Upgrading from 28 course to 31 course for $13850?

Hi,

My name is Evan and I am currently building with Dreamstart homes in Wilson, WA. I had our plan and prestart a couple of months ago. The plan went to the council and just been approved today. The problem is my girlfriend went to our friend’s house last week and then we thought about the high ceiling.
I spoke to my builder and because the plan has been approved by the council the things is a little bit complicated.
Basically I have 2 options:

Option 1:
Increase the main area (dining, kitchen, family, home theatre and garage) for $7500

Option 2:
Increase the whole house (including the bed room and bath rooms) for $11000.

With every changes we have to pay $900 resubmission fee to the council (I found this very confusing because I called the council today and they said the resubmission fee supposed to be $93.50) and the penalty fee of $350.
Plus there will be 1 month delay (my estimation) for the new plan to be approved by the council. With this 1 month delay I am estimating it worth $1600 (for the interest).
Option 2 looks more attractive compared to option 1. But is it worth the money? ($11000 + $900 + $350 + $1600 = $13850 for 31 course ceiling?)
My plan is to rent out the house at first (maybe live in it later). I don’t think tenants willing to pay extra for a high ceiling house.
What do you guys think?

Cheers,
Evan

I think 28 courses is fine for a house that you will only be renting out. If it was your "dream home" and you were going to live in it forever, then you might consider raising the ceilings.

$13,800 is a LOT of money that you could potentially use to paint, furnish, decorate, landscape with... or save it for a deposit on your dream house later on down the track

If this is your rental property forget abt the high ceiling. U might not even staying there in the future.

Don't waste money, we all know that tenant will not pay more for high ceiling.

U will be in shock howmuch I paying the brickie to add more course higher. That's only couple of hundred dollar. Builders all are ripper.

I would not waste the extra money if you are renting it out personally.
But can someone tell me what the 28 course and 31 course are in metres? Please.

Hi guys,

Thank you for the advices. I have been busy and I haven't checked the forum. Yeah I decided not to upgrade. It is just ridiculous.

Btw Mandy, 28 courses is 2.45 m (I think) and 31 courses is 2.7m.
My builder has the building license today hopefully in 2 weeks time I have my slab down (positive thinking).

Thanks for the reply guys.

To convert courses to millimeters, just multiply by 86.

I increased my kitchen,family,dining to 31c for $4500. I wanted 28c not 25c for garage but they, conveniently forgot about it.

We have (oddly enough) 29 courses on the outside, however the ceiling height is 2.7m. I think they can get away with it on our house because we have eaves.

Almost 14k for high ceilings!?!? How huge is your house ?? We were verbally quoted approx. 3k for a 31 square double storey house (the extra few rows of bricks).
So, I wonder why such difference and how much have others been charged for their high(er) ceilings and in relation to house size.
BTW, I wouldn't do it for this price. Otherwise - why not, it's a valued feature.

My house is not that big about 240 sqm in size.

The problem is trying to add high ceiling after pre-start and after the plan has been approved by the council.

Really the cost is

$7500 for everything minus the bedrooms.

$11000 for the whole house.

The problem is I have to pay:
1. $350 penalty.
2. $900 resubmission fee (although council says the resubmission fee only $93.50).
3. $1600 for interest cost (1 month delay of redrawing and getting another council approval).

So really it will be between paying $10350 for the main area and paying $13850 for the whole house.

I am pretty sure my builder added a hug big fat margin on these costs.

If we were added from the start it might only cost us $5000 for the whole house (maybe but now we never know).

But I have decided not to make the changes and go with the original plan.

It cost me $5k for a 275 sqm to get the 2.7m height

Wow, that's a lot.
I suppose we should mention if the house is single or double storey or split level (for example, single is likely to be more expensive as there is more wall to go around and add bricks onto it).

The house is a single story house.

I know that is a lot that is why I didnt go for it

Part of the builder's costs would be to redraw your plans/elevations with the correct heights before resubmitting.

Yes, but I would imagine that is included in $350 penalty fees. So the $900 resubmission fee (when council says $93.50) is not ethical.

Plus they have already jack up the cost in the first place ($7500 for the main area is a lot of money).