Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Mar 25, 2016 6:10 pm Ours has been, don't buy a block of land with slope unless you have a really big budget. Re: The Most Valuable Lesson You Have Learnt? 3Mar 25, 2016 8:28 pm Never takes someone's word for it. Get everything in writing! Custom downslope build Build thread viewtopic.php?f=31&t=61873 Blog http://www.buildingroyalmanor.blogspot.com.au Re: The Most Valuable Lesson You Have Learnt? 5Mar 27, 2016 8:54 am teigs1 Ours has been if the builders say you will be moved in the house by a certain date, add 2 months onto that.. each time they say it! In my case it was add 6 months to their promised completion date!!! Re: The Most Valuable Lesson You Have Learnt? 6Mar 27, 2016 1:15 pm 1st-timers Ours has been, don't buy a block of land with slope unless you have a really big budget. I can definitely concur with the slope issue. Luckily ours turned out well. Re: The Most Valuable Lesson You Have Learnt? 8Mar 27, 2016 1:47 pm gandn Build a single story. Dont bite off more than you can chew! You are chewing really well though Re: The Most Valuable Lesson You Have Learnt? 9Mar 27, 2016 1:48 pm Get driveway done by builder. Having to fork out 14k post build sucks. Re: The Most Valuable Lesson You Have Learnt? 12Mar 28, 2016 9:11 am Choosing the right house plan for your block and then taking time to choose the right builder will result in an awesome building experience, this was certainly true in our case. Custom build Northern NSW viewtopic.php?f=31&t=72217 Re: The Most Valuable Lesson You Have Learnt? 13Mar 28, 2016 9:43 am Reputation can be just mist in your eyes, it could blind you just enough until it is too late. Why? I deal with disreputable things done by reputable builders every week. Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: The Most Valuable Lesson You Have Learnt? 14Mar 28, 2016 11:05 am Can I have a top 5?
1. You get what you pay for. The industry is highly competitive. If builder A is significantly cheaper than builder B, there is most likely a good reason. 2. Builders are working in their best interests', not yours. Although on a personal level most are decent people, you have to assume that every design they put forward, every decision they make and every recommendation they give you is wholly or partly designed to make life easier for them or increase their profit. This also applies to the overall design and specification/inclusions of a project home (yes, the entire home). 3. (which leads on from number 2) Get independent expert advice for things that you don't completely understand. Builders and tradespeople have a natural subconscious bias toward recommending things to their clients that make their job easier, and are not necessarily the best design solution (I know this because I used to be one...) 4. Always have a contingency sum for every building or renovation project you undertake. Do your sums and work out what you think to be a decent contingency sum. Then double it. Do the same with the time schedule. Don't tell your builder that you have a contingency. 5. Ask questions if you don't understand something an architect, salesperson, builder or tradesperson says. If they can't explain it to you in an easy to understand way in one or two sentences, chances are they don't understand it either and are quite possibly feeding you BS. Re: The Most Valuable Lesson You Have Learnt? 15Mar 28, 2016 3:35 pm Price everything before you sign contracts for everything that know you want and don't take the "you do that at prestart" line. If the builder won't price things run away. Re: The Most Valuable Lesson You Have Learnt? 16Mar 28, 2016 3:50 pm building-expert Reputation can be just mist in your eyes, it could blind you just enough until it is too late. Why? I deal with disreputable things done by reputable builders every week. Doesn't make sense, I take it that when choosing a building inspector we should disregard any reputations and go with any person? Reputations are there to assist in making decisions and whilst not a guarantee of not having dramas it is used to hopefully minimise the chances. Re: The Most Valuable Lesson You Have Learnt? 17Mar 28, 2016 6:22 pm Decka building-expert Reputation can be just mist in your eyes, it could blind you just enough until it is too late. Why? I deal with disreputable things done by reputable builders every week. Doesn't make sense, I take it that when choosing a building inspector we should disregard any reputations and go with any person? Reputations are there to assist in making decisions and whilst not a guarantee of not having dramas it is used to hopefully minimise the chances. That depends... lots of big volume builders have big PR and advertising budgets to make us believe they are reputable. Local word of mouth is a different thing altogether... Re: The Most Valuable Lesson You Have Learnt? 18Mar 28, 2016 6:30 pm Abztronic 1st-timers Ours has been, don't buy a block of land with slope unless you have a really big budget. I can definitely concur with the slope issue. Luckily ours turned out well. Not the case with us. We built in a slope to take advantage of views. Our build didn't cost any more per square than the entry price of an equivalent sized volume builder home. Having said that though we had plenty of issues, but they weren't related to the slope. It was the builder who was disorganised. Our builder could have been asked to build a letterbox in 9mths and he still wouldn't be able to deliver it on time Custom downslope build Build thread viewtopic.php?f=31&t=61873 Blog http://www.buildingroyalmanor.blogspot.com.au Re: The Most Valuable Lesson You Have Learnt? 19Mar 28, 2016 7:03 pm HomeAngels Abztronic 1st-timers Ours has been, don't buy a block of land with slope unless you have a really big budget. I can definitely concur with the slope issue. Luckily ours turned out well. Not the case with us. We built in a slope to take advantage of views. Our build didn't cost any more per square than the entry price of an equivalent sized volume builder home. Having said that though we had plenty of issues, but they weren't related to the slope. It was the builder who was disorganised. Our builder could have been asked to build a letterbox in 9mths and he still wouldn't be able to deliver it on time Yes absolutely. If the building is designed to work with the slope it can be similar. We're on a slopey block and wouldn't have it any other way. Flat blocks are boring! Re: The Most Valuable Lesson You Have Learnt? 20Mar 29, 2016 6:00 am Patience, compromise, patience, compromise... Custom knockdown rebuild Newcastle NSW viewtopic.php?t=78271 Hi Everyone I learned something this week that I thought would be worth sharing. In NSW a lot of developers of subdivisions put covenants on the land which normally… 0 6495 Thank you. That is really helpful. Once we get the place done and passed for OC we can upgrade in the future once we get back on our feet and not paying mortgage and rent. 4 5700 The worst thing you can do is sign a building contract without a pre contract review. Over the years many people have come to me with disputes where they just signed… 0 8279 |