Here it goes... the start & already qns qns ... help?

With news that the land is about to settle, we are about to embark on the journey to build. We have placed a deposit with the builder of our choice He***y.

I hope someone can help shed some light on the questions I have :

a. We are told that in the first appointment, we have to

1. Decide on all variations (wouldn't this be too early especially since we are not signing the contract at this stage?) else, any single change after this is charged at $500 PER CHANGE. Question is what in the world does this cover? Door colours?

2. This builder does not do wooden flooring and I am told that they wouldn't even put in an allowance into the contract for the bank approval. Far cry from what I have been hearing from others in this forum. Anyone can recommend a good flooring company with financing, and whether is there any requirement a flooring company needs to be done by the builder (floor prep etc.)?

3. After the soil test, the builder is saying that the site costs will be fixed except for rock? Doesn't the site cost cover rock?

4. Any other advise before we proceed for the first appointment?

Anyone who is starting to build with Hen**y and is willing to share the journey PM me.

Cheers.

Kevin

5. I am required to supply a sitting drawing (diagram of where I want my house sited on my block that complies with covenants on title & developer's guidelines). Where do I get this?

You can get a copy of title from www.land.vic.gov.au assuming you are in vic - (other states will have something similar im sure) - that will have any restrictive covenents on your block and zoning etc. You might also want to check with your local council for any setbacks or other siting requirements....and also with the developer if you are in some type of estate that has additional requirements!

Thanks for the tip vanderlay, and yes I am in vic.

Pardon my ignorance but after I get the details of the restrictive covenants, am I suppose to sketch up a drawing as to how I want to house to sit on the land? Shouldn't this be the work of an architect?

Nah...they just need to know roughly where you want the house to go....they will have it drawn up properly for you as you get further through the process....

Hi Kevin

What, why isn't the builder doing the sitting and making sure it complies with the covenants?

Wouldn't that be the standard or were we just spoilt by our builder I wonder?

Cheers

I believe we have the same builder Uncle Ant...and they had no idea what the council would allow or not allow in our case - had to work it all out for ourselves

So you were even spoiled within that same builder

Good question uncle_ant.

The requirements were taken off the builders Procedures of Purchase. I can't help to feel as though they are building half-the house or something.

Can you PM me which builder you are with and your comments?

Kevin

That PM is on its way.


Vanderlay

We must have been spoilt rotten then, we did not have to one thing other than provide a 'very rough' sketch of our proposed driveway and the type of material for the construction.

Maybe it is because they had already built in the estate? Not sure, maybe just lucky.

Cheers

We are with PD also and they also did our siting. I am now thinking that it may have been because we went for a 'package' and bought a block they already had on hold.......

Edited to add: our builder does floorboards but at an outrageously high mark-up so we are getting out carpets and floorboards put in after handover. A lot of the 'chain' floor covering stores offer interest free terms if finances are tight.

I didn't have to lift a finger either with my builder! It does seem like we were spoilt now

I am of the opinion that the builder should do whatever you want them to do, if you want wooden floors, then you shall have them! Seems a bit slack to me.

We didn't have to do anything other than say what we wanted in the house and pick the colours for everything. The lovely guy (sales rep at the display home) was great to deal with. He sketched up our house and sited it on the block for us.

Same goes for when we dealt with Henley. The sales rep at the display home also went to the trouble of sketching up a siting drawing for us. And we didn't say anything other than we had picked a block and were interested in one of their houses.

kevin, regarding item No. 1: the builder is possibly talking about the structural variations. They give out those massive books that has every kind of option you can add/vary with your respective floorplan. I'm thinking they would want you to read through that (because there's quite a lot you can change) then tell them at the appropriate time. There's things such as the order and type of cupboards you want in the kitchen. Take for example overhead cupboards in the kitchen - do you want all open shelving; all with doors; combo of open shelving and doors; maybe some with opaque glass? Also do you want to convert the 4th bedroom to a study or maybe add on an alfresco? I only know this because when we were originally going to build with Henley I read through that variations book a hundred times! LOL

Item 2: I think said builder doesn't do flooring because they've had a lot of clients previously that would prefer to do the flooring through an external company. From what I've been told you go get quotes from flooring companies and when you finally pick one you submit that quote with the builder's final quote to the bank and they will lend you that much. It's not a matter of not being able to get the flooring as part of your mortgage but more a matter of you have to do the research and picking yourself.

Item 3: Not very experienced in this area because our site costs were fixed. And I'm not aware if they even found any rock on our block. All I know is that the discovery and removal of rocks costs quite a bit. So builder probably doesn't want to be out of pocket if they do find rock. But I'm sure other posters can help you in this section.

And lastly, I think the whole siting thing is just them giving you a chance to propose where you would like the house on the block incase you have things in mind for certain parts of the block. For instance, the southern end of our house is 1500mm from the edge of the property boundary. All fine but then we moved the watertank (some 800mm wide) to the southern end of the house and our builder somehow 'forgot' to resite the house. So, now we have maybe 600mm to squeeze through where the fence and watertank will meet. Eeekk!

Don't quite agree with this, my understanding is, once contract signed, they charge you a fixed fee on top of the cost for the change. And that change could be anything from colour, to door position, interior, ...etc. It's stated in the contract, have a look and you will see it.

Cheers
Allan
http://building-our-first-house.blogspot.com/

I think it's because they need to do some excavation. Therefore if there's rock when they do the excavation they need extra effort to handle that, which means more $$.



Always shop around and talk to at least 5 builders. Then use the specials/experience from one of them to get a better deal from the others.

It's a painful process but worth the effort once you got your dream home finished. Good luck!

Cheers
Allan
http://building-our-first-house.blogspot.com/