Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Architect vs Custom Home Builder 23May 16, 2021 9:38 am Simeon McGovern Affordable Custom Homes, We design and build to your budget Ashington Homes www.ashingtonhomes.com.au Re: Architect vs Custom Home Builder 26May 18, 2021 12:17 pm Kate97 gogo65 The biggest piece of advice i can give you is make sure you ‘own the plans’, soil and contour survey. We have just built a custom home, we first approached a builder who recommended a building designer, who worked independently from the builder, however we felt that he didn’t understand what we wanted and instead designed a more cookie cutter acreage style home (his specialty). We walked away after paying $6000 with plans we owned but didn’t like. WE also paid for a survey but unfortunately it was a basic survey and not usable on our large block (but obviously gave them basic levels for the design) Secondly we went to another builder, they had an in-house building designer, paid $3000 for a plan, survey and soil test, we had in writing that we owned the design and that they would provide both the soil and survey in DWG, we ultimately walked away after the tender came back $550k over budget (even though they advised all along we were within budget). Third and finally we found a very small builder, by this stage we knew what we wanted (a mixture of the previous two plans), went to a draftsmen and he drew up what i wanted, again we owned the plan, we sent the plans to tender and picked our builder. We paid for full construction drawings, basix, bush fire report, septic reports and full DA, the we signed with the builder, at this take we paid approx $40k in reports, drawings and DA approval. WE originally looked at full architect but with a quote of 10% of build cost, it just seemed to much for us. We worked on $2000-2500sqm, but i suspect architect designed homes would be closer to $3-5000sqm. I very much agree with you. We also paid 5000$ and had a tender for a rough design (my design which the draftsman put properly) which we agreed to. Then the builder says that they cannot deliver what we wanted for that price and they didn’t get all the information from the draftsman. Here we thought it’s impossible as the draftsman always came back to us saying that he checked with the head office. Also these called ‘luxury custom builders’ don’t have an architect and they call a designer as an architect. More to that, disappointing to day, I found even a lot of architects are also not very creative. My concern is finishes. That’s why I am afraid to go with a small builder. I haven’t come across a small builder who has delivered the finishes we are after in an approximately 540sqm house in the range of 1.6 (builders tender range) Saying that I believe going through a small builder will cut around 200000 from the above mentioned price Kate This is the exact reason we started our business on the North Shore. There are so many people who know want they want and then spend a ton of money on a design only to find out that the cant afford it. I know one couple that spent $160,000 in Turramurra on an architect for their $1.2m build got the approval and then found out it was a $2.5m build so had to back and start over. We work with a high end architect and or 2 different drafting teams to design peoples homes ( who we select depends on the project) but for a small fee we draw up 3 or 4 designs and we price them at each stage to make sure we stay on budget. We also involve the engineers as early as we can to make sure the design is efficient as possible We also use a lot of high end western suburb suppliers to keep costs down ie no north shore tax. You shouldnt have have to compromise on your finishes and your budget is very generous for a high specced home. Cheers Simeon Simeon McGovern Affordable Custom Homes, We design and build to your budget Ashington Homes www.ashingtonhomes.com.au 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 10919 Hi Mofflepop, I would recommend finding a building designer to prepare plans, they should design to your specified budget. The benefit is you can tender the project out… 9 20188 Hi, can anyone recommend a custom home builder who can build in north east area? Looking to build a custom 4-br energy-efficient home with a max budget of 750k. If they… 0 22717 |