New build - reasonable price?

I'm currently in the process of finalising details for a new build in the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Very sloped block but with an existing driveway and level building area where a previous house was. Still needs some siteworks but cutting is minimal. BAL 29 on the property. Gone with a custom design to suit the block and the view, but it's very basic, rectangular, simple roofline with colorbond cladding and roof.

Feeling a bit uneasy with our quoted price - originally told $250,000 for a three bedroom two bathroom home with a deck, then told $350,000 when we decided to add on a partial second storey. We've just had word that it will now be more like $400,000.

Does $400,000 for a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom with study, approx 265 square metre home (including deck) sound fair? Keeping in mind we're keeping fittings, flooring and cabinetry basic to cut costs.

I'd feel a bit more confident if we were getting sometime with a bit more flair, but this is our first home and we've kept it simple. Hoping someone can give their thoughts about whether this is at the upper end of the cost scale or pretty average.

With BAL 29 in there costing you about $20k or so, I'd say it's pretty fair, if not really good actually for a double storey custom design, based on my research. 8 years ago I had quoted a custom build in the Eastern suburbs for a fairly small 167sqm double storey, this didn't include any upgrades at all - in fact, it had a lot of TBC's & didn't include our BAL of FZ (upwards of $50k apparently now rather than upwards of $100k back then!) & that came in at just over $1,700 per sqm - so $285k. Adding a second storey is more costly than adding on those rooms at ground level, 50% more than the cost of building it on ground level - so say it's $1,500 per sqm at ground level, you're looking at more like $2,250 per sqm for second storey. Right now you're sitting at just over $1,500 per square metre which isn't at all bad. But just remember that build quotes for custom builds have a tendency to blow out as it isn't a fixed price quote, it's more of an estimate. Wishing you the best of luck with your build

Thank you so much Bec, appreciate your reply. We were caught a bit between a rock and a hard place with the decision to have an upper storey - we're on a slope and site costs to make room for the extra floor space on the ground level would have probably come out to the same price to build upstairs!

Sorry I know this is almost a year old and you have prob built by now but just thought id add our experience in with costing. We are getting ready to build a custom house that sounds similar to yours on a sloping site (approx 2.2m fall over the building site). The quotes we have received for a 270 square meter house on a BAL 29 site with a double storey 4 bedroom home is between 450k-500k most were on the higher end.