Costs after land and house

jezzcb · Jul 06, 2007 6:03 pm

This is a question for anyone who has owner built on a vacant block of land in a residential area.

About how much did you have to pay after the building materials and the land? This includes the cost of all the legal requirements, permits, plumbers, electricians, power connection, etc. But not the cost of all the materials for the house (doors, bathrooms, letterboxes etc) and the land.

Jezz

jezzcb · Jul 06, 2007 7:52 pm

I understand that each property is different but if I could get a few examples of other people's experiences that would be great. Simply take your total cost of your new house and subtract the cost of land and the house including all fittings and landscaping. How much is left over?

One thing in particular that has bothered me is getting power connected. I have heard about some people being quoted tens of thousands of dollars. The land we would buy would have electricity running by the fence. From the information I got fom the power company, if the building is only within 40 metres of the power lines we have to speak to an electrical contractor rather than actually getting the power company out. It is difficult to get much info without an exact block of land in mind (we are still looking at a few blocks in the same area). What prices have other people paid to get such an installation?

Thanks for any help.

Jezz

jezzcb · Jul 07, 2007 7:12 pm

Or perhaps someone could point me in the direction of an owner builder's journal on the web which lists each step they had to take including costs of each step.

I found what appeared to be a good one at
http://www.newlifeinoz.com/New_House.html
but the journal seems to stop before the building is finished.

Thanks for any help.

Jezz

stonecutter1309 · Jul 08, 2007 6:40 pm

Hi Jezz - my parents did an owner-builder job on their home - it gets pricey - their initial cost estimate was $535k. The final cost = $975k :shock:

I remember that there were heaps of hassles getting power, water etc sorted as there was an existing house on a different part of the property & they needed an extra connection.

Owner-building the house was pretty much a full-time job for my mum at the time. They would now never recommend anyone owner-build unless they took it on as a full-time job.