Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jun 12, 2010 1:58 pm G'day to anyone reading this. Im new here. Glad I found this now rather than later. We just received our quote back from estimating and it has shocked us (to say the least). We were told to expect something close to our budget. This has come back $70,000 over and we don't get much with it as far as specs go. Anyhow, I asked sales rep/draftsman if we could get an itemised quote so we know what we are exactly paying for. He told me it wouldn't be itemised but after we do any variations, they will be itemised. Is this normal not to get an itemised quote? The thing is that when we don't know what the costings are, then how do we know they aren't just quoting us on the top of their heads. It doesn't make sense to me. Well, we seriously need to do some variations. Not really sure what we will save on if we take it out now and do it ourselves after handover (or if it is even worth it). We could go to other builders but because this builder has drawn up the exact plan that we want, they would have copyright I assume (1st mistake already). So far, we have taken out paving, bifold doors, kitchen to do after handover, some tiling, turned garage into carport. We are waiting for this next costing to come back. Is there anything else that is high cost going through builder that we can do ourselves at the end to save money. If anyone has any suggestions as to what to do about this, can you please help. Thanks, thirsty Re: Quote for Building our dream home 2Jun 12, 2010 2:29 pm eeek, I think they * in the beginning about it being 'close to your budget' are you allowed to not have a kitchen at handover? I thought it was against council rules cos it isnt habitable dont quote me though,....I just read it somewhere! good luck, maybe take out the walls ....have it all alfresco...will be cheaper on air con! Re: Quote for Building our dream home 3Jun 12, 2010 2:42 pm If i were were you, i would seriously look at another builder. If you are thinking of taking out all of those items now to do later, then I'd say it would not be worth it. It looks like the builder you are in discussions with is obviously telling you porkies, you can get itemised quotes prior to any variations. Hope this helps. If you want a job done properly... Do it yourself! Re: Quote for Building our dream home 4Jun 12, 2010 3:08 pm Its a disaster isn't it. Im stressed out and I havent even started building. Kiwi, don't laugh.....we may just have to take out the walls....... Don't think we can afford aircon now anyway. Barwon374, You know I've been tearing my hair out as to why they won't give us an itemised quote. Do you think we should demand one and if its not given......tell them we are not interested. What do u think about the copyright thing. We have finally got our plans to near on perfect. Arrrrrgggggghhhhh. Its upsetting and Im very disappointed Re: Quote for Building our dream home 5Jun 12, 2010 5:53 pm have you paid lots of money to them for the plans? yes they are now 'theirs' cos they created them...even if you had major input. You might be able to buy them off them (?) then they are yours to show builders for quotes etc but you might not be able too either... HOWEVER you now know exactly what you want, so you can take your ideas on the back of a serviette (not the plans you have beside your bed on the floor..like my room!) and look at some kitset homes/ project builder homes..and find what you want. Sure you might have to sacrifice a 20 sq met media room...but at least you can have walls. Even a base project home with no changing...should be able to house you in the budget that you have? I am not in oz, but I know our houses to build are double yours...so I am very jealous! (we just dont have the population ) There are a few threads on copyright, just do a search. it will be ok in the end...at least you havent started and now they want $70k more... good luck Re: Quote for Building our dream home 6Jun 12, 2010 6:17 pm Thanks kiwi, I don't really want to go back to the drawing board but may have to on this one. If they don't come to the party......then we wont either. Re: Quote for Building our dream home 7Jun 12, 2010 6:43 pm Hi Thirsty, Our contract for our home came out $25,000 more than the 'price guide' we were originally given. This meant we had to sit with our consultant and go through the costings almost item by item and find out where he seriously underquoted. Because we had paid our $3000 deposit we were reluctant to walk away. We did get other quotes from other builders but at the end of the day they were all around the same price ($180,000). So we cut out the alfresco area, the paving, rainwater tank etc with the idea that we'll do things afterward. When we got quotes for a pergola it ended up being almost as much as the builder was going to charge for the alfresco area It's been said many times as a rule of thumb, take the builders base price of home and add 50%. If your consultant is serious about wanting your business hopefully you can sit down and work out the items so you can decide what should be in or out. If they aren't willing to do this I'd seriously consider jumping ship. Hope it goes better for you. Handover February 2011 Happy with our home Re: Quote for Building our dream home 8Jun 12, 2010 7:29 pm Thanks robinred, we are sitting down again with sales consultant to see what the changes we have already made are going to do. Luckily we havent put any deposits down as yet. When you say the base price, what is that exactly because we haven't been given anything but the complete price. Really want an itemised costing but they wont give us one. I love this house and don't want to lose it but Im not just going to give them an extra $70k without an explanation of where these costs are going. Im stressing about the whole thing Re: Quote for Building our dream home 9Jun 12, 2010 7:51 pm Hi Thirsty, it sounds like you're doing a custom build (one of your own designs), that can often end up costing more then taking a builders standard plan and amending it to suit you. If you we working from a builders plan they would have a standard price e.g. $130,000 base price. With that price, by the time you pay for extra footings, amendments electrical, kitchen upgrades (virtually everything you may want to add in) you could expect your contract price to come up closer to $180-190K. That wouldn't usually include heating and cooling, floor coverings etc. the things that people usually do after handover. As said earlier by someone on this thread, you may be better off finding a builder's design that your like and changing it to suit you. Hopefully you can sit with your consultant and say "how much would we save by not including the paving?" and they may say $7000. It is in this back and forth stuff that you may find out what the cost is. Most builders wont itemize things because they think they'll lose a competetive edge. It's usually in negotiations that you can get most of the info you'll need. At the end of the day, you haven't paid a deposit and you can walk and find a builder who may be more upfront with you. Handover February 2011 Happy with our home Re: Quote for Building our dream home 10Jun 13, 2010 1:55 pm Thanks robinred, will be having a long, hard think about this one. My dream house is going down the gurgler. We are building on acreage and we haven't been able to find much in the perth area that builds affordable, long, homestead style homes that we like (except this one). The builder originally said he would base this home on one of their own as it was very similar but because we made so many changes, it is now on its own (as you said "custom"). Once again, thanks very much. Re: Quote for Building our dream home 11Jun 13, 2010 10:05 pm Be up front with the builder tell them it has come over budget and you have to get the price down, ask them how they can do it, thats what we had to do, Sometimes it the things that you can't see that adds a lot of costs, to reduce our costs we shaved sqm off around the house not just in one room, look at thing like the roof line, window sizes can also make a difference make sure you use standard sizes. Good luck Cheers Lou http://take2-customdesigndownslope.blogspot.com 07-10-09 omg they have cut the block 14-05-10 we finally have the keys Re: Quote for Building our dream home 12Jun 14, 2010 1:55 pm Hi take 2, we are now in the process of doing this. Just waiting to see what the variations will come back as. Its make or break. Thanks for the tips. We are hoping our builder pulls out some serious magic wand, tells us he made an awful mistake and it comes in under budget. Yeah right.......I am really hoping for that though.....he he Re: Quote for Building our dream home 13Jun 15, 2010 3:53 pm As I have build many homes over the past 20 years, I have always allowed for an additional 20% over and above the base cost. So if a home was advertised for $200K I would allow another $40K in site costs etc..........this formulae has worked everytime. Unless the site/land is such that it is very steap or land fall, increase the site costs by a further 10%....... So max should be no more then around 30%..... Signed with Carlisle - Atlantique 36Mk2 altered & upsized Botanic Ridge Estate - Build started 22nd Oct 2010 Re: Quote for Building our dream home 14Jun 15, 2010 9:17 pm Thanks Marclau, this will certainly help with the budgeting. Another reason why we must get the initial home cost down. Re: Quote for Building our dream home 15Jun 15, 2010 10:09 pm Hi Thirsty, We are building with M3tr1c0n currently at the lock up stage. We have looked at many display homes and decided to build with M3tr1c0n. We liked one of their display home but wouldn't want to build structurally as is. We were first rejected in structural changes when we requested at the sales office. We left there and went to another builder that can custom design our home. After a couple months of consulting, we went back to M3tr1c0n (different display centre) and surprisingly the sale consultant said we can make structural changes. To make the story short, we chose the home to start off with, then change the original master bedroom/ensuite to a different layout from another display home (in the M3tric0n range), remove child's retreat to make the same layout and rearrange the bedrooms to look like another M3tr1c0n home, move the powder room from the centre of the house to the wall side and add windows, add a walk-in linen, and so on.... In the end, our design was made up of four different houses combined. With all the structural changes, cost us no more than $20K. The changes made were itemised. I guess we were persistent and kept on going to another display centre and ask the same thing when one rejects...worked for us. I hope our experiences can lighten your frustration. All builders are the same, big or small. At the end of the day, building is a buisness and they operate to make profits. ---------------- upgraders Bel-Air 37 : Contemporary Fascade (Major Interior Makeover) <img border="0" src="http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt/d/4;10738;127/st/20100317/e/Site+Start/dt/14/k/8a06/event.png"></a> Re: Quote for Building our dream home 16Jun 16, 2010 5:34 am Hi upgraders, I love that builders designs. Its a pity I live in the wrong state to where they build. When I meet with the SC, I think we will tell them to delete the rendering as we could probably get that for a lot cheaper (been doing a lot of reading on H1 lately). We don't really want to change the floor plan. The builder did offer for us to do the cabinetry for ensuite, laundry and bathroom as long as it was done during the build. Waiting to see the costing of them doing it. Im starting to feel a bit more confident that we can get the costing down. It may just be allright at the end of the day. We might be getting our dream home after all. Thanks for the pick-me-ups. hey there! 😊 so, it’s kinda common for standard drawer depths to be around 500mm since most cabinets use this size to fit the usual runners… 3 20920 I was being kind to the builder. With the amount charged for the upgrade the builder is probably charging closer to 100% margin. There are a few variables as I… 5 14323 I had 28m2 of engineered pavers laid six months back and it was difficult to find someone not taking the pi$$. Internet suggested it should be $85-100/m2 to lay them.… 3 12408 |