Any hidden charges with Coral homes or on land purchase?

Hi,

My husband and I are waiting for the next land release in Willowdale in 2 weeks time.

We have been told by coral homes that the house price includes everything even if there is rock in the soil they cover the costs.

Would this be right or are there hidden charges? Are there any extra charges on land?

I'm just second guessing because coral homes had a house and land package that was $50,000 more than if we just pay for the house and purchase our own land in the same estate. So I'm worried that there will be Tens of thousands of dollars in hidden costs we can't afford. We are first home buyers so it is very daunting as we have a lot to learn.

Thank you

Hi Nikki,
Congrats on entering the property market!

I don't have any advice as to that particular estate or builder however you may find that the house and land also includes other things like driveway/turf/fencing/letterbox/clothesline etc

It may also have things that would ordinarily be an upgrade such as stone benches or a/c for example.

Hope that helps!
Kym

I have heard that house and land packages to tend to charge more, sometimes it's the convenience of it all pretty much being done, particularly with landscaping etc.
In terms of extra costs, once Coral have done their soil testing etc, the site costs are fixed. At this point the only other unexpected cost we have had, is for the retaining wall that Coral said we need in our contract, and that we needed to have done before the build starts.

So there will be site costs? I asked that question and was just told there are no extra costs. I thought it sounded to good to be true. Can I ask how much roughly site costs could be?

It complete depends on the block. But I think average may beabiut $15-20000. The soul type, whether you have Rock and what slope can effect it. Have just remembered you will also have basix. All up, I. Top if the base price of the house, with basix, site costs and upgrades, we added$100000. In regards to the land you will also need to pay stamp duty, but will need to pay that in the house and lambs package too..but may be another unexpected cost.

Hi Nikki,

Have you shopped around with other builder just to feel for a comparison? Doing this might give you a feel for costs, maybe Coral is right with pricing maybe they're not.

I find with house and land packages, like Kym has said they include things you may not have in a standard building contract. Also with house and land packages sometime people are naive and just see house and land and don't shop other builders and they can afford to get away with the house price being higher.

I thought coral had a fixed contract price, which had fixed site costs and not provisional costs so it maybe worth speaking to coral and asking a few simple questions.

What design are you thinking of building with coral?

Building can be very stressful so try to eliminate the extra stress by asking questions, if they aren't straight forward responses maybe it's worth changing builders, someone who has fixed site costs so you don't need to worry about doing your site and and wham hello massive bill.


GJ Gardner Modified Coolum 277
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Depending on the land you pick at Willowdale, you may also need to consider extra costs for BAL. We bought a block opposite the creek that runs top to bottom in the last release. Stockland told us it was likely to be BAL 12.5 rated prior to buying it, but the fire report we got with the contract says our lot is actually 29/19. We are hoping it will drop as the land is cleared for the development but there is no guarantee as the creek is staying a green space so it's a cost we know we have to budget for. We were chatting with the Wisdom Homes sales person who told us all their display homes are BAL 12.5 rated because of their proximity to one of the parks too.

You can almost guarantee extra site costs for an H1 slab due to the salinity of the soil in Leppington too. I've followed the Building at Willowdale thread for a while now and I've only seen one person not need to upgrade their slab. Have a look through the inclusions for Coral Homes, most list the grade of slab included, it normally M which is the cheapest for "perfect" soil.

We spoke to the sales guy at Coral who told us the same thing, but I was under the impression that site costs were determined by their tests then fixed. So if they found salinity, they can charge extra for H slab and if they find rock while testing they can charge for it, but if they don't and they hit while building then it's their problem and cost. Might be worth asking in the general coral homes thread about their experiences with additional site costs, there are lots of active builders with Coral on here.

Good luck with buying your land! I think the next release will be another one in stage 15, so you should be close to us and building at the same time! (We are first time buyers/builders too).

Thank you for your replies ?

Charlibear - We are looking to build the Manhattan19

Jenifermarie - Do you know how much your BAL costs will be? I am going to speak to coral homes in person on the weekend and ask about site costs for H1 soil to get a better idea

We haven't started the tender process so not really. Too far out yet as we're not expecting land registration until June next year. The amounts that sales people have quoted us have varied quite a lot. We're 95% certain we are going to build with Wisdom and they have said upto 25K for BAL 29, 12-15K for BAL 19 and 5-6K for BAL 12.5. (We are looking at building a double storey). They also said about 10K for H grade slab.

We are budgeting 40K on top of the base house price for site/BAL for now based on those numbers and worse case scenario. I'm hoping that will be far too generous but I'm nervous about under budgeting and ending up over stretching financially.

The week of our land release we took a day off to go back to the display homes and talk with the sales people there about the specific lot we were looking at once we had all the info from Stockland about the release. They used the contour map to do a siting and confirm the house we want would fit and that was when we talked to them about potential BAL considerations, additional site costs etc.

Hi nikki, i cant speak for house and land packages, but i didnt get charged any additional or surprise site costs.

There were no provisional costs in my contract and the site costs were "fixed", for want of a better word, as the price in my tender was the same in my contract. Im building in pimpama on h1 soil, and the soil report did say there was rock, but not enough i guess to charge hitting rock. Also I was told I would need a retaining wall, and my ss said at the start of my build we'll revisit whether its needed after bricks are done. Im at pci now and no wall was needed.

Manhattan hey! There are quite a few of those going on right now.


Avoca 25 in Gainsborough Greens Gold Coast

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Also I'm pretty sure if you buy the land first you only pay stamp duty on the land not both.

Hey Nikki

We are also building with Coral, I second everything that Von has said. We definetly have not had any hidden costs or suprises, We have found Coral to be very open and honest during our admin phase.

If they already own the land you would think that they would have already conducted the soil testing and be aware if there are any BAL requirements.. These are the questions id be asking.

Best of luck

Thank you for your reply. They said they sold the last of their land so we have to purchase our land in the next land release in 2 weeks. I was told there were no site costs but after reading everyone's comments there are site costs. Can I ask what your site costs were please?

I just read over my contract, and site costs for cut/fill pad was $4860 which DID include rock excavation as required,$1400 for removal of site spoil $7606 for h1 slab,$3826 for piering. There will be additional costs in contract that will be in tender, such as surface water grates, power connection , council fees, certifier costs, and additional onsite charges such as temp fencing etc. You get a credit or refund if temp fence does not get put up during entire build. All other allowances would be included in contract at 0 cost. Again, all site costs in my contract were in my tender with no change in figures. Hope this helps!


Avoca 25 in Gainsborough Greens Gold Coast

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Dont forget, if you built the manhattan 19, i think that would be a smaller slab than mine so your cost for a slab should be less than what i paid


Avoca 25 in Gainsborough Greens Gold Coast

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Thank you so much. That really helps ?

No probs, let us know if you have any other questions. As someone above said, the coral general thread is always busy and someone will always be able to give advice


Avoca 25 in Gainsborough Greens Gold Coast

viewtopic.php?f=31&t=81406