We agreed on a builder. It’s Plunkett. It was a close thing, we whittled the field down to a shortlist of two. Plunkett just seemed to give us the most confidence that we would get a quality home within 18 months. Why did we choose Plunkett? Read on…
Price wasn’t really a factor for us. We get really ticked off if we think our wallets are being violated, but if the price ‘feels’ right, then we don’t mind too much what we spend. Plunkett provided a very detailed quote, with no ‘to be advised’ items that could not be explained or guessed at. Their quote was also tied to a very detailed drawing, that had been computer-generated. Liquid paper was not in evidence, which really helped us decide. And, all this detail was provided before we were asked for money to advance to the next stage.
Indeed, the Plunkett guy (and let’s give him a name – Clem) did many things right – he seemed to know how best to treat a couple who had been around a bit. Among the things he did right were that he:
- didn’t push us for committment/money before he had proved on paper that his offering was accurately presented and priced.
- turned up for meetings on time.
- replied back with information within the time he committed to.
- spoke knowledgably about all aspects of the products and the building process.
- didn’t push things that we were not interested in.
- wasn’t dynamic, energetic, driven, enthusiastic, zestful and vibrant like other younger and more annoying people.
The other thing I was most impressed with was a simple screwdriver. Let me explain. When I was much younger and serving in the R.A.F., some idiot Sergeant put me in charge of the tool store. Me. In charge of writing off valuable tools and ordering replacements. LOL. Anyway, it didn’t take long before my personal tool collection was thriving. Among one of my ‘acquisitions’ after write-off was a scruffy old screwdriver, which I didn’t much care for and which was retired to the bottom of an old tool box. That would have been 85 and it was no spring chicken then, like me now. I found it a few decades later, when I was older and could appreciate it. Anyway, it’s the same (albeit a bit smaller) as the one in the display cases which make up a sort of mini-museum at the Plunkett Head office in Osbourne Park – and would have been used by the guy himself, Thomas Scott Plunkett (1858 – 1933), pictured third from the left.
And we can now see what is now over time a fabulous screwdriver, almost probably identical to the one used by Thomas Plunkett while building his first homes in Western Australia. I think. I will at some stage post a picture of the back of the screwdriver, showing the USB charging port that was used way back before wireless charging was discovered.
