Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Feb 22, 2022 9:01 pm Hi All, My partner and I are building with Henley Homes. We expected around 40k site costs but were shocked to see 65k, with a 35k cost being for Due to insufficient gradient from furthest point of stormwater drainage to assumed legal point of discharge, an alternative discharge method may be required. This may include additional costs to provide a Hydraulic Engineer designed stormwater discharge system in order to conform to AS/NZS 3500:2003. Note: - Cost to be confirmed on receipt of Engineer's Final Hydraulic design. Any resulting changes and costs will be advised to the Owner/s by variation. At tender we were told this was due to our block being dead flat. Has anyone ever received this charge and what did it end up costing. It's probably going to be the nail in the coffin of our build if it stands. Re: Unexpected Site Costs 2Feb 22, 2022 10:11 pm This is usually caused by developers doing site scrapes. It's a growing problem. Roof stormwater can go to a detention tank, no big problem there and I don't think the council would require a max PSD but have a word to the council about this and other relevant matters. The only issue would be surface drainage but an extra 35k all up??? I don't think so! The builder will however add 20% to the HE's usual inflated costing. EDITED typo: Had 25k, changed it to 35k. Is there slope to the kerb for a pipe carrying surface drainage? 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using syphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost syphonic eaves gutter overflow solution. Re: Unexpected Site Costs 3Feb 23, 2022 5:25 am dannyboy92 Hi All, My partner and I are building with Henley Homes. We expected around 40k site costs but were shocked to see 65k, with a 35k cost being for Due to insufficient gradient from furthest point of stormwater drainage to assumed legal point of discharge, an alternative discharge method may be required. This may include additional costs to provide a Hydraulic Engineer designed stormwater discharge system in order to conform to AS/NZS 3500:2003. Note: - Cost to be confirmed on receipt of Engineer's Final Hydraulic design. Any resulting changes and costs will be advised to the Owner/s by variation. At tender we were told this was due to our block being dead flat. Has anyone ever received this charge and what did it end up costing. It's probably going to be the nail in the coffin of our build if it stands. Hi Dannyboy92 Sorry to hear of the issue you are having. I am not sure where you are located but in Sydney, the council area you live in has a big impact on your site costs, especially when it comes to stormwater, and how that stormwater will be drained from your property. If your land slopes away from the street ( ie front to rear) and you don't have a drainage easement through your neighbour's property then the options are a charged system or an absorption pit system. Some councils refuse to allow a charged system whilst others are fine with it. Some councils wont allow absorption pits whilst others do. Some councils wont allow you to build unless you can get an easement through your neighbour's property. A number of the councils in older areas require on site detention, in it's simplest form this is essentially a large swimming pool under your driveway that holds large amounts of water in a storm which come in via a 150mm diameter pipe and then drain slowly via a 50mm pipe to the street. This eases the burden the council system. Depending on the size and construction methodology this can be a $5-45,000 exercise. Without seeing your survey and knowing what suburb you are in, it is really hard to comment on your individual situation, however reading the wording from the builder it sounds like they believe they can not get enough fall to gravity drain to the street. If I were you, once you have your survey and levels, try and talk to a council engineer to understand the options available to you in your suburb. All the best Simeon Architectural Homes & Duplexes - specialising in custom designing homes to your budget Get a Free Onsite Consultation Today or send a PM for information, questions or advice. Re: Unexpected Site Costs 4Feb 23, 2022 9:12 am dannyboy92 Has anyone ever received this charge and what did it end up costing. It's probably going to be the nail in the coffin of our build if it stands. Yes, Engineers review site works all the time that's their job Pity you didn't get your own engineer to review your block instead, you trusted what the salesman said I wish I had a dollar for every time I've heard "we built one around the corner and that's what we allowed....?" Now you have to find an extra $40K and that may not be the end of it.... Designer,Engineer (Civil,Const & Envir),Builder,Concrete & Masonry Contract.Struct Repairs Re: Unexpected Site Costs 5Feb 25, 2022 8:55 pm SaveH2O This is usually caused by developers doing site scrapes. It's a growing problem. Roof stormwater can go to a detention tank, no big problem there and I don't think the council would require a max PSD but have a word to the council about this and other relevant matters. The only issue would be surface drainage but an extra 35k all up??? I don't think so! The builder will however add 20% to the HE's usual inflated costing. EDITED typo: Had 25k, changed it to 35k. Is there slope to the kerb for a pipe carrying surface drainage? It says LPOD is kerb and channel. Its virtually flat, if anything slightly uphill to kerb. There is a rear easement but no stormwater drainage, and no kerb outlets. Gonna have to get a pump to pump it to the street. Re: Unexpected Site Costs 6Feb 25, 2022 8:56 pm Yeah I get it mate. Your life must be perfect hey, criticising other people to make yourself feel good? Re: Unexpected Site Costs 7Feb 26, 2022 6:25 am The take home message is for others.. sorry, too late for you. hth Designer,Engineer (Civil,Const & Envir),Builder,Concrete & Masonry Contract.Struct Repairs Re: Unexpected Site Costs 8Aug 21, 2022 11:56 am I am with the same builder aka plantation homes and in the same situation. Current estimate is like 50k for a flat block ~480m2. So the advice is to get my own contour and soil test? Then how do I get my own engineering report? I thought the intial deposit is to get the above tests done to get a better idea of site cost and I can decide if I want to sign the contract? Ie I can decide not to continue and get the reports from the builder? Thanks! Re: Unexpected Site Costs 9Aug 21, 2022 3:29 pm Hey slacker878 Welcome to the forum Always a good idea to get your own contour survey and soil report before you engage a builder. The initial deposit is for the preparation of plans agreement (DA). Then they usually come back for additional funds once they sort out the construction/engineering (BA). At which point you may find it difficult to extricate yourself without suffering further cost losses. You don't get access to the reports if the plans are copyright to the builder, nor can you get other builders to quote. This should have been explained to you beforehand OT, Own copyright of your designs , certified engineering and reports, then get 3 builder to quote Forearmed is forewarned Designer,Engineer (Civil,Const & Envir),Builder,Concrete & Masonry Contract.Struct Repairs Re: Unexpected Site Costs 10Aug 21, 2022 4:06 pm thank you for the reply. not sure why my post came up as big and small font.. it previewed ok just now. anyway, all this reading about slabs and soil testing, drainage and site cost has made me worried. my understanding that H1 soil type is very common around the brisbane area so I am preparing for that. I don't think I can afford a custom builder, and volume builders seem to only do waffle slabs. they don't do raft or polyvoid. then the 2nd issue of the supposed flat contour. my plot is flat but ironically its sloping down on my right and rear neighbor plot - it would seem I am on the edge before it slopes. but contouring on the brisbane council website suggest mild slopping to the rear. I would love for someone to give me some advice if my builder's sales consultant is actually giving me genuine advice that I might need fill to promote drainage to the street? that would also mean that soil testing would need to be redone after the fill? - would that make it class P then? would be glad to PM or email through address and initial surveying by the current owner that subdivided the land. thanks folks! Re: Unexpected Site Costs 11Aug 30, 2022 6:01 pm can someone help? apparently now he flat contour of the land requires additional fill of 350mm at the cost of $25k for stormwater drainage.. Re: Unexpected Site Costs 12Aug 30, 2022 11:25 pm StructuralBIMGuy Always a good idea to get your own contour survey and soil report before you engage a builder. The initial deposit is for the preparation of plans agreement (DA). Thank you for this advice I really appreciate this. I did not think of this, and it will help me, with my strategy, as I am starting to look at building a new home on a land with its own 'hinderance' at the corner, ie. a natural water-course. Hence, your advice means, I can start to look at soil & water/flood studies, plus site surveys at my own costs, to aid in the decision-making and obtaining quotes from builders. ( plus, with so much rain in Sydney this year, it looks 'water management' is on everyone's minds, after recent floods ) Re: Unexpected Site Costs 13Aug 31, 2022 5:44 am slacker878 can someone help? apparently now he flat contour of the land requires additional fill of 350mm at the cost of $25k for stormwater drainage.. Hi Slacker878 Sorry to hear about your unexpected site costs. Quick question, are you sure they are charging $25k for fill or is there additional work with the slab, retaining walls and or drainage? The reason I ask is that here in Sydney, filling a site is free, other than a smallish machinery day rate to spread and compact the fill. The $25k they are proposing seems like an insanely huge number As a comparison, we just got CDC approved on a 1000 sqm site which falls away from the street. The stormwater solution is a combination of charged pipes to the street, an absorption trench in the rear yard and the kicker we weren't expecting was a 3,000 litre underground tank with dual pumps at the rear ( which needs to discharge 50m to the street). The cost of that entire system is no where near $25,000. We costed the Tank and pumps and they came to around $7,000.The client had not budgeted for this so we aren't charging them. Will will work hard to find savings somewhere else. I see this quite often when it comes to stormwater management issues, as to most people stormwater plans can seem quite complicated, so some builders use this as an opportunity to make a super profit. When you are working with clients you need to be a team, sometimes the client may have issues that the builder needs to help with and sometimes the builder may have issues that the client can help with. It's all swings and round a bouts to get a home built. Sorry for my long rant, I could give a 2 hour lecture on this All the best Simeon Architectural Homes & Duplexes - specialising in custom designing homes to your budget Get a Free Onsite Consultation Today or send a PM for information, questions or advice. Re: Unexpected Site Costs 14Aug 31, 2022 9:12 am Ashington Homes Sorry for my long rant, I could give a 2 hour lecture on this You should get paid to give this lecture to Design and Landscape Architects as well. Designer,Engineer (Civil,Const & Envir),Builder,Concrete & Masonry Contract.Struct Repairs Re: Unexpected Site Costs 15Aug 31, 2022 9:15 am slacker878 can someone help? apparently now he flat contour of the land requires additional fill of 350mm at the cost of $25k for stormwater drainage.. I don't understand this at all. Flat blocks have been the bread and butter of volume builders for decades and now all of a sudden they need specialist drainage? I smell a rat. I've built several house son flat blocks and the site costs ive had to pay range between 7-21K. Thats it. No specialist design, nothing. I appreciate this is anecdotal. Kind of feels like they cant justify the increases anymore, so have to tack on the extra $ to other works that homeowners have little understanding of. Dark matter scientist, can breathe underwater, mind reader and can freeze matter just by willing it. Trust me, its in my sig. Re: Unexpected Site Costs 16Aug 31, 2022 9:15 am StructuralBIMGuy Ashington Homes Sorry for my long rant, I could give a 2 hour lecture on this You should get paid to give this lecture to Design and Landscape Architects as well. thanks for the laugh Architectural Homes & Duplexes - specialising in custom designing homes to your budget Get a Free Onsite Consultation Today or send a PM for information, questions or advice. Re: Unexpected Site Costs 17Aug 31, 2022 9:31 pm i replied in the stormwater thread but will move the discussion here instead: this is the original contour prior to fill: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ this is the land contours after fill by the seller: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ original contour slope back to the right corner. so the seller has already filled about 0.4m to achieve the contours seen in the 2nd pic. not too happy about the batter but i could build landscaping retaining walls down the track if required.. plantation homes want to fill a further 350mm to aid storm water drainage at a cost ~$25k. not to mention further additional cost for piering after the fill. is that even necessary? they state that the land is still too flat for adequate drainage. no storm water drains nearby or easements. Re: Unexpected Site Costs 19Sep 06, 2022 7:31 am slacker878 i replied in the stormwater thread but will move the discussion here instead: this is the original contour prior to fill: original contour slope back to the right corner. You will need to find the SW invert levels, connection points and look at various certified optionsto handle SW disposal ie. charged system, tanks/pumps, etc. A site cross section elevation with heights will help you understand the situation better, then weight up costs slacker878 original contour slope back to the right corner. so the seller has already filled about 0.4m to achieve the contours seen in the 2nd pic. not too happy about the batter but i could build landscaping retaining walls down the track if required.. plantation homes want to fill a further 350mm to aid storm water drainage at a cost ~$25k. not to mention further additional cost for piering after the fill. retaining will be required, but as soon as extra soil is dumped the costs will jump from cheap colorbond panels/fence to a more substantial system + Drainage. Here in Perth adding 350mm addition soil require a trip back to Council and recertification? This also impacts your neighbours, footings options, accessibility SW, etc. Something that should have been look at before hand. slacker878 is that even necessary? they state that the land is still too flat for adequate drainage. no storm water drains nearby or easements. Let me guess the artist/salesman said "Trust me, we'll sort that out later in the office once you've paid the deposit?" (humour) You'll need to make that call once you have all the facts/costs, But there is no 3 other quotes once you are locked in to one builder exclusively Forewarned is forearmed Designer,Engineer (Civil,Const & Envir),Builder,Concrete & Masonry Contract.Struct Repairs Re: Unexpected Site Costs 20Sep 06, 2022 2:54 pm I'm a bit lost - they are all huge numbers. What comes under the heading of 'site costs'? Does it count any slab work? I only know what we have done on our build so go easy if I am missing something! Our block is more or less flat - all corners are within 0.2 on the contour survey (10-10.2), house FFL at 10.46. Contour survey $720 + GST + Builders Margin We did storm water design as a part of the development approval ($850 ++) and required 3x soakwells installed (~$4k ++). Geotech report ($950++) said compaction was required. We had to bring in a load of sand too so site costs (sand and compaction) were $1800++. So if BM was 20% it's still only 12k? I guess you could also add an extra few $100 as we had to put some retaining plinths on the new colorbond fence? I am not sure whether Perth has its own way of doing things in regards to this. Most of Perth has class A (sandy soil), except for some areas near rivers or hills. 2 13099 Is anyone building with Mojo and have a recent site cost tender 0 15952 Henley should give you some indication of site costs. Too many variable to give you any reasonable accuracy 1 1884 |