What we build,
and how far we take it

Yes. Tallowwood Building Company Pty Ltd holds NSW contractor licence 455480C, and it’s run by Steve Nicholas, a licensed builder working on the Coffs Coast. You can check the licence yourself on the NSW Government’s Verify NSW register. The number and our public liability details are on every quote and contract, and we’re happy to send them through before you commit to anything.

The Coffs Coast — Coffs Harbour, Emerald Beach, Sandy Beach, Woolgoolga, Sapphire Beach, Moonee Beach, Korora, Sawtell, Boambee, Bonville, Corindi Beach, Red Rock, Safety Beach and Mullaway. We’re based at Emerald Beach, so the northern beaches are home ground. Further afield, ask us.

We call you, usually within one business day, and ask enough questions to work out whether it’s a job for us. If it is, we come and look at the place. After that you get a written, itemised quote — not a number over the phone.

We come and look at it first, always. From there you get a written, itemised quote that separates the build cost from provisional sums and prime cost items, so you can see exactly what is fixed and what still needs a decision from you. No lump-sum guesswork.

It depends entirely on scope. A deck might be a couple of weeks; a full addition with new services and a second storey is measured in months. Our award-winning Emerald Beach project ran about 14 months from start to handover. We give you a realistic programme up front rather than an optimistic one.

Usually, for at least part of it. It changes how we stage the work, where we set up and how we seal the site each night, so tell us at the first visit — it affects both the programme and the price. Some stages, particularly structural work and wet areas, are easier on everyone if you move out for a fortnight.

Yes, and it’s some of our favourite work. The house that won us two HIA awards had bad bones and a long list of unknowns behind the linings, and several other builders had already turned it down. Older homes need a builder who prices the unknowns honestly rather than discovering them later.

Yes. Our trades are the same names on every job, and we schedule and supervise them. You get one person to call, and you’re never left standing between a tiler and a cabinetmaker working out whose problem it is.

We started as carpenters and we still enjoy the smaller work — decks, staircases, a laundry, a floor. If it’s a good job with good people we’ll look at it. If we’re not the right fit we’ll tell you and point you somewhere useful.

Yes. We take on defined, separately priced stages — structure, lock-up, fit-out — and leave you the work you want to do yourself. Tell us what you plan to do before we quote, so we can scope around it properly.

Absolutely. The Emerald Beach house was designed by independent designer @k_holford and built by us, and that’s a pattern that works well. We’re also happy to be brought in early for constructability input before the drawings are finalised — it usually saves money.

You get Steve. He quotes the job, runs the job, and is on the tools with the team. The people you meet at the first site visit are the people who build it.