Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Feb 13, 2009 12:38 pm Hi all,
My partner and I are looking at building with Porter Davis, here in Melbourne, out at South Morang/Mernda. Now we are trying to do as much as possible to estimate costs and anticipate as much as possible. After all its such a large amount of money, and like alot of people we are on a tight budget. We have asked heaps of questions to the CSC, but at the end of the day its easy to miss questions or have only things half answered when you don't ask "SPECIFIC questions. We have done a walk through of the house design we are interested and have been given a quote based on this. We have selected a piece of land, in the Hawkstowe estate which is a fixed cost site apparently, not that I fully understand what this is. Anyway costs are: $230,000 for Queenstown 30 This includes: Fixed Site costs of $10,000 Current promotion of $999 & $2,999/$3999(can't find the quote). This upgrades applicances and installs tiles and carpets. Air Conditioning(decided we will remove this and get an external company to install) Extra kitchen cupboards Cupboard for laundry *a few other extras here and there. Apparently the house already meets estate guidlines No Structural changes made by us. So based on the above and the cost of land that is $410,000. The question is where can we be charged extra that I'm not aware of. What else do I need to know and what other questions to I need to ask before we go down this route. Thanks everyone. I want as much info as possible! Stewart P.S I know the stardard tiles and carpet may be crappy, and we may look at upgrading etc. Re: Building costs through Porter Davis 2Feb 13, 2009 1:52 pm here some approx costs for certain things with our PD house, a Regent 23
Extra Pot Draws $204 each set Additional Double Power Points $40 each Power Points to Island Bench & Alfresco $60 each (we'll be getting our friend an electrician to do all electrical afterwards to save) Keys locks on windows $41 per lock Flyscreens $37 each Garage Entry $450 Extend Garage $489 per m2 Rear Roller door to garage $550 Higher Ceilings $3,000 + Alfresco $3,000 + Upgrade to carpet and underlay cat 3 $5,000ish Double doors to bedroom $314 Extras doors $200-$300 Ducted Vaccum $1,500 Zoned Ducted Heating $1,500 Termite Protection Reticulated System $1,500 Just remember you'll need to factor in driveway, fencing, landscaping, any electrical upgrades, brick upgrades, tile upgrades, carpet upgrades, paint upgrades, feature walls, security.. ect. Hope this helps a little. I'd ask for a list of variations that can be done and a price list, there may be further structural changes you'd like to make. But i'd definately budget in adding extras.. cause you'll always want more!! Re: Building costs through Porter Davis 3Feb 13, 2009 2:06 pm From the base house+land cost (plan house) allowing ~$35k over that would be safe for these things?
What were looking at is through Henley so it doesnt have driveway, window covers, floor covers, etc. Is that reasonable to allow? or will I need more? Re: Building costs through Porter Davis 4Feb 13, 2009 2:18 pm Hellman109 From the base house+land cost (plan house) allowing ~$35k over that would be safe for these things? What were looking at is through Henley so it doesnt have driveway, window covers, floor covers, etc. Is that reasonable to allow? or will I need more? Depends on how many things you want to add, change. We didn't want much added. A few pot draws, cupboards over range hood, cupboard in laundry, air conditioning etc. You need to make sure that you cover site costs as well. When we first looked into PD and building in Greensborough, we were advised to budget $20K. That is of course with out anyone looking at the site or any site surveys. This will vary from block to block. However they should give you an indication of this if its a current deveopment estate. You also may need to budget some extra for estate compliance. Each estate has certain requirements. We looked at two estates in Mernda/South Morang. Riverdale & Hawkstowe. Hawkstone didn't require any modifications to the house to make it complicant.(at least this is what we have been told). Riverdale required approximatly 12K worth of changes to make it compliant. From my point of view, I'm just looking for extra costs that one don't think of. Upgrades are a choice, I'm looking for the "Gotchas", the stuff that you don't necessarily get told about upfront. Re: Building costs through Porter Davis 5Feb 13, 2009 2:19 pm Hellman109 From the base house+land cost (plan house) allowing ~$35k over that would be safe for these things? What were looking at is through Henley so it doesnt have driveway, window covers, floor covers, etc. Is that reasonable to allow? or will I need more? Have a look at this thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=3138 Re: Building costs through Porter Davis 6Feb 13, 2009 2:28 pm Hi sm39,
We seem to be at the same stage of "building our home". We are going with the Queenstown 33. I get the feeling that once you get to hopetoun you will get a better indication of what the final cost of building your home might be, esp when it comes to picking Bricks/Tiles and Carpet. Fingers crossed its a nice surprise and doesnt hurt the budget too much I suppose another cost you might wanna consider is once the soil test is said and done, the Slab might have to be upgraded to a H class slab which i think is a cost of 6K. Re: Building costs through Porter Davis 7Feb 13, 2009 2:28 pm erinleigh here some approx costs for certain things with our PD house, a Regent 23 Extra Pot Draws $204 each set Additional Double Power Points $40 each Power Points to Island Bench & Alfresco $60 each (we'll be getting our friend an electrician to do all electrical afterwards to save) Keys locks on windows $41 per lock Flyscreens $37 each Garage Entry $450 Extend Garage $489 per m2 Rear Roller door to garage $550 Higher Ceilings $3,000 + Alfresco $3,000 + Upgrade to carpet and underlay cat 3 $5,000ish Double doors to bedroom $314 Extras doors $200-$300 Ducted Vaccum $1,500 Zoned Ducted Heating $1,500 Termite Protection Reticulated System $1,500 Just remember you'll need to factor in driveway, fencing, landscaping, any electrical upgrades, brick upgrades, tile upgrades, carpet upgrades, paint upgrades, feature walls, security.. ect. Hope this helps a little. I'd ask for a list of variations that can be done and a price list, there may be further structural changes you'd like to make. But i'd definately budget in adding extras.. cause you'll always want more!! Thanks Erinleigh, Most of the "extras" like pot draws etc have been taken care of in that price. Have you expereince any un-expected costs that you were not expecting? How much to budget for driveway and fencing? I believe that PD gives some kind of rebate back to us at completion or something for fencing and driveway. Would love to hear your experiences! Re: Building costs through Porter Davis 8Feb 13, 2009 2:33 pm Stinger Hi sm39, I get the feeling that once you get to hopetoun you will get a better indication of what the final cost of building your home might be, esp when it comes to picking Bricks/Tiles and Carpet. Fingers crossed its a nice surprise and doesnt hurt the budget too much I suppose another cost you might wanna consider is once the soil test is said and done, the Slab might have to be upgraded to a H class slab which i think is a cost of 6K. Thanks Stinger, been thinking we may go check Hopetoun out and see what the "standard" stuff is like, although I doubt they would give prices of upgrades though, would they?? The cost of the slab is one think that has confused me. The land we were looking at is supposedly a fixed price block. In our quote which we got Saturday, they allowed 10K for site costs. One would assume that "fixed Costs" is fixed costs? Am i misunderstanding this? So if they have quoted 10K now, it should stay 10K, shouldn't it? Re: Building costs through Porter Davis 9Feb 13, 2009 2:40 pm No worries Sm39.
We also got quoted on Saturday I think they put the 10K price tag on site costs just as a guesttimate i suppose...that way there are no surprises for the clint (being me and you) they are yet to do the soil test on our block, but I'm hoping its near enough to that 10K mark. In your case if the block has a fixed price of 10K for site costs, then you might be in a better position Same goes for Electricals, at this stage in the quote we have allowed for 3K, but i can see that perhaps doubiling after everything is said and done Re: Building costs through Porter Davis 10Feb 13, 2009 3:03 pm Sm39, is this a house and land package through PD that you're going with?
In regards to the fixed price cost - in my experience this means that they will quote you a price for the site costs (I think it was at the initial walk-through with the Sales Consultant) and it will stay at this price no matter what the soil tests reveal, what type of slab you need or if they find rock while laying your slab. The Queenstown is a Prestige range, correct? I find the inclusions within the Prestige range pretty good. You won't find yourself needing to add or upgrade much especially if you get a decent package/deal. What you will probably find additions are the cupboards to the laundry (which is not included in any package i've heard of). But you've already accounted for that. Other things that cost are a spa, extending the alfresco and upgrading tiles, carpets, bricks and roof tiles from the standard range. If it is a H&L package they put an allowance for driving and fencing into the contract which they give back to you after handover. But this would just be for a basic concrete driveway etc so if you want something more you might want to ask them to put in for a bigger allowance. [sneakersss] Re: Building costs through Porter Davis 11Feb 13, 2009 3:04 pm sm39 Thanks Erinleigh, Most of the "extras" like pot draws etc have been taken care of in that price. Have you expereince any un-expected costs that you were not expecting? How much to budget for driveway and fencing? I believe that PD gives some kind of rebate back to us at completion or something for fencing and driveway. Would love to hear your experiences! We are only in the begining and have fixed our site costs as well ($10,000) the sales consultant assurred me there would be no addition site costs what so ever. They cannot charge any extra. I asked about rock removal and he even assured this was part of the site costs. We have budgeted $12,000 for 'allowances' including around $2,000 fencing (already have neighbours so there fence is up and paid for, $3,000 for a driveway, $5,000 for decking and $2,000 for landscaping, ect. These are really really rough prices, havent actually got any quotes done just yet. PD advised we'll get a cheque for $12,000 at handover to be able to do these extra things. Re: Building costs through Porter Davis 12Feb 13, 2009 3:46 pm not being silly..
PD told us our Home&Land package not include tilling, carpets , driveway and passway.... these standard ??? ps": the house will be around south morang/mernda Re: Building costs through Porter Davis 13Feb 13, 2009 3:50 pm I'm not 100 % sure on H&L packages, but I'm pretty sure that tiling and carpets are not included, as with house only. Not sure about driveway - they may give you an allowance for a driveway .....? Solidarity, not solidity.......The Lexicon of Life Re: Building costs through Porter Davis 14Feb 13, 2009 3:51 pm SofiWY :oops: not being silly.. PD told us our Home&Land package not include tilling, carpets , driveway and passway.... these standard ??? ps": the house will be around south morang/mernda I found the carpet/tiles were included in the site start promotion and the builders bonus promotion that PD run. Driveway isn't included.. but you can get them to make an allowance for it in the contract and they will reimburse you when the house is complete, so you need to organise someone to come out and do a driveway for you and you use the money PD reimburse you at the end to pay for it. Hope that makes sense. Re: Building costs through Porter Davis 15Feb 13, 2009 3:59 pm My PD Access (Regent 21) HL package has everything you need for inside the house except curtains/blinds and light shades.
I'm getting my own quotes for driveway, fencing and aircon. 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Re: Building costs through Porter Davis 16Feb 13, 2009 4:03 pm Tiling and carpet is not included in the base price but rather in the package they offer you. It's more like an allowance or budget they estimate you will need to do the flooring to your entire house.
In our case our H&L package had an allowance for 10k for flooring. Once we went to pick our tiles we ended up upgrading some things and adding on 1.5k to the price. But then again, this was more than 2 years ago (omg, has it been that long?!) so they could have slightly changed their process. I wouldn't think it would be too different, though. It might also be worth mentioning that different builder's definition of H&L packages vary. Some might be very limited in the selections you have while others have a bigger variety to pick from but obviously at a cost. [sneakersss] Re: Building costs through Porter Davis 17Feb 13, 2009 7:49 pm Thanks guys & Gals,
You have given me a bit more of an understanding of things that I was struggling with. Made me think a little more about things. So I think I understand a couple of things a little better. Based on what my understanding is and what others have mentioned it looks liked we should be okay. There shouldn't be any nasty surprises that we are not aware of. Obviously costs can be incurred anywhere, but my main convern was the un-expected stuff like, site costs etc. Upgrading tiles and stuff is expected and has been allowed for, but obviously a huge blowout in site costs and the like haven't. We are going back to PD tomorrow to basically confirm everything, have a few other questions answered and hopefully get hold of the standard contract to look over before we go any further. I read someone mentioned you can't have clauses added to the contract is this true? Anyway thanks everyone for your input, I'll report back if anything here has been wrong. Re: Building costs through Porter Davis 18Feb 13, 2009 8:00 pm To give you an idea, I am building with PD in Mernda Villages and here is my breakdown, excluding house and land cost:
Fixed site costs: $10,263 OHS: $424 Estate Covernants: $5,456 Promo: $999 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Re: Building costs through Porter Davis 19Feb 13, 2009 8:27 pm Thanks Lisa, much appreciated!!
It really is appreicated that everyone is so easily willing to share some of their finanical decisions and costs. Its big money to spend on a house, and I don't want any un-expected opps we forgot to tell you type things or opps we didn't ask this or that, and wham $xxxx thank you! I want to be prepared as much as possible. Thanks again everyone, hopefully will report back soon with good news! Re: Building costs through Porter Davis 20Feb 13, 2009 8:43 pm Colour selection is where you can spend extra $$, but you don't have to if you're careful.
PD packages for a specific estate definitely should meet estate guidelines so there shouldn't be any nasty surprises there. Just be aware that if you don't want to blow your budget, you should aim to choose paint, roof tiles, bricks, door handles, floor tiles etc from the category 1 ranges. Our experience was that they were upfront about costs and what was or wasn't included. We had quite a few extras that we wanted and were prepared to pay for, so those added around $50,000 to the base price. We're still very happy with those decisions. Three options 1 Ask the liquidator 2 Find another PD customer and ask the source of their report 3 Pay for new report 3 14071 Hi When it rains in a particular direction water comes through the security door. It hits the main door and the bottom swells and jams. There is already a cover over the… 0 38871 DIY, Home Maintenance & Repair Are you doing this with a building permit? Conversion of a non habitable room into a habitable room requires building permit. 3 18918 |