Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jul 02, 2009 11:26 pm Heya guys, Thought I'd start this little thread to list down some, well.. utterly blaring and to me personally unexplainable differences I've noticed between us W.A. Home owner/builders, and our eastern brethren. This is kinda a point form thread and is open to ALL for addition and/or alteration to, I think it may make a nice referance for some people, on either side of the preverbial coin who feel overly hard done by, or in diometric opposite, feel they've maybe had an overly easy run. Feel free to add your own, the below are observations I've made from reading comments made by people building in the eastern states. * (EASTERN) - From what I've read some of you are not allowed on your building site at all?, over here anyone trying to tell a owner that would be laughed out of the office. I've personally helped inspect one of my friends build and will be making weekly inspections to my own once slab is down. * (EASTERN) - Is it just me or does finance seem.. well ******* over there, as in, much harder to obtain via what seems to be a heap more "red tape", I'm with keystart and while it was frustrating as hell, now It's all over I can look back and kinda realize it wasn't all that bad. Yet from some things i've read people here have had a utter horror show. * (EASTERN) - I read something about a required 5 star energy efficiency rating for the house?. Never heard of that here, could just be the fact that I've never head about it, not alluding to it's actual existance here. *SIDENOTE* - Something i just remembered, apparantly some people had been told they needed to have SLAB DOWN by june 30 for the increased FHOG, (before the extenstion) I can't speak for eastern states but here in perth that's crap. I spoke to the Office of State Revenue ( I think that's their name. after being told the same thing by some schmuck in the treasury department ) here as they are the bosses for the FHOG and all you needed was signed working contracts. Building with CELEBRATION HOMES @ THE GLADES in BYFORD W.A. My Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=19512&p=249550#p249550 Re: Ponderings on the differences between W.A. and the East 2Jul 03, 2009 12:01 am Thought I would make a couple of quick points for you In the East; It is not Illegal to enter your own site however it is highly discouraged. This is mainly due to the Liability/Safety side of things however no one can really stop you (I've been trying to say that but I keep getting overwritten on that thread) Brings me to my next point... Mainly in Vic but also NSW & QLD, the "red Tape" is a big hurdle. In Vic we pay as much as 5 times the amount of stamp duty as some other states. We also have many compulsory insurances that some other states do not have (EG - Home owners Warranty insurance is mandatory in VIC, NSW & QLD but not in TAS - not sure about WA though) Also, Vic is building twice as many homes per month (over the last quarter than any other state) followed by NSW. This demand at the moment is unprecedented and driven by the first home buyer market. As most of you would know; the financial crisis has made getting loans a lot harder and this in turn of course makes live of first home buyers even harder. The demand couple with the scrutiny on first home buyers means that the approval turn around time for banks such as Westpac; ANZ and Commbank is out to 6-8 weeks over here. In Vic we have 5 star energy effieciency ratings (BASIX in NSW and energy ratings in QLD too) that must be met. These include rules that effect layout & orientation, Window size & position; Insulation; Ventilation and much more. Each home must be rated with specific software. WA has nothing like that at all. (though WA does have minimum requirements nonetheless) FHOG is not slab down; it is contract signed. same in every state. The only differences are what contribution your state government offers. Some other interesting things are that the majority of homes in WA are double brick whereas in SA, VIC, NSW, QLD and TAS the vast majority (about 90%) are brick veneer or weatherboard cladding (timber external walls with either clad or brick skin). 5-7% of the remaining 10% are steel frame with only 1% being double brick (excluding single brick skin garages) Heating is considered a standard inclusion in Vic whereas no other state has it (some exceptions) as standard (major builders) many more quirky differences but it is past my bed time "I never learned a thing until I finished school" - Unknown "You can get anything accomplished, If you don't mind who gets the credit" - Ned Hay The warning is on the sticker on the door too. Second the aluminium powdercoat 6 18176 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 22797 |