Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jul 25, 2011 2:04 pm Hi everyone, my wife and I were finally going to take the plunge and build a house and sell our existing pre-established home. Though from all of the things I hear like land sales being 40% less than what they were this time last year etc, and the worrying news about the economy (our jobs are secure), is the next month or two a good time to buy land and commit to a building contract? As we weren’t sure if land and/or buildings costs would drastically decrease or builders start to offer greater upgrade packages etc. We were leaning towards going with Hermitage Homes who seem to have a fair number of items as included, but they don’t seem to have a good/great promotion (pay $2k for $10k worth of upgrades), especially when compared to a lot of the other home builders out there. If anyone could share their thoughts, or know how much we should be able to get off the price or get extras as additional that would be great. As I have no idea when it comes to dealing with builders, and if they’re like car salesmen where if you don’t get extra taken off the asking price, that you’re getting taken for a ride. Thanks for any assistance in advance, and I have to say that this is such a great site thanks to the helpful info here, and that I’ll definitely be sharing it with my friends Re: Are building construction costs likely to decrease? 2Jul 25, 2011 5:07 pm from my observations its land that has gone up more than building costs so i don't think building costs will be going down. As builders don't have stock to clear they don't really give much in the way off price reductions. The real trick is to control the extras and add ons that increase the price over the basic house price. The link below gives an idea of what the likely costs might be: http://www.anewhouse.com.au/?p=66 The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: Are building construction costs likely to decrease? 3Jul 25, 2011 7:55 pm Jester If anyone could share their thoughts, or know how much we should be able to get off the price or get extras as additional that would be great. As I have no idea when it comes to dealing with builders, and if they’re like car salesmen where if you don’t get extra taken off the asking price, that you’re getting taken for a ride. Not to put you off, but just be aware that any time you get "freebies" with a builder, they are never freebies. Builders are a business like any other, and as such they have to keep making enough of a profit. Any promotions that a company is doing (like the "pay $2k, get $10k" offer you talk about) will usually have that amount built into the base price of the house, so you are paying for it anyway. Same goes for discounts at contract stage - some builders will offer you $1k or $2k off or throw in some sort of upgrade for signing up, but they will keep track of that and when you go to make any changes later or at prestart they will bump up the cost of those changes to make up for any giveaways. Absolutely try to get discounts, but just keep in mind that you will most likely be paying for most of it in the long run anyway Re: Are building construction costs likely to decrease? 4Sep 20, 2011 1:04 pm Thanks for the replies guys, they were very helpful. It also turned out that we were just about to put down a deposit down for the Verdelho, and the affects of the general building slowdown must be taking affect, as I found out the day before about a new and better promotion as of the start of September that Hermitage Homes has if anyone was interested in going with them. It’s also weird though because I think their floor plans are different and great, and can’t understand why I don’t hear more about them, even on this forum, which has me slightly apprehensive… Re: Are building construction costs likely to decrease? 5Sep 23, 2011 9:18 pm Some things are getting more expensive, my builder advised that the price per 1000 of the Austral bricks is going to increase for him Although overall some things are down, especially the bigger builders The fastest thing a builder will do is bank your cheque, those systems work perfectly with lightning speed, everything else is slow burn. Just the way it is. 1 9569 How are you doing Ben? Extremely interested in hearing what you are doing or plan to do! 12 15904 In fairness nobody gave a crap about the ACCC and the gag clauses continued in the pro forma templates of a few other builders after the ACCC took on Wisdom, and more… 19 75499 |