Would you do it again?

Trina · Oct 21, 2007 4:49 pm

We purchased our land back in June and it has taken 5 long months to finally get close to the building stage. We finally have our building permit but now apparently there are final checks to be done, more signatures and only then does it get handed over to the construction group. What a long wait its been and now we still have the 5-6 months of building. I have started to question whether we might have been better off just buying an existing home - we would be well and truly settled in by now and wouldn't have the worries of landscaping, cementing etc etc.

So my question for those currently building or who have completed building a new house -
Would you do it again or would you buy a pre-existing home next time around????

mattwalker · Oct 21, 2007 5:03 pm

Trina,

An excellent question.. :wink:

I selected that I would build again but next time I would owner build definately.

The experience this time has been extremely rocky but not off-putting.

Michelle · Oct 21, 2007 5:08 pm

Very good question Trina. I have had many opportunities to build again.

I love where I am, and quite frankly, the whole proses of building and landscaping again, is just NOT where I want to go at this stage of my life.

I still have ample things I can do to my home, which keeps me inspired.

I have been here 20 years…..so I guess I’m a stayer!

I will add, while building my home 20 years ago, we went with a small private builder….friend of ours.

I now do a lot of work for HIS clients; there are only a couple of things I didn’t get that I asked for….because builder thought he knew best.

On a whole the experience was quite good, had a couple of run ins with the painter, that’s still going, only different painters. :evil:

But all and all my experience with my builder was very good.

VJ · Oct 21, 2007 5:54 pm

Interesting question, Trina.

It took us almost 1.5 years before we finally signed a contract to build our 1st home.
We went through the phases of:
- paying for the soil test
- changing the floor plans to suit our requirements
- waiting for the tender/pre-contract
- colour selection
- cancelling the job
three times... yes, three times!
But now, we can say that everything that happened was worth it.
We're building the best house for our family and our block, and we are very much prepared (financially, emotionally, etc) to commence building.
Yes, we felt frustrated, anxious and tired at times, but the fulfillment of building our dream home makes it all worthwile.

rellie · Oct 21, 2007 5:57 pm

Our house is due for handover in a couple of weeks, it is the second time we have built and I would not hesitate to build again

Cookiemonster · Oct 21, 2007 6:52 pm

I would build again with a project builder... in fact I am building again with a project builder.

arkraider · Oct 21, 2007 7:01 pm

Don't know yet.... Will get back to you in about 10-12 months..... hopefully finished way before then.....

penjay · Oct 21, 2007 7:47 pm

I voted yes. We have built twice now with very few problems. We love our current home but in years to come when it is too big for us, we will downsize by building again. I looked at pre-existing homes for 12 months before we decided to build the second time and didn't see a single property I liked everything about so we built a house that suited us perfectly.
We don't have an established garden but nor do we have other people's cacky tiles or paint colours!

Jac08 · Oct 22, 2007 4:10 pm

I voted that I would build again but boy is it a stressful time! I just keep telling myself that the finished product will be worth it and all the worry will be forgotten.

ewan · Oct 22, 2007 4:25 pm

Yes, I would.

Made a few mistakes the first time round, but came out smarter and more knowledgeable. Cant wait for the second time

Tam · Oct 22, 2007 4:33 pm

I'm not too sure....

I probably would as the building process was not too bad but the costs involved in gardening and backyard work is taking its toll.

Also i feel like my house hates me...I know its dramatic but we have only been in almost 3 months and the car has broken down two times a total of $2600 the vacuum blew up, the dryer has a wire hanging out and even the dog had to have dental surgery!

The house looks beutiful but just doesn't feel right yet.

Rodda · Oct 23, 2007 7:24 am

We would definitely do it again. Our builder was very accomodating and did a quality job. He gave us plenty of access when we asked, was very flexible, and most of his tradies were top class (plumber needed to have a second shot at a bit of his work - but he'll learn), especially his painter, tiler and cabinet maker.

We did go with a small builder, mind you. At the time Gary told us that Fernhaven Homes (his company) only built about 20 homes a year.

There are 2 main reasons why we would build again:

1. Our previous experience was, on the whole, a very good one.

2. There will be a lot of very specific design work going into our next home, most likely one that I've designed from scratch. We'll see...

Rodda · Oct 23, 2007 7:30 am

Hey Tam. Stick with it, it gets better.

The first year after you move into a newly built home is very stressful (well, it certainly can and has been for many). After you've spent all you could afford on the thing you then realise you've got to find the money for and arrange work for any number of the following:

Curtains (ouch)
Driveway and any other paving (ouch)
Gardens (ouch)
Some furniture purchases (usually some with a new place)

Then as soon as you blink bills like rates and car regos and insurances are due (ouch).

When the dust finally settles though it's all good. Chin up

.

Tam · Oct 23, 2007 8:35 am

Thanks Rodda,

I'm sure it will get better and once the weather warms up and we can work on outside it will look better.

Thanks for the kind words.

By the wat did you lay the bricks for the floor of your outdoor area?

Was it very difficult?

Thanks,
Tam

Rodda · Oct 23, 2007 2:25 pm

The floor of our outdoor area is patterned (stencil and colour) concrete, same as our driveway and surrounding paths. My wife tried to choose a colour scheme that matched the brickwork of the house (got reasonably close - not too easy to do).

We got it all done in one hit, a week after we moved in (6 months before we decided to build the pergola in the first place, which itself was 12 months before we decided to enclose it).

We had a vision of the outdoor area (not necessarily covered) ending up a lot like it did before the house had even started being built. In the same way, the front garden turned out almost exactly as I modelled it in 3D before the building started. I certainly doesn't hurt to dream on paper, and it might just make some of it easier (a lot of decisions were made before we started - not last minute at all).