Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Oct 01, 2009 9:16 am Hi We have a slightly odd shaped block that we are wanting to build on in Croydon. (single or double storey) We have a building envelope we need to build in- a bit complicated but the basics are that the house needs to be quite wide (about 17m) and about 20 metres long. We are wanting to build a fairly large house, at least 35sq. The house design needs to be fairly square in shape to maximise area available in building envelope. Our back yard is actually a side yard, on the left of the house. We wish to place living areas/alfresco etc on left of house and laundry, bedrooms, garage on right of house (garage must be on right, due to block shape) We have found some suitable house designs, but of course most have at least something that doesn't meet our requirements (because we have so many of them!!) Can anyone tell me about experiences building on a difficult block- whether you changed mostly suitable house designs, and if standard companies where happy to make changes etc PD, Met, NBG etc. Or anyone that had a house designed for them- also some rough costs single and double storey owners.......... We know our site costs. Can you get a builder to design a house and build it for you? If so are their costs built into the home. Or do we need to get someone- architect etc to design house, then a builder builds it? Thanks to all for their advice... Very confused.... Just want to start building already!!! Re: Costs for getting a house designed??? 2Oct 01, 2009 9:30 am I got a draftsman to help draw up my house, I made the rough design on graph paper, cost about $1500, I then went to a builder and I modified it again with their draftsman and then they built it. I have had a few problems with my builder messing up the portico due to draftsman error regarding eaves but this should not of happened and I think this is a great way to go, to get what you want. Re: Costs for getting a house designed??? 3Oct 01, 2009 10:31 am I don't know what the builders are like over there, but I'm in WA and we went to a builder and told them what we wanted out of a house, and they drew up a draft, and we made changes till it suited us. We had to pay $5000 for them to do it, plus all the site surveys etc, but because we are building with them, they are taking that cost off the house. I love it because it's a one off, but they do retain copyright, so you can't then take it to someone else to get quoted. But if you find a builder you know you will go through, they will do it for you and to your budget. (well they do here anyway ) Re: Costs for getting a house designed??? 5Oct 01, 2009 10:51 am Your situation isn’t really that difficult. You just have constraints. When seeing someone to draw them up my advise is try not to make it sound more difficult then it need to be otherwise they may try to charge you more then they need to. You may want to ask them directly are the constraints going to make it harder to design. If he is good he will say “no problem”. Re: Costs for getting a house designed??? 6Oct 01, 2009 10:59 am We did the same as PP. We had a massive block 3800sqm but it had a few easements that we needed to work within. I phoned around the builders listed on the Master Builder's website plus the HIA website until I found one that sounded interesting. We then went and sat down with rough sketches of what we wanted - he drew them up on the computer then in front of us, sent us home with them to "play" with them for a week before meeting again to finetune the design. Once we liked the design he priced it up and away we went. We were not charged a single dollar for the design process. Am sure that you will find someone in your area who could do the same. Some things are worth waiting for. Re: Costs for getting a house designed??? 7Oct 01, 2009 11:24 am My wife and I are currently in the last stages of going through an architect to plan, design and draw up our renovation/new addition to our exisiting house. It's a large job. The current house we live in will be gutted and redone, there will also be a new "wing" which essentially is a seperate building attached to the far corner of our existing house. Then there is a pool and other odds and ends. They are charging us in stages as their work is completed. All up they will charge 40K for their work. But then there are site administration charges that are calculated on an hourly basis as they come to instruct and inspect the building process. The money is well worth it. The ideas that they have come up with will keep our house looking modern well into this century and will also fit in nicely with the area that we live in (which we love to death) . Some of the design features that have come up are fantastic and I for one could never have thought about it. We do not intend to leave our house until we are old and grey, it's our life long commitment, so we decided that if we are going to be here forever then lets spend the money and commit to this. Re: Costs for getting a house designed??? 8Oct 01, 2009 12:40 pm With one builder I visited, the very first thing they asked were for our constraints. They then went and did the legwork through their plan database to find designs that fit within those limits or could be modified to fit. I was really impressed with their level of service. They are a very large local builder and do all sorts of work - from project homes to commercial construction, renovations, etc, etc. I think a builder like this is a better place to start for custom jobs than one who does mainly project homes in new estates. I also checked with a few architects whose styles we liked. Their quotes varied enormously but several were surprisingly quite reasonable. (I had previously thought architects were only for elite million dollar places! ) If you don't necessarily want to engage an architect then ringing around should find you a builder or two that will try to accomodate you. Then if you're still searching for the perfect design, try the architect route. Re: Costs for getting a house designed??? 9Oct 01, 2009 1:40 pm Nathan SteelFab My wife and I are currently in the last stages of going through an architect to plan, design and draw up our renovation/new addition to our exisiting house. It's a large job. The current house we live in will be gutted and redone, there will also be a new "wing" which essentially is a seperate building attached to the far corner of our existing house. Then there is a pool and other odds and ends. They are charging us in stages as their work is completed. All up they will charge 40K for their work. But then there are site administration charges that are calculated on an hourly basis as they come to instruct and inspect the building process. The money is well worth it. The ideas that they have come up with will keep our house looking modern well into this century and will also fit in nicely with the area that we live in (which we love to death) . Some of the design features that have come up are fantastic and I for one could never have thought about it. We do not intend to leave our house until we are old and grey, it's our life long commitment, so we decided that if we are going to be here forever then lets spend the money and commit to this. We are doing exactly the same and I can't speak highly enough of the value our architects have added. We have completed the concept, town planning submission and we are now onto detailed drawings. I think our cost will end up being around $45k. Renovation Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=38489 Re: Costs for getting a house designed??? 10Oct 01, 2009 1:48 pm Thanks everyone for the advice, I know where to start now. Much appreciated. Has anyone built with a large company that allowed them to make changes? I know NBG advertise they are happy to alter designs. Has anyone had any positive experiences with any other well known builders? If it does not look promising to go with a well known company, we will definately look for a local builder to draw up some plans for us Re: Costs for getting a house designed??? 11Oct 26, 2009 12:41 pm Hi Nikkit, sorry to resurrect this post, have been lurking around for a few weeks now picking up idea's. I'm also looking at Croydon; The Range on Dorset Rd, and have started working with a small company that actually does all of the designs, etc but then hands off those designs to a bigger builder - Hermitage Homes because they can build it cheaper than he could. They're called Inspired Homes. They use to build themselves and have a wide and varied bunch of designs and are happy to change anything at all. We originally picked one we liked but the limitations out there meant we couldn't do it and have had to come up with a custom design and go second storey to fit it all in. We're just going through that final design stage to see how it all fits and how much the final house would cost to build andthey haven't asked for a cent for all the work so far, which includes going to the developer to clarify the limitations..... Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=34120 Handover 23 Dec 11 Squatting 21 Dec 11 Fixed 12 Oct 11 Plastered 31 Aug 2011 Framed 7 June 2011 Site Start 7 Feb 2011 Land Titled 18 Jan 2010 Land Deposit 25 Jun 2009 Re: Costs for getting a house designed??? 12Oct 26, 2009 1:41 pm Thanks, that is very interesting to know. We haven't decided what to do yet, we were trying to find a home with plans already done but we would have to make so many changes!! The thing that puts us off custom designing a house - is this correct??- How do you go about picking sinks / taps / cupboards / etc etc, with no show room. Also do you have to go and pick all these items yourself- ie go to bunnings and tell the builder what sink you like?? Or do they have a standard range that they will provide? I guess you can specify certain things that you like and the builder could pick up a very similar one- ie taps etc. How does this part work??? We are hoping to custom build now- but if we have to pick everything ourselves I am not sure if I can be bothered trudging around everywhere- I like that the bigger builders all have a standard range. Re: Costs for getting a house designed??? 13Oct 26, 2009 2:09 pm Most builders will have a standard range, even the custom builders. They usually have a contract with certain companies so that they get them at a special price and then get a margin on those as well. Inspired has their own range as well as sending you off to a design consultant group (which we haven't done yet..) to try to pick colours and bricks and so on. They will always say you can pick your own but then you have to do the leg work, etc, that it sounds you don't want to do. I thought I wanted something fairly unique but in fact it turned out we found a design that had many of the things we wanted and we just had to add a few things. The design we picked already had the theatre room amd a butlers pantry, we just had to add a library and music room for the kids.... re-arrange everyting to fit on the block and then sheer off a few things to make it fit into the budget. Its all very do-able. Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=34120 Handover 23 Dec 11 Squatting 21 Dec 11 Fixed 12 Oct 11 Plastered 31 Aug 2011 Framed 7 June 2011 Site Start 7 Feb 2011 Land Titled 18 Jan 2010 Land Deposit 25 Jun 2009 Re: Costs for getting a house designed??? 15Oct 26, 2009 4:16 pm We have gone down the custom design path as we had a difficult block to build on and a strict covernant to work with, it has cost us about $3000 for working drawing, but we have ended up with a house that will suit the block and have rooms where we wanted them, So far we are really happy with the progress. I have enjoyed having a say in all the finishes for the home from cladding, window sizes to taps. Just make sure you find a drafty & a builder you can communicate well with as this has make all the difference for us. Cheers Lou http://take2-customdesigndownslope.blogspot.com 07-10-09 omg they have cut the block 14-05-10 we finally have the keys Re: Costs for getting a house designed??? 16Oct 26, 2009 6:44 pm Our architect is choosing all that stuff for us. After sitting down with the architects interior designer to give a brief (so they have an high leve understanding of what we like/dislike) they have come back with 3 different options for each item. From there we simply select the one we like and the builder will quote accordingly. There will be no trudging around here! Renovation Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=38489 Use a product like Equisol's Vitalise to clean the deck then coat with a penetrating timber oil. It will look 10 years younger and add value to your home. Visit for… 1 15765 How much are you ahead in payments compared to where the build is at? 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