House and Land Package - Melbourne North

Hi all,
I'm looking at building my first home in Melbourne's north - specifically around Craigieburn and Wollert.

I've been researching options and find house and land packages cater to my requirements.

I have a few questions that I'm hoping you can shed light on

- While going for a house and land package, you can't really decide on the land and then decide a separate builder. In such a case, how do you compare costs between builders? I'm specifically looking at Porter Davis, Henley and Homebuyers Centre.
- How you start this process? Do you first look at display homes, get an idea on what the facade/options would look like and then look at land that suits your needs?
- If I go for a house and land package, will I have to get soil test done to see if there are rocks? or would this be the responsibility of the land developer?
- If I would like to get an IBI engaged during the construction phase, can I mention it during the early discussion stages with the volume builders or am I allowed to specify these terms only during the contract phase?

Apologies for the many questions. There's just too much information out there and can't really judge quality of work based on online reviews. Any ideas/inputs would be highly appreciated. Thank you!

I think you can always buy the lot separately, house and land packages are basically hypothetical arent they?

Unless they are locked to certain builders? If thats a thing.

Check on the developers website, you should be able to purchase the Lot only, with no restrictions on what builder to choose.

Thanks CarlisleXR for your insights. So, if I decide to buy just land for now, will I have to get a soil test done before I settle for the land? or is it something that will have to be done during the construction phase? Many thanks for your inputs!

Well, my builder did all the soil testing for me - And from memory they could only go out and get it tested once the land had been settled.

Hope that helps

My builder did soil testing the day after my initial deposit of 1K with them. Previous day, I had paid deposit for land to the developer.

Thank you!

Thanks - for some reason I was assuming that the soil test had to be done before land settlement. Glad to hear that's not the case.