Site costs, quote accuracy?

Pebble · Nov 20, 2007 7:29 am

How correct are the quoted site costs in general?

We liked two very similar floor plans from different builders so got two respective quotes to build on our block. One had significantly higher site costs compared to the other (amongst a few other things).

I am just asking - in the end did your site costs come out to be pretty close to the quoted estimate?

With a significant difference it's kind of hard to determine if one is over estimating or the other under estimating, and as you know $20k can easily push you out of the budget!

vpande · Nov 20, 2007 2:10 pm

Our cost of 20 K did not exceed. The sales consultant was precise in the estimates. we r building with M'kon in melbourne.

Cookiemonster · Nov 20, 2007 2:17 pm

Are these fixed price site costs?

mattwalker · Nov 20, 2007 2:33 pm

We were told around $8K after an initial inspection from our sales rep.

Came in at $25,000 ish!

Close.... :roll:

Cookiemonster · Nov 20, 2007 2:37 pm

We were told upto 35K during inital queries. Fixed price came in at 23K after site/contour survey and soil testing.

adamtram · Nov 20, 2007 10:48 pm

Our site costs were quoted at about 12k before soil tests and did not change. we are also building with M3tricon, they have a program which works it out.

Jet79 · Nov 21, 2007 10:36 am

Get exact quotes and make sure in the site costs are in the contract and are fixed!!

Cookiemonster · Nov 21, 2007 11:21 am

Jet79

Get exact quotes and make sure in the site costs are in the contract and are fixed!!

Most contracts will have a provisional amount for unexpected rock that may be hit.

PhoenixStar · Nov 21, 2007 11:31 am

Gee i feel bad!
We paid just over $7K in site costs for slab and excavation only. We allocated about $12K but that included fencing & driveway..... A little off our estimate, but i think i'd die if i was told $20-$30K!!!!
Not budgeted for and we wouldn't have bought a block which needed such expensive site costs.

There are some blocks in our estate - trying to be flogged off for under $150K but site costs are around $80K!!!! We wanted as flat a block as possible so kids can play without falling over retaining walls or slopes.

I suppose the land sales consultant should advise you when buying the land, as they would have sold others in that area and they would be able to give you comparative site costs. Our H3nley sales guy said between $4-7K and it ended up at the higher end... But our block is just about as flat as you can get in our estate.

We did not have a rock removal cost in our contract at all.

Pebble · Nov 21, 2007 2:27 pm

Thanks for your input everyone!

So far the allowance is $19,000 for Earthworks & rubbish removal (another builder quoted almost double that, hence my initial question)

$10,500 for Engineers Site Report and allowance
A few other allowances such as Electrical / Sewerage (have to have septic tanks) and $11k for a water tank we'll be putting in / supplying.

We are about to sign the initial quote soon, and pay a deposit. After that the pricing will all get firmed up once they get all the reports done (site survey, engineers report etc etc). The costs will be fixed when we sign the contract, only allowances will be for things we are sourcing ourselves (water tank, slate flooring etc).

I must admit I'm only now starting to get excited about the whole process!

Jet79 · Nov 21, 2007 3:46 pm

Quote:

Most contracts will have a provisional amount for unexpected rock that may be hit.

Our site test did show weathered rock and Dixon gave us a firm price on cut and fill, even if turns out to be harder to remove we still don't have to pay any extra. This is a major reason for going with them Adenbrook estimated three times as much and still it was not guarenteed it wouldn't go up.

kristofw · Nov 22, 2007 11:13 am

There some LARGE trees and bushes on my site, plus an unknown number of deep soak wells and septic tanks from before the deep sewage, plus the headworks and underground power costs for strata subdivision. I'm trembling when I try to imagine what all this will add up to :shock:

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