Another long time lurker here - we've just sold our house built by Dennis Family Homes and are finally making plans to build our ideal house - something like a traditional Victorian home with 10ft deep surround verandas. We've been to look at the Harkaway displays and they're lovely but we're not sure whether to go with a kit (not as owner builders though) or whether to have a small builder (no more volume builders for us) build our own exact design, tweaked just as we want it.
From my research, the main things to consider seem to be -
* The full cost of a HH (depending on finishes of course) seems to be around 2.5 times the kit price - does anyone know if this is a realistic figure? May possibly be more for us given the depth of veranda we'd like
* Difficulty finding a builder who specialises in this type of traditional property who's happy to work with Weathertex etc.
Has anyone opted for a Harkaway or similar? Any tips you can offer? We hope to have at least a quarter acre block - up to an acre to build on (country Vic). Thanks
Okay so here is more proof that I am a blog obsessed girl, have a look at this blog it may help a little if only just to view the gorgeousness of this house which I believe was designed and built to a point by Harkaway.
http://whiteverandah.blogspot.com.au/20 ... ement.htmlI think their home turned out beautifully and I have used much of her kitchen as inspiration for mine as well as some others.
Harkaway Homes are beautiful! My folks have built one and my impression is that they were impressed with the level of service and help from harkaway along the way, even though they were owner builders. This was the 3rd house theyve built over the years but first as owner builders. They are in north west Sydney but I know dad had to deal with the Melbourne office a fair bit.
If you need to talk to someone who has built with harkaway I can PM you their contact details if you like?
We very seriously looked into a Harkaway home a few years ago and was advised you'd spend the kit price again getting it to completion. Depends on the footings needed and the finishes though
Thanks so much for the replies everyone
TashnStu77 - I'm totally blog obsessed too - and the house on that blog is beautiful! I also want white weatherboards - probably with a zinc roof. And her kitchen is gorgeous!
loz+dug - Good to know that your parents had a good experience with Harkaway - we're lucky enough to have a close friend who's a builder and he's happy to manage the process for us which will be great. I'll definitely PM you if questions arise along the way (which they no doubt will).
TrevandSam - Thanks for that - hopefully my estimates won't be too far off the mark, especially if we allow for another half again. I really need to price a similar home through a small builder to see which direction is better.
Thanks again everyone
From information received over the years, it appears to be quite a lot more expensive than most people think. The solution is to find a builder and get a price for a finished house. Then , with the builder's help go through the exercise to see what it will really cost you with the kit. Every time I have done this, the kit was a loser on the money side. I know that there are other reasons for using a kit but money counts a lot. cheerios
I've found the same, the kit always ends up far more expensive unless you build it yourself. Just remember the kit includes no labor, no extra fittings, no plumbing, no electrical and no one to oversee the project. The only thing a kit may have on it's side is speed of assembly but even that won't be much different if your builder knows what they're doing anyway. If you want it exactly your dream home, a custom builder can be more flexible but it is a lot more work on your part. It can be more difficult choosing from the infinite possibilities of the outside world compared with the limited choices offered by a project builder.