Building with Tru Built - Sunshine Coast

AFALDT · Aug 17, 2022 6:03 pm

Hi all,

Construction started today on our forever home with Tru Built on the Sunshine Coast. This post will be updated with our progress through construction.

This is a pole home due to the sloping site. We attempted to build with 4 builders prior to getting through to commencement with Tru Built. https://www.facebook.com/tru.built.1

As you can see from the plans this will be a 3 bedroom + 2 office, 2 living, 2.5 bathroom, 3 garage. Total indoor living is 260m2, total including garage and outdoor is 409m2. Total construction cost is around $850K. Soil is P due to some tree stumps and large rocks.

Inclusions

2.7m Ceilings to ground floor
Hardwood floors throughout (600x300mm tiles upgrade to wet areas)
Colourbond roof
Ducted air-conditioning throughout
Shaker style kitchen cabinets, 2-pack finish
Stone benchtops throughout
Electrical and lighting upgrades (approx. $30K), including 3 phase power
Sound proofing to bedrooms and offices (rock wool, Soundchek - Gyprock), solid core doors throughout
Rainwater tanks, Home Sewage Treatment Plant
Appliances (Freestanding cooker, dishwasher, rangehood)

Exclusions

Anything outside the house (Driveway, Landscaping, Pool, Fencing, Turf)
Window treatments (Security screens, Curtains)
Outdoor kitchen
WIR fit-out
Laundry fit-out

Let me know what questions you have and I'll provide answers where I can!

2020

September - Land Purchased / Settled

2021

Refer Builders #1 through #4

2022

1 March - Tru Built Tender Received
12 April - Fixed Price Quote / Tender Signed
23 June - Home Contract Signed
1 August - Council Development Approval
17 August - Earthworks Started
6 October - Poles (foundation) in place (original forecast 31 August)
20 April 2023 - Expected Hand Over Date

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AFALDT · Aug 17, 2022 6:31 pm

A brief history of our experiences with builders #1 through #4. Names withheld to avoid legal threats.

Note: We spoke to many other builders, including several that we had to pay an initial consult / design fee to just to work out if they could build on our land within our budget (hint: they couldn't). Approx. $10K out of pocket (in addition to below).

Builder #1 - Small Builder, specialising in steel frame homes, Brisbane based

Why they were picked: completed homes fit our style, steel frame, in-house architect, owner is the builder and salesman, engaging, process was well thought out
Why we abandoned them: While they had initially given us a ballpark of $2600-$2700 per square metre, we had incorrectly assumed we could get this down with selections / fittings. When their tender came back still at this range, we had to walk away or otherwise accept a much smaller home than we wanted.
Outcome: ~3 months lost, and $6K out of pocket

Builder #2 - Large Builder, Brisbane based

Why they were picked: very competitive pricing, found a floor plan that met 90% of our needs
Why we abandoned them: after paying our tender fee and waiting for the contract to be drawn up, they decided our slope was actually too steep for them and they cancelled on us, refunding our deposit.
Outcome: ~3 months lost, no out of pocket

Builder #3 - Medium Builder, based on Sunshine Coast

Why they were picked: competitive pricing, in-house architect, happy to start from my custom floorplan, had built roof-top terraces before and were happy to do one for us
Why we abandoned them: after paying our initial design fee they were unable to answer any of our questions in the process of finalising the tender and after chasing them for 9 weeks, we told them we had no confidence they could manage our build through to completion. They refunded our fee.
Outcome: ~3 months lost, no out of pocket

Builder #4 - Small Builder, based on Gold Coast, specialising in acreage homes

Why they were picked: competitive pricing, happy to customise their floor plans for very small fee, looks matched our style, they were happy to build on our land as long as we managed / completed the earthworks
Why we abandoned them: While we experienced a variety of issues and lengthy delays during tender and after signing the contract, most notably a 'glazed gable' that we had requested and was clearly shown on the plans was later found to be 'not possible to be built, and draftee should have known that', the main issue we had was in the earthworks. In the process of designing and getting approval for the earthworks, the geotech (slope stability) assessment came back negative, stating that due to changes in regulations / insurances the proposed earthworks and house design (slab on ground) would not pass and would need to be redesigned to a much smaller footprint. Builder offered to change to a pole home for us, but as we could see no evidence they had completed such a build, we decided to look for a specialist pole home builder. After chasing them for 3 months to terminate and provide a partial refund they ended up refunding only $5K out of $35K deposit. Another $10K was spent on the earthworks designs and legal fees.
Outcome: ~10 months lost, $40K+ out of pocket

Moral of this story, if your land has more than 0.5m slope across your building pad, get your preferred builder to do a fresh geotech assessment (not just contours and soil) upfront before you even talk about floor plans. As this will be at your cost there is no risk / loss to the builder (and can save both parties a stack of time and money), and you get to keep the assessment and use for your next builder (any builder I've dealt with had no problem taking existing reports and using them).

AFALDT · Aug 17, 2022 6:36 pm

Construction Day 1 (Week 1): 17 August 2022

9 Tonne excavator arrived on site to cut out the space under the main part of the house (destined for storage). This was done well by Dean to the 56.5m RL with some tough going on the 'extremely weathered sandstone'. We have $10K for earthworks in the contract plus $2K for fill removal. Builder is comfortable that we'll come in well under that (winning!). This stage should be done tomorrow.

Following completion of this stage we will be waiting for the surveyor to return and mark out the rest of the site, excavator to return and cut that, then wait for the poles to be delivered and holes to be dug for these.

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AFALDT · Aug 18, 2022 5:35 pm

Construction Day 2 (Week 1): 18 August 2022

Dean returned and continued to cut the batters for the lower pad (under-house storage), extended the pad out to approx. 10m wide for the length, and smoothed out the fill he'd been placing onto the slope (towards the back of the block). He was able to use the excavator's hydraulic ram to smash through some stubborn rocks.

Dinkum Dunnies also arrived and dropped off our port-a-loo.

I'm expecting the surveyor to be back tomorrow to mark out the rest of the front yard cut and set-outs for the poles. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅

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cports · Aug 19, 2022 12:20 pm

We're hopefully starting a build on the coast with GJ soon. Waiting on final drawings to be submitted to council. Given your timeframe it looks like it was pretty smooth with council. Hopefully we have the same.

AFALDT · Aug 19, 2022 4:16 pm

cports

We're hopefully starting a build on the coast with GJ soon. Waiting on final drawings to be submitted to council. Given your timeframe it looks like it was pretty smooth with council. Hopefully we have the same.

Hi cports, yes I was pleasantly surprised at how fast the council approval was. Several builders had advised it could be up to 3 months. Best of luck with your build!

AFALDT · Aug 19, 2022 4:32 pm

Construction Day 3: 19 August 2022

Dean returned for day 3 to continue the site cut. Clinton the surveyor was out this morning and marked out the rest of the cuts, locations of the garage and master-suite, and front boundary and front yard cuts.

The rest of the day was spent cutting the pad for the garage (needs 500mm clearance under the bearers and joists) and front pergola clearances, master suite clearance, and then batter for these. A V-drain was cut along the top of the main cut (for the under-house storage), and then lots of shaping of the batter down to the back-yard.

The builder has advised they've got another excavator coming Monday to finish off the front yard cuts and batter. Poles are approx. 2 weeks away, so there is likely to be a gap in activity after Monday's cut.

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AFALDT · Aug 21, 2022 1:56 pm

Hi all,

Here is our colours selection. We used Tahn Interiors, who is a regular contributor to Beautiful Home magazine (amongst others) and my wife really liked her work. https://www.tahninteriors.com.au/about

Interior walls (except children’s rooms) - Snowy Mountain Quarter
Exterior walls/cladding - White Exchange Half
Exterior trims (including eaves, soffits, veranda ceilings and veranda posts) - Snowy Mountain Quarter
Front entry door (and door frame) - Namadji (will have to do after hand-over, as the builder won't paint the door this dark, worried about cracking in the sun)
Downpipes - White Exchange Half
Roof, gutter and fascia - Surfmist
Garage door - Surfmist
Timber decks and steps - Clear
All white cabinetry - Snowy Mountain Quarter

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Note the second image (of the front elevation) is not intended to represent the actual colours!

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AFALDT · Aug 22, 2022 5:45 pm

Construction Day 4: 22 August 2022

More earthworks today, focused on shallowing out / smoothing the batter to the rear of the yard. Looks like there wasn't time to do the front yard cut, the builder has said it will be done along with the holes for the poles.

Expecting poles to be ready around 2 September, with the holes to be dug at the same time they are delivered. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅

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AFALDT · Sep 16, 2022 4:19 pm

Construction Day 5: 8 September 2022

Surveyor was back to mark out where all the holes will be dug for the poles to be stood up, along with the strip footing for the front of the garage where it joins the driveway.

The poles were ready on Friday 2 September, but due to a shortage of hole diggers, the builder was unable to get a booking until Monday 19 September. The builder has said the holes will be dug on Monday and Tuesday, followed by standing up the poles on Wednesday and Thursday.

We've been told the carpenter crew will be finishing on their current house around 30 September, and will be starting on ours straight after that.

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AFALDT · Sep 26, 2022 8:17 am

Poles have been delivered to site during the week. Unfortunately the pole hole digger reported they had a break-down last Monday, and needed to push back the booking by 1 week (26 September). Have just spoken to the builder today and they've advised the digger has cancelled on them (no reason given), and they are currently looking for another digger (no ETA). Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅

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theownerbuilder · Oct 01, 2022 2:25 pm

Just wanted to say thanks AFALDT for updating us, I do enjoy following along with the progress!

AFALDT · Oct 01, 2022 3:07 pm

theownerbuilder

Just wanted to say thanks AFALDT for updating us, I do enjoy following along with the progress!

Thanks theownerbuilder! Latest update is we are expecting the pole hole digger to be onsite from Tuesday, so fingers crossed we can get some good progress with minimal further delays.

AFALDT · Oct 04, 2022 6:46 pm

Construction Day 6: 4 October 2022

Dion was onsite today with his pole hole digger. He was able to get through 20 of the 48 holes. He's planning to be back onsite from 6:30am tomorrow. Each hole is about a foot wide and up to 6 feet deep. A couple of the pole placements are onto rock, but the builder seems to think the auger bit will be able to cut through.

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There is a bit of rain predicted from Thursday for the next week, so I'll be interested to see if the carpenter team arrive and can make progress installing the poles and then the suspended floor.

AFALDT · Oct 05, 2022 6:11 pm

Construction Day 7: 5 October 2022

Dion was back today and got through most of the remaining pole holes. A few of the holes hit rock and were slow going, and we're waiting for the engineer to let us know if they are ok as-is, or need to try and cut deeper.

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Two truck loads of dry-form concrete was delivered in the afternoon, and will be used to stand up the poles in the holes tomorrow and the next couple of days. Apparently this absorbs water from the surrounding ground to set, and can be augmented directly with additional water if the earth is too dry (shouldn't be an issue on the Sunshine Coast!).

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AFALDT · Oct 06, 2022 4:30 pm

Construction Day 8: 6 October 2022

Dion was back and finished digging the remaining few holes. The engineer came out to check the depths and was happy with the work. Jake from Correct Carpentry arrived and with Dion's help began installing and concreting the poles. The weather was a little wet, but didn't seem to impact on the team. The builder indicated there may yet be a 2 week delay while we wait for the carpenters to finish their current job.

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And here is the finished result.

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AFALDT · Oct 10, 2022 2:06 pm

Construction Day 9: 10 October 2022

A wet day here on the Sunny Coast. Dion was back with his excavator to dig out the trenches for the electrical, both to the main switch box, as well as under the driveway for the front gate / gate house, and to the future-pool.

Simon from Pacific Power arrived to lay the conduit and cables and wire up the switch box.

A big thanks to the gents for doing a great job during pretty miserable conditions!

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AFALDT · Oct 20, 2022 12:09 pm

Just a quick update.

No progress since the electrical work was done on 10 October. The builder has advised the carpenters are held up on their current job, and so won't be able to get to ours for another 2 weeks. I inquired as to the cause of the delays, as we had been informed on 8 September that they were '2 weeks away', and the builder was able to elaborate that due to the pole hole digger breaking down and then cancelling on us (and subsequent delays getting another one), he had to re-task the carpenters onto another job, which is now taking longer than expected.

The cut for the water tanks is booked in for next week. So I'll provide an update once that is done. Cheers!

Tendious · Oct 26, 2022 10:18 am

Congratz on the new build, AFALDT. Silly question here, looking at some pictures you got up there, is the land already all cleared without trees? Or you have to pay for preparing the land? If so, was it costly?

I'm looking at doing a KDRB project but thought might consider buying a piece of land to start fresh as well. Looking around, I can see a few acreage land, good. But they do typically come with a plenty of trees! I supposed they do come with the purchase of land, is clearing them gonna be expensive? Particularly on a plot that is about 5000m2?

AFALDT · Oct 26, 2022 10:26 am

Tendious

Congratz on the new build, AFALDT. Silly question here, looking at some pictures you got up there, is the land already all cleared without trees? Or you have to pay for preparing the land? If so, was it costly?

I'm looking at doing a KDRB project but thought might consider buying a piece of land to start fresh as well. Looking around, I can see a few acreage land, good. But they do typically come with a plenty of trees! I supposed they do come with the purchase of land, is clearing them gonna be expensive? Particularly on a plot that is about 5000m2?

Hi Tendious, thanks for your question.

Our land was already mostly cleared by the estate developer when they built the estate. There are several medium sized trees on our eastern boundary, and one small tree in the middle towards the back (maybe regrowth after the land was cleared).

I did some work with the previous builder to see if I could clear some of these so I could do some earthworks. I found I needed to get an Environmental Impact Assessment created, cost me about $1000. This report basically said for each tree I cleared I needed to plant 2 more.

Your situation is different, so I would be engaging a town planner to provide some guidance. Often land has a council approved building pad, and council approval is often required to do anything outside of that, such as clearing.

All the best.