House and Land Packages

stumpy · Jan 16, 2007 10:05 pm

Hi Guys

We are considering buying a house and land package from PD, and would like to know whether anyone on this forum has done the same, and the disadvantages/advantages of doing so.

This is in comparison with buying land seperately before construction.

We've been told that its better to buy a house and land package is better/cheaper then buying land and building seperately.

Thank you all in advance.

Regards

Stumpy

uncle_ant · Jan 17, 2007 12:17 am

G'Day Stumpy

We are building with PD in Tarneit, Victoria (to commence in Feb). I think that the main advantages of going with a house and land package is that the site costs on the land will be 'fixed'. That is, you shouldn't cop any nasty surprises.

Others on this forum have mentioned site costs far higher than we are paying for our 'package' when building on their own selected block.

Regards
Tony

stumpy · Jan 17, 2007 7:33 am

Hi tony

Thanks for that. So theres really no unexpected surprise site, temp fencing costs at all?

May I ask whehter your house and land package includes floor coverings? and all the "bare" essentials?

Thanks!

Stumpy

Amber · Jan 17, 2007 8:01 am

G'day Stumpy,

We are building with PD and the original block we chose with them was a house & land package (eventually chose a different block of land that we couldn't do as a package).

The benefit we saw with the package was just as Tony said - fixed site costs etc. They also give you an allowance for fencing and another perk that is quite helpful (can't remember exactly what it is now).

If you can find a block of land in a package that you are happy with, I'd say go with it as you get a little more piece of mind to start with as they have done the preliminary tests etc.

Cheers
Amber

http://ourdreamhouse.blogspot.com

sneakersss · Jan 17, 2007 8:54 am

We are also building with PD and purchased a H&L package. And yes, as previous posters have said, the main advantage is the fixed site costs. And also that most things are completed/included so you essentially just move in.

The package we got (as in most people's cases, probably) included an allowance for flooring meaning that after the initial sales quote we weren't surprised by the actual cost of the flooring we chose. We were originally quoted 10k to floor the whole house, but with the actual flooring we chose it came up to 12k. Not too big of a difference considering we upgraded to different tiles. We also got flyscreen etc so all we really have to do is organise the concreters to lay the driveway (there's also a driveway and fencing allowance included in the quote) and do all our landscaping.

What we came across as a tiny problem is that because the titles had been released in the estate we were buying it, it was difficult for us to get a 90 day settlement on the land. The 60 day settlement didn't allow for us to get to contract stage with PD so we have essentially had to get our finance in two stages. Now that the land is settled we have to then refinance the mortgage to allow for the construction of the house. Small price to pay really, but would've been nice to do it in one go.

Good luck with whatever you decide to to.

stumpy · Jan 17, 2007 11:49 am

Thanks for your responses guys.

YSSIM - just back to the floor coverings, in the actual PD flier, it says that the package includes 'additional tiling to main areas' and quality decorator carpets to the remainder of the home' and flyscreens (amongst other things). Would this be a special deal that there offering ?

sneakersss · Jan 17, 2007 1:40 pm

stumpy,

It sounds like the same deal we got with our house and land package.

PM if you have any further questions.

epiphany · Jan 18, 2007 12:27 am

We had friends who were looking at a house & land package with PD but I honestly couldn't see any advantage to it except you'd only have one lot of finance to deal with.

We are building with PD at the moment but bought the land ourselves. Our site costs are fixed (so no additional advantage in buying the land through PD) & very reasonable/low compared to most PD quotes I've seen recently (so it does vary a bit). And there is no way our block of land would have been offered as a house & land package simply because of the demand for the group it's in when the subdivision came up for sale...the ones PD are now offering in the same subdivision as H&L packages aren't nearly as nice, unfortunately.

We got flyscreens as part of our building package & pre-purchased our floor coverings from a retailer when they were having a sale. We didn't include the cost of a driveway, floor coverings, etc, as part of our mortgage (which it would be if you were doing a H&L package) but you do have the option of putting that on the mortgage, according to our mortgage broker...we just chose to pay for them straight up.