Split level

Hi guys,

Anyone making progress on their builds.
We signed contracts today so pretty happy to be making progress. Seems like we're moving at a snails pace though.

Hello people! We're progressing (slowly). . . we've agreed on a design and price with the builder and are applying for our mortgage next week. . . fingers crossed it comes through ok. . . I've put the new design on our blog (see my signature), along with some new piccies of the (rather overgrown) land.

Hi jodge,

Plans look great. Wish we had enough space for a walk in pantry.
Who are you thinking of building with?

Hi micks_k! Thanks! I love storage. . . can't get enough of it.

I love your living areas. . . open plan is great, one of our main "wants" was to be able to see the TV in the family room from the kitchen, and have the dining room in the same area too (for when we decide to invite people round and give them food poisoning). . . we couldn't go for the kitchen-in-the-corner look like you though, as the house is too long and narrow.

We're going to be building with Hilton Homes. . . it's a local small building company. . . we tried the bigger project builders but couldn't really find anything that we liked, or suited our block, so we decided to go custom. It's actually worked out about the same price.

Congrats on moving forward and signing contracts - that is a milestone!! I can understand the snails pace, we too are moving at that speed - very frustrating! We now have problems with the sewer, so looks like we are going to do a pegout now. I don't want to commit to tender/contract if we can't build the proposed house that E drew up. How long has it taken you from initial inquiry to this point?



Hi Jodge *waves back!*
Your plans look great! Well done!
Interesting the price is similar project vs custom. Did you draw the plans yourself with a draftsman or the builder helped??? I always thought custom would be out of our price range. Hmmmmm *thinking*

Hi Bel,
Sorry to hear you are having problems. What's the problem with the sewer?
We first talked to them middle Jan. I can't believe how long it's been. We did however waste about a month going back and forth from estimating trying to save a few bucks on the alfresco and pushing for a better deal. Didn't work..

Its with the levels - H won't take a verbal from Sydney Water about depths, so potentially we could have the sewer running mid air through the garage. Rather than chance it, and have an oh Sh*t moment,and a show stopper, they (H) want to bring forward a sewer pegout now, rather than later. Makes sense. But, we have tried to have this conversation with our rep a few times, and I've basically had to say we are not moving further until we get it resolved.

Interesting about the lack of negotiation - what types of things did you try to get them to move on? I mentioned very early on to sales rep about the liquidation damages, and he said they would discuss it. Will be interesting to follow your color selection, to see what the included range is like, and what the upgrades cost.

We started talking to them *I think* Late Feb/early March. So looks like we have a way to go!
Bel

We tried to get them to throw in a few extras that other builders were including free but they couldn't compare as they included free some things othes have as upgrades. Big thing was the Alfresco we tried to negotiate on. Is costing us $40k for a 40sqm area as need suspended concrete slab. We tried different options where we did the flooring after handover. Always came back not much cheaper to do oursleves.
We did however get a few small upgrades thrown in or at a reduced cost.

Bel, I would have thought that you would have had the peg out done with the previous builder? no? For the CC? or you didn't get to that stage? we actually got the sewer peg out done ourselves as the builder didn't want to do it till after we signed the contract, and it was NO WAY we were going to sign the contract without knowing how much was going to be to build over the sewer.... so we got the sewer peg out done and forced them to do the engineering drawings prior to contract signing so we could get a price for the bridging over the sewer (normally they do this after DA approval and the contract has been signed) so my advise would be to pay the $600 now for the sewer peg out (it lasts for 12 months) to know what you are up for...

Nope we were in the process of getting the CC, and they hadn't done a pegout (as far as I know - well they didn't ask for more money! )

Thanks for your info about it - we were thinking the same thing - not signing a contract etc before we know. I think I'll take your advice and get the engineering drawings also before the contract signing - great idea- Thanks

No probs Bel, I think it's worth it for a piece of mind and also so you know what you are up for.

Our peg out matched exactly the Sydney Water Survey (location, depth, etc) but builders won't go by that, they need the peg out, I guess it's to keep the peg out surveyors employed, haha

We had to pay for the structural engineers in advance but I preferred to pay those $1,000 and know what I was up for rather than sign a contract that you can't get out of and then they hit you with a huge figure and you can't do anything about it! this way you know how many extra reinforced piers you need, you can ask them to price it and they know that you can still walk away so they are less likely to over charge you and more likely to give you a fair figure. Not saying that builders give you different prices once you are locked in but I guess some might do...

Do you need to concrete encase the sewer? we were lucky that ours was already concrete encased but our next door neighbour had a section of his pipe (the old section before they added the extension) that he had to encase and the 1st price the builder gave them (Masterton) was ridiculously high, so he got a few quotes with plumbing / sewer encasing companies and surprise, surprise Masterton's price went from $19K to encase and pier to $7K... So make sure you get quotes!

OMG yes must get quotes!!! Yep need to encase. We are expecting about $10k based on phone calls to sewer encasers/plumbers before we bought the block. But will now get a written quote to keep them honest. Last builder was charging around the $10k also, so seems to be about right.

Thanks again Jochicho

Hello everyone! We seem to be going snails pace too, but luckily we're not facing as many problems as you've had pitted against you Bel.

Hey Bel, we're building with (as long as we get our mortgage) Hilt0n H0mes (in Camden) who also trades as Jeff M@thews H0mes. We had the builder's usual drafter modify our plans to suit the land, this cost $660 but it's included in the final cost. It's not quite an architect designed house, but at least he has more experience than us (and, unlike some builders, when we pay the drafter the $660, the plans are ours and we can go to anyone for a quote).

We're paying $400K for a 402sqm house, including all site costs, $15K kitchen allowance, $2K laundry cupboards, $10K for bathroom bits (vanities, taps, spa bath etc.) $7K for oven, rangehood, dishwasher and stovetop, $5.5K for carpets to bedrooms, study, theatre room, $27.50 per sqm for tiles in wet areas, kitchen splashback, alfresco, front porch. . . oversized wooden front door, lots of recesses in the walls, alfresco balustrading, $3K for retaining walls, colorbond roof (also covers alfresco), $2K for rural fencing. We're getting the bamboo flooring and airconditioning separately, but basically everything else is included. We've heard nothing but good comments about Jeff's work, he's famous for not putting huge markups on extras (what he gets quoted is what you pay. . . he even gave us a copy of the quote from the bathroom shop). He doesn't like paperwork much and is a bit of a grumpy bugger (we're quite picky, so we've seen his temper), but if you can cope with that, he's apparently the best builder in our area for his price range. I don't know if he'd build in the St G area but if you're having doubts about your current builder I suppose it's worth giving him a go, maybe?

Another good thing about Jeff is that he doesn't want money from you upfront like some of the other builders do. . . we've used about 20 hours of his time so far, and he's not asked for a penny, we've paid the $660 to the drafter but that's it. We have to give him $3K to have the drafter draw up the documentation and go to council, but we've had some project builders ask us for $4K just so they can QUOTE!!! (Jeff has quoted us at least 8 times, so he's probably entitled to have lost his rag with us a couple of times - oops!)

Thanks for the info jodge!!! Will see how the next week pans out, and will keep your builder in mind. Sounds like he is a great builder!!

Hey Bel, I can't remember if you bought an empty piece of land, or if you're doing a knock-down rebuild?

I suppose that we're lucky that our land doesn't have any existing plumbing or anything underneath. . . sounds like a pain in the butt to get around.

I think I'm with you and Jochicho with getting a separate engineer to do the peg-out. Then at least it would be yours to keep if you decided to go through another builder. Though we had a contour survey done ourselves, then had Wisd0m Homes tell us we'd have to have another site survey done by their surveyor (go figure). . . they eventually told us that ours would be ok, but we had to do a bit of talking.

Bel . . . I sincerely hope he is! We just want to get things done. . . he's had the same contractors working for him for 15 years and gets the houses built in doubly quick time, so we're keeping our fingers crossed for the mortgage approval so we can get in the house before Chrismas. . . We're OVER IT!

Hi Micks_K. . . isn't it funny. . . the builders are supposedly doing it tough, it's supposed to be a buyer's market, yet they just don't want to budge on their prices. . . We haven't spoken to one builder that actually seemed to want to build our house. I say we boycott them all! YEAH!

Again, micks_k. . . just took a look at your blog. Isn't it amazing how excited we get about having a peg put on our land? Somebody else got a purple tap on theirs and was equally ecstatic. . . a couple of weeks ago we whippersnipped along the back fence, and it was the best feeling in the world. . . I think I'm going to wet myself when the pegs get put in (probably because it feels like we're never going to start building), who knows what will happen when the house ever actually gets built?

My sis lives up your way, it's lovely up there.

Hey Micks_k,

Your plans look great, and good one for signing the contract! How deep is your overall design? I've had to make mine a little wider but a little shorter, so still mucking around with floor plans. Painful, but hopefully will pay off later.

Thanks I needed that laugh Jodge!!!!

Actually I feel exactly the same way!!!!