$880 now? The $80 jump, is that the GST and travel? An hourly rate? $800 an hour? $800 + $80 GST (10%) = $880. Includes travel in that price.

So the "+" is an extra unknown amount that will be added to the bill, in the form of GST. And the "including" means that they won't charge me anything on the bill for travel, gas money etc. Perhaps one of the other Geotech engineers I contacted will have a better price and a sin...

You've really given us no information whatsoever. P can mean a lot of different things. No one can know if $36000 is too much money, what are you basing your assumption that $36k is too much on?

Did you receive a site plan before signing off on all your plans? It should be attached to your engineers report? It'll show where your house should have been set out compared to the boundary. As for whether he uses it, if you build the fence along there then he wont use it, if not, hopefully he kee...

This is the part of building you get to pick! Facade is very much a personal choice. Generally worth a drive through the estate also to see what fits in.

This one I would pay,as if you don't you'll end up with an undersized air con. I would have pushed back on the cornice variation though as they had already agreed to a price to extend the alfresco.

All those questions are hard to answer as each builder will have different policies on those matters. It should be a conversation you have with the builder. Some builders wont let you on site unless you book appointments with the SS. Others (Like mine) will let you talk with every tradesman that wor...

What was the variation cost they offered you back if you did tiling after handover? Assuming that tiling was already in your contract price. Will that cover cost of tiles and laying?

That's the problem with the "promotions". Unfortunately there's a lot of these advertised and you aren't actually saving any money, as they add it in elsewhere, or have a limited choice of stock as they have bought clearance or cheap items in bulk to cover the numerous builds using the pro...

Just an update that I have spoken with someone who happens to be building with the same builder as ours and they were able to use the included tile promotion to their bathroom and ensuite walls. The promotion says tile flooring but I didn't know that it is allowed as well for the walls. We will hav...

If you know who you're going to build with, bring them into the conversation now before you plunge into the land.

Upgrade to off-white mortar colour? That really shouldn't cost anything one wouldn't think

I am not 100% sure on what you mean, but I do know that when you change the roof line the cost can change by a considerable amount. So if what you mean is that the wall from the Kitchen did go all the way to the back of the house and you started with a normal rectangular roof line, then yes Id say t...

Realistically? First time builder, it will probably take you 6-8 months of research before you start building, then 6-8 months build time depending on what you want built. Don't rush, look through every display home you can drive to. Remember you are in a position of power right until the minute you...

Mess around with the Ikea Wardrobe builder. It's fun and you can see what you can fit into your space. Then take that to someone who does robes (Luckily, the company who did my Kitchen, also does Robes and Cabinetry.) Mines a fraction smaller, we got $800 back from the builder and paid $2300 to the ...

Mines a NSW HIA, it specifies weeks, not days. Therefore public holidays will not be subsidised. After typing this, I realised it has absolutely no bearing on your situation!

Welcome! I am building with GJs also, in country NSW. They have a great reputation here. Where abouts are you building? You'll find BR 2 and 3 aren't bad, maybe only use a double bed in there, as the 2.7 depth doesn't leave much to walk around, but you have so many living areas that you aren't refin...

Looks great, one tip I have is the bathrooms, you can cut into the eaves and it wont cost a great deal of money. I think mine was about $1500 to cut into that wall so that gives you 45 or 60cm (depends on your eaves) more space in the bathroom. Well worth the investment.

Hi, We're currently in the building process and we fell in love with some Navy Blue kitchens we seen. When we went to the kitchen company, we loved the new range of Laminex "AbsoluteMatte" in french navy LINK . This is fingerprint-less product. Once we fell in love with it, we were told la...