Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Apr 20, 2015 6:22 pm Hi...I would like to go with a project home builder but take one of their display homes as a starting point and have their designer customise it. My husband is of the opinion that if you custom design, the builder is just going to add on their design time/costs somewhere in the build so you may as well stick with the display home as it is. I keep saying the design cost is credited against the build cost but he is wary and thinks the builder will charge you elsewhere. What do other people think? Re: Do project builders make more money if you custom design 2Apr 20, 2015 6:35 pm It depends on how much you want to change. Some project builders are very reluctant to make more than minor changes. I built with Big M who were very reasoanble in making several changes including; Shortening the house overall Adding walls Moving robes from one room to another Changing size of laundry Changing window size All at what I thought was reasonable cost. The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: Do project builders make more money if you custom design 3Apr 20, 2015 8:24 pm I built a custom design my first time around and was pleasantly surprised at how little difference there was price wise between that and a standard number. There is money to be made (by us) when you don't deviate from a builder's standard plans. They get you when you do. If your house is going to be such a vast deviation from one of their own then I reckon you'd be better going custom from the get go. Volume builders can advertise lower base prices because they take advantage of economies of scale. It's all the add ons, upgrades and changes that they make their biggest margins on! Re: Do project builders make more money if you custom design 4Apr 20, 2015 8:27 pm Project Builders only custom design to a certain point, as most of the frames are pre fab, and yes they do charge a variation cost. maybe speak to a custom design builder…. Re: Do project builders make more money if you custom design 5Apr 21, 2015 9:31 am Won't make any difference being prefab. Almost every home is prefab frames and trusses. They are still made when needed not kept on a shelf. That said, project builders are geared for the masses. Stick with their standard plan and you'll be safe. Make small changes and you'll cop all sorts of extra fees. Some worth it and some not. If your going to be making serious changes then it will be far cheaper to go to a custom builder. Cheers, Paul (& Lisa) Parkhill 36 by ClarendonHomes in Coomera Retreat H1 Build Thread And Blog Building Blogs List - Go Ahead And Add Yours!! Re: Do project builders make more money if you custom design 6Apr 21, 2015 10:32 am Our plan is a custom plan due to our requirements and a slightly awkward block shape. The builder (sales person) has taken their nearest plan to ours in living area size and then made adjustments (so +'s and -'s if you have different robes, extra sliding doors, larger kitchen bathroom or ensuite etc.), what cost us more was because our plan has more corners in the exterior walls, so there was about $3,500 extra for the roof. We were in the same boat, we had to pay for the design cost (discounted at $350) but if we go ahead with the plan it is credited back. When we were asking around some builders were more than happy to quote a custom plan and some warned us that it wasn't worth it. Re: Do project builders make more money if you custom design 7Apr 21, 2015 9:58 pm We took a custom build to a big builder here in SA (fairmont homes) and were pleasantly surprised with the cost and what we are getting for our money. Per m2 we are prob the same or less than what we were looking at for ready-designed or off the plan homes. The main reason we went down this route was that our block was 15m frontage and we found most plans were either for narrow blocks so around 11m wide or conventional blocks at 16m wide which didn't take advantage of the frontage we had. Also the council regulations meant we could build only 3m from the front, but 5.5m for the garage so by custom designing we got to make the most of that and as a result our back yard will be as big as possible. Much more flexibility with a custom design but I massively recommend taking your plan to a couple of builders to compare prices. We sent our design to 4 or 5 builders and found the prices varied so much. In the end we narrowed it down to two and played them off against each other until we settled with one builder who we felt gave us the best value for money. Just don't rush into anything. Re: Do project builders make more money if you custom design 8Apr 21, 2015 11:16 pm Jonooo We took a custom build to a big builder here in SA (fairmont homes) and were pleasantly surprised with the cost and what we are getting for our money. Per m2 we are prob the same or less than what we were looking at for ready-designed or off the plan homes. The main reason we went down this route was that our block was 15m frontage and we found most plans were either for narrow blocks so around 11m wide or conventional blocks at 16m wide which didn't take advantage of the frontage we had. Also the council regulations meant we could build only 3m from the front, but 5.5m for the garage so by custom designing we got to make the most of that and as a result our back yard will be as big as possible. Much more flexibility with a custom design but I massively recommend taking your plan to a couple of builders to compare prices. We sent our design to 4 or 5 builders and found the prices varied so much. In the end we narrowed it down to two and played them off against each other until we settled with one builder who we felt gave us the best value for money. Just don't rush into anything. So who did the custom design? A building company? Our situation would be like ajansen posting above. The project home builder (they custom design, starting generally with one of their designs and changing it...a lot in our case) will do the design but we pay a percentage of budgeted build cost for the service. So if we don't go with them it's a sunk cost. And I don't know if we'd be given their plans to go shop around. Re: Do project builders make more money if you custom design 9Apr 21, 2015 11:21 pm I'm a graphic designer so I'm familiar with scale drawings so I started with a few plans and redrew them together and kept tinkering until I got it to a stage we were happy and then gave that drawing with measurements to builders. Eventually the company we decided to go with then re-drew my plan up correctly. They didn't charge for the service though and didn't take any percentage of anything. Once the plans were drawn up correctly and we were happy with it after a few more rounds of alterations then we put down the deposit. Builders shouldn't need fully designed architectural plans to give you initial quotations. Re: Do project builders make more money if you custom design 10Apr 22, 2015 12:19 am We went crazy with modifications and did not get slugged anywhere near as much as what I was expecting. The upgrades were the killer though. $25,000 for tiles... ouch! Re: Do project builders make more money if you custom design 11Apr 22, 2015 8:24 am Flooring is one item you are best NOT to get the builder to do. Can save thousands by doing it yourself after handover. Cheers, Paul (& Lisa) Parkhill 36 by ClarendonHomes in Coomera Retreat H1 Build Thread And Blog Building Blogs List - Go Ahead And Add Yours!! As a tradesmen get a private inspector although I don't think there worth it in their profession themselves the reminder they serve to the tradesmen doing the work is… 3 27359 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 10917 In my opinion just a few more indoor plants and you're done. It's already a lovely space, you've managed a classic style without being too cluttered and that creates a… 1 18590 |