Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Oct 18, 2007 7:20 am Hi everyone,
I am new to this whole building your dream home thing.(very stressful!) I have a 5000 m2 block in Brisbane that has beautiful views but a bit of a slope. I spoke to a couple of different builders and took them out to the block and after using my disclosure plan, that has the contours of my block, they agreed that there would be a fall over where I would like the house placed of 2-2.5 m fall. I don't want a ranch style even though it's acerage because I would like to take advantage of my views. So all the plans I looked at run the length of the right side. The builder we finally decided to go with gave us a rough guide of how much the house would be including 2m fall and M class slab (they got that from the disclosure soil test done by the developer) the price was $232K. I paid $1500 for them to do a soil test and survey and they came back at $275K. They said they hit rock at 1500mm and after the survey decided that I needed a 4.2m cut and fill with a 4.5m retaining wall!! I have never heard of having a retaining wall higher than my house! If I do such a huge cut and fill I will loose most of the height of my block, not to mention one great big ugly wall behind the house. Has anyone heard of doing a retaining wall higher than your house? Won't it look silly? Unfortunately I have strict covernants that state I must have a house no smaller than 250m2 (not including alfresco, porches or garage). I also can't use any cladding (there goes the idea of a pre fab steel frame house). All the builders I spoke to said to do a split level, suspended slab or pole home would start at $250k. I also then have to put in a bio cycle. water tanks etc. So out of the price range. Can anyone suggest a builder that would build a split level or similar for $200k? And any comments on this retaining wall issue would be greatly appreciated. Jet79 Re: Newbie needs help! 2Oct 18, 2007 8:19 am There was an older post on this forum regarding a retaining wall higher than the house. I tried to do a quick search but I couldn't find it. Can anyone else find it? Our Adenbrook home was completed in September. Re: Newbie needs help! 3Oct 18, 2007 8:41 am which side of the house is the retaining wall. East west etc. A wall that high would make the place really dark and aslo increase issues of water seepage etc when it rains.
Have they had to go that deep with the cut and fill to get to decent solid sub soil.? Re the house How about a hybrid house - do of pole style ranch on the high side to get the views and have a second level that enables you to meet the 250m2 requirements. Steve Re: Newbie needs help! 4Oct 18, 2007 12:23 pm The design has all the bedrooms running down the right hand side of the house, so when I open a bedroom window all I will see is a wall of boulders.
I have been told by other builders that the only reason this company (project builder) would do such a large cut and fill is they take the lowest part of the building platform and just keep digging in until it is flat. The builder made me feel like they really didn't want to do it but didn't want to officially say this! Have to keep up that good reputation I have thought of the pole type house but am having trouble finding someone to so it for $200k. Any suggestions? Re: Newbie needs help! 5Oct 18, 2007 1:26 pm It would help if you can provide a simple diagram...
What about doing it the other way: instead of a lot of cutting, do a lot of filling?? You might still need a retaining wall, but it's now at the other side of the house. Will that be better or even worst? Re: Newbie needs help! 6Oct 18, 2007 5:47 pm I asked the builder about bringing fill in or taking it from somewhere else on the block and was told that would be even more expensive as they need to compact it every 250mm and an engineer needs to be there to observe it happening so we can have a compaction certificate. I don't know if that's correct. I also read a story about a property that had added clean fill to their whole building site and had serious problems with it being unstable after the house was completed.
I have another builder coming out to the block tomorrow to have a look and give me a quote. Hopefully he will shed some light on the situation. Re: Newbie needs help! 7Oct 18, 2007 9:13 pm Jet - my house is on a pretty sloping block and my neighbours whole house is the same height as my lower level. So I enjoy lots of nice sunlight in the morning while they are still in shadows.
See another of my posts - the project guys have 1 objective - build a house as cheap and efficient as possible. (Hey thats why people use them) but that does not include lots of imagination. I have no idea of brissy builders - but you need to think outside the box to acheive your goals. Steve a building inspector should be able to tell you about any major problems but we need a floor plan with dimensions to clarify options for extra bedrooms ... sometime an… 1 8718 Hi there, long-time lurker but first time posting. I've bought a house 2 and a bit years ago and last year we had some major water damage on a converted pergola area… 0 7931 Yes, unless you are in a low intensity rainfall area or the area is protected from rain. Do you have access to NCC Part 2 or can you download it? I can email you a copy… 10 12512 |