Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Sep 15, 2009 1:53 pm Hi there My wife and I have decided to build two side-by-side town houses on our block in Bentleigh VIC ( Melbourne). Before we embark on the journey we want to do a budget and plan for costs ahead of time. One of the variables we are not sure on is what builders are charging per SQ to build a project such as this. We are NOT going through a volume builder we are going through a private builder. Can anyone provide an idea as to what we should expect? Many thanks Pug Re: Cost of building per SQ? 2Sep 15, 2009 4:00 pm Unfortunately it's a pretty open ended question. IF working to a budget, with budget finishes, you could probably whip something up for $10-12k per square (depending on the size of the townhouses, as in, they aren't tiny). You could also spend upwards of $20k per square if you want quality finishes and special touches. You would need to work out approximate sizes, schedule of finishes, etc in order to get a better budget figure. Blog is now up - http://www.jbdave.blogspot.com/ Re: Cost of building per SQ? 3Sep 15, 2009 4:35 pm Holy sheets! 20k? I was thinking around 12-13K for a nice very un-budget finish (dble story). That makes a 30SQ townhouse 600K to build which seems very high, our land is worth that. If that’s the case maybe we won’t be building after all. Re: Cost of building per SQ? 4Sep 15, 2009 5:14 pm Not necessarily. You could build for 12k per square and the place would still look pretty nice (10k per square was budget). To you and I a 12k per square place would still look great, but a 20k per square place would look amazing It depends on the market you are trying to capture. Budget for 12-13k per square as you said, and you'll get it done for 12-13k per square. You'll find that when choosing fixtures, and finishes you'll choose something that looks nice within your budget. You may also be able to sqeeze in external works (driveway, landscaping) for that sort of figure. Blog is now up - http://www.jbdave.blogspot.com/ Re: Cost of building per SQ? 5Sep 15, 2009 5:38 pm Hi Pug, we've paid about $405K for a 402 sqm house (about 43 squares). It's not going to be absolutely top quality, but the builder's reknowned in the area for building quality houses. . . ours is a medium sized local builder and the house is custom-designed. This price included ducted aircon, bamboo flooring, $15K kitchen allowance, $9K bathroom allowance, tiles to wet areas, $5500 carpet allowance, $2000 allowance for balustrade, $2000 allowance for rural fencing, $3000 allowance for retaining walls, $7000 kitchen appliance allowance, $2000 laundry cupboard allowance, 10,000 litre underground concrete tank. Yours may cost more because it's going to be two houses (i.e. you'll need two kitchens, double the amount of bathrooms, etc. . . all the expensive things) but I don't think you really need to go spending $20K a square unless you want something really exclusive. HOLD ON. . . we're paying under $10K per square. . . so JBDave, if what you're saying is correct, then we're BUILDING A BUDGET HOUSE!!!!! OMG. . . we're tightwads!!!!! Re: Cost of building per SQ? 6Sep 15, 2009 6:10 pm Quote: HOLD ON. . . we're paying under $10K per square. . . so JBDave, if what you're saying is correct, then we're BUILDING A BUDGET HOUSE!!!!! OMG. . . we're tightwads!!!!! No reason you can't build a quality home for 10k per square. Also, the bigger the house, the less cost per square it would cost to build (and depeding on the design). Rectangular and irregular shaped homes cost more to build than square homes. Is the cost per square including garages and alfresco areas, as these don't cost as much to build as what's inside the living areas of the home. Do you add driveways and landscaping into the cost to build ? etc, etc Obviously there are a heap of factors involved. Although you could probably build a place for $8k per square, but I would never tell anyone that to prevent them getting their hopes up and finding out later that it can't be done they way they want it. See what i said earlier - budget for $13k per square and you'll build it for $13k per square. Blog is now up - http://www.jbdave.blogspot.com/ Re: Cost of building per SQ? 7Sep 15, 2009 8:28 pm We are in the middle of finalizing specs/prices with a small-volume builder ourselves. As others have pointed out, you have to be aware what is/is not included in the figure. Further to that: do you budget including site costs? Because those will vary tremendously depending on the slope, soil test, any trees needed clearing etc. etc. Our tentative house size is about 47.5 squares, looking at roughly $12,600 per square EXCLUDING site costs, driveway, and non-wet tiling but pretty much everything else is thrown in. Re: Cost of building per SQ? 8Sep 15, 2009 9:16 pm I could be wrong and probably am, but i beleive most builders work per sq area not floor squares (different form of measurmant we use to calculate prices. eg. a small 3 bedroom home is usually around 180sq/m budget builder appx $600 - $1000 per sq = $180,000 to build small three bed brick variations to this would include stone bench tops fittings etc but you'd build for that. 300sq/m home appx $260,000 - $310,000 volume builder area. Non volume home builders rates are forced upward because they lack buying power and generally i'am guessing come in around $1200 a sq. so going by that a 3 bed brick would be around $216,000. IF you've ever heard a trade say to you architectural homes can be alot higher quality its because they can range upto and over $4000 per sq/m. Basically from there A builder will price out each trade per sq/m. Most builders look for 10 - 20% profit margin so if your lower on the cost per sq/m make sure you check your specifications for example painters maybe applying 2 coat system instead of a 3 coat system and what there being paid is 100$ a sq/m as opposed to $130 per/sq. I'am not sure on this I'am a painter and we work via sq area Not floor sq's. The painters rates above have been exagerrated. ps. I think a 300sq/m home is roughly 28sq's. As i said i am probably wrong or at very least sketchy on this as trades/builders dont discuss rates really except there own specific rate. Dont take my word for gospal. Re: Cost of building per SQ? 9Sep 15, 2009 9:34 pm oh so to keep in with the topic at hand two side by side townhoses assuming there three bedroom at around 160sq metres each would be 320sq's = around $300k mark i'am guessing. depending on soil/fixtures etc etc. Re: Cost of building per SQ? 10Sep 15, 2009 9:46 pm Quote: Non volume home builders rates are forced upward because they lack buying power and generally i'am guessing come in around $1200 a sq. so going by that a 3 bed brick would be around $216,000. There would be a few contributing factors including: - buying power from suppliers - "buying power" from subcontractors. Subbies would probably price volume work at a better rate than one off projects. - Specifications. Generally a volume builder's specification will include less than your custom builder. Price "apples for apples" and include everything with both builders and the price difference is reduced. - Set plans. Most volume builders work off set plans and will charge the earth to change any house plan. These cost of these homes are known to the cent before construction starts. Suppliers and subbies know exactly what to allow as generally they've built the home (or one similar before. The custom builder has a greater margin of error when pricing, as the homes are one offs. Quote: Basically from there A builder will price out each trade per sq/m. Most builders look for 10 - 20% profit margin so if your lower on the cost per sq/m make sure you check your specifications for example painters maybe applying 2 coat system instead of a 3 coat system and what there being paid is 100$ a sq/m as opposed to $130 per/sq. I would think almost all builders would have 15-20% profit margins on a house. I've never confirmed this, but I would guess the volume builders may have a lesser profit on the home, and make up the balance in variations. Someone once told me that the average variation figure on a display home is about $30k. Most of the variations I have seen priced by volume builders have a 50-100% profit margin. Quote: ps. I think a 300sq/m home is roughly 28sq's. Other way around. A 280m2 home is about 30 square. (280/9.3 = approx 30 square) And you are correct with pricing per m2, not house square. Carpenters build volume homes on a m2 rate for framing, lock up and fix. Trades like plasterers would have a m2 rate, probably taken off on walls and ceilings. Roofing can be rated per m2 and be pretty accurate. Trades like windows, joinery, etc are often priced as a set price but these prices are known for each display home. Blog is now up - http://www.jbdave.blogspot.com/ Re: Cost of building per SQ? 12Sep 15, 2009 10:20 pm jodge I'm still gutted that we're building a BUDGET HOME! I turn my nose up at anything less than $12,500 per square. Lol, just kidding Re: Cost of building per SQ? 14Sep 16, 2009 10:04 am Thanks jbdave and the rest for your thoughts and experiences. We are planning to build a 26SQ TH to sell and keep the other (30SQ) to live in. So 56SQ total, we’re budgeting for round 12K per SQ and that’s excluding costs like: lawyer, Quality inspector, demolishing, Site costs, surveyor, Council subdivision costs, landscaping, Designer/Architect etc. So sounds like we could be in the ball park, although I understand there’s lot of variables which can affect overall expenditure. We’re also perhaps looking at subcontracting out floors, heating ourselves and painting it ourselves, does anyone have any experiences of the above with their project? Thanks again people , I appreciate your responses. Pug 1) I had requested R6 ceiling insualtion batts, however I noticed that on some areas there are huge gaps which will allow hot air to sweep in, and also noticed black/grey… 0 3597 custom probably not. Volume, most defiantly, but spec would vary. If youre doing a knock down, there additional costs associated with that that will eat into your budget… 1 10276 multiple occ properties are always billed by trades at a premium, rarely per sqm for the lot. You either have trades you know whoe will do by sqm or youre going to get… 1 2237 |