Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Feb 28, 2015 7:27 am Hi All, Hoping you can help me out. From the very start with our architect we gave him our budget and said do you think we should just go with a spec builder or is it possible for you to design something we can custom build to that budget? He said we could build to that budget so we commenced and we now have a floorplan and basic elevations that we love! The only problem is now he is saying that it probably wouldn't come in at budget. Our budget is our budget (understanding there will be some unexpected costs as the build happens but we don't want to START over our budget!). So we are sitting here with a floorplan (with basic measurements of room sizes etc) and some basic elevations and have paid him for that. My question is could we get an idea of cost by taking what we have to a builder (knowing roughly what exterior materials we are after and the level of finish inside) or will we really need to pay our architect for full working drawings (about another $10+K) to get building quotes? We are really happy with what he has done but are a bit disappointed that having never altered the budget and barely changing his plans, suddenly our budget isnt going to be enough to build the house. Thanks, Hopeful house builder Re: Architect floorplan done - predicting over budget 2Feb 28, 2015 7:36 am Not sure what you are looking for in this forum, u had similar situation with the project home where a price range was given in the beginning but we are 100 over with only the upgrades worth 60k When they look at details they every dollar worth of items which take the costs beyond what is informed t us earlier. Taps, corners , moving room by a few centimeters etc.... All keeps on adding 23/06/2014 - Paid deposit 21/07/2014 - ordered the survey and tender 13/08/2014 - soils test sample taken 14/08/2014 - survey done today 30/08/2014 - Pre-color consultant aptmnt Re: Architect floorplan done - predicting over budget 3Feb 28, 2015 7:38 am If I were you I would find a good builder (get recent references and talk to them) and I would then work with the builder to get the house built to your budget. Make sure everything is itemised - you could even offer to pay the builder to do a quote for you. We had a similar experience of giving our building designer a certain budget and being given a concept plan which she said would be to that budget. As soon as we asked for working drawings, the budget was not enough and she proceeded to make changes to the drawings, some of which I doubt would have had any effect on the overall cost. She then proceeded to tell us we would need to do some of the work ourselves to fit the house into that budget but when we tendered to builders the cost was still much higher than our budget. At which point she blithely informed us that this was to be expected!!! We ended up building with an inflated budget with her preferred builder only to find that we paid far too much for what we got. The lesson I took away from this is that not all architects/building designers have any idea of costs. Re: Architect floorplan done - predicting over budget 4Feb 28, 2015 8:02 am Knowing where you are building is a good start. Telling us what finishes you are looking at for all the rooms eg 160mm wide T & G Spotted Gum flooring for all the loungerooms and family rooms, tiles to the ceilings in all wet areas etc will show us what you are aiming for. Then we can start to give you a more accurate picture of what your house is likely to cost per sq m. A volume builder would be able to do one of their standard houses for $1400-$1800 per sq m ( economies of scale ) but where I live I tell my clients to allow somewhere around $2500-$3000 per sq m. That is for a smaller builder building from a one-off design - middle of the range inclusions and finishes. A local builder where you live should be able to give you a rough estimate just from the floorplans and elevations you have as long as you have the overall dimensions etc. The more info you can give them the more accurate they should be. Stewie Re: Architect floorplan done - predicting over budget 5Feb 28, 2015 8:16 am Thanks everyone. Our site is in Melbourne. I guess my question was just whether we could get an idea of a build cost from what we have before having to spend more on all the working drawings of a plan that is possibly not achievable. Stewie thank you! Sounds like with the dimensions of the floor plan and our ideas of what materials (or level of) we are wanting we should be able to get a good idea. We also have a soil report and site survey. 2 6474 Your build is relatively simple, I believe your job can be easily done by a good building designer, you really do not need to pay for the architect. Remember, architect's… 3 11072 I've just had a look at the website. The company are just building broker's. There are plenty of similar companies that basically draw your plans (they own them so you… 8 11169 |