Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Mar 06, 2009 7:29 am Our new home is just in the beginning stages, and we are at the point of choosing fittings etc., and are finding that the allowances given are way short of requirements. We are keeping costs down as much as possible, but $1600 for blinds, $500 for light fittings, $7000 for kitchen, + $1700 for kitchen appliances, etc etc etc is really not enough. Or is this about what others allow? If we used the most basic light fittings we might make it at budget, but who wants ball lights throughout? Do other builders give you the allowances or do you just get a huge shock when you have to hand over the money? I'm just glad we knew, so that we can spend extra only on things that are really important to us. We're in a state of shock... Re: Allowance shortfall 2Mar 06, 2009 7:33 am Hmmm who are you building with. Usually there are very few allowances as such with bigger builders.
I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, but I would never have entered into a contract with allowances until I'd priced all these things to see what the realistic spend was. For example, I would have already known which appliances I wanted and set an appropriate allowance. I leave you to fend for yourself, figure things out yourself. Terrence Malick Re: Allowance shortfall 3Mar 06, 2009 7:59 am The allowances are just a very basic figure, just the bare minimum possible to get the house built but realistically you are going to spend more doing even modest upgrades.
We built a relatively small house, 23 squares, and didn't get carried away with upgrades but even so we spent $15,000 at selections - that's things like electrical, tiles, floor coverings, tap ware etc - not counting structural upgrades like higher ceilings which had already been factored in or window treatments which we did afterwards. Like Jo, we had done some rough homework on this beforehand and allowed ourselves a budget of $20,000 for upgrades, so we were pleasantly surprised to come under this. Re: Allowance shortfall 4Mar 06, 2009 8:10 am Best thing you can do is ask the builder for a copy of the the actual tender for the equivalent display home (or something similar). That way you can take the full list and then start downgrading. It's a good way not to miss anything. If the tender is unavailable, go for the inclusions list for the display but they tend not to have quantities on them and they also don't tend to have tile upgrades, paint upgrades, etc. Stevep79 & Principessa Finished building Wisdom Homes Impression 33mkII in The Ponds, Sydney http://lilypadintheponds.blogspot.com |