on the plan?
The facade you are looking at is usually the top of the range: rendered, with stone cladding, timber-look battens, a feature front door and a wider garage door. The base price facade is the brick one in the brochure that nobody photographs. The driveway will be exposed aggregate or pavers, the landscaping will be established, the fencing will be done, the letterbox will match the house. Almost none of that is in a base price.
The alfresco will be deep, tiled, lined with a flat ceiling and lit. The standard is often a concrete slab, a smaller depth and a raked, unlined roof. Look up.
Which facade is the base price, and what does it look like on this exact plan?
A display is also a sample of the builder's work, built when they were trying hard. Look at the plaster in raking light from a window: bumps, screw pops and visible joins on a display are a bad sign. Check the tile lippage, the grout lines, the door gaps, the cornice mitres, the caulking around the benchtop. Open and close every door and drawer. Look at the brickwork outside for consistent joints and clean perpends. If it is not right here, it will not be right on your house.
Then ask how old the display is. A display more than a few years old has been walked through by thousands of people, so a bit of wear is fair. Cracks are not.
What would this display cost to build as it stands, on a flat block, today. What would the same plan cost with the standard inclusions and the base facade. How many upgrades are on this display and can I have the list. Which of the finishes I liked are standard. Where can I see a standard build, not a display. Then go and find the standard build. Many builders will give you an address of a recently completed house or a client who does not mind.
Where can I walk through a finished house built to the standard inclusions, not a display?
The pages on BuildPilot this guide leans on.
Almost never. Displays are built with upgraded ceilings, doors, benchtops, tiling, facades and landscaping to show the top of the range. Ask for the list of upgrades fitted to the display and the standard inclusions list for the plan.
Usually 2700mm or higher, with 2340mm doors. Standard inclusions on most volume plans are 2590mm or 2440mm ceilings with 2040mm doors, which is why a standard build feels lower than the display.
Higher ceilings, smaller furniture, no wardrobe doors swinging, no blinds and clever styling. Measure the bedrooms against the plan dimensions and compare with your own furniture.
The facade upgrade, driveway, landscaping, fencing, letterbox, window coverings, the alfresco lining and lighting, most of the kitchen and bathroom finishes, higher ceilings and doors, and often the site costs for anything other than a flat block.
Often yes. Ask for the address of a recently completed home built to standard inclusions, or a client walkthrough. Builders confident in their standard product will usually arrange it.
Sizes quoted are typical for Australian residential work and are given to help you read drawings and ask better questions. They are not a specification. Your engineer, designer, builder and the National Construction Code decide what applies to your house.
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